Maine Filmmaker: Arctic explorer Bowdoin Haulout and History

 Maine Filmmaker: Doug Mills Shoot Maine Studios

Rockland, Maine-This past week the arctic explorer schooner Bowdoin was hauled for maintenance.  This tall ship played a big part in this nations history.

"Between 1921 and 1954 Bowdoin, with MacMillan at the helm, sailed
more than 200,000 miles, making 24 trips beyond the Arctic
Circle, the last when he was 80. Talented and dedicated,
MacMillan sailed north, "boldly into the ice pack, cruising
uncharted waters merely, as he says, "to learn something." [11]
MacMillan was honored with an honorary Rear Admiral's commission
from Congress, with numerous awards and medals from various
societies and organizations, and, in 1953, with the Hubbard
Medal, the highest honor that can be bestowed by the National
Geographic Society. Society President Gilbert Grosvenor, in
presenting the award, noted "I can find in history no other
explorer...whose active devotion to solving the geographic
secrets of the Arctic has continued for so long." [12] Admiral
Richard E. Byrd, also present, remarked that the Arctic, once an
unknown land and a barrier, was no longer so; "The man...who has
shown us most about the truth of that area...is Commander
MacMillan." [13] MacMillan made his last voyage north that year,
returning in 1954 to retire."

"In 1959, Admiral MacMillan sailed Bowdoin to Mystic, Connecticut,
where he turned the schooner over to Mystic Seaport Museum for
display. Unfortunately, the vessel was not maintained as she
should have been, and Bowdoin deteriorated. Taken off display,
stripped of her gear, and her rig taken down, the laid-up
schooner was covered with plastic. In 1967, at MacMillan's
urging, the Schooner Bowdoin Association, Inc. was formed by
friends of the admiral's, including former crew members and
others interested in saving the ship. Mystic Seaport
relinquished the schooner to the Association, which leased her to
Capt. Jim Sharp of Camden, Maine. Sharp restored the schooner to
operating condition and sailed her to Provincetown,
Massachusetts, in 1969 on a sentimental journey to MacMillan's
home, where the admiral, in his 90s, saw Bowdoin sail again one
last time. [14] Donald MacMillan died in 1970."

"Jim Sharp had restored what he could on Bowdoin for $25,000,
using her as a wharfside museum in Camden and sailing her on
charters. In the mid-1970s, though, Coast Guard requirements for
passenger carrying, which would have called for rebuilding the
schooner and destroying her historic character, forced Sharp to
return Bowdoin to the Schooner Bowdoin Association. Used for
sail training and leased by the Association to various groups,
Bowdoin has persevered since then. A major restoration effort at
the Maine Maritime Museum between 1980-1984 brought the schooner
back to excellent condition. The work was supervised by Jim
Stevens, owner of the Goudy-Stevens Yard in East Boothbay,
formerly Hodgdon Brothers, who first Bowdoin in 1921. The
restored schooner sailed in OpSail '86 in New York harbor in the
parade of ships that celebrated the Statue of Liberty's
restoration. In 1987-1988 she was leased to Outward Bound, Inc.,
an educational organization, and in 1989 was turned over to the
Maine Maritime Academy in Castine on a two-year lease with an
option to buy. Negotiations to purchase Bowdoin are now under
way. The Maine Maritime Academy has assigned Assistant Professor
Andy Chase as Bowdoin's skipper. Chase hopes to expand her
cruises to northern voyages, so that within the next five years,
Bowdoin might again sail north to the waters that she charted
with Donald MacMillan at the helm more than fifty years ago.
Admiral MacMillan was the last of the old-time Arctic explorers,
and Bowdoin is America's last sailing Arctic exploration vessel."
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