Autonomous Mayflower ship reaches North American shores – in Canada

Technicians lower the Mayflower Autonomous Ship into the water at its launch site (Alastair Grant/AP)

A crewless robotic boat that had tried to retrace the 1620 sea voyage of the Mayflower has finally reached the shores of North America – this time in Canada instead of the Massachusetts coast where its namesake landed more than 400 years ago.

The sleek autonomous trimaran docked in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Sunday, after more than five weeks crossing the Atlantic from England, according to tech company IBM, which helped build it.