Thursday, December 29, 2022

When the Swiftsure became the Speedwell

In 1620, the Mayflower set out twice to journey to the New World, accompanied by the Speedwell.  Twice they put back because the Speedwell was leaking so badly.  On the third effort, the Mayflower took on eleven of the passengers from the Speedwell while the rest returned to Leiden, Netherlands.  

Before serving as an attempted passenger ship for the Pilgrims, the Speedwell had an earlier life.

From Wikipedia.

Speedwell was a 60-ton pinnace that, along with Mayflower, transported the Pilgrims from England to the New World in the early 1600s, and was the smaller of the two ships. A vessel of the same name and size travelled to the New World seventeen years prior as the flagship of the first expedition of Martin Pring.

Swiftsure

Speedwell was built in 1577, under the name Swiftsure, as part of English preparations for war against Spain. She participated in the fight against the Spanish Armada. During the Earl of Essex's 1596 Azores expedition she served as the ship of his second in command, Sir Gelli Meyrick. After hostilities with Spain ended, she was decommissioned in 1605, and renamed Speedwell, after the UK wildflower but also a play on words for its desired ability.

She fought against the Spanish Armada and was part of the effort to bring Protestants to the New World.  I never had the complete picture.

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