In 1970 the United States commemorated the 350th Anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims with a special stamp. Some 13 years earlier The Mayflower II sailed from Plymouth, England to Plymouth Massachusetts. The original Mayflower set sail from Plymouth, England on 6 September 1620 with 102 Pilgrims aboard and about 25 crewmen. She carried all the supplies needed for the voyage and to start and sustain a colony until the first crops were harvested. She arrived at Cape Cod in November of that year.
 In 1920 the tercentenary of the landing in 1620 was commemorated by a set of three US stamps. The 1c value shows The Mayflower in full sail. The ship was broken up in 1624, but her stout timbers are still to be found in a barn built from them at Jordan, Buckinghamshire. The 2c value shows the Pilgrims landing, and the 5c shows the Signing of the Compact. The border at the left of each design presents a vertical row of hawthorn blossoms (the British Mayflower), and the border at the right contains a row of trailing arbutus (the American Mayflower) which tradition says was named by the Pilgrims after their ship.
The Mayflower II was built as a replica of the original ship at Brixton, England, measuring 104 feet long overall with a beam of 25½ feet. Although little technical information is known about the original ship, the designer, William A Baker used contemporary accounts of the ship's voyage to produce a merchant vessel as close to the original as possible.
She sailed from Plymouth, England on 20 April 1957 with a crew of 33 men, and completed the Atlantic crossing of more than 5,000 miles in 53 days, arriving in Plymouth, Massachusetts on 13 June. The ship is now berthed permanently at State Pier in Plymouth, Mass.
Some 100,000 souvenir covers were carried on the voyage, each bearing a special cachet showing the ship and inscribed "Mayflower Ship's Mail". These were all postmarked with a special cancellation. Captain Alan Villiers of The Mayflower II appointed Peter Padfield to be Chief of Post Office, and he was given the task of cancelling the covers. The covers were backstamped on arrival at Plymouth, Mass with a special slogan cancel announcing the arrival of the ship. This slogan cancel was in use for some months as I have an example dated 28 November 1957. If any reader can tell me how long it was in use I should be pleased to hear from them.
A re-creation of the original community established by the Pilgrims who arrived on The Mayflower can be seen at The Plimoth Plantation, Plymouth, Mass. Old records, eye-witness accounts by visitors to the original Pilgrim colony, archaeological research, and the history written by their leader, William Bradford have been used to reproduce the community as it was in the year 1627. |
