by Renny A. Stackpole

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The Restoration of the Schooner Bowdoin Also Revived a Maritime Tradition

by Renny A. Stackpole

AN HISTORIC AMERICAN vessel has been completely restored and will once more resume her role at sea. She now rides at anchor at Rockland, Maine, and when she sails again in 1986 she will revive a New England maritime tradition. She is the Arctic exploring schooner Bowdoin, and for nearly thirty-five years, under the command of her owner, Admiral Donald B. MacMillan, she completed twenty-six voyages to North Atlantic waters, engaged in Arctic exploration and scientific research.

My first glimpse of this graceful, white-hulled schooner was in 1959, when she came to Mystic Seaport to be enshrined. At the same time I had my first meeting with her owner and skipper, Admiral MacMillan, and recognized the unique qualities of the man who had taken his schooner on her many Arctic voyages from 1921 to 1954. He lectured that evening at the old meeting house and I absorbed every part of his recounting of his adventures.

At the conclusion of this remarkable octogenarian's discourse, and the usual congratulations and tributes, Admiral MacMillan disappeared from the hall, vanishing into the darkness out-of-doors. My father, who was at the time the Curator of Mystic Seaport, smiled at my query as to the whereabouts of the guest of honor. He had a hunch and told me where I might find him. Only a few yards away alongside a wharf at the river side, almost hidden by the night, we found "Captain Mac", standing quietly by the wheel of his schooner. After greeting him, I stayed for a while and he naturally lapsed into memories. I will not forget what he said before he returned to the meeting house that night.

"I believe the Bowdoin will sail again." Then with his voice clear and sharp, "How would you like to take her north!"

It was unmistakable; the veteran explorer had foreseen the eventual revival of the schooner as an active schoolship a decade later.

During his quarter century in command of the Bowdoin, "Captain Mac" never took a seasoned crew aboard his 88-foot schooner. Instead, he favored students and research scientists who might hand, reef, steer, and lend a hand to the prodigious research he had initiated as

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HISTORIC NANTUCKET

part of the Crocker Land Expedition, based at Etah, Greenland. While waiting four years (1913-17) for a relief party to arrive there MacMillan began plans for building his Arctic research schooner Bowdoin.

Designed in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, by William Hand, the 66 ton vessel was built by the Hodgdon Brothers Shipyard in East Boothbay, Maine, in 1921. For the next 33 years the Bowdoin logged 300,000 miles while serving as a learning laboratory for hundreds of Mac's "boys", all talented individuals from prep schools and colleges. Under the master teacher MacMillan, lessons were learned leading to careers in anthropology, ethnology, glaciology, oceanography, or ornithology. For most of these young men, it was the most memorable experience of their lives. His fellow explorer and wife, Miriam, in 1935, began accompanying MacMillan on his voyages making nine trips. She is today still very active, working on the archives, compiling material for the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum at Bowdoin College. (Her explorer husband died in 1970 at age 95).

The MacMillan touch is recognized in her planning, and it is to be noted that the Bowdoin's widest point of beam (21 feet) is abaft of amidships, thus protecting her rudder and propeller from ice damage. She is double planked and double framed with native Maine white oak. To sheath her for northern work, a five foot belt of "iron" wood, also known as greenheart, affords extra protection from ice. She is short rigged for heavy weather in Davis or Frobisher Straits. The lack of topmasts or bowsprit eliminates the danger of losing students over the side while furling sail at sea.

Originally she had two watertight bulkheads so that, if injured at bow or stern, she would still float. At present she is rebuilt with five watertight bulkheads (three with watertight doors). To give Bowdoin extra stability, 21 tons of cement is molded into her hull giving her unequaled robustness. Time and again Bowdoin was beset with thick pack ice and owing to the deadrise of the waterline, her V shape allowed the vessel to be lifted almost completely out of water, gently lying on her side, always to float again.

Her shrouds and stays are steel; her masts and booms of Oregon fir. For power she has a 190 horsepower Cummins diesel engine. Two 500 lb. anchors and 90 fathoms of studlink chain add an impressive ground tackle system. She has been known to cruise at seven and one half knots under both engine and sail.

Presently Bowdoin has both a 24 and 110 volt system (along with a 12 volt emergency lighting). An electric windlass and refrigeration are found aboard. For cooking she is equipped with an oil burning galley stove. She sleeps fifteen, two in the after cabin, six in the midships, and seven in the forecastle.

Within two months of her launching in March 1921, Bowdoin headed north on her first voyage, with the West coast of Baffin Island as her objective. She was the first vessel to circumnavigate Foxe Basin, going as far North as the entrance to Fury and Hecla Strait. Following, on her return to the East coast, Bowdoin wintered at what is now known as "Schooner Harbor" inside the Trinity Islands. This expedition was sponsored by the Carnegie Institution of Washington.

During her Arctic career, Bowdoin explored, surveyed, and mapped the uncharted regions of Labrador, Baffin Island, and Greenland. From on board the staunch schooner, the first short wave radio communications from the Arctic were sent in 1923, while wintering in Refuge Harbor, Greenland. In 1925, Bowdoin was flagship of the U.S. Navy-National Geographic expeditions in which Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett flew amphibious aircraft over the Polar Sea for the first time.

Indeed, Bowdoin is the only auxiliary schooner ever built in America specifically designed for Arctic exploration. Bearing her name and still painted white, Bowdoin served the U.S. Navy during World War II, as she was used to provide accurate observations for charts, thus allowing safe navigation for transport and cargo vessels serving important bases in Greenland.

In 1968, after almost ten years on exhibit at Mystic, the ravages of time and excessive fresh water rot had taken their toll. The Seaport Museum lacked the funds for the task of saving her. Alarmed by the condition of the vessel, friends of the MacMillans formed the Schooner Bowdoin Association, and purchased the vessel with the goal of partially restoring her as a schoolship. Captain Jim Sharp valiantly pieced her back into sailing shape.

A decade later it was agreed that Bowdoin must be completely rebuilt to satisfy Coast Guard Certification and stability. She was hauled at the Percy-Small Shipyard at the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath. For four years she was painstakingly dismantled and then rebuilt to her original scantlings. Her restoration was accomplished through the dedication of hundreds of individuals who gave their time and resources.

In keeping with the stringent requirements of the Coast Guard, the Bowdoin boasts the best in safety gear, navigational aids, and the opportunity for research students using computerized gear on board. With her proud history and A-l condition, schools and colleges will find her a remarkable resource for sea education ventures.

When, on the occasion of the rededication of the Statue of Liberty,