Watched Days

On this date in 1620, the Mayflower left Plymouth for America. The date comes in two versions: 16 September by the calendar we kept, 6 September by the one the ship lived by. Same morning, ten days apart. England was still on the old calendar, and the lag only grew: eleven days by 1752, lost in one September.

Two failed starts came first. The companion ship Speedwell leaked three times and was left behind; the Mayflower sailed alone with 102 passengers and a crew of 25 to 30, on a wind Bradford wrote down as “a prosperous wind.”

She left once. The calendars file it twice.