# Criminals on the Mayflower?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/criminals-on-the-mayflower/474700>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 27, 2008, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/criminals-on-the-mayflower/474700 "2008-11-27T14:03:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![breadfinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8baadc/32.png) [@breadfinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/breadfinder)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/criminals-on-the-mayflower/474700/1 "2008-11-27T14:03:36Z")

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I just recently heard that there were criminals on the Mayflower from a source outside the US. I consider myself a bit of a History enthusiast but everything I’ve read never mentions this detail.  
Any thoughts?

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**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/criminals-on-the-mayflower/474700/2 "2008-11-27T15:10:35Z")

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[Passengers and crew of the Mayflower](http://www.pilgrimfathersorigins.org/pdf/Mayflower_Passengers.pdf) (Warning: pdf file)

No convicted criminals there as far as I can see, and it’s pretty detailed so I’m sure they’d mention it.

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**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/criminals-on-the-mayflower/474700/3 "2008-11-27T15:31:59Z")

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Stephen Hopkins is usually assumed to have been the same man of that name who had been sentenced to death - but reprieved - for his part in the mutiny following the wreck of the _Sea Venture_ in 1609.

[http://www.mccarterfamily.com/mccarterpage/stories/stephen\_hopkins/intro.htm](http://www.mccarterfamily.com/mccarterpage/stories/stephen_hopkins/intro.htm)

But that’s just one man. Not exactly a pattern.

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**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/criminals-on-the-mayflower/474700/4 "2008-11-27T19:22:40Z")

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I’d be willing to put someone who wanted to stay in Bermuda rather than press on to a starving Jamestown in a different class than a hardened criminal.

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/criminals-on-the-mayflower/474700/5 "2008-11-27T21:17:52Z")

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About 10 after arriving in the New World, one of the Mayflower passengers was convicted of murder and hanged. See [John Billington - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Billington)

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**Author:** ![pmwgreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@pmwgreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pmwgreen)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/criminals-on-the-mayflower/474700/6 "2008-11-28T02:20:18Z")

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Maybe his point was that about half the people on the Mayflower were Pilgrims. They didn’t attend services in the Church of England, which was an offence in those days. Quite a few had been arrested in mass as they attempted to leave England for Holland and after they had succeeded, one of them had had to go into hiding to avoid arrest by the English authorities for a publication attacking the king. Some people would have regarded them as criminals at the time.