Delco re:View Spring 2019 - 16

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An Update!

T

he Honorable Murray S. Eckell enjoys intricacy and detail
... In the early 1960s, he began building model trains for
his sons and later turned to other pieces to utilize his time
in the winter when golf in unavailable.
The more intricate and detailed the work, the more enjoyment
he experiences. "Time passes quickly while modeling and it
definitely relieves any tensions imposed by the practice of law.
The more intricate the details, the less opportunity there is to
think about legal problems. Now that I am partially retired,
working three days a week, the hobby has taken on even more
meaning."

Murray has graciously offered to build a model for the
Delaware County Bar Association where his fine craftsmanship
will be prominently displayed for all to admire. Selected, the
Model Shipways Mayflower 1620, 5/32 Scale.

April 30, 2019. A photo showing that the forecastle, upper
deck, and the poop deck have been planked and the hatches
construced and placed.
On September 16, 1620, the Mayflower set out from
Plymouth, England. Bound for Virginia to establish a permanent
colony in North America. Many of the passengers were
Separatists fleeing religious persecution in Europe. After

16 | Spring 2019

two months at sea, the ship dropped anchor at what is now
Provincetown, MA. It was almost 200 miles farther north than
planned, but winter was approaching, so the Pilgrims decided to
stay. Half of the colony did not survive that first winter, but the
rest lived on and prospered.
Historians have tried to identify the Mayflower, but all that
is certain is that she was a wine-ship of 180 tons of the type
commonly used during the early 17th century. In 1957 a British
group sponsored the voyage of a replica from Plymouth, England
to Plymouth, MA. The vessel was given to the United States as
an expression of international goodwill and remains on exhibit at
Plymouth, MA.
"One ship drives East and the other drives West by the
same winds that blow. It's the set of the sails, and not the
gales, that determine the way they go."
The Mayflower was a square rig with a beakhead bow and
high, castle-like structures fore and aft that served to protect
the ship's crew and the main deck from the elements-designs
that were typical with English merchant ships of the early 17th
century. Her stern carried a 30-foot high, square aft-castle
which made the ship extremely difficult to sail against the wind
and unable to sail well against the North Atlantic's prevailing
westerlies, especially in the fall and winter of 1620; the voyage
from England to America took more than two months as a result.
The Mayflower's return trip to London in April-May 1621 took
less than half that time, with the same strong winds now blowing
in the direction of the voyage.
The exact dimensions are not known for the Mayflower, but
she probably measured about 100 feet in length from the beak
of her prow to the tip of her stern superstructure, about 25 at her
widest point, and the bottom of her keel about 12 feet below the
waterline. It was estimated that she had a cargo capacity of 180
tons, and surviving records indicate that she could carry 180
casks holding hundreds of gallons each.
16th September, 2020, Marks the 400th Anniversary of the
Sailing of the Mayflower from Plymouth, UK to Plymouth,
Massachusetts.
The 400th anniversary of the sailing of the famed Mayflower
ship leaving September 6/16, 1620 and arriving in the New
World on November 9/19, 1620 (different dates because of
change of calendars in 1700s) is a major event coming in the
year 2020. With approximately 28 to 35 million Americans living
today who can trace their genealogy directly back to one of the
23 families, which was 102 passengers, 74 males and 28 females,
of which 31 were children, who were on board the Mayflower
in 1620. About 24 males in those early years produced children
while in Plymouth. *
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Delco re:View Spring 2019

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