High-tech ship marks 400th Mayflower anniversary

The United States and United Kingdom jointly designed a solar- and wind-powered vessel guided by artificial intelligence to follow the same path across the Atlantic Ocean that pilgrims took from Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Mass., in 1620. The Mayflower Autonomous Ship launched on Wednesday—400 years to the day after its namesake set sail carrying pilgrims in search of religious freedom.

How do the two ships compare? The new unmanned Mayflower is only 50 feet long. It weighs 5 tons and looks more like a futuristic spaceship than a sailing vessel. The original ship was 100 feet long and could carry up to 180 tons of cargo. Almost 150 passengers crammed into the hold for the journey.

Dig deeper: From the WORLD archives, read Mindy Belz’s reflections on what we can learn from the pilgrims’ journey on the first Mayflower.