History BLOG

November 21 st : On this day in 1620, 41 male passengers on the Mayflower, prior to landing at Plymouth, Massachusetts, signed the Mayflower Compact, by which they agreed to abide by the laws of the new government they would establish. This was, of course, long before the separation of church and state. Some of the laws in the early American Colony were based in Mosaic Law (from the Bible). If you have not read the compact; it is an interesting part of history, if you have re

The Essex, American whaling ship that was rammed by a sperm whale on November 20, 1820, and later sank. Although all 20 crewmen initially survived, only 8 were rescued following an arduous journey that devolved into cannibalism. The sinking inspired the climactic scene in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (1851). Source: Britannica.com This brings to mind Mystic Seaport, living history museum, in Connecticut. I have not visited there in many years, perhaps I will next summer. Has