LB2016.15.553

LB2016.15.553

A largish crowd gathered to see steamboat S.S.PEARY of CHICAGO at Eastern Steamship wharf, Boothbay Harbor, Maine ready to leave on the 1925 arctic expedition with Adm, Donald B. MacMillan and Adm. Richard E. Byrd aboard. The article below, as well as others, indicate that the expedition departed from Wiscasset, not Boothbay Harbor. The MacMillan Expedition left Wiscasset, Maine, on June 20, 1925, aboard two small ships. The Navy men and their crated aircraft were aboard Pe, a former Canadian minesweeper, while the bulk of the scientific party was aboard Bowdoin, an auxiliary schooner named for MacMillan’s alma mater that had been used in previous Arctic expeditions. The departure was late in the season, considering the distance that had to be traveled even before any of the time-consuming scientific work could begin on the way north. Of the two ships, the small sloop Bowdoin had the bulk of the scientific party while Byrd and his team were aboard the larger ship, the Peary. (Bettmann/Getty Images) Of the two ships, the small sloop Bowdoin had the bulk of the scientific party while Byrd and his team were aboard the larger ship, the Peary. (Bettmann/Getty Images) The final destination was the port of Etah, a small settlement on Greenland’s northwest coast, about 700 miles south of the pole. https://unwritten-record.blogs.archives.gov/2015/09/30/the-aviator-the-explorer-and-the-radio-man-the-1925-macmillan-arctic-expedition/