PLYMOUTH – The Mayflower II is heading to Connecticut for winter maintenance work.
The replica of the ship that carried the Pilgrims to Massachusetts in 1620, left Plymouth yesterday and passed through the Cape Cod Canal before stopping in New Bedford for the night.
“Mayflower II is really essential not just to Plimoth Plantation but I really think it’s nationally relevant,” said Plantation Spokesperson Kate Sheehan. “For us she’s a floating classroom and she has an educational mission in that way.”
The ship is being towed by a tug boat and will head to Connecticut today after spending Tuesday night in New Bedford. It will eventually be housed at the Mystic Seaport’s Henry B. DuPont Preservation Shipyard for the winter where repairs and maintenance will be conducted.
“She’s had wonderful maintenance here at Plimoth Plantation for many years but she just really needs a decent retrofit to make it to 100 years,” said Sheehan.
Eight crewmembers from Plimoth Plantation’s Maritime Preservation and Operation group is accompanying the ship.
The Mayflower II was a gift from the British government to thank the U.S. for its role in World War II in 1957.
By JUSTIN SAUNDERS, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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