Mayflower II - History

History

In August 1954 Warwick Charlton conceived the idea to construct a reproduction of the Mayflower to commemorate the wartime cooperation between the United Kingdom and the USA. He had served alongside many American allies in the North African theatre during World War II. Project Mayflower was created in 1955 to build a replica of the Mayflower in England and sail the ship to the United States as a symbol of Anglo-American friendship.

The project's sponsors wanted to ensure proper siting of the ship after it reached the United States. They were aware that earlier reproduction vessels had rotted away after interest in their initial voyages faded. Project Mayflower learned of the Plimoth Plantation museum, and in March 1955, John Lowe of Project Mayflower came to the United States. He met with representatives of Plimoth Plantation to gain assistance in future berthing and exhibition of Mayflower II.

Plimoth Plantation had planned, years earlier, to add a replica of the Mayflower to its exhibits. In 1951, the museum had already commissioned plans for a Mayflower II from the naval architect William A. Baker of MIT. Baker's detailed plans had been finished by the time Project Mayflower announced its goals. A waterline model of the vessel's hull had also been built, but nothing more.

By the spring of 1955, the two organizations negotiated an agreement: in exchange for using Baker's design plans and advice, plus the Plimouth Plantations' guarantee to maintain and exhibit the vessel permanently, Project Mayflower agreed to build Mayflower II, and sail it across the Atlantic. After visiting various East Coast ports to exhibit the ship, the Project would release it to Plimoth Plantation.

The construction of Mayflower II was conducted at the Upham shipyard in Brixham, Devonshire, England. The ship's keel was laid on July 27, 1955, and ship architect William A. Baker was sent by Plimoth Plantation to advise the builders and view the progress of the ship's construction.

The ship was replicated as accurately as possible, with carefully chosen English oak timbers, hand-forged nails, hand-sewn linen canvas sails, hemp cordage, and the Stockholm tar of the type used on 17th-century ships. Based on analysis of the traditional colors and designs of English merchant ships illustrated in Dutch and English paintings, Mayflower II has the brown hull and the dark-red strapwork ornamentation of those 17th-century merchant ships. Carved into the stern of Mayflower II is a blossom of a hawthorne, or English mayflower. In England, the skills of elderly traditional workmen were employed to build a vessel reflected Baker's detailed research and could sail the Atlantic as securely as the original ship.

The Mayflower II was launched on September 22, 1956, a rainy day. The ceremony was based on knowledge about christenings of 17th-century vessels. The ship was toasted from a gold loving cup that was afterward thrown into the water, and then quickly retrieved by an underwater diver, in the traditional manner. The ship slid gracefully down the ways to enter Brixham harbor with a large splash.

On April 20, 1957, Mayflower II began the solitary voyage across the Atlantic. For time and to avoid the risk of winter ice, the new ship took a more southerly route than the original Mayflower in September 1620, but otherwise, the voyage was an accurate replication of a period ocean crossing. The weather cooperated; Mayflower II first sailed calm seas and then met a violent storm off Bermuda, common weather for a transatlantic crossing.

The ship has been a popular attraction near Boston; it has become the site of national and state celebrations. On Thanksgiving 1970 (the 350th anniversary of Mayflower landing), members of the American Indian Movement (AIM), led by Russell Means, seized Mayflower II in protest of the United States government's failure to abide by treaties with American Indians and its historically poor treatment of them.