PLYMOUTH – The Mayflower II is in the midst of an extensive renovation effort to prepare the vessel for the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims arrival in America.
The Project means that the ship is away from its home port in Plymouth and has been for the last eight months. The Mayflower II will remain at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut for another nearly two additional years before all of the work is finally completed.
Professional shipbuilders are working in tandem with experts from Plymouth Plantation’s maritime department to replace timbers, planks, structural frames, and beams in the ships first major renovation since it was launched 60 years ago. Much of the handiwork is being done at Plymouth Plantation’s artisan shops before being sent to Mystic Seaport where the ship sits in dry-dock.
One of the major projects has involved the rigging. The Vessel was derigged of its more than 400 lines in Connecticut and each of those lines and blocks were sent back to Plymouth where they had to be inspected, repaired or replaced if necessary, and then cataloged.
Experts have also set out to disassemble and restore both of the Mayflower II’s gun carriages which has included adding new iron works.
The project is being funded through donations from individuals, both local and otherwise, and from a number of area businesses who are supported in large part by the tourism dollars brought in by the Mayflower II and Plymouth’s identification as America’s oldest town.
The ship is expected to return home to Plymouth by fall of 2019. Since it was first launched in 1956, roughly 25 million people have toured the Mayflower replica.
By David Beatty, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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