February 13, 2025
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Schooner sets sail on Arctic journey

CASTINE – With the mainsail reefed against a stiff breeze, the schooner Bowdoin barreled down the Bagaduce River and out of Castine Harbor on Thursday.

Friends and family waved from the dock as the schooner began a 60-day training cruise that will take Maine Maritime Academy students and crew above the Arctic Circle, the region where the vessel earned its fame as a research vessel almost 80 years ago.

The voyage is the at-sea component of a 12-week course in the overall maintenance and operation of a traditional sailing vessel. On board are 11 MMA students and five professional crew members.

For some of the students, this is their first extended sailing voyage, and the excitement ran high Thursday as they waited for the noon deadline for departure.

“It’s something I was interested in,” said Kate Knudson of Chandler, Ariz. “I come from a landlocked state, and this looked like something I wanted to get into. I figured I’d dive in head first.”

The students moved onto the Bowdoin earlier this week and have spent their time stowing gear and getting used to being on board.

“Food was a big thing,” said Jessica Hewitt of Cape Cod, Mass. “And finding a place for it all.”

One of the exciting things about this trip is that the students put it together, according to First Mate Eric Jergenson, who was busy checking and rechecking lists Thursday morning.

“They wanted to go north,” he said, “and they made it happen.”

The planning began three years ago, according to Dylan Clark of Durham, a 2008 MMA graduate and one of three students who wanted to cross the Arctic Circle aboard the Bowdoin.

“The Bowdoin hasn’t been there since 1994,” he said. “We all wanted to have the chance to get her back there.”

The Bowdoin was built in 1921 at the Hodgdon Brothers Shipyard in East Boothbay for Capt. Donald MacMillan who sailed the schooner on 25 scientific expeditions to the Arctic Circle. The schooner was retired from service in 1950 and later was restored through the efforts of the Schooner Bowdoin Association. The Bowdoin was leased by MMA in 1988 and purchased outright the next year.

The voyage will include stops in Newfoundland, Labrador and Greenland. Jacobshavn, a small village on the west coast of Greenland, lies north of the Arctic Circle.

At the dock in Castine to see the Bowdoin off on Thursday was Dr. Edward Morse and his wife, Inger Holm, who were active in the association that restored the Bowdoin. Morse had sailed with MacMillan on board the Bowdoin in 1947.

Morse said it was gratifying to see the Bowdoin heading north again.

“And it’s good to see it back in teaching again,” he said. “Anytime anyone asked Mac why he went north, he said ‘to learn something.’ That’s what he did, and everyone who went with him did, too. Mac would be so pleased to know that the Bowdoin was here at MMA … he’d be really tickled that it’s doing what it’s doing.”

Students aboard majoring in marine biology will collect data on seaweed rafts and rockweed distributions. Other data collection will take place throughout the trip, particularly in the region of the Jacobshavn glacier, and will include precipitation, snow and seawater samples for contribution to an ongoing study conducted by the University of Maine.

The college made safety a top priority for the Arctic voyage, according to Capt. Rick Miller. They replaced the main boom and added a number of pieces of equipment, enhancing communications and weather tracking capabilities, as well as new safety gear for all hands.

While academic courses are built into the cruise, the experiential education involved in taking the vessel out is compelling, Miller said.

“We’re heading out on an adventure, which is something exciting with an unknown outcome,” he said. “These are new destinations for everyone, including myself, and I am just as excited as anyone to see what lies ahead.”

Students and crew were scheduled to conduct safety drills on Thursday before heading out on the first leg of the trip to St. John, Newfoundland.

Anyone interested can read the captain’s log at the MMA Web site, www.mma.edu/arcticcruise or at bowdoin.mma.edu/arcticcruise. The vessel’s location can be tracked online at charthorizon.com/m/cz/map?vessels=Bowdoin.

rhewitt@bangordailynews.net

667-9394


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