Hubert Wella, age 10, of Murphy, N.C 4, for his question:

What happened to the Mayflower?

The Mayflower was a British merchant ship and apart from one historic voyage, little is known about her. We do not know where she sailed and what she did before she brought the Pilgrim Fathers to America in 1620. We do not know where she failed or what she did after she left them there on Plymouth Rock. There are no pictures of the brave little ship and we can only guess what she looked like.

Historians think that she was like countless other merchant vessels of her day. She was most likely one hundred feet long, a three masted sailing vessel weighing 180 tons. At its widest, her deck was probably 26 feet. There were two decks, quarters for a crew of thirty and a galley to prepare food. On the historic voyage to the New World, more than 100 passengers crowded into the small space and water was too scarce for washing.