Message from First Colony Governor, Helen Rancan
The Mayflower and the Lusitania; a three-hundred-year connection
Recently, I read Erik Larson’s brilliant account of the last crossing of the mighty RMS Lusitania in his book “Dead Wake”. True to the book’s back cover claim, this writing brings the “disaster whose intimate details and true meaning have long been obscured by history” as we were taught in school that the fateful sinking of this luxury ocean liner in May 1915 was the immediate catalyst for our military involvement in the Great War, but hold that thought for a moment.
When our Mayflower ancestors arrived at Plymouth Rock, they did not immediately or permanently disembark from their contemporary version of an ocean liner. Indeed, they arrived in the cold of a New England December. The Mayflower was transformed into an anchored home for women, for children, for exhausted men after long building days on shore and for the dying, until enough land-based accommodations were completed. According to another fantastic book entitled simply “Mayflower” by Nathaniel Philbrick, the final weeks of January 1621 were spent cleaning out the Mayflower of goods and moving people and items into the seven homes which were built that first year. It must have been an emotional, and perhaps spiritual, experience for the surviving Plymouth Planation citizens when, in the first week of April 1621, the Mayflower set sail back to England. That ship represented strength, safety and the familiar ties between New England and England.
Jump now to May 7, 1915, and the RMS Lusitania is sunk by the German U-20 Submarine off the coast of Ireland, near Queenstown (now Cobh) resulting in many lost men, women and children. America did not immediately declare war on the Germany Empire because of that modern ocean liner attack. Indeed, it would take nearly two more years until Congress declared war in April 1917 and Mr. Larson writes about all those details in his fantastic book.
From Boston, a fleet of six US Navy destroyers, which were some of the most advanced vessels at the time, set sail for that same southern coast of Ireland; the flagship was christened after Commodore Alexander Scammel Wadsworth, who had family ties back to Plymouth. Almost on the exact two-year anniversary of the sinking of RMS Lusitania, the might of the US Navy arrived in May 4, 1917 to a warm welcome which included the playing of our National Anthem, hundreds of cheering onlookers, colorful banners and a small-boat regatta, full of civilians, packed Cork Harbour to warmly welcome us back home, in a sense. As Mr. Larson writes, the scene of American strength, safety and familiar ties, sailing from Boston to the British Isles was captured in a 5x7 foot oil painting by the British artist Bernard Gribble in 1919 entitled (The So-Called) “Return of the Mayflower”, paying homage to that very ship, which over 300 years earlier had brought our ancestors from England to Plymouth. The USS Wadsworth (DD-60) was painted leading the way and as Mr. Larson writes, “These were the descendants of the colonials returning now at Britain’s hour of need.”
In 1919, Franklin Roosevelt commissioned Gribble for smaller oil paintings of that same scene, along with Gribble’s matching painting depicting the surrender of the German fleet. These paintings were on display in the US Navy Department when Mr. Roosevelt was the Assistant Secretary of the US Navy and later, in the White House Oval Office during his presidency.
Today, President Roosevelt’s prized paintings are jointly owned by the National Park Service and the National Archives. (The So-Called) “Return of the Mayflower” is on display at the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site and its companion, “Surrender of the German Fleet”, is on display in the President’s Study at the FDR Library.
Please join us at our spring meeting and luncheon in April, the details of which are included in this newsletter.
First Colony Governor
Helen Rancan
Spring 2025
Recently, I read Erik Larson’s brilliant account of the last crossing of the mighty RMS Lusitania in his book “Dead Wake”. True to the book’s back cover claim, this writing brings the “disaster whose intimate details and true meaning have long been obscured by history” as we were taught in school that the fateful sinking of this luxury ocean liner in May 1915 was the immediate catalyst for our military involvement in the Great War, but hold that thought for a moment.
When our Mayflower ancestors arrived at Plymouth Rock, they did not immediately or permanently disembark from their contemporary version of an ocean liner. Indeed, they arrived in the cold of a New England December. The Mayflower was transformed into an anchored home for women, for children, for exhausted men after long building days on shore and for the dying, until enough land-based accommodations were completed. According to another fantastic book entitled simply “Mayflower” by Nathaniel Philbrick, the final weeks of January 1621 were spent cleaning out the Mayflower of goods and moving people and items into the seven homes which were built that first year. It must have been an emotional, and perhaps spiritual, experience for the surviving Plymouth Planation citizens when, in the first week of April 1621, the Mayflower set sail back to England. That ship represented strength, safety and the familiar ties between New England and England.
Jump now to May 7, 1915, and the RMS Lusitania is sunk by the German U-20 Submarine off the coast of Ireland, near Queenstown (now Cobh) resulting in many lost men, women and children. America did not immediately declare war on the Germany Empire because of that modern ocean liner attack. Indeed, it would take nearly two more years until Congress declared war in April 1917 and Mr. Larson writes about all those details in his fantastic book.
From Boston, a fleet of six US Navy destroyers, which were some of the most advanced vessels at the time, set sail for that same southern coast of Ireland; the flagship was christened after Commodore Alexander Scammel Wadsworth, who had family ties back to Plymouth. Almost on the exact two-year anniversary of the sinking of RMS Lusitania, the might of the US Navy arrived in May 4, 1917 to a warm welcome which included the playing of our National Anthem, hundreds of cheering onlookers, colorful banners and a small-boat regatta, full of civilians, packed Cork Harbour to warmly welcome us back home, in a sense. As Mr. Larson writes, the scene of American strength, safety and familiar ties, sailing from Boston to the British Isles was captured in a 5x7 foot oil painting by the British artist Bernard Gribble in 1919 entitled (The So-Called) “Return of the Mayflower”, paying homage to that very ship, which over 300 years earlier had brought our ancestors from England to Plymouth. The USS Wadsworth (DD-60) was painted leading the way and as Mr. Larson writes, “These were the descendants of the colonials returning now at Britain’s hour of need.”
In 1919, Franklin Roosevelt commissioned Gribble for smaller oil paintings of that same scene, along with Gribble’s matching painting depicting the surrender of the German fleet. These paintings were on display in the US Navy Department when Mr. Roosevelt was the Assistant Secretary of the US Navy and later, in the White House Oval Office during his presidency.
Today, President Roosevelt’s prized paintings are jointly owned by the National Park Service and the National Archives. (The So-Called) “Return of the Mayflower” is on display at the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site and its companion, “Surrender of the German Fleet”, is on display in the President’s Study at the FDR Library.
Please join us at our spring meeting and luncheon in April, the details of which are included in this newsletter.
First Colony Governor
Helen Rancan
Spring 2025
Meetings
While membership is open to all members of our Society, the First Colony generally serves the central portion of our state. The First Colony meets twice a year. Please see the Meetings & News page for upcoming dates.
First Colony 50th Anniversary Commemorative Coin
One side of this beautiful coin features the official seal of the NJ Mayflower Member Society and the other side the NJ state symbols of the Eastern Goldfinch sitting on a branch among violets and red oak leaves.
$10 for First Colony members plus $5 shipping per order.
$15 for all others plus $5 shipping per order.
Large quantities by arrangement.
For more information and ordering details, please contact Steve at [email protected].
$15 for all others plus $5 shipping per order.
Large quantities by arrangement.
For more information and ordering details, please contact Steve at [email protected].