OVERSEAS PILGRIM CONNECTIONS

Shortly after setting up this blog I made a disturbing discovery. A Pilgrim Power Station already excisted on the other side of the Atlantic near Plymouth Rock, USA !

This blog is written in Delfshaven in the Netherlands. Delfshaven literally means 'port of Delft'.
Delft was a very important VOC city in the 16th and 17th century. Delfware pottery and the painter Johannes Vermeer are probably best remembered from that area, but it is also the place where Willem van Oranje, the founder of the Dutch Republic was murdered in 1584.
Delft being situated 15 kilometres inland, a port and a canal were built in the 14th/15th century. Delfshaven was constructed close to Rotterdam and now within it's city limits.

Delfshaven has a legacy of it's own. First of all Piet Hein, one of the most heralded Dutch seafaring heroes, was born here in 1577, next to the Anthonis Capel. This large chappel, now called the Pilgrims Church, is Delfshaven's next claim to fame. From here in 1620 the Pilgrim Fathers left mainland Europe on the vessel the Speedwell, to stop over in Southhampton, England, and embark the Mayflower for the New World: America.

The Pilgrim Fathers were Separatists of the Church of England. They had fled England around 1600 to escape prosecution for the more tolerant religious climate of the Netherlands. Afraid of being influenced by Dutch society if not for economical reasons they decided to leave Europe and start a community in the new colonies of North America. Although they were heading for Virginia they had drifted off and landed in New England on Cape Cod, near nowadays Provincetown. They decided to stay there.

During their voyage they had signed an agreement, the Mayflower Compact, that lay down the foundation of their community. In 1621 this agreement was superseded in the Peirce Patent which gave them official right to settle in New England. These documents are the earliest examples of self reigning democracy in North America and therefore the root of the constitution of the United States of America. By this time they had crossed the bay at Cape Cod and settled in Plymouth, setting foot ashore on 'Plymouth Rock', now a monument.

So much for the Pilgrim Connection between Delfshaven and New England. By the way, Pilgrim Power Station in Plymouth Rock is a Nucleaur Power Plant. Therefore, to celebrate this coincidental discovery I have collected some songs on 'atomic power':

1 - Atomic Cocktail by Slim Gaillard (1945)

2 - Atomic Baby by Linda Hayes (1953)

3 - Uranium Rock by Warren Smith (1958)

4 - Electricity by Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band (1967)

download songs as RAR-file: link

password: pilgrimindisguise