How Many People Were
on the MAYFLOWER?

According to Edward Winslow in his book, Mourt’s Relations, and William Bradford in his manuscript, Of Plimouth Plantation, there were 102 passengers on the Mayflower voyage in 1620.

Even though one passenger, William Butten, died during the voyage, another passenger, Oceanus Hopkins, was born during the voyage, which kept the number of passengers at 102.

After the Mayflower reached Cape Cod and the colonists signed the Mayflower Compact on November 11, 1620, both Bradford and Winslow created lists of the names of the passengers at that time.
The lists don’t include William Butten, who died about a week earlier, nor do they include Peregrine White, who wasn’t born until a couple of weeks later, but they do include Oceanus Hopkins, who was born before the colonists reached Cape Cod.

That lists also include five of the Mayflower crewmen who either stayed as colonists or were hired to be labourers in the colony for one year: John Alden, John Allerton, Thomas English, William Trevore and a crewman by the name of Ely whose last name is unknown. Out of the 102 passengers, approximately half were separatists
mayflower passenger list
In addition to the passengers, there were also 36 crewmen but only a handful of them were identified in the historical records.

The ship had an unidentified master gunner who went out on an expedition on December 6, 1620 to explore Cape Cod but became “sick unto death”. An unidentified Master Carpenter is noted for having repaired the ship’s broken mast during the middle of the voyage with a giant screw that the pilgrims had with them. As well as an unidentified boatswain who was described by William Bradford in his diary as “a proud young man, who would often curse and scoff at the passengers, but when he grew weak, they had compassion on him and helped him.”

In total, about half the Mayflower crew died during the first winter at Plymouth and the majority of them remain unidentified.
mayflower crew list
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