Samuel Fuller (Mayflower Physician) - Mayflower Voyage

Mayflower Voyage

Samuel Fuller boarded the Mayflower with only his servant William Butten, leaving his wife Bridget and his young daughter Bridget behind in Leiden, awaiting until the colony conditions would better suit families. William Butten was the only passenger on the Mayflower to die, sadly only three days before the sighting of land.

The Mayflower departed Plymouth, England on the Mayflower September 6/16, 1620. The small, 100-foot ship had 102 passengers and a crew of about 30-40 in extremely cramped conditions. By the second month out, the ship was being buffeted by strong westerly gales, causing the ship‘s timbers to be badly shaken with caulking failing to keep out sea water, and with passengers, even in their berths, lying wet and ill. This, combined with a lack of proper rations and unsanitary conditions for several months, attributed to what would be fatal for many, especially the majority of women and children. On the way there were two deaths, a crew member and a passenger, but the worst was yet to come after arriving at their destination when, in the space of several months, almost half the passengers perished in cold, harsh, unfamiliar New England winter.

On November 9/19, 1620, after about 3 months at sea, including a month of delays in England, they spotted land, which was the Cape Cod Hook, now called Provincetown Harbor. And after several days of trying to get south to their planned destination of the Colony of Virginia, strong winter seas forced them to return to the harbor at Cape Cod hook, where they anchored on November 11/21. Samuel Fuller and others signed the Mayflower Compact that day.