The Mayflower II and crew are making final preparations to sail north from Plymouth for its first Sail Boston appearance!
The boat that was made in England in 1957 was inspired by the ship the Pilgrims took across the Atlantic to land in Massachusetts.
While it’s rare to see the ship on the water, Captain Whit Perry said it’s a fully operational vessel that also serves as a floating classroom.
“This is huge,” he said about its first Sail Boston appearance on America 250. “Every time we sail it, we learn something new about what they would’ve done in the 17th century."
Sail Boston is an annual, summer festival that draws hundreds of international vessels of all kinds into the city’s harbor.
For the first time at the festival, the 135-foot long Mayflower II will be open to visitors and viewing starting July 11th.
Perry said the last time it left the Plymouth harbor for a sail was in August of 2025 in Cape Cod Bay.
His roughly 30-person crew is now working tirelessly on board to prepare for Thursday’s 8-10 hour journey to Boston.
He explained, “We’ll use a tugboat... to get in and out of the harbor, and then they let us go and we can sail.”
Perry continued, “It’s an inspiring moment for all the maritime commerce this country depended on to get where we are today.”
Tom Begley, executive director of the Plimoth Patuxet Museums, offers the public an up-close and personal look at some of our nation’s earliest history — including the Mayflower II.
“This is a whole other level of taking this on, and it takes a lot of prep,” he said. “It’s part of that foundational story of what the American history is... To see it up with the skyline of Boston, this should be a once in a lifetime.”
The boat is set to leave Plymouth on Thursday where the museums are expecting large crowds watching from the coast.
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