Maine Memory Network

By the late 1960s, the schooner Bowdoin required extensive restoration—fifteen years after Donald MacMillan himself had retired from Arctic travel.

Here, the restored and garlanded schooner rests on the launching ways at the former Percy & Small Shipyard along the Kennebec River in Bath. She was ready for new masts and rigging, and a second career at sea.

Guests are aboard for the launching, just as they were in 1921. The fishing schooner Sherman Zwicker, at right, is dressed with flags for the celebration. Sadly, Donald MacMillan had passed away in 1970.

But Miriam MacMillan, along with many of the schooner's old friends and crew members, participated in the re-launching festivities.