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Schooner Bowdoin to visit Boothbay Harbor on September 26-27, 2019

Posted on: September 6, 2019

Open Boat Hours on Thursday and Friday, September 26-27, 2019

CASTINE, Maine—Maine Maritime Academy’s schooner Bowdoin, a National Historic Landmark and the Official Vessel of the State of Maine, will visit Boothbay Harbor on Thursday and Friday, September 26-27. Schooner Bowdoin will moor at Boothbay Harbor Oceanside Golf Resort (35 Atlantic Ave) and will be open to the public from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 26 and from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. on Friday, September 27. Boat tours are rain or shine, open to the public, and free of charge.

MMA recently completed a hull refurbishment project to ensure that Bowdoin would be able to continue serving her mission as a training vessel. In October of 2018 the vessel was moved to The Shipyard in Boothbay Harbor where she spent the winter and spring in a climate-controlled workspace undergoing plank removal and replacement, frame refurbishment, and related work to return the vessel to optimum operating condition.

The schooner Bowdoin is the flagship of Maine Maritime Academy’s Vessel Operations and Technology Program. MMA is the only college in the United States with a dedicated sail training program that leads to a U.S. Coast Guard license as mate on an auxiliary sail vessel. Students may start with no prior sailing experience and graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree, a U.S. Coast Guard license, and all necessary certificates.

Bowdoin enjoys a long history of seafaring education and Arctic exploration. Commissioned by explorer Donald B. MacMillan to facilitate his work in the high northern latitudes, Bowdoin has made 28 trips to the Arctic, 25 of them before 1954 under the command of MacMillan. MacMillan sold Bowdoin to the U.S. Navy for use in World War II during the Greenland Patrol. After WWII, MacMillan bought the ship back and continued to sail her for nine more years around Greenland. After MacMillan’s retirement the boat belonged to the Schooner Bowdoin Association until 1988 when Maine Maritime Academy purchased the vessel for the purpose of training students. It was at this time that Bowdoin became the Official Vessel of the State of Maine and was designated a National Historic Landmark.

The public can follow the adventures of the schooner Bowdoin on facebook at Arctic Schooner Bowdoin.

Bowdoin’s Captain, William McLean, earned his Bachelor of Science degree at Maine Maritime Academy in Vessel Operations and Technology with a Sail Training Concentration, graduating in 2012. He joined the academy staff in the spring of 2017 following a winter sail schedule with Call of the Sea, an educational nonprofit dedicated to environmental education through sailing. There, he was Captain of the Schooner Seaward, an 82-foot classic staysail schooner, conducting 6-day charters in the Sea of Cortez. Previous to working with Call of the Sea, he was senior chief mate/relief captain on the SSV Robert C. Seamans with Sea Education Association for three years.

Maine Maritime Academy is a co-educational, public college on the coast of Maine offering programs of study in engineering, management, science, and transportation. The college serves approximately 950 undergraduate and graduate students in career-oriented degree programs. The job placement rate for MMA graduates exceeds 90 percent within 90 days of graduation. The college is consistently recognized for providing a high-value education by organizations such as the Brookings Institution, Money Magazine and U.S. News and World Report.