Alan Villiers
While not a particular believer in ghosts, if the ghost of Alan Villiers is about, I suspect that he must smiling. The arrival of the Mayflower II at Mystic Seaport Museum is the reunion, of sorts, of two ships long associated with the sailing ship captain and pioneer in sail training. In mid December, the Mayflower II was towed from Plymouth, MA to the Henry B. duPont Preservation Shipyard at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut where she will begin the first phase of a multi-year restoration.
The Mayflower II, a replica of the original ship which carried the Pilgrims across the Atlantic in 1620, has been the one of the key exhibits at the Plimoth Plantation at the State Pier on Plymouth’s waterfront. In 2013, the ship was found to be in need of a major refit. As noted on the Mystic Seaport website:
Mayflower II
“The restoration of the 57-year-old wooden ship will be carried out over several years with the ship spending winter and spring at Mystic Seaport and returning to Plymouth each summer and fall. The project is scheduled for completion prior to 2020–the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims’ arrival.”
So what does this have to do with Alan Villiers? If the name is not familiar, Villiers was a master mariner, author, and adventurer, who first went to sea at age 15 and sailed the world’s oceans on board the last of the great windjammers, including the full-rigged ships Herzogin Cecilie, Grace Harwar and the Parma, of which he was part owner. He also commanded square-rigged ships for films, including Moby Dick and Billy Budd. In 1957, Villiers commanded the Mayflower II on its maiden voyage from the United Kingdom to the United States, arriving in New York City on Monday, July 1, of that year. Captain Villiers and his crew were welcomed with a ticker tape parade.
Joseph Conrad
The other ship long associated with Captain Villiers is the full rigged iron ship, Joseph Conrad, which has been a museum ship at Mystic Seaport since 1947. Built in 1882 as the Georg Stage, Villiers saved her from the scrap yard and renamed her Joseph Conrad. In a pioneering sail training venture, Captain Villiers circumnavigated the globe in 1934-1936, sailing the ship with an amateur crew. The Joseph Conrad now serves as a static training vessel and is employed by Mystic Seaport to house campers attending the Joseph Conrad Sailing Camp.
Alan Villiers died in 2003 at the age of 79. No doubt he would have be pleased to see the Mayflower II being refurbished and that the 123 year old Joseph Conrad is still training young sailors in the ways of the sea.
Interesting article; I did not know that Villiers had taken Mayflower II on her maiden voyage.
A quick correction, though: Parma and Herzogin Cecilie were both barques.
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Hilgard Pannes, a close friend and next door neighbor of my mother and uncle, sailed with Villiers on the Conrad and Parma. I spent time with Pannes, his wife Ernestine and son John. Fascinating people. Villiers was a huge influence on their lives, outlook on life. I see Mystic Seaport and others have voyage diaries written by Pannes. Will try to obtain.
Interesting. Thanks.
I am fairly sure I was at school with Alan Villiers son who was roughly the same age, and I would have been 15 in 1957 . I certainly remember the publicity at the time re Villiers Dad captaining the mayflower 2. I am not sure the dates are quite correct re Alan Villiers birth and death unless of course he started his family at a very young age during WW2
Very interesting. Thanks.
The various biographical sketches of Alan Villiers on-line mention that he had two sons and a daughter but never identify them by name. He appears to have been married twice, marrying his second wife, Nancie, in 1940. I have been under the impression that Peter Villiers was one of his sons, but I am not sure. Peter’s Amazon bio doesn’t mention Alan at all. The bio begins: “Born in Chipping Norton, Oxon, in 1947, of Australian parents. Educated at the King’s School, Canterbury and the Universities of Essex, Lancaster and Manchester (BA and MA).” If Peter was Alan’s son, he would have only been 10 in 1957, but your classmate could have been his older brother.
Well that fits as I was at the kings school but I was born 1942 and so it must have been an older brother as we were about the same age .Just had a quick look at wikipedia ( for what it’s worth ) and date of death for Alan was recorded as 1988.
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