My name is Mary Chilton. I am one of the original Pilgrims to set sail for the New World in a ship called the Mayflower.
A Pilgrim is a person who makes a journey for a religious reason.
The story of the Pilgrims begins in Holland.
Even though I am English, I was born in Leyden, Holland, in 1607.
My family lived in Holland because we were not free to practice our religion in England, but Holland wasn't our home.
It was a strange and foreign land.
I lived there with my parents for 12 years.
In 1619 we returned to England to prepare for a voyage to the New World.
My parents and many other adults packed trunks and barrels with all the things we would need to begin life in the New World.
They hired two ships, the Mayflower and the Speedwell, to take us to the New World.
We were all very excited and a little scared.
We left England on August 5, 1620, but we had to return to England because the Speedwell was leaking.
We tried to fix the ship, but it was too old and tired.
We were forced to abandon it, leaving behind our cooking oil and some other valuables. We all piled into the Mayflower.
We finally set sail for the New World on September 6, 1620.
There were 130 people aboard the Mayflower.
There were 102 Pilgrims and about 28 crew members. Three of the women were pregnant!
It took us 66 days to reach the New World.
Many of us became seasick when the Mayflower was tossed around by storms and strong waves.
I spent many days being sick below deck because going above deck was dangerous.
The wind, rain, and waves made the deck slippery, so it was easy to fall overboard.
When it wasn't stormy and scary, the voyage was boring.
At home I was never bored because I was busy helping my mother with the sewing, the laundry, or the cooking.
But, on the Mayflower, there was very little women's work that needed to be done.
I could have died, not from seasickness, but from boredom.
Luckily, I had two friends, Constance Hopkins and Elizabeth Tilley.
They made me laugh with their stories.
Elizabeth was in love with John Howland, but he took no notice of her.
It was both funny and sad, but never boring to watch her unrequited love.
When we weren't listening to Elizabeth, we were often trying to avoid Francis Billington.
He was a bully who liked to pull our hair. He was such a troublemaker!
Once, he started a fire on board the Mayflower when he shot his father's gun below deck.
Luckily, everyone heard the sound and put the fire out.
The scariest moment aboard the Mayflower was when the ship was caught in a terrible storm for two whole days.
In the single room below deck where we all lived, we huddled together and prayed to God to save us.
We weren't sure that God was listening, however, because on the second day of the storm, one of the main beams below deck cracked.
Many of the sailors were scared because they knew that the ship couldn't survive another storm.
The passengers also feared they would die. But God was merciful.
No other storms caught us, and only two men died on the voyage.
On November 9, 1620, we finally saw land.
The ship's captain called the place Cape Cod, and he said it was many miles north of Virginia.
We were all glad to see land after having spent 66 days in a small room with 102 seasick people.
We were also looking forward to breathing fresh air because the Mayflower smelled most unpleasant!
On November 13, 1620, I was the first woman to step off of the Mayflower into the New World.
I went ashore to help with the laundry.
It was the only time in my life I was ever thankful to God for making laundry women's work, because it allowed me to stand firmly on the ground.
We wanted to continue south to Virginia because there were other Englishmen who had settled there, but our attempt to sail south failed.
The ship didn't dare go far from shore because of the damage to the beam.
So we decided to remain in Cape Cod.
We sent the men out to explore, and on December 12, 1620, the men returned.
They had found a suitable place. They had also made contact with Native Americans.
On December 15, 1620, we went ashore and started our new life in the New World.
It wouldn't be an easy life, but we were hopeful.