The Mayflower was the famous ship that transported the English Separatists, better known as the Pilgrims, from Southampton to�Cape Cod Bay where they founded the city of New Plymouth in 1620. The vessel left England in September and after a gruelling 66-day journey marked by disease, which claimed two lives, the ship dropped anchor inside the hook tip of Cape Cod (Provincetown Harbor) in November. The Mayflower was originally destined for the mouth of the Hudson River, near present-day New York City, at the northern edge of England's Virginia colony, which itself was established with the 1607 Jamestown Settlement. However, the Mayflower went off course as the winter approached, and remained in Cape Cod Bay. In March��of 1621 all surviving passengers, who had inhabited the ship during the winter, moved ashore at Plymouth, and in April, the Mayflower, a privately commissioned vessel, returned to England