PILGRIM FATHERS’ VESSEL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 176, 27 June 1932, Page 10

PILGRIM FATHERS’ VESSEL.

AMERICAN SEEKS OWNERSHIP. Mayflower Barn, the three-centuries-old Quaker relic near Friends’ Meeting- House, Jordans, Buckinghamshire —reputed to have been built from the original timbers of the Pilgrim Fathers’ vessel —may go to America.

Mr R.. S. Uzzel, a New York manufacturer, who sailed for America a few weeks ago, has been negotiating to remove the barn, timber by timber, and to re-erect it at Plymouth, Massacliussets, the Pilgrim Fathers’ landing place, as a shrine to his ancestors. In its place at Jordans he proposes to build a replica in British oak. If Mr Uzzel’s offer is accepted by the Society of Friends, the present owners of Mayflower Barn, he plans to pump a colourless preservative under high pressure into the wood to arrest further decay. To ensure that the barn stands in America exactly ns it stands at Jordans, every beam and plank would be numbered and the position of every bolt hole shown on plans made by skilled draughtsmen. To guard against the plan being lost or destroyed, it will be reproduced in triplicate on sheets of linen. One of these will be deposited in a fire-proof safe in New York.

“Nothing is settled yet,” Mr Uzzel said. “There is, of course, a great deal of sentiment attached to the barn, and the Friends might not like to part with it. I appreciate that and am prepared to wait for the decision of the people interested. “If sanction is given I shall return to England to supervise the work. Actually, the barn has more historical interest in America than over here, because the majority of the Pilgrim Fathers’ descendants are there.” When asked for further details of his offer Mr Uzzel replied: “We have a saying in America that before you can make rabbit soup you must first catch your rabbit—that is my position.”

Tbe Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth, Massachussets, on December 22, 1620. The Mayflower was broken up on the Thames in 1624.