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CONTACT: Janice B. Zenter, 207-326-2256

Schooner Bowdoin Visits Bath

CASTINE, Maine - Maine Maritime Academy's (MMA) historic schooner Bowdoin will visit Bath, Maine, on Saturday, June 19, as a guest of the Maine Maritime Museum. While in port, Bowdoin will offer free tours of the vessel to the public from 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m.

The schooner's visit to Bath corresponds with the Museum's annual Mariner's Award celebration. This year the Museum will recognize Leonard H. Tyler, former long-time president of the Castine-based college. Tyler retired from the post at the conclusion of this academic year.

While in port, Bowdoin will also be welcomed by MMA's local alumni group, the Ned Andrews Chapter of the Maine Maritime Academy Alumni Association. As part of port-of-call activities, Bowdoin will host a reception on Friday evening for members of the group.

The arctic schooner Bowdoin enjoys a long history of seafaring education and exploration. Built in 1921 at the Hodgdon Brothers Shipyard in East Boothbay, the schooner sailed on 25 scientific expeditions to the Arctic Circle by Adm. Donald MacMillan. Following withdrawal from Arctic service in 1954, the Bowdoin supported the educational initiatives of Mystic Seaport in Connecticut and the Outward Bound School in Maine. The schooner was later acquired by the Schooner Bowdoin Association. Maine Maritime Academy leased the vessel in 1988 and bought her outright a year later. Recent sail training expeditions have taken the vessel and her student crew to Labrador, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and the Arctic Circle in support of the college's academic concentration in Sail Training. The schooner is bound for port visits in Portsmouth, N.H., and Marblehead, Mass., later in the month.

A public, coeducational college specializing in ocean and marine-oriented programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels, Maine Maritime Academy was founded in 1941. Today the college enrolls more than 850 students from 35 states and several foreign countries, awarding degrees in 15 fields of study. To learn more, visit www.mainemaritime.edu

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