The Mayflower II in Plymouth, Aug. 2004

The Mayflower II is a replica of the 17th century ship Mayflower, best known for transporting the Pilgrims to the New World. The replica was built in Devon, England, during 1955-1956, in a collaboration between Englishman Warwick Charlton and an American museum, the Plimoth Plantation, combining the American museum's ship blueprints with construction by old traditional methods of English shipbuilders. On April 20, 1957, recreating the original voyage, Mayflower II was sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, under the command of Alan Villiers. Afterwards, Villiers and crew received a ticker-tape parade in New York City.

Built at the Upham Shipyard in Brixham and financed by private donations in England and by the American museum, the ship was a symbol of friendship between England and the U.S. for collaboration in World War II.

Within a few details (electric lights added and ladder replaced with a lower-deck staircase), the ship is considered a faithful replica, with solid oak timbers, tarred hemp rigging, and hand-colored maps. The ship is 106 by 25-ft wide, 236 tons displacement, 4 masts (mainmast, foremast, mizzen, sprit), and 6 sails.

On Thanksgiving 1970 (350th anniversary of Mayflower landing), American Indian activists (with Russell Means) seized Mayflower II in protest. The ship is seaworthy and sailed to Providence, RI in 2002. It is open for tours near Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, MA. The ship is still owned by Plimoth Plantation.

The concept of constructing a reproduction of the Mayflower had been conceived in August 1954 by Mr. Warwick Charlton, to commemorate the wartime cooperation between England and the U.S., having served alongside many Americans in North Africa in World War II. Consequently, Project Mayflower was created in 1955 to build a replica of the Mayflower and sail the ship to America as a symbol of Anglo-American friendship.

A concern of the project's sponsors was placement of the ship after it reached the United States. They were aware of the fate of earlier reproduction vessels that had rotted away after interest in their initial voyages faded. Project Mayflower had become aware 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.

By coincidence, 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. Mr. Baker's detailed plans had already been finished by the time Project Mayflower's intentions were announced. A waterline model of the vessel's hull had already been built, but nothing more.

The two organizations arranged an agreement in the spring of 1955: in exchange for using Mr. Baker's design plans and advice, plus a guarantee to permanently maintain and exhibit the vessel, Project Mayflower agreed to build Mayflower II, sail it across the Atlantic, and release the ship to Plimoth Plantation after sailing the ship for exhibition at various East Coast ports.

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 made as accurate as possible, from the carefully chosen English oak timbers, to the hand-forged nails, hand-sewn linen canvas sails, actual 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 the hawthorne, or English mayflower. In England, the skills of elderly traditional workmen were employed to build a vesse