Hello everyone. I'm new to the series and have so far loved Ultima IV's gameplay and charm. However having started as a fighter and spawning in Jhelom, I have no idea how the heck I'm supposed to get to the mainland. I've taken the Moongate to Skara Brae but that is pretty much all I could figure out to do. Can I buy a boat or something? I'm really lost here.

3 options that I can think of off hand:

1. Wait for the moongate again. The second moon is what determines where you will go.

2. Use the Blink spell. If you are in Skara Brae and haven't recruited anyone else yet, and your virtue isn't horrible, there's someone you can recruit who can cast the spell, and there's a store that sells reagents.

3. Deathwarp. Die on purpose, and you will end up at Lord British's castle, albeit with your Food and Gold set to 200 (IIRC) and any non-equipped weapons and armor lost.

Also, you might want to consider restarting again and picking a different virtue; Fighter is probably the second-worst class in the game. (Avoid Humility as well; Shepherds are the worst class and have a *very* bad starting position.)

The way to get a boat in this game is to wait at the shore for a pirate ship to attack you. Then kill the pirates and you've got yourself a boat. Might be a little hard at level one, though.

If I were you I'd take another moongate. When the moongate appears, don't step right into it, but wait a moment for the second moon to change it's phase some more and then step into the moongate. It then leads you to a different location. Just teleport around till you get to the mainland and then start exploring.

Actually, unless you're a Shepherd, you start the game at at least level 2.

Also, I believe that ships will not appear until a certain number of turns have elapsed. You know the number of moves the game displays when you save? That number has to be high enough in order for ships to start appearing. (Also, be aware that, if the number gets above a certain point, you will eventually have to fight enemies like dragons and hydras on the world map.)

(Note that the NES adaptation of the game works differently in this respect; in that version, your main character must be at least level 4 (IIRC) for ships to start appearing. Note that this version (I call it an adaptation rather than a port for this reason) differs drastically from other versions of the game in many other respects; the combat mechanics are completely different, for example.)