[Paul R.]

My history on when the Pilgrims left is a little weak: Why on earth would anyone try to start a colony in New England in November? The sailing weather in early spring would be too rough, perhaps? Or they didn’t think they’d have time to get crops in if they arrived in the spring? Arrival in November seems almost suicidal - which it was, for many.

[SamAdams76]

Actually the Pilgrims were intending to land somewhere in Virginia - where the winters are much milder. Yes, they wanted to get there in winter so they could get their crops planted early as possible in the spring.

However, they started to run out of beer (true story) so the crew dumped them as soon as they spotted land so they could get back to England before it ran out completely.

I also don't think they realized how severe the winters could be further north.

[catnipman]

“My history on when the Pilgrims left is a little weak: Why on earth would anyone try to start a colony in New England in November? The sailing weather in early spring would be too rough, perhaps? Or they didn’t think they’d have time to get crops in if they arrived in the spring? Arrival in November seems almost suicidal - which it was, for many.”

If you read the history, you’ll see that the whole voyage was a fuster-cluck from the get-go, and they started several months later than intended due to a variety of mis-steps, mis-cues, financial woes, bad leadership, squabbling, bad-luck, incompetence, etc.