There’s quite an unusual-looking tusk nestled among one of our tusk drawers…a carved tusk cribbage board! This board was used on the Schooner Bowdoin.
The phrase and dates refer to the Crocker Land Expedition (Nil desperandum is a quote from poet Horace, meaning “never despair”), and the small carving depicts Borup Lodge and a dog team.
This photo is adorable. A Greenlandic Inuit boy with his dog, with a sod house in the background. Taken by Rutherford Platt, probably in 1947.
(Check out his awesome polar bear pants!)
Happy Friday, everyone!
(“Sunset over Bay” by Stephen Chandler, taken in 1946 in Labrador aboard the schooner Bowdoin.)
Today’s photo: the schooner Bowdoin!
The Bowdoin was commissioned by MacMillan after the Crocker Land expedition to be specially built for Arctic voyages. She was built in Boothbay, Maine, and launched in 1921. MacMillan used the Bowdoin to make over two dozen trips to the Arctic, often carrying with him young men (and a few women, including his wife Miriam) eager to learn seafaring skills and experience the Arctic.
The Bowdoin is now owned by the Maine Maritime Academy, and is the state vessel of Maine. She will be in Bath, Maine tomorrow, which happens to be 15 minutes away from us! The interns will be taking a field trip to see her, and I’ll be sure to post pictures!
For more on the Bowdoin, visit the Museum’s page and the Maine Maritime Academy page, which provides more numerical data on the schooner for all the boat enthusiasts.
It’s really hot out today.
Here’s a picture of a glacier to cool everyone off.
(Ah, the things we at the Museum do for our followers…This photo was taken by Stephen Chandler aboard the schooner Bowdoin in 1946, probably off the coast of Labrador.)
