Donald B. MacMillan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Donald Baxter MacMillan (November 10, 1874 - September 7, 1970) was an American explorer, sailor, researcher and lecturer who made over 30 expeditions to the Arctic during his 46-year career. He pioneered the use of radios, airplanes, and electricity in the Arctic, brought back films and thousands of photographs of Arctic scenes, and put together a dictionary of the Inuktitut language.
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[edit] Early Life
Born in Provincetown, Massachusetts in 1874, MacMillan lived in Freeport, Maine after the deaths of both his parents in 1883 (his father died while captaining a Grand Banks fishing schooner) and 1886 (his mother died suddenly), and was educated at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, graduating in 1898 with a degree in geology.
[edit] Arctic Explorations and Two World Wars
After ten years as a high school teacher, MacMillan caught the attention of explorer and fellow Bowdoin graduate Robert E. Peary when he saved the lives of nine shipwrecked people in two nights. Peary subsequently invited MacMillan to join his 1908 journey to the North Pole. Although MacMillan himself had to turn back at 84°29' on March 14 because of frozen heels, Peary reached the Pole 26 days later.
MacMillan spent the next few years travelling in Labrador, carrying out ethnological studies among the Innu and Inuit. He organized and commanded an expedition to northern Greenland in 1913, but it was stranded until 1917, when Captain Robert A. Bartlett of The Neptune finally rescued MacMillan and his crew.
After serving in the Navy during World War I, MacMillan began raising money for another Arctic expedition. In 1921, the schooner Bowdoin -- named for MacMillan's alma mater -- was launched from East Boothbay, Maine and set sail for Baffin Island, where MacMillan and his crew spent the winter. He joined the Navy again during World War II, serving in the Hydrographic Office in Washington, DC, and transferred the Bowdoin to the Navy for the duration of the war.
[edit] Later Life
After the war, MacMillan continued his trips to the Arctic, taking researchers north and carrying supplies for the MacMillan-Moravian School he established in 1929. He made his final trip to the Arctic in 1954 at age 80, and lived until 1970. MacMillan is buried in Provincetown.
[edit] External links
- A more complete MacMillan biography, courtesy of Bowdoin College
- The Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum
- Bio by Laurel Gaudazno of Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum
- An Arctic Expedition Rediscovered by Amy Nevala of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
