Mystic Seaport lead rigger Matt Otto, left, and rigger Slade Powell raise a mouse for the mizzen stay of the Mayflower II in the rig loft Wednesday, January 17, 2018 at Mystic Seaport's H.B. duPont Preservation Shipyard. The "mouse" is a lump of canvas and line built up on the outside of the stay, which runs fore and aft between the masts, to prevent the stay from tightening up on itself. Otto says Mayflower will have five such mice, this one being the second smallest of them. The ship, a replica of the vessel that brought the Pilgrims to the new world in 1620 and built in 1957 in England as a gift to the United States in thanks for support during and after WWII, is an attraction at Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, Massachusetts and is undergoing a 30-month restoration at the seaport in preparation to sail it again on the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrim's voyage. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day)
Buy Photo Reprints

Mystic Seaport lead rigger Matt Otto, left, and rigger Slade Powell raise a mouse for the mizzen stay of the Mayflower II in the rig loft Wednesday, January 17, 2018 at Mystic Seaport's H.B. duPont Preservation Shipyard. The "mouse" is a lump of canvas and line built up on the outside of the stay, which runs fore and aft between the masts, to prevent the stay from tightening up on itself. Otto says Mayflower will have five such mice, this one being the second smallest of them. The ship, a replica of the vessel that brought the Pilgrims to the new world in 1620 and built in 1957 in England as a gift to the United States in thanks for support during and after WWII, is an attraction at Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, Massachusetts and is undergoing a 30-month restoration at the seaport in preparation to sail it again on the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrim's voyage. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day)
Buy Photo Reprints

Mystic Seaport lead rigger Matt Otto uses a wooden mallet to tighten this weave as he and rigger Slade Powell, hands at right, raise a mouse for the mizzen stay of the Mayflower II in the rig loft, Wednesday, January 17, 2018 at Mystic Seaport's H.B. duPont Preservation Shipyard. The "mouse" is a lump of canvas and line built up on the outside of the stay, which runs fore and aft between the masts, to prevent the stay from tightening up on itself. Otto says Mayflower will have five such mice, this one being the second smallest of them. The ship, a replica of the vessel that brought the Pilgrims to the new world in 1620 and built in 1957 in England as a gift to the United States in thanks for support during and after WWII, is an attraction at Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, Massachusetts and is undergoing a 30-month restoration at the seaport in preparation to sail it again on the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrim's voyage. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day)
Buy Photo Reprints

Mystic Seaport lead rigger Matt Otto, left, and rigger Slade Powell raise a mouse for the mizzen stay of the Mayflower II in the rig loft at Wednesday, January 17, 2018 at Mystic Seaport's H.B. duPont Preservation Shipyard. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day)
Buy Photo Reprints