# Mayflower Question: the stowaway

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayflower-question-the-stowaway/944301>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 15, 2021, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayflower-question-the-stowaway/944301 "2021-06-15T04:04:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayflower-question-the-stowaway/944301/1 "2021-06-15T04:04:16Z")

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I’m trying to find the name of the stowaway aboard the Mayflower. Excerpts from crew and passengers’ journals on [this site](https://www.plimoth.org/what-see-do/mayflower-ii/journey-mayflower-ii/crew-journals/start-journey-april-21) indicate this person, an “ordinary-looking” twenty-something man, was discovered before the ship set sail from England, and was probably planted by the English press. So far, I haven’t been able to find his name or anything else about him.

If there are no online sources, are there good adult nonfiction books that cover the voyage preparations in detail? According to my late father, this person was an ancestor–and not the kind, Dad emphasized, one might be tempted to brag about. I remember seeing a magazine article about this when I was a kid, but I can’t recall the magazine.

If anyone can point me in the right direction, I’d greatly appreciate it.

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**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayflower-question-the-stowaway/944301/2 "2021-06-15T04:42:04Z")

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I believe those journals are from the voyage of _Mayflower II_ in the 1950s.

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**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayflower-question-the-stowaway/944301/3 "2021-06-15T05:43:52Z")

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Thanks for setting me straight. I’m not sure what the incident was now.

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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:** [June 15, 2021, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayflower-question-the-stowaway/944301/4 "2021-06-15T09:32:28Z")

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He was [Bob Lewis from Romford, Essex](https://www.alamy.com/feb-29-2012-mayflower-ii-leaves-for-voyage-to-america-stowaway-found-image69531739.html). He then cashed in by [releasing a novelty record](https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/parlophone-records-bob-lewis-sings-246436656).

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**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\
**Post date:** [June 15, 2021, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayflower-question-the-stowaway/944301/5 "2021-06-15T11:41:49Z")

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> [@nelliebly](#):
>
> Mayflower

I think that the newspapers in the 17th century were not that aggressive. He would have had trouble phoning his story in… 😀