Restoring The Mayflower: A Ship With Two Histories

It’s not the original, but the Mayflower II is as close to the real thing as you’ll find.  Board the boat on a raw and windy day – as the Lafont family from Houston, Texas did – and it’s easy to imagine what it might have been like landing in Plymouth Harbor 400 years ago.

“It makes it more real,” said Laura Lafont as she leaned into the rail along a windswept deck. “These people weren’t out here on a nice sunny day on the beach.  This is a rough situation.”

Lafont is among the 300,000 people who visit the ship every year.   Her trip is well planned.   In November, the Mayflower II will be towed to Mystic, Connecticut where it will undergo a restoration project for the next two and a half years.

“Her sixtieth birthday is next year,” explained Kate Sheehan, a spokesperson for Plimouth Plantation, the organization that runs the Mayflower II ship and museum.  “We’ve taken care of her all this time but,  just like anybody else, when you get to be 60 you need a few tweaks.”

In the case of a ship, the cost of those tweaks is expected to reach $7.5 million.  Plimouth Plantation is now raising money for the project. Materials are being sourced from around the world to match the original construction.

Like the original, the Mayflower II was built in England.  In the wake of World War Two, the Mayflower Two was a gift of gratitude from Great Britain to the United States.   The boat sailed in 1957 from Plimouth, England to Plymouth, Massachusetts where the crew was greeted by a crowd of 25,000 people. 

 “So she tells two stories in one ship.  She tells the story of that 1620 passage, that voyage that made a nation”, said Sheehan, “but she also tells the story of friendships between nations”

The Mayflower Two last set sail two years ago for a PBS documentary called “The Pilgrims”.  After its 21st century restoration, the ship is expected to once again be sea-worthy.   It’s also expected to retain the bare bones feel of a 17th-century merchant ship.  

“This is one of most compelling things about this ship, it begs us to the question why would you do that?   Why bring family here?” said Sheehan.  “What would be the motivation for coming to a new place under these circumstances that were really quite challenging?  The ship really tells that story.”