A Jamestown replica ship will head to the United Kingdom this week with the help of a larger, modern vessel.
The Discovery is slated to leave Wednesday from Norfolk, after workers on Monday loaded the wooden ship aboard the Fort Rosalie, a vessel that's part of the Royal Navy's auxiliary fleet.
The Discovery's owner, the state-run Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, has given the replica ship to a British group coordinating events in the United Kingdom for the Jamestown 2007 commemoration. The commemoration is an 18-month series of events marking the 400th anniversary of the New World's first per-manent English settlement. The British group, called the Jamestown 2007 British Committee, has plans for a "Launch Event" on Dec. 19 in Blackwall, England, to recognize the day that ships left there for Virginia in 1606.
The original Discovery was the smallest of three Jamestown-bound ships. The replica is more than 20 years old and will be replaced by a new Discovery that's currently under construction in Maine.