Stone considers the conception, construction, and subsequent history of the Mayflower II replica in the context of its time and particularly in the context of the Anglo-American world of the mid- to late twentieth century, especially the relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States. While the author does pay sufficient attention to the vessel itself for his purposes, there is more emphasis on the people involved in the project, their personalities and agendas—and the conflicts between those.
For Nautical Research Guild members, it is worth pointing out that, for those interested in a more technical focus on the design choices made by Mayflower II’s designer and builder, and in the history of our attempt to learn how seventeenth-century ships were designed, which is an important story in ship history and the history of technology, this is not that book. Stone does mention the initial-stability problem apparent upon launching the vessel, but does not then delve into the design choices behind that, and why they were made, and what subsequent investigations and discoveries have taught us about that. This replica, and the first set of Jamestown replicas, were part of a renewed interest in colonial North American history widespread at the time, to which Stone alludes but, again, that is not a focus of his book.
The book was inspired by the author’s learning of the role that the project’s prime mover, Warwick Charlton, had played in its conception and realization. Charlton, and his partner, John Lowe, were to some extent sidelined at, and after, the point at which the replica successfully made it to the United States in 1957, and Stone takes up the task of relating how they managed to realize the project despite significant odds. Those odds included the challenges facing the Anglo-American relationship at the time, as well as those facing a financially-strapped United Kingdom, all of which were suddenly exacerbated and strained by the Suez Crisis and the formation of the European Economic Community—which excluded the United Kingdom. For this reviewer, the most interesting thread in the book is that which ties these world-events to the fate and role of Mayflower II, which became both a diplomatic asset and liability, as Stone explains. As it was published this year, the book does treat the major restoration of the replica completed in 2019, and points out that the replica had, since its launch and restoration, become a historic vessel in its own right, as acknowledged by its designation in the National Register of Historic Places.
Stone is a veteran journalist who is personally involved with the Mayflower II. His book is pitched to a general readership, with no maritime technical knowledge. Its most obvious audience would be those with an existing interest in the replica, which has long been a cultural institution in New England, and those interested in the development of “heritage” for public consumption, with its uneasy relationship between commerce, education, and politics.
