BELFAST RB BOOKLET 2020 - Flipbook - Page 57
Ci t y of Belf ast Grand Bl ack Chapt er - Dem onst rat i on Bookl et 2020
A L O NG J O U R N E Y O F P I L G RI M A G E
1620 ~ 400th Anniversary ~ 2020
Persecution of the Pilgrims or Puritan
Separatists as they were called back
then, began in England under the reign
of the Queen Elizabeth the First during
the mid-sixteenth century, right up to
and including the seventeenth century,
during a period she vowed to stamp
out any opposition to the Church of
England or as it was then colloquially
termed .. the Anglican Church.
Influenced by the works of John Calvin,
they were English Protestants who wanted to
completely purify the Church from any of its
previous Roman Catholic influences, objecting
particularly strongly to the Church Hierarchy
and with the exception of both the baptism and
Lord's Supper, to remove all other papist
associated sacraments such as penance,
confession, the last rites etc, .
After Elizabeth's death in 1603, and with
James I enthroned, he soon set about
commissioning the King James Bible.
But by then, many of them had already
moved across the channel to live in the
Netherlands which at that time had a more
tolerant approach to religious freedom.
However the Pilgrims wished to make a
complete clean start to further spread the
gospel throughout the New World and
soon after set sail from Plymouth en route
to their ultimate destination in America,
and the Land of the Free!!.
The Mayflower (right) had been
hired in London initially as part of
the convoy that was due to leave
the Port of Southampton during
July 1620 where the crew began
by ensuring adequate food and
supplies for the long voyage.
Those Pilgrims still living in the
Dutch City of Leiden, had also
hired another ship called the
Speedwell, to ferry them across the Channel
to meet up with the Mayflower in
Southampton, with both ships then planning to
sail jointly eastwards to Northern Virginia.
Soon after the Speedwell had left Holland on
July 22th, it sprung a leak on the voyage
across to England; so the following week or so
was then fully lost, having to repair the
damage and make it seaworthy again.
On August 5th, the two ships finally set
sail for their destination .. America.
However, the Speedwell again began taking
in water during the outward journey and after a
week at sea, both vessels had to pull into
Dartmouth for more repairs which further
delayed their journey by another two weeks.
With the Speedwell repaired once more,
they set sail across the Atlantic Ocean.
Unfortunately about three hundred miles out
to sea, the Speedwell began leaking again.
Frustrated by now due to the enormous
amount of time that had been
lost, and the inability to make
the Speedwell permanently
seaworthy, both ships returned
to Plymouth, where the
decision was made to leave the
unfortunate
leaky
vessel
behind.
So after the cargo and supplies
from the stricken ship had been
IN MEMORY OF THE FALLEN - 55 - AND THE FUTURE OF THE LIVING