| The following is an example of a difficult ocean crossing that you
can follow on your globe.
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| To begin, draw a small circle around Plymouth, England at 50N/3W.
Remember that England is a part of the country that is now called the
United Kingdom. Just to the left of Plymouth, write the date 9/16/1621.
This is the date that the Pilgrims sailed from England, aboard the ship
Mayflower, for the New World.
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| Next, place an "X" in the Atlantic Ocean at 45N/45W. Now, circle on
your globe the city of Boston, Massachusetts. Boston is located at
43N/71W. To the right of Boston, write the date 11/21/1621. This is the
date that Mayflower dropped anchored off Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Cape
Cod is about forty-five miles southeast of Boston.
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| Use your globe's mounting ring as a straight edge and draw a line
from Plymouth, England to your X in the Atlantic and then on to Boston.
What is the distance of this route? (1.) ___________
_________________________________________ This, approximately, is the
shortest direct sea route between Plymouth and the point where the
Pilgrims landed on November 21, 1621.
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| The voyage was not an easy one for the Pilgrims. The Mayflower not
only landed in the wrong location (it was supposed to land in Virginia),
but it took 66 days to make the journey. If it took 66 days for the
voyage, how many miles a day did the Mayflower progress along the 3,100
mile sea route? (2.)_____________________________________________ As a
comparison with a modern day ship, in 1952 the ocean liner United States
crossed the Atlantic Ocean on a voyage of similar length in 3 days, 10
hours, and 40 minutes. The United States traveled about 900 miles per 24
hours.
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| Even the speed of ships like the United States seems to be too slow
for today's travelers. Modern jet airliners have put all the big
transoceanic (ocean crossing) passenger ships out of business. Use the
Jet Airliner cruising speed shown on the globe's mounting ring to
determine how long it takes a modern jet aircraft to make the journey
from Plymouth to Boston. Don't forget that the aircraft can fly over
land, so it can follow a great circle route. (3.)
_______________________________
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| Look at your globe again and find the countries from where your
ancestors migrated to North America. Note the distances they had to
travel. If they came to this continent over a century ago, it could have
been a risky trip indeed. Discuss with your classmates what kind of
conditions these ancestors must have been experiencing to make them want
to undertake such a journey. Try to imagine what they may have been
thinking at the very moment that they last saw the shores of their
homelands in Europe, Africa, and Asia. |
