On this date in history (1620) -- Mayflower embarked for New World

On September 16 in 1620, the Mayflower set sail for America. The 90-foot ship was chartered by a group of merchants known as "the London Adventurers," and it carried 102 settlers -- about half of them religious separatists -- to the New World. There were supposed to have been two ships to carry the settlers, but the Mayflower's sister ship, the Speedwell, proved to be unseaworthy, and eventually the Mayflower had to carry on without her, taking on some of her passengers. They were bound for a tract of land set aside for them in the colony of Virginia, which at that time was very much larger than our current state; the Mayflower's tract was along the Hudson River in what is now New York. Because their departure was delayed, they hit bad weather and were blown off course, making landfall on Cape Cod instead. Only about half of the original passengers survived the first winter, but none of them took the opportunity to return to England when the Mayflower departed in the spring.
FROM Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac (Minn. Public Radio list serv) - daily blog-program