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U.S. NEWS A7
Friday 24 November 2017

Smooth sailing so far on $7.5M makeover of Pilgrim ship

called a “worm shoe” — a they’re doing. Can you tell anything with a question
4-inch-thick piece of wood us what we can’t see? mark now, while we have
that runs the whole length Perry: There are 20 people the chance.
of the ship. It lets the worms working on the Mayflower
have a field day but not get II at any one time. They’re AP: Sea water actually pre-
into the main structure of working regular shifts, but serves a wooden ship like
the boat. That’s where we we’re paying a little over- this one. What happens
found evidence of worms. time so they don’t feel like when it’s on dry land for
The ship itself is OK. they have to put down so long? Is that bad for a
their tools if they’re in the boat?
AP: The shipyard’s live we- middle of something. There Perry: It can be. We’re very
bcam is pretty cool, but it’s are small teams working all proactive in spraying the
hard to tell how many peo- over the ship. As we take boat with salt water and an
ple are involved and what things apart, we’re fixing antifungal agent. q

In this Nov. 3, 2017 photo, shipwrights Jamie Kirschner, left, and
Tucker Yaro clean out the hold of the Mayflower II at Mystic Sea-
port’s H.B. duPont Preservation Shipyard in Mystic, Conn. Resto-
ration of the ship, a replica of the vessel that brought Pilgrims
to Massachusetts in 1620, is expected to be completed in 2019
when it will return to its home port in Plymouth, Mass.

(Sean D. Elliot/The Day via AP)

By WILLIAM J. KOLE for a progress report.
Associated Press
PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — If AP: You’re 12 months into
you’re a fan of the May- a 2½-year project involv-
flower II, here’s something ing major structural repairs
that will float your boat. to America’s most beloved
A year after craftsmen em- boat. Any unpleasant sur-
barked on an ambitious prises?
effort to restore the rotting Perry: Not really. I couldn’t
replica of the ship that car- be more pleased with the
ried the Pilgrims to the New progress we’re making
World in 1620, the work “is right now. We’ve had some
going really great,” project major milestones since we
manager Whit Perry says. began on Nov. 3, 2016. We
Britain built the vessel and have more than 100 new
sailed it to the U.S. as a gift frames and floor timbers in-
of friendship in 1957. Usu- side in the hold. Now we’re
ally it’s moored in Plym- actually going to start the
outh Harbor, where more planking process on the
than 25 million visitors outside of the ship, which is
have boarded it over the very exciting.
past six decades. But over
the years, the elements, AP: So nothing’s bugging
aquatic organisms and in- you? This time last year, on
sects took their toll. It’s now top of water damage and
in dry dock at the Henry B. dry rot, you had beetles
duPont Preservation Ship- chewing through the bot-
yard at Connecticut’s Mys- tom of the boat.
tic Seaport, getting a $7.5 Perry: Ah, yes, the wharf
million makeover in time for borer beetle. No, that’s
2020 festivities marking the been a minor issue. We did
400th anniversary of the find evidence of (Teredo
Pilgrim landing. The Associ- worms). This is a mollusk
ated Press caught up with that can grow up to three
Perry, director of maritime feet long and eats through
preservation and opera- wood. On the bottom of
tions at Plimoth Plantation , the keel, there’s something