By the summer of 1617 the majority of the Scrooby congregation had fully decided to emigrate, and it only remained to determine the new place of residence.  Some talked of Guiana, others of New York, but the majority inclined to Virginia; and the conclusion was to emigrate as a distinct body to a place under the London Company, but not so near Jamestown as to be troubled by the Episcopalian planters there.

With this design they sent two of their number, John Carver and Robert Cushman, to London, and Sir Edwin Sandys tried to obtain for them a patent recognizing their religious rights.  To aid him, Robinson and Brewster drew up a confession of faith which, as it contains an admission of the right of the state to control religion, seems strangely at variance with the doctrines of the Separatists.  But the king was not easily persuaded, and he promised only that “he would connive at them and not molest them, provided they carried themselves peaceably."[13]

Sandys passed through the London Company two “particular patents” in their behalf, one taken out in the name of John Wincop and the other in that of John Pierce, two of their associates in England; under the latter, granted in February, 1620, the Pilgrims prepared to leave Holland.[14] Capital to the amount of L7000 was furnished by seventy merchant adventurers in London, and it was agreed with them that for several years everything was to be held in joint stock, the shares of which were to be valued at L10 each and to be paid for in money or by personal service.[15]

As they had not resources for all to go, the major part of the congregation, with Robinson, stayed behind, promising to follow later.  The emigrants under Carver, Bradford, and Brewster started out from Delft-Haven in July, 1620, in the leaky ship the Speedwell.  At Southampton, in England, they met the Mayflower with friends from London, and soon after both ships made an attempt to start to sea.  They had not sailed any distance before the Speedwell let in so much water that it was necessary to put in at Dartmouth for repairs.  Again they set sail, and this time they had left old England one hundred leagues behind when the captain reported the Speedwell in danger of foundering.  There was nothing to do but to bear up again and return to England, where they put in at Plymouth.  Upon examination the Speedwell was pronounced unseaworthy and sent to London with about twenty of the company.  With the rest, one hundred and two in number, the Mayflower cleared the port, September 6, for America.

Her destination was some point south of the Hudson River, within the Virginia patent; but foul weather prevented any accurate calculation, and November 9, 1620, the emigrants found themselves in the neighborhood of Cape Cod.  They tacked and sailed southward, but ran into “dangerous shoals and roaring breakers,” which compelled them to turn back and seek shelter in the harbor now called Provincetown.  The anxiety of the sailors to be rid of the emigrants prevented any further attempt southward, and forced them to make their permanent habitation near this accidental lodgment.