MAYFLOWER II (square-rigged sailing ship)

History

Mayflower II is a reproduction of the 17th-century ship Mayflower, celebrated for transporting the Pilgrims to the New World in 1620.

The reproduction was built in Devon, England during 1955–1956, in a collaboration between Englishman Warwick Charlton and Plimoth Patuxet (at the time known as Plimoth Plantation), a living history museum. The work drew upon reconstructed ship blueprints held by the American museum, along with hand construction by English shipbuilders using traditional methods.

Mayflower II was sailed from Plymouth, Devon on April 20, 1957, recreating the original voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, under the command of Alan Villiers.

According to the ship's log, Mayflower II arrived at Plymouth on June 13; it was towed up the East River into New York City on Monday, July 1, 1957, where Villiers and crew received a ticker-tape parade. The ship was listed on the US National Register of Historic Places in 2020.

The ship was built at the Upham Shipyard in Brixham and financed by private donations in England and Plimoth Plantation. It represented the alliance between the United Kingdom and the United States for collaboration during the Second World War. The ship is considered a faithful generic reproduction within a few details (electric lights added and ladder replaced with a lower-deck staircase), with solid oak timbers, tarred hemp rigging, and hand-coloured maps. It is 106 ft (32 m) long by 25 ft (7.6 m) wide, 236 tons displacement, three masts (mainmast, foremast, mizzen), a bowsprit and 6 sails.

The ship is seaworthy and sailed to Providence, Rhode Island in 2002. In December 2012, Mayflower II was towed to dry dock at Fairhaven Shipyard in Fairhaven, Massachusetts for Coast Guard inspection as well as repairs. The repairs took longer than originally planned because unexpected damage was discovered during the inspection. Repairs were eventually completed and Mayflower II returned to her berth in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on August 7, 2013. In December 2015, the ship arrived at the Henry B. duPont Preservation Shipyard at the Mystic Seaport in Mystic, CT for restoration. The ship returned temporarily to Plymouth for the 2016 summer season and has returned permanently in 2020, just in time for the 400th anniversary of the pilgrims' arrival.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. The official nomination form is linked under Sources.