August 2011 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 7.
M A I N E M A R I T I M E A C A D E M Y N E W S Waterfront News
MAINE MARITIME ACADEMY TO CELEBRATE SCHOONER BOWDOIN’S 90th BIRTHDAY, HOST WILLIAM HAND FESTIVAL
CASTINE – Maine Maritime Academy (MMA) hosted a waterfront celebration on Sunday, July 10, to mark the 90th birthday of the college’s historic schooner BOWDOIN, and the beginning of a local tribute to the designs of naval architect and BOWDOIN designer, William Hand, Jr., and his design partner Richard O. Davis.
The public was invited to attend BOWDOIN birthday events from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Academy’s waterfront campus, located at the base of Main Street in Castine. Guests were invited to enjoy tours of BOWDOIN, along with complimentary
birthday cake and ice cream from 11:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mary Morton Cowan, the author of Captain Mac: The Life of Donald Baxter MacMillan, Arctic Explorer talked about Donald MacMillan and his long and distinguished career as an arctic explorer from 1-2 p.m. in Payson Hall, Maine Maritime Academy waterfront. The festivities concluded with the opportunity to view the anticipated arrival of several Hand and Davis vessels.
Organized by the Castine-based Guildive Cruises, and hosted by Maine Maritime Academy, the first annual William Hand, Jr., & R.O. Davis Classic Boat Rendezvous, took place at Castine from July 10-12. Beginning on the afternoon of July 10, Hand- and Davis-designed yachts arrived
NOAA Okay's Dredging of Kennebec River
NOAA has determined that dredging of a navigation channel in Maine’s Kennebec River will not jeopardize the continued existence of endangered shortnose sturgeon. It also is not expected to have adverse affects on the Gulf of Maine Distinct Population Segment of Atlantic salmon nor its critical habitat in this area.
Under the Endangered Species Act, federal agencies are required to obtain a review, a biological opinion, from NOAA Fisheries Service, if their actions could affect a species listed under the Act. To make the
Lost Minot’s Ledge Lighthouse Fog Bell Found in Maine Church
As church bells across America ring to summon worshipers this Sunday morning for their Independence Day weekend services, a small church in Maine will ring one of the most famous lighthouse bells in American history, says Tim Harrison, editor of Lighthouse Digest, the Maine based lighthouse news and history magazine. The July/August print edition of Lighthouse Digest reports on the discovery of the fog bell that once hung at the first Minot’s Ledge Lighthouse that was toppled in a colossal storm in 1851 in the waters off Cohasset and Scituate, Massachusetts. The story about the collapse of the Minot’s Ledge Lighthouse, which claimed the lives of its two assistant lighthouse keepers, is one of the most notable tragedies in American lighthouse history.
The Lighthouse Digest story says that the 650-pound fog bell was purchased at a salvage sale in the late 1850s and transported from Massachusetts to Maine. However, it was another 55 years before it finally ended up in the belfry of the Bryant Pond Baptist Church in Bryant Pond, Maine, where it has been rung every Sunday for over 100 years. The story also documents where the lighthouse bell was used during the 55 years before it was installed at the church and the second tragedy that was associated with the bell, which claimed yet another victim. Harrison said, “Although the facts have always been there, as time passed, the story was eventually forgotten.” That all changed when Harrison received a phone call from Rev. Calvin Fuller, the interim pastor of the church, who had discovered a bell clapper in the desk at the church’s office with a tagged label saying it was from the original Minot’s Ledge Lighthouse fog bell. As soon as Rev. Fuller read the writing on the label he started to do some digging into the church’s files and subsequently called Harrison at Lighthouse Digest.
channel passable for a new U.S. Navy ship that is being built at the Bath Iron Works in Maine, the Army Corps will use a hydraulic dredge to remove sand shoals in the Kennebec River. The dredge vacuums the sand from the river bottom. Since both shortnose sturgeon and Atlantic salmon use this area as habitat, they could be injured or killed or suffer habitat degradation as a result of the dredging activity. The measures required by NOAA are expected to minimize the risks to both species.
LIGHTHOUSE NEWS
Included with the story that appears in Lighthouse Digest are a number of photographs, some that have never been published before, and others that were only seen by a very limited audience over 100 years ago. Lighthouse Digest has posted a video clip of the famous bell, courtesy of Rev. Fuller, as it rings from the steeple at the Bryant Pond Baptist Church at http://
www.foghornpublishing.com/news/ minots.cfm.
For more information about Lighthouse Digest you can visit their web site at
www.FogHornPublishing.com or call them at 207-259-2121.
Schooner BOWDOIN sailing on East Penobscot Bay in the afternoon sun.
for the celebration. Vessels will include the ketch GUILDIVE, the Rockland-based 108- foot windjammer NATHANIEL BOWDITCH, the 57-foot motorsailer BURMA from Mystic, CT, and the 36-foot ketch ALISANDE from Lincoln. An open invitation to participate has been extended to other sail- or motor-powered yachts designed by Hand or Davis.
On Monday, July 11, the BOWDOIN was open for free public deck tours from 9- 10:45 a.m.; and again from 3-5 p.m. Some of the Hand and Davis designed vessels will also be open for tours from 3-5 p.m., providing an opportunity to meet some of the captains and crew of the historic vessels. BOWDOIN will also be offering two free public sails, the first running from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and the second from 1 p.m. to 3 p. m. The day also included live music by Flash! In the Pans, a community steelband based in Blue Hill. Yachts departed Castine in a parade of sail on the morning of Tuesday, July 12.
Maine Maritime Academy’s BOWDOIN has had a long and illustrious career, and in her 90th
year afloat serves as
MMA’s traditional sail-training flagship. The vessel was designed by Hand and launched in 1921 at the Hodgdon Brothers shipyard in East Boothbay. The schooner sailed on 25 scientific expeditions to the Arctic Circle under the command of Admiral
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Donald MacMillan. BOWDOIN sent the first shortwave communications from the region in 1923 while wintering in Refuge Harbor, Greenland.
Today, the vessel regularly cruises Penobscot Bay and local waters providing a hands-on sail-training platform for the college. The schooner is uncovered each April to begin re-rigging on the college’s working waterfront in preparation for the summer cruising season. Each summer BOWDOIN cruises New England waters, from Massachusetts to the Canadian Maritimes. Throughout the sailing season, the schooner serves as a public ambassador for the college, promoting traditional sail- training techniques and serving various student and community groups.
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