The men appointed to the third and final exploration were Myles Standish, John Carver, William Bradford, Edward Winslow, John Tilley, Edward Tilley, John Howland, Richard Warren, Stephen Hopkins, Edward Doty, John Allerton, and Thomas English.  From the Mayflower's crew came John Clarke, Robert Coppin, the master gunner, and three sailors. 

Organizing everybody together took nearly the whole day, but finally towards the late afternoon the expedition got on its way.  They immediately found themselves struggling to make any headway against the freezing winds.  One of the men recorded "it was very cold, for the water froze on our clothes, and made them many times like coats of iron."  They sailed along the coast looking for rivers and bays, until they came across what is now Wellfleet Harbor.  Evening was drawing near, so they made landfall near modern-day Eastham.  As they arrived, they saw a number of Indians cleaning a large black fish on the shoreline.  When the Indians saw the Pilgrims coming in, they ran off.  The sun was quickly setting, so they gathered firewood, set out their guards, and set up camp for the night.  In the distance, they guessed about five miles, they could see the smoke from the Indians' fires.  And no doubt the Indians could see the smoke of their fire too.

In the morning, the explorers split up into two groups, one to explore the area by the shallop, and the others to explore by land.  They found it to be only a bay, with no significant rivers of any kind.  Those on the land followed some Indian footprints along the sands, and then went into the woods where they passed some ponds, some old cornfields, and another graveyard.  They then encountered about five abandoned Indian houses that did not appear to have been lived in recently.  As night drew closer, they rejoined the men who were out in the shallop, gathered firewood, fixed a small supper (they had eaten nothing all day), and made their barricade for the night.

About midnight, one of the sentinels, or watchmen, woke everyone up, "Arm! Arm!"  Everyone awoke to hear "a great and hideous

 cry".  They shot off their muskets a few times into the air, and the noise stopped.  They all wondered what it could be?  Some of the Mayflower's sailors said they had heard such noises in Newfoundland, and that they were from wolves or foxes.  At about five in the morning, they began to wake up and prepare their breakfast and pack for the day's voyage onward, when all of a sudden "we heard a great and strange cry, which we knew to be the same voices," and one of the men came running back to camp yelling "They are men, Indians! Indians!" and immediately thereafter "their arrows came flying amongst us".  Several of the Pilgrims fired their muskets into the darkness.  One of the Indians was standing behind a nearby tree, and the Pilgrims shot at him three times before he finally took off and yelled for the others to follow.  It was over almost as quickly as it began.  Arrows and gunshots were exchanged.  Yet surprisingly nobody on either side was injured.  The Pilgrims nicknamed the place "The First Encounter".

The Pilgrims left shortly after the skirmish, continuing on around the Cape, looking for any kind of decent river or harbor around which they could locate their little colony.  After about two hours, it began to snow and rain, and the seas began to get very rough.  The rudder hinges then broke, so they had to steer the shallop with oars.  As night approached, they finally saw Plymouth Harbor, and struggled against the wind and seas to get the little shallop headed in the right direction.  Just as they were about to get in, a stiff wind picked up, and broke their mast into three pieces.  Luckily, the tide was with them, and they were able to slip into the harbor by oars and paddling alone.  The sun had set, and darkness was quickly falling, so they beached themselves on a sandy island, which they named Clark's Island, in honor of John Clark, the Mayflower's Mate who miraculously piloted the beaten and battered shallop into the island before night had totally fallen upon them.

Saturday morning, December 10, they tired and beaten men explored the island, thinking it might be a good place to build their town; and in the meantime some of them patched up their shallop.  The next day, Sunday, they honored the Sabbath and did not work; so they stayed on the island all day Sunday as well.

On Monday, with calmer weather, they explored the harbor, and they liked what they saw.  The harbor was big and deep enough for ships to anchor safely.  And there were small brooks, nice hills, and cleared land.  They returned to the Mayflower, still anchored off the tip of Cape Cod, and brought everyone the good news: they found a good place to build their plantation!

Map of the Pilgrim's exploration, December 6-12, 1620