What became of the Mayflower? Searching for a lost ship in 1920s Britain
Channel: British Library
Date: 2021-02-19

Discover the remarkable hunt for the ‘real’ Mayflower in interwar Britain.

For Britons and Americans in the early twentieth century, the Mayflower voyage was a powerful symbol, not least of the shared past of the two nations. The myth of the heroic Pilgrims and their efforts to ‘civilise’ the wilderness of North America continued to be a potent symbol following victory in the First World War. But for some people in Britain, the Mayflower was not just a symbol, a myth, or an abstract idea: it was a little wooden ship.

In this talk, Dr Martha Vandrei will introduce the eccentric antiquarian and indefatigable hunter after manuscripts and artefacts, James Rendel Harris (1852-1941). Rendel was one of the period’s most unusual scholars and one the Mayflower’s most enthusiastic British supporters. In the years leading up to the 1920 tercentenary, Rendel undertook the task of tracking down the ‘real’ Mayflower. Delving into obscure evidence and drawing on a wealth of speculation, he left no stone unturned in his quest for the ship. For Rendel, finding the real Mayflower would be the key to cementing the Anglo-American alliance and thus ensuring peace in Europe and the world.

Speaker
Dr Martha Vandrei is a historian of British cultural and intellectual history and historical culture from about 1600. She is the Co-Investigator on the AHRC-funded project, Voyaging through history: the Mayflower in Britain, 1620-2020. She is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Exeter and is the author of Queen Boudica and Historical Culture in Britain: An Image of Truth (Oxford University Press, 2018).

Organised by the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library: https://www.bl.uk/eccles-centre 

The Voyaging Through History project: http://voyagingthroughhistory.exeter.ac.uk/ 

Our doors may be closed but you can help keep curious minds open for everyone. Support the British Library today: https://support.bl.uk/