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Passenger List for The Fortune, 1621

2020 marked 400 years since the Mayflower's famous landing at Plymouth Rock. Today millions of descendants of those brave and industrious pioneers live in every part of the country and elsewhere, despite only 56 of them having descendants. Their names are immortalized in the annals of American history. (See my Mayflower database with bios and illustrations here).

The next group to arrive, however, we don't hear much about. "The Fortune", carrying 35 new-comers to the colony, caused quite a stir when it appeared off Cape Cod unexpectedly on November 9, 1621. At the first sighting of the ship, both the colonists and the Native Americans were on high alert, suspecting the ship of being a threat as it sat off shore for over a week, reluctant to proceed. The colonists readied the cannons while the ship's passengers contemplated returning to England. They finally proceeded to Plymouth Bay in late November and the colonists were relieved to see it was an English ship. Surely they hoped the ship carried at least some provisions to supplement their dangerously low storehouses as another brutal winter approached, but instead they received 35 passengers, nearly all male, with very little provisions or supplies. The new-comers were equally disappointed that the colony consisted of just seven houses and four common (public) buildings. Perhaps they expected the Pilgrim's would have made more progress in their first year, obviously unaware of the many challenges they faced. The colony's eleven structures would have to be shared by 82 people until new homes could be built. There were now more mouths to feed and not enough food to go around, which caused everyone concern, but there were now more strong, healthy workmen to help build the colony, and that they did.

Most of the Fortune's passengers were young men recruited by Thomas Weston and the London Merchant Adventurers. Following is a list of known passengers aboard The Fortune: