Page 7 - Aruba-today-17 Sept 2020

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WORLD NEWS Thursday 17 sepTember 2020

High-tech UK-US ship launched on 400th Mayflower anniversary

By JILL LAWLESS out on its trans-Atlantic trip
PLYMOUTH, England (AP) — to measure ocean health:
With a splash of Plymouth assessing the impact of cli-
gin, the U.S. ambassador to mate change, measuring
Britain officially launched micro-plastic pollution and
a ship named Mayflower studying populations of
on Wednesday, 400 years whales and dolphins.
to the day after a wood- Along the way, its AI cap-
en vessel with that name tain will have to make com-
sailed from an English port plex decisions in response
and changed the history of to wind, waves, vessels and
two continents. unknown surprises.
Unlike the merchant ship "We're quietly confident
that carried a group of Eu- we're going to make it,"
ropean Puritan settlers to a Stanford-Clark said. "Ul-
new life across the Atlantic timately, the sea will de-
Ocean in 1620, the May- cide."
flower christened by U.S. Wednesday's event on
Ambassador Robert Wood Plymouth's seafront, yards
Johnson has no crew or from where the Mayflow-
passengers. It will cross the er passengers embarked
sea powered by sun and in 1620, was deliberately
wind, and steered by artifi- low-key to prevent large
cial intelligence. crowds from gathering in
Johnson said the high-tech breach of social distancing
ship, developed jointly by The Mayflower Autonomous Ship during a special ceremony to mark its launch in Plymouth south rules. Repeated reminders
U.K.-based marine research west England, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020. about hand sanitizer and
organization ProMare and Associated Press masks slightly undermined
U.S. tech giant IBM, showed the grandeur of the occa-
that "the pioneering spirit of cans and Dutch institutions "We don't expect people to nomic migrants," he said. sion.
the Mayflower really lives -- many of the 17th-century take one side or the other," The Mayflower Autono- But the Mayflower is woven
on" in the trans-Atlantic Pilgrims had fled England Peters said. "But certainly mous Ship — its creators into the fabric of Britain's
partnership. for Holland in the years be- the story of the Mayflower decided against a snap- chief naval city, and hun-
"We're heading out with fore the voyage — and the is one that really can't be pier name — is intended to dreds of people gathered
the same spirit of adven- Wampanoag people, who told without telling also the be the first in a new gener- along the seawall to watch
ture and determination had lived for millennia in story of the Wampanoag." ation of crewless high-tech the sleek new ship leave
and vision for the future" as what is now New England. The Mayflower voyage vessels that can explore harbor.
the original colonists, the In 1620, the Wampanoag plays a central role in Amer- parts of oceans too difficult Retired teacher Richard
American diplomat said at helped the exhausted May- ican history, but is less stud- or dangerous for people to Jackelman said he could
a ceremony also attended flower settlers survive their ied in Britain. Charles Hack- reach. remember as a boy join-
by the head of the Royal first winter. But soon colo- ett, chief executive of Brit- Andy Stanford-Clark, chief ing a 350th-anniversary pa-
Navy, Adm. Tony Radakin, nial expansion, conflict and ain's Mayflower 400 events, technology officer for IBM rade dressed as a Pilgrim
and Dutch Ambassador new diseases were having said he had been surprised U.K. and Ireland, said the and making money off the
Karel van Oosterom. a devastating impact on how much the story "really ship's launch "is a very ex- many American tourists
Like the Mayflower in 1620, North America's indigenous resonates and is important citing stage of the journey who came to town.
the new vessel will travel peoples. to different communities" towards autonomous ship- "I used to sell bits of con-
from Plymouth, England, to Wampanoag stories have in the U.K., from the towns ping" that could pave the crete here as a kid, saying
Plymouth, Massachusetts, been marginalized on past that nurtured the Puritans way for AI-driven cargo that the Pilgrim Fathers had
but on a marine research Mayflower anniversaries, to Harwich, the eastern ships, water taxis and re- sat on it — and the Ameri-
trip rather than a colony- but they are playing a big England port where the search vessels -- as well as cans would buy it!" he said.
founding journey. The coro- part in events and exhibi- Mayflower was built. warships. Jackelman is proud of Plym-
navirus pandemic has de- tions this time around. He thinks the 17th century Radakin, the British navy outh's association with the
layed its trip until the spring 'It's going a long way to voyage, with "people des- chief, said he was excited Mayflower, which he thinks
of 2021. lend balance to this story," perately crossing oceans," by the potential of auto- epitomizes a British spirit of
The ship's launch in Plym- said Paula Peters, a Wam- also strikes a chord with mation to increase "our adventure. He's sorry to see
outh, 200 miles (320 kilome- panoag writer and educa- many in our era of global availability, our sustainabil- events disrupted because
ters) southwest of London, tor who has helped create pandemic, climate crisis ity and our lethality." of the pandemic.
is part of Mayflower com- anniversary exhibitions, in- and mass migration. While The 50-foot (15-meter) tri- "The anniversary means a
memorations disrupted by cluding one opening later half the Mayflower's pas- maran will undertake six lot," he said. "It was going
the coronavirus pandemic. this month at The Box mu- sengers were religious dis- months of sea trials and to be such a wonderful
They involve British, Ameri- seum in Plymouth. senters, the rest "were eco- short trips before setting year."q