The Boomerang Box's load of Hall's Mentholyptus cough drops will be unloaded at the port in New York City, and then sent to stores all over the eastern part of the US.

As it traveled across the Atlantic, the Boomerang Box followed not too far from the path of a very famous Atlantic Ocean voyage from the UK to the US. Do you know what voyage that was?

Here's a hint: it was made by a group of people who sure could have used a lot of cough drops by the end of their trip!

If you guessed that the voyage we are talking about was the voyage the Pilgrims made on the Mayflower in the year 1620, you are correct. The Pilgrims - just like the Boomerang Box - traveled from the south coast of England to the Northeast coast of the US. (Of course, the United States wasn't called that then. It wasn't even a country!)

However, there were a few big differences between these two voyages.

First, the Boomerang Box and the Pilgrims departed from different ports in England. The Pilgrims left from Plymouth, which is a port on the Southwest coast of England. The Boomerang Box left from Felixstowe, on England's Southeast coast. (Can you find these two ports on a map?) The Pilgrims ended their journey in what is today the state of Massachusetts, while the Boomerang Box traveled to New York.

Next, the time it took for the voyages was very different. The Pilgrims left England on September 6, 1620… but didn't arrive in the New World until November 21st, after a long and difficult ocean crossing. The Boomerang Box, on the other hand, made the journey across the Atlantic in just eight days during mid-September, 2002.

That time difference points to a third difference between the two voyages. The Pilgrims traveled on the Mayflower, a wooden sailing ship. They were dependent on the winds to set their course, and, in fact, got blown far off course. They were intending to travel to what is now the state of Virginia, but instead ended up far north of that on Cape Cod! The Boomerang Box, by contrast, traveled aboard the vessel MOL Ingenuity, a sleek and modern container ship with fully computerized navigation. That made for a smooth and easy ocean crossing.

You can probably think up the biggest difference between the two voyages, however. The Boomerang Box carried products from one country to another along a well-known route. But the Pilgrims set out into the unknown. They hoped to be able to trade with the people they had left behind in England. In fact, their journey was paid for in part by English merchants who were promised produce from their new farms. But they didn't know for sure what they would find at their destination. They didn't know if they would be able to raise any crops to trade. And they certainly didn't know very much about the land where they would start a new life.

It is very exciting to think about the Boomerang Box following so close to the path of the Pilgrims. People have traveled from place to place for thousands of years seeking a better life and new things to trade. They still do that today. And the Boomerang Box - whether it is carrying cough drops or toys or emergency supplies - is part of that history.

Check out past Trade Topics entries!