The Day Our Ship Came In

Sixty years ago, the Mayflower II turned back the clock to New England’s Pilgrim era.

o the faithful few keeping watch on the Plymouth, Massachusetts, waterfront on June 13, 1957, the first sighting of the Mayflower II was of “a ghostly shape emerging out of the early morning haze,” as a local reporter put it. It was a fitting debut for the replica of a ship that Plymouth hadn’t seen for more than three centuries. Word soon spread, and by the time the Mayflower II which had drawn a flotilla of some 300 local craft—was moored in the harbor, more than 25,000 thronged the shore. Hundreds of journalists were on hand, too, to record the end of the ship’s 54-day, 5,500-mile trip from England; Jack Chase of Boston’s Channel 4 could be seen reporting in Pilgrim garb. Vice President Richard Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy would join in the two weeks of celebrations, as would members of New England’s Native American tribes. It was a triumph for a ship that some said would never make it. A gift to the U.S. from England, the Mayflower replica was built using 17th-century techniques and set sail without the benefit of a trial run. It almost capsized on launch, and its rolling and pitching in waves—“like a wild little bronco,” in the words of Captain Alan Villiers—tested even the most seasoned of its 33-member crew. In the voyage’s final days, the ship had to furl all its sails to ride out a howling gale that drove it 70 miles off course.

Even after its successful landing and transition into a popular floating museum, however, the challenges weren’t over. Last November, its seaworthiness in peril, the aging ship was towed to Connecticut’s Mystic Seaport for a 30-month rebuild. Part of the goal is to have it ready for the 400th anniversary of the original Plymouth landing, in 2020—when faithful fans might see the Mayflower II, sails flying, emerge from the haze of history once again. —Jenn Johnson