The schooner Bowdoin, built for Arctic exploration in 1921, is headed for the Arctic for the first time since 2008, more than 100 years since her first such expedition. The schooner, owned by Maine Maritime Academy (MMA), is sailed by a professional crew of 6 and 10 MMA students on a voyage from Maine to Greenland, and continuing beyond 70° North.
The 72′ long schooner set sail from Castine, Maine on May 24, and has called on Boothbay Harbor, Maine, St. John’s, Newfoundland. She is now in Nuuk, Greenland and will continue northward, expecting to cross the Arctic Circle around June 19th, on her way to port calls in Sisimuit and Oqatsut, Greenland before returning to Castine.
The schooner Bowdoin was designed by William H. Hand, Jr., and built in East Boothbay, Maine, at the Hodgdon Brothers Shipyard. The only American schooner built specifically for Arctic exploration, she was designed under the direction of explorer Donald B. MacMillan. The current voyage will be her 30th trip above the Arctic Circle, the fourth since she was acquired by the Maine Maritime Academy in 1988.
She was designed to keep any sailor from being exposed over open water. A remarkable ship.