The biggest benefit of using an indentured or contract bound servant was that they got free passage to the New World. It was the indentured servants who did most of the dirty and dangerous work in the New World since they were non essential and of little significance.
The drawback of using indentured or contract bound servants for labor was that they were only able to work for someone for a certain number of years as mentioned in their contracts. Then they had to be set free unlike the slaves who did not needed to be set free after a certain time period.
Forty-five of the 102 Mayflower passengers died in the winter of 1620–21, and the Mayflower colonists suffered greatly during their first winter in the New World from lack of shelter, scurvy, and general conditions on board ship. They were buried on Cole's Hill.
