The Mayflower is first recorded in 1609, at which time it was a merchant ship travelling to Baltic ports, most notably Norway1. It was at that time owned by Christopher Nichols, Richard Child, Thomas Short, and Christopher Jones2. The ship was about 180 tons3, and rested in Harwich. In its early years it was employed in the transportation of tar, lumber, and fish1,2; and possibly did some Greenland whaling4. Later on in its life, it became employed in Mediterranean wine and spice trading5.
In 1620, Thomas Weston assisted by John Carver and Robert Cushman hired the Mayflower and the Speedwell to undertake the voyage to plant a colony in Northern Virginia3. The Speedwell turned out to be a leaky ship, and so was unable to make the famous voyage with the Mayflower. 3
Christopher Jones was the captain of the Mayflower when it took the Pilgrims to New England in 1620. They anchored off the tip of Cape Cod on November 11, 1620. The Mayflower stayed in America that winter, and its crew suffered the effects of the first winter just as the Pilgrims did, with almost half dying.3
The Mayflower set sail for home on April 5, 1621, arriving back May sixth6,8. The ship made a few more trading runs, to Spain, Ireland, and lastly to France. However, Captain Christopher Jones died shortly thereafter, and was buried 5 March 1621/2 in Rotherhithe, Surrey, England7. The ship lay dormant for about two years, at which point it was appraised for probate, and its value was determined to be £128-08-04, an extremely low value (had it been in sailing condition, £700 could be expected).
This probate inventory is the last record of the Mayflower. The ship was not in very good condition, being called "in ruinis" in a 1624 High Court of Admiralty record (HCA 3/30, folio 227) written in Latin. Ships in that condition were more valuable as wood (which was in shortage in England at the time), so the Mayflower was most likely broken apart and sold as scrap. There is no evidence that the Mayflower ended up as the Jordans barn, though it has become a tourist trap anyway.
Mayflower was a very common ship name, and in fact numerous other ships called the Mayflower made trips to New England; but none of them were the same ship that brought the Pilgrims to America.
FOOTNOTES:
1. Public Records Office, High Court of Admiralty Examinations: Deposition of Thomas Haddon, 27 January 1609/10.
2. Public Records Office, High Court of Admiralty Examinations. Deposition of John Cowbridge and Thomas Thompson, 4 and 7 May, 1612.
3. William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, written 1630-1654, original housed at Massachusetts State Library, Boston. (Available in the Mayflower Web Page bookstore).
4. Edward Winslow et al. Mourt's Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, London 1622. (Available in the Mayflower Web Page bookstore).
5. The 'Mayflower', Her Identity and Tonnage. The New England Historic and Genealogical Register, October 1916, pages 337-342.
6. Thomas Prince. Chronological History of New England in the Form of Annals. Boston, 1736.
7. Parish Registers of Burials: St. Mary's Church, Rotherhithe, Surrey, England.
8. John Smith. A General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles. London, 1624. (Available in the Mayflower Web Page bookstore).
OTHER SOURCES USED:
The 'Mayflower'. The Mayflower Descendant 18:1-13. (R. G. Marsden)
The English Ancestry and Homes of the Pilgrim Fathers, by Charles Edward Banks, 1929, pages 10-22.
A 'Mayflower' Model. Mariner's Mirror 12:260-263. (R.C. Anderson)
Cooper, Winifred. Harwich, The Mayflower, and Christopher Jones. London 1970.