Launch drew Bucksport crowd Descendants shed light on 1905 christening of the Roosevelt

BUCKSPORT – One hundred years ago on March 23, there was a hot time in the old river town of Bucksport. That was the day in 1905 when Arctic explorer Robert E. Peary’s new vessel, the Roosevelt, was launched.

To celebrate the event’s 100th anniversary, historian George Sawyer, grandson of Albina Sawyer, who worked on the Roosevelt; and Earland Morrill, model shipwright and historian, were at the Bucksport Memorial Library to share with the public their research about the ship’s launch.

George A. Wardwell, great-grandson of George A. Wardwell, who was with Peary on the Arctic explorations and chief engineer on the Roosevelt, also was on hand to share the diaries his great-grandfather kept about the Arctic journeys of 1905-1906 and 1908-1909, and other items associated with Peary.

Wardwell’s March 20, 1909, diary entry reads: “MacMillan and Dr. Goodsell arrived last night at about 7 o’clock from the commander. They were out on the ice about 90 miles away and reported fine going. Both expressed great hope that the expedition would reach the Pole.”

In 1957, the Bucksport Free Press interviewed Albina Sawyer, who as a young man worked on the Roosevelt’s rigging. The paper quoted him as saying, “The Roosevelt was an unusually heavy vessel – heavier perhaps than any ship twice her size. She was constructed with extra oak planking so that she would withstand the weight and crush of ice floes in Arctic waters.”

Bucksport librarian Geraldine Spooner said that the library has in its holdings the 1905 newspapers that ran stories of the launching.

According to the Bangor Daily News account of the event, the launch day was unlike any other ever seen in Bucksport. It was estimated that 5,000 people poured into town to watch the ship slide down the ways. Seven hundred people arrived by train from Bangor, the story reported.

Restaurants were mobbed and shops selling film and camera supplies saw all such merchandise disappear from their shelves.

Mrs. Peary christened the ship with a bottle of champagne encased in a block of ice. She wore her blue fox furs for the event.

The ship’s name had been kept secret and when the pennant bearing the name Roosevelt unfurled in the breeze, a great “aaah” arose from the crowd, followed by uproarious cheers.

Peary reached the North Pole in 1909.