The work drew upon reconstructed ship blueprints held by the American museum, along with hand construction by English shipbuilders using traditional methods.

[3] Mayflower II was sailed from Plymouth, Devon on April 20, 1957, recreating the original voyage across the Atlantic Ocean,[3] under the command of Alan Villiers.

According to the ship's log, Mayflower II arrived at Plymouth on June 22; it was towed up the East River into New York City on Monday, July 1, 1957, where Villiers and crew received a ticker-tape parade.

[3] The ship is considered a faithful generic reproduction within a few details (electric lights added and ladder replaced with a lower-deck staircase), with solid oak timbers, tarred hemp rigging, and hand-coloured maps.

[3] In England, the skills of elderly traditional workmen were employed to build a vessel that reflected Baker's detailed research which could sail the Atlantic as securely as the original ship.

The ship was toasted from a gold loving cup that was afterward thrown into the water, and then quickly retrieved by an underwater diver, in the traditional manner.

Her captain, Commander Alan Villiers, soon decided that with her somewhat slender spars and authentic 17th century rigging, which lacked the later bobstay to hold the bowsprit steady, she might not make a direct route against the Atlantic storms without being dismasted.

He altered course southwards and followed the trade winds in a wide southerly loop before sailing up the east coast of America, where on June 8 off Bermuda she met the one real gale of the crossing.

This was the first in a number of scheduled repairs over the next seven years to restore Mayflower II to pristine condition for the 400th anniversary of the English settlement of Plymouth in 2020.

Starting in December 2014 and continuing until 2020, Mayflower II spent its summers in Plymouth on display and winters at the Mystic Seaport being restored.