Saturday, May 23, 2015

Society Saturday - The Welcome Fleet

At the Annual meeting of the National Society Descendants of Early Quakers, Dr. George Hill gave us a program about William Penn's Welcome Fleet.  Most people know of the Mayflower and the Winthrop Fleet, but not many have heard of the Welcome Fleet.



This was the fleet of ships carrying William Penn and his Quaker colonists to the new world in 1682.  There were 22 ships of varying sizes and speeds.  Some made the voyage in about a month, the flagship "Welcome" took 57 days.

The passengers were mostly English Quakers, but there were 3 Welsh families.  Unfortunately they were joined by smallpox, which took the lives of 1 in 3 on board (passengers and crew alike).  Ultimately 292 people arrived in New Castle, Delaware.  They settled in Philadelphia.

The Quakers were early abolitionists.  They established the Pennsylvania colony as a place of refuge for all with Quaker ideals.

www.earlyquakers.org

No comments:

Post a Comment