Drawn like a magnet, folks from around the area converged by foot, bicycle, and auto on the downtown Plymouth dock to welcome the return home of the Mayflower II. The vessel (approaching outside the harbor in the center distance above) had spent the winter in Connecticut for periodic maintenance and painting.
Even the dogs sensed something big was happening. Either that or, more likely, there were some great scents on the breeze.
Timing is everything - this could have been a great image but for split-second timing. The main elements are just not quite right. Oh well, better luck next time.
A juxtaposition of various types of seagoing vessels. (A patch of cloud passed overhead the Mayflower which rendered this darker look).
Approaching the harbor entrance, passing Long Beach in the background, the harbor breakwater in the foreground. (She was tugged in stern first since that is how the docking needed to occur.
Tugged into the harbor against a very stiff breeze.
Almost home.
Plymouth Harbor is the permanent home of the Mayflower II, a replica constructed in the mid-1950's of the original Mayflower that carried the Pilgrims from England to the "New World" in 1620. The replica was built in Devonshire, England by private donations from folks in both countries and sailed to the United States in 1957. It is a very popular tourist attraction here in "America's Hometown."
The original Mayflower journey took 66 days with 102 passengers and crew of 25-30 in a vessel approximately 100 feet long by 25 feet wide. They arrived on November 11, remained living on board the ship until spring, and when the winter ended barely half the colony was still alive. Imagine all those people living in cold New England winter conditions in a space smaller than a tennis court. Some hearty folk those Pilgrims. According to the Mayflower Society, there are approx 10 million descendants from that original group.
The crowd of many hundreds, young and old, burst into applause as she edged into the dock.
Setting the lines to tether her to the dock.
Welcome home, Mayflower II!
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