In the summer of 1620, a band of Puritans embark for the Mayflower, which rides at anchor offshore. They had lived for twelve years in Holland, the only country in Europe at the time which offered religious liberty to them. Now, around 120 of them had decided to cross the Atlantic in search of greater freedom. Starting from Holland they had stopped at Southampton to reorganise their expedition. On the beach pious co-religionaries kneel to pray divine favour on their enterprise. Ahead of the pilgrims, across thousands of miles of sea, was a precarious home in their new colony of New England. In a few years it was to attract nearly 20,000 English Puritans, and become the origin of the New England settlements of North America.

This was the first picture of the series which Cope embarked on. The commission was for a painting to the title: A Puritan Family Leaving for New England - an event imagined to happen some years later, around the time of the Civil War.