Lord West delivers Mayflower scroll to Plymouth

Admiral Lord West of Spithead, accompanied by two descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers disembarked at the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth to deliver a message for the Lord Mayor, Councillor Terri Beer.

The message was a report, in the absence of an official 17th century logbook for the voyage, from the Master of ‘The Mayflower’ Christopher Jones, describing the conditions at the new settlement of Plymouth Massachusetts, for the benefit of the 21st Century witnesses at the Mayflower Museum on The Barbican.

The Lord Mayor of Plymouth was then presented with a copy of the illuminated scroll, which Admiral Lord West had signed on behalf of the Lord’s Speaker together with Sir Lindsey Hoyle MP the Speaker of the House of Commons, to mark the 400th anniversary of the sailing of  ‘The Mayflower’, four hundred years ago. This was witnessed by the US Ambassador.

Last November, before Thanksgiving, the original signed scroll was dispatched by Thames Alive to Washington DC where it was presented to Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House of Representatives in a virtual ceremony witnessed by the US Embassy in London’s Cultural Attaché and the Chairman of the British American Parliamentary Group, Congressman Ron Kind. The Scroll is destined for display in the Library of Congress.

In Plymouth the final part of the ceremony was enacted by celebrating the safe return of ‘The Mayflower’ and her crew.

The Lord Mayor said on receiving the Scroll, “It is a welcome conclusion to both the original adventure and today’s commemoration that we can celebrate the safe return of one of our ships. Thank you, Admiral Lord West, for bringing your nautical influence to bear on today’s occasion.”