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| The Mayflower II undergoing repair at the shipyard at the Mystic Seaport Museum |
Anyone visiting the wonderful museum at Mystic, Connecticut
called Mystic Seaport can see the Mayflower
II at the Henry B. DuPont Preservation shipyard undergoing repairs. This is the historic vessel preservation
shipyard in New England. However, this
weekend a small group of lucky members of the Plimoth Plantation Museum (home
of the Mayflower II) were able to
tour inside the ship while it was under renovations!
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| Here we are next to Mayflower II |
Genealogy blogger June Butka joined us for this very special
tour. Tickets for this event were sold
out weeks ago. We met up with the tour
at the Mystic Seaport visitor center and headed over to the shipyard where we
heard from Quentin Snedicker of Mystic, and from Whit Perry, the associate director of the Mayflower II maritime preservation project for Plimoth Plantation, and also from Richard
Pickering, the deputy director of Plimoth Plantation, about the repairs underway on
the Mayflower.
I wrote about a tour we did with Plimoth Plantation of the Mayflower II when she was in drydock inFairhaven in 2014. Some of those repairs
were found to be inadequate when Mayflower
II was in Mystic's shipyard for a short time in 2015.
The new plan is for a complete restoration of the ship at a total cost of $9
million. This will make the Mayflower II seaworthy, and
authentically restored according to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards
for Historic Vessel Preservation Projects. Unfortunately, these massive repairs, which
include the keel, might take as long as 30 to 36 months. The plan is to have her returned to her berth
in Plymouth harbor in time for the 400th anniversary of her famous
voyage in 1620.
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| Vincent and June board the Mayflower II |
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| Notice that the artisans are using traditional wooden tools |
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| New beams installed on the rear half deck |
The Mayflower II
was a gift from England to the United States in 1957. It was a “thank you” for assistance from the
US during World War II. Since 1957 about
25 million people have visited the Mayflower
II in Plymouth and in other ports. This
June Mayflower II will return briefly
to Plymouth harbor for the summer season, but the real renovation work will
begin next fall back in Mystic.
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| 42 members joined Mystic Seaport staff for this tour, and see how crowded we were? Imagine 102 passengers in this space in 1620, plus pigs, chickens and 2 dogs, plus all their belongings and the shallop! For a 66 day journey! |
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| Below deck you can see new wood joined with wood from the original 1957 shipbuilders. |
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| Below deck, where the Mayflower Pilgrims stayed during the 1620 voyage, Whit Perry describes the 1957 ship and her current renovations. |
Mayflower II will be pulled out of the
water and raised up in drydock where the Amistad
(another famous ship from American history) now stands in the shipyard. Then the most crucial and extensive repair
works will begin and last through 2018 or 2019.
This extensive work means that she will not be available to view in
Plymouth, but you can keep tabs on her by visiting Mystic Seaport Museum.
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| Quentin Snedicker of Mystic Seaport describes the overhaul, standing next to the Amistad in drydock |
Vincent and I enjoyed our wonderful tour of the preservation project
of Mayflower II ongoing at the Mystic Seaport shipyard
You can help keep Mayflower
II afloat! Every gift makes a
difference!
Write a check to the Development Office, Plimoth Plantation,
PO Box 1620, Plymouth, MA 02362
Make a donation by credit card at www.plimoth.org or call the development
office at 508-746-1622 (ext. 8226)
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| Richard Pickering, Deputy Director at Plimoth Plantation gave a passionate speech to us during lunch. |
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For the truly curious:
Watch a video of the restoration of Mayflower II at Mystic Seaport
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-KVZ_dhH1M
Read my blog post about seeing Mayflower II in drydock in Fairhaven in 2013, when the extent of
the repair work needed was discovered by the preservation crew:
Plimoth Plantation webpage for Mayflower II http://www.plimoth.org/what-see-do/mayflower-ii
The webpage for donations towards Mayflower II restoration https://plimothplantation.cloverdonations.com/save-our-ship/
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| Old tools and new tools being used by the preservation crew at Mystic shipyard |
Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "The Mayflower II under renovation at the Mystic Seaport Shipyard", Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 9, 2016, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-mayflower-ii-under-renovation-at.html: accessed [access date]).
Too bad I had to work, I would have enjoyed coming. When it returns in the fall, I'll take the grandchildren! Enjoyed your story and photos.
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