The Voyage of the Mayflower Trivia Quiz

Answer: Provincetown

Provincetown is located out on the tip of the Cape Cod Peninsula, clearly not a suitable location for settlement since fresh water is not readily available there. The entire voyage, from Plymouth, England to Provincetown, took about two months and it took the Mayflower crew an additional month to settle on the New Plymouth location.

Answer: It was an old wineship

Ironically, by today's standards the Mayflower had previously been used to carry a commodity related to sinfulness, alcoholic beverages. Specifically, wine was regularly transported aboard the ship from Bordeaux to London prior to its being hired by the Puritans. For the Pilgrims, however, the fact that wine was formerly carried aboard their ship was immaterial.

The consumption of alcohol was not sinful for them, and in fact the ship carried large quantities of beer on the voyage across the Atlantic! The ship was a double-decker that was about 90 ft. long (about 30 meters), and weighed some 180 tons. Sadly, it does not survive (rumor has it that its wood was used to build a barn in Massachusetts - but this is certainly false), though replicas have been made based on earlier descriptions of the ship.

Answer: True

The Mayflower colonists were not interested in establishing a new colony, but rather wanted to join the colonists in the already established Virginia settlements where Puritanism had achieved a reasonably strong foothold. Unfortunately, the ship's navigators steered the Mayflower well off course (inclement weather probably participated as well) and they ended up several hundred miles north of Jamestown, where they felt compelled to land and create a base, it being the winter season.

Answer: Speedwell

The Speedwell, a rather smaller ship, initially carried about half the Plymouth colonists. After two attempts to disembark with the Mayflower, the Speedwell was forced to turn back to Plymouth (England) because it had sprung a leak. The result was that the Mayflower took on the additional passengers (though some were left behind) and some of the cargo, and made the voyage solo, a very courageous endeavor for the 102 passengers!

Answer: Holland

These exiles were led by William Bradford and William Brewster, and had fled to Holland, a state sympathetic to Calvinists at the time, from the repression they felt in England. The Speedwell had brought these colonists to Plymouth, England, but they eventually made their way across the ocean aboard the Mayflower due to the problems with the Speedwell mentioned in the previous question's notes.

Answer: False

Actually, the Mayflower colonists labeled 'Puritans' were primarily followers of the teachings of John Calvin, a French theologian and religious reformer who established his sect in Switzerland. The Society of Friends (Quakers) wasn't founded until 1652, some 30 years after the Mayflower landing, by English religious leader George Fox. Fox eventually made his way to America in the late 17th century, establishing a stronghold for Quakers in Maryland. Later, the Quakers would be firmly established in the colonies when William Penn founded Pennsylvania, though the colony was open to members of all religious sects.

Answer: Christopher Jones

Britteridge, English and Fletcher were all listed in the ship's manifest as passengers, but Christopher Jones was the Captain during the voyage and co-owned the ship with Robert Child and John Moore. Jones chose to remain with the Plymouth colonists through the difficult winter of 1620-1, which saw the deaths of nearly half the colonists, before returning the ship back to England that coming Spring. Jones died the following Spring (1622) and the Mayflower never returned to America again (thus why the Massachusetts barn story is most-assuredly apocryphal.)

Answer: True

My apologies for the virtual trick question. Of the original 102 passengers that set forth aboard the Mayflower, two passed away during the journey. However, during the voyage two women gave birth, returning the population aboard the ship to its original number.

The two children born were named Oceanus Hopkins and Peregrine White, fitting names for an ocean voyage. (Oceanus was an ancient Greek god of the ocean while a 'peregrination' is a journey or voyage!)

Answer: To shed the authority of the English Monarch

The 'Mayflower Compact' was signed at the date upon which the Mayflower had landed at Provincetown, November 21st, 1620. Its purpose was to break the dissension amongst the ranks of the colonists and to establish what would become the future government and law code of the colonies, both of which would be fair and binding to all. Near the beginning of the Compact there is a clear and particular reference to King James I, the sovereign ruler of England and its colonies, so there is certainly nothing revealing a sense of anti-monarchism in the document.

Answer: No

In fact, there were a number of individuals on board the ship, a majority really, who did not label themselves 'Puritans' but rather were simply looking for adventure and opportunity. However, it should be noted that the Puritans were the most dominant single force among the future colonists, particularly since they presented a unity not existing amongst the 'strangers' (as the non-Puritans were called). We have come to the end of the quiz...I hope you enjoyed it and were able to learn some interesting things. Thank you for giving my quiz a 'voyage'. If you enjoyed it, I invite you to try my other quizzes, particularly the ones on colonial America. Thanks!