Stephen Deane - 1620

Stephen Deane set sail on the Speedwell along with Separatists living in Holland, where the ship was purchased. They boarded it at Delfshaven and sailed to Southampton, England to meet up with the Mayflower, which had been chartered by the merchant investors.

The Speedwell was built in 1577, under the name Swiftsure, as part of English preparations for war against Spain. She participated in the fight against the Spanish Armada. During Essex's 1596 Azores expedition she served as the ship of his second in command, Sir Gilly Merick. In 1603 she traveled to the New World as the flagship of the first expedition of Martin Pring. She was decommissioned in 1605, rebuilt, and renamed the Speedwell.

The two ships began the voyage on August 5, 1620, but the Speedwell was leaky and returned to Dartmouth to be refitted at great expense and time. On the second attempt, Mayflower and Speedwell sailed about 100 leagues beyond Land's End in Cornwall, but the Speedwell was again found to be leaky. Both vessels returned to Plymouth where the Speedwell was sold.

It would later be revealed that there was in fact nothing wrong with the ship. The crew had sabotaged it in order to escape the year long commitment of their contract.

Twenty people volunteered to stay behind rather than overcrowd the Mayflower. One of these was Stephen Deane. Eleven people from the Speedwell boarded the Mayflower leaving a combined company of 102 to  continue the voyage. For a third time, the Mayflower headed for the New World. She left Plymouth on September 6, 1620 and entered Cape Cod Harbor on November 11, 1620.

Stephen Deane and the others left behind eventually followed, arriving on the good ship Fortune at Plymouth Colony exactly one year later on November 10, 1621.

Passengers on the Fortune


Master of the Fortune : Thomas Barton Adams,

JohnBassett, ElizabethBassett, WilliamBeale, WilliamBompass, EdwardBrewster, JonathanBriggs, ClementCannon, JohnConner, WilliamCushman, RobertCushman, Thomas Deane, StephenFavell, ThomasFord, JohnFord, MarthaFord, [Mr.]Ford, WilliamHicks, RobertHilton, WilliamDelano, PhillipMorgan, BenedictMorton, ThomasNicolas, Austin Palmer, WilliamPalmer, William JuniorPitt, WilliamPrence, ThomasStacey, HughSteward, JamesSimonson, MosesTench, WilliamWinslow, JohnWright, Priscilla Wright

Stephen DEANE is my 11th great grandfather through both my father's (BOYCE) and mother's (BUTTS-WILLIAMS) families. He was there at the first thanksgiving feast, but his selfless act disqualified me as a Mayflower descendant. I don't care. This makes him even more special to me.