Down to the sea, on big, little screens

is curious that, in this year of national debate about immigration, a new PBS documentary by Ric Burns will look closely at some of America’s first immigrants.

“Pilgrims” is scheduled to premiere Nov. 24, an appropriate preamble to 2015 Thanksgiving.

For those of us in southeastern Connecticut, the new documentary proves to be especially engaging since it features not just Pilgrims, but their boat, the Mayflower, which brought them from England to America’s shores.

The Mayflower II, a replica owned by the Plimouth Plantation, actually appears, sailing, in many scenes of the documentary, looking rather glorious as it scoots along the ocean surface, sails set, persecution in its wake, the unknown ahead.

Of course the Mayflower II is practically a local boat now, given the collaboration between Plimouth Plantation and Mystic Seaport to accomplish its restoration.

The ship is due back in Mystic in December and is expected to keep returning for the next several winters. The work is due to be done before 2020, in time for 400th anniversary celebration of the ship bringing its passengers to New England.

When the boat is in town it’s hard to miss, since its tall and unusual profile can be seen all over much of Mystic.

This is a good winter for telling sea stories related to the region on big and little screens. In addition to the PBS documentary featuring the Mayflower, a new Ron Howard film, telling the story of the whaling ship Essex, “In the Heart of the Sea,” is due out soon.

Also cued up is Disney’s “The Finest Hours,” which tells the story of one of the Coast Guard’s most daring and successful rescues at sea, a story that some hope will move from film to a new National Coast Guard Museum in New London to be told on into the future.

The Mayflower II is indeed an odd, high-sided, tippy product of the best of what worked as naval architecture in the 17th century. It is not especially well suited for long trans-Atlantic crossings.

And yet Mayflower II, like the original, was built in England and sailed to Massachusetts, no engine assist, thank you.

The replica was commissioned by an eccentric English journalist, who wanted to build it and send it to America in thanks for the country’s support during World War II.

It set sail in 1957. Though not as perilous as the journey to America by the original Mayflower, it was considered a risky trip because the design of the ship is so unsuitable for long ocean passages.

Plimouth Plantation collaborated on the design and plans for the

ship, which did eventually arrive by way of a generous donation.

The ship did take a rare sail in March 2014, for a star turn, under sail, for Burns’ cameras.

But there was little doubt then that the ship, even though it was built well and regularly maintained over the years, was ready for a substantial restoration. In the first phase of restoration in Mystic, shipwrights did some “exploratory surgery.”

On subsequent sojourns here the 58-year-old replica of a 17th century ship will essentially get a rebuild of the principal structure.

It is a detour, of sorts, for the shipyard at the Seaport, which generally focuses on 19th and 20th century ships. But it is well within the scope of the shipyard’s talents.

Visitors to the Seaport also will be able to tour Mayflower II at times when it is here. It tells lessons in both New England and national history.

You can tune in on PBS next month and learn more about the immigration story of the Pilgrims and their Mayflower.

And then, next year, take a tour of the ship at the Seaport museum, where, oddly, things never seem to get dusty and forgotten.