The Mayflower II Fuller Shallop under full sail, crew aboard, passing the Harbor Master boat.
Westport Point · Buzzards Bay · the Elizabeth Islands · Nantucket
Westport to Nantucket, under sail — a historic route, recreated and documented.
In August 2026 the Mayflower II's Fuller Shallop sailed from Westport Point through Buzzards Bay and the Elizabeth Islands toward Nantucket, honoring the legacy of Paul Cuffe.
The Blockade Runners voyage followed the Mayflower II's Fuller Shallop, accompanied by the support vessel WILLIAM UNDERWOOD, from port to port along the South Coast and the Islands. At each harbor a small flotilla of local boats came out to meet the shallop, and communities ashore welcomed the crew with screenings, talks, music and tours. These pages gather the photographs from every stop, port by port.
The legacy
Paul Cuffe and the expedition
Paul Cuffe (1759–1817) was born on Cuttyhunk Island, the son of Kofi Slocum, a formerly enslaved Ashanti man, and Ruth Moses, a Wampanoag woman. From Westport he became a mariner, shipbuilder and merchant. During the Revolutionary War he carried supplies to Nantucket through the British blockade, and in 1780 he and his brother John petitioned against being taxed without the right to vote. The Blockade Runners voyage, part of the Revolution 250 commemorations, returned to those waters in his honor.
The documentary · In production
The Shallop Project: Westport to Nantucket, under sail — a historic route, recreated and documented.
In Cuffe's Wake: A Blockade Runners Documentary follows the voyage and the communities that welcomed it. The film is in production.