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Tuesday 19 March 2019

#Mayflower400 Harwich

From Boston I made my way down to Harwich, home of Christopher Jones, who was the captain of the Mayflower. 

Harwich is a small port on the south east coast of England and has a long history as a shipping port. Even today, Harwich is one of the busiest shipping ports in Europe. 

Harwich was a difficult port to navigate given the presence of sandbars. Christopher Jones learned to be a mariner in these waters, at the knee of both his father and grandfather who were skippers. Harwich's more notorious history involves gaining riches by the pillaging of Spanish ships.This experience and history led to the perfect choice in hiring Jones to navigate the still relatively unknown and dangerous crossing to America. 

Unfortunately when I arrived in Harwich, the town was at the tail end of a severe storm which had brought the usually very busy port to a standstill. This rendered my walking tour non-existent for safety reasons. 

I managed to snap a couple of photos before leaving Harwich for places further south. 







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