Sloop GJOA & Roald Amundsen

Gjøa was the first vessel to transit the Northwest Passage. With a crew of six, Roald Amundsen traversed the passage in a three year journey, finishing in 1906. The 70 ft square-sterned 48 ton sloop was built by Kurt Johannesson Skaale in Rosendal, Norway in 1872, the same year Amundsen was born. For the next 28 years she served as a herring fishing vessel, before Amundsen bought her in 1900, for his forthcoming expedition to the Arctic Ocean . Gjøa was much smaller than vessels used by other Arctic expeditions, but Amundsen intended to live off the limited resources of the land and sea through which he was to travel, and reasoned that the land could sustain only a tiny crew. Roald Amundsen became the first European explorer to navigate through the Northwest Passage (1903-1906), and went on to become the first man to reach the South Pole (1911). For the rest of the story CLICK HERE.

Captain Robert A. Bartlett

ERNESTINA ( catalog #2010 )The Ernestina is one of only two sailing Arctic exploration vessels left afloat in the United States, the other being the schooner Bowdoin, also a National Historic Landmark. After a long and distinguished fishing and cargo-carrying career, Effie M. Morrissey (Ernestina) was purchased in 1926 by Capt. Robert A. Bartlett, Canadian-born Arctic explorer and captain for Robert E. Peary. After 1924, under Capt. Bob Bartlett, Ernestina or known at that time as "the little Morrissey" made 20 regular voyages north. On one voyage they reached within 600 miles of the Pole. In 2009, Captain Bartlett will be celebrated from Newfoundland and Labrador to New England.
Captain Bartlett Video Click Here.

Schooner Bowdoin Returns From Arctic

Schooner Bowdoin ( catalog #02185 ) The historic schooner Bowdoin is back in its home port of Castine after completing its latest voyage to the Arctic. The 88-foot wooden ship sailed as far north as Hareo Island off the coast of Greenland, about 240 miles north of the Arctic Circle. It reached the northern-most point of its voyage in late June. Built in 1921 in East Boothbay, the Bowdoin made 25 scientific expeditions to the Arctic Circle under the leadership of Adm. Donald MacMillan until 1954.

Arctic Explorer

Recalling the vessels historic roots in Arctic exploration the

schooner BOWDOIN will return to the Arctic this summer

to read more click here.