The Pilgrims Fathers, persecuted here for their religious beliefs, sailed in the Mayflower from Plymouth to the New World in 1620. The point where they landed was named Plymouth Rock. A new Plymouth was born.

The colony eventually grew into the modern day city of Plymouth, Massachussets which is now twinned with our own Plymouth.

Captain Cook

James Cook made three famous voyages to the southern ocean and the Pacific from Plymouth. On 13 August, 1768 Cook left Plymouth on the first of his 3 most famous voyages.

During his illustrious career he mapped and surveyed Newfoundland and Labrador, claimed eastern Australia for England, surveyed New Zealand and was the first European to discover Hawaii and Christmas Island.

In 1831, Charles Darwin sailed for the Galapagos Islands, where his observations led to the development of his revolutionary theories of natural selection.

It is worth remembering that if he had never left Plymouth on the Beagle, we would not have the great insights in his groundbreaking Origin of the Species and be without his concept of development through evolution - one of the most important scientific concepts in the history of the human race.

Robert Falcon Scott is probably the most famous Plymothian of the 20th Century. Born in 1868, he is most famous for his expeditions to the South Pole. He has become so closely associated with the race to reach it, that he is now most commonly known as 'Scott of the Antarctic'. He reached the pole on 12th January 1912, only to discover that his team had been beaten by that of Raold Amundsen . Unfortunately they perished on the way back, a mere 11 miles short of a food depot. The bravery of the men was recorded in his notes which were recovered eight months later. Their story is one that has immortalised his memory.

Sir Francis Chichester
In 1967 Sir Francis Chichester achieved the first ever solo circumnavigation of the globe on his yacht, starting and finishing in Plymouth.