Abstract

Life: Aboard the Mayflower

This article focuses on the history of the ship named Mayflower, the foundation of Yankee genealogy. Perhaps the first false note was that it was two English public-relations men, who had the dream, in 1952. The English have a genius for relieving their past, but the Mayflower is the American past, wrapped in three centuries of kindly English scorn. Of course a real anniversary for the Mayflower, the 350th, would come in 1970, but by then the Americans would have thought of it themselves. A group of New York firms backing New York's Summer Festival and calling itself Mayflower Ltd., got into the act, to get the Mayflower as a summer side-show. Even this money seemed to have run out about the time the ship was towed out of Brixham, England, where she was built, for the towing firm promptly sued for payment. Mayflower was often used to carry pilgrims.