Boat? What Boat?

Last year a group of people I know went on a ride to Plymouth Massachusetts, where I have heard, they were not all that impressed with that tiny rock the Pilgrims supposedly landed on. Legend has it that it was bigger than it is now but over the centuries Souvenir Hunters were continually chipping pieces of it off and taking them. Looking at it today I would have to say they must have taken roughly 10 times its current weight in collectibles or it would not have been worth remembering which rock they stepped on.

Anyway, the Pilgrims came across the ocean from England and as Eddie Izzard put it, "The Pilgrims left Plymouth and landed in Plymouth...How lucky was that?"

Anyway, Back to the boat that I haven;'t said anything about yet. Years after the Pilgrims came over, actually years and years (and years) there was a reproduction of the vessel built. Now if you think Plymouth Rock is small, you should see what they sailed across the ocean in, For myself, I'm not sure if it would even classify as a coastal sailing vessel. The size of the Mayflower's reproduced self leaves me with two thoughts, first, the Pilgrims must have really hated England to get in that canoe, (which makes me wonder why, when they arrived, they named the place after the place they left) and second..Pilgrims had Big Balls, (except of course the women, maybe (it was a long time ago so who knows)).

Back to the boat, I asked a couple of my friends who rode to Plymouth what they thought of the size of the boat. the reply I received was, "What boat?"

Well, to those who did not see said Mayflower, I post a picture of it here, You see the reason it wasn't at Plymouth Massachusetts was because it sailed to Mystic Ct. where it was to receive much needed restoration and care...

So here she is, Dry Docked at the Mystic Seaport Museum...

You can see from the photo she really isn't a mighty sailing vessel, of course I have heard she was much larger but souvenir hunters....

To be totally honest I would not have braved the Atlantic in this ship, a friend of mine once sailed from New York to England on the Queen Mary 2, He said "Walking up to her when she was at dock was awe inspiring, she was gigantic, but, out in the Ocean...We hit an area where the waves were so big the entire ship would be down in a trough, when the Ocean has it's back up, No ship is large enough."

Queen Mary 2 on left, Queen Elizabeth 2 on right. If you look close I believe the Mayflower is hanging on the fifth lifeboat davit back. (You didn't really look did you?)