44. The Voyage across the Atlantic.--Brewster's old friend, Sir Edwin Sandys, was now at the head of the Virginia Company. He easily procured land for the Pilgrims in northern Virginia, near the Dutch settlements (p. 41). Some London merchants lent them money. But they lent it on such harsh conditions that the Pilgrims' early life in America was nearly as hard as their life had been in Holland. They had a dreadful voyage across the Atlantic in the _Mayflower_. At one time it seemed as if the ship would surely go down. But the Pilgrims helped the sailors to place a heavy piece of wood under one of the deck beams and saved the vessel from going to pieces. On November 19, 1620, they sighted land off the coast of Cape Cod. They tried to sail around the cape to the southward, but storms drove them back, and they anchored in Provincetown harbor. [Sidenote: The Pilgrims Compact, 1620.] 45. The Mayflower Compact, 1620.--All the passengers on the _Mayflower_ were not Pilgrims. Some of them were servants sent out by the London merchants to work for them. These men said that as they were outside of Virginia, the leaders of the expedition would have no power over them as soon as they got on land. This was true enough, so the Pilgrims drew up and signed a compact which obliged the signers to obey whatever was decided to be for the public good. It gave the chosen leaders power to make the unruly obey their commands. [Illustration: map] [Sidenote: The Pilgrims explore the coast. _Explorers_, 319-328.] [Sidenote: Plymouth settled. _Higginson_,58-60; _Eggleston_, 35-38; _Source-Book_, 39-41.] [Sidenote: Sickness and death.] 46. The First Winter at Plymouth.--For nearly a month the Pilgrims explored the shores of Cape Cod Bay. Finally, on December 21, 1620, a boat party landed on the mainland inside of Plymouth harbor. They decided to found their colony on the shore at that place. About a week later the _Mayflower_ anchored in Plymouth harbor. For months the Pilgrims lived on the ship while working parties built the necessary huts on shore. It was in the midst of a cold New England winter. The work was hard and food and clothing were not well suited to the worker's needs. Before the _Mayflower_ sailed away in the spring one-half of the little band was dead. [Sidenote: The Pilgrims and the Indians. _Explorers_, 333-337.] [Sidenote: Success of the colony.] [Sidenote: New Plymouth colony.]