Evening star., 1925-06-21
FETED AT DEPARTURE.
Demonstration Marks Sailing of Two
Ships for Arctic.

SHIPS Tor Arctic.
WlSCASSET. Me-, June 20 CP.-
Donald Baxter Macmillan left today
for the Arctic with the Godspeed of
Niscasset, the State of Maine and the
Nation ringing in his ears.
See you in September, Mac"
shouted his old friends as they stood
on Old Whale Wharf bidding them
farewell. thereby symbolizing the
confidence they have in his ability to
bring his crews of two-score men
safely back from the Arctic, where in
the Polar Sea the explorer hopes to
find an unknown and uncharted land.
Lieut.. Comdr. MacMillan's two
ships sailed away amid the greatest
demonstration he ever has received
on any of his eight previous trips
into the far north. Thousands of
persons lined the roadways along the
Sheepscot River and jammed the
pier from which the Bowdoin and
Peary sailed. Thousands more waved
farewell from the hillsides.
Departure Impressive.
School children crowded the wharf
and unloosed a shower of multi-col-
ered toy balloons as the 5th Infantry
Band Of Portland played the ma.
tioral anthem Commander MacMil-
Ian stepped aboard the Bowdoin, took
the wheel, the lines were cast off and
the craft slipped out among a hundred
or more flag g-bedecked small boats that
were on hand to accompany him to
the mouth of the river.
The band went aboard their boat,
the General Robert Anderson of Port
land, and as Commander Macmillan
cfrcled his craft about the wharf for
final wave of farewell the strains of
Aud Lang Syne" f1oated across the
calm water of the river.
The departure was Immediately pre-.
ceded by celebration in Lieut.. Comdr
MacMillan's honor on the village
green, where he heard prominent men
of Nation and State wish him we'll and
express their confidence in his sue.
cess. Gov. Ralph o. Brewster OF
Maine, Capt. d. E. Dismukes, com.
mandant Of the Portsmouth, n. H.,
navy yard, were the speakers.
Mrs. Peary At Wharf.
Many old friends of Comdr. Mac.
MILAN were on hand to bid him good
bye. Among them was Mrs. Robert
E. Peary, widow of the late Rear Ad.
miral Peary, discoverer of the North
Pole, and with whom Macmillan made
his first trip to the Arctic; Mrs. Ed
ward Stafford, Mrs. Peary's daughter
who was born beyond the Arctic Cir.
Gle, and her brother, Robert E. Peary,
Jr., and Maj. Gen. A. w. Greely, the
first American explorer of note, and
who Al years ago reached the farthest
northern point that any explorer had
reached at that time.
The Peary slipped away from the
pier short time before the Bowdoin
sailed, but she lay in the middle of the
stream waiting for the commander s
ship to lead the way behind an escort
of two Navy eagle boats.
Before the ships left WiscaSset
Lieut.. Comdr. Richard E. Byrd, com
manding the naval airplane contin
gent Of the expedition, said the planes
had been inspected by Grover Loen
Ing, their designer, and found to be
in tiptop condition.
Peary Speeds On.
Accompanying the expedition te
Sydney, N. S., where the two ships
will stop for fuel. are DR.. Gilbert
Grosvenor, president of the National
Geographic Society, which has spon.
sored and financed the expedition
and j. r. Hildebrand. chief of the So
ciety's school service. ------
On the Bowdoin today were 200
members Of the Civitan Club Of Min.
neapolis. There were sailing as far
as Monhegan' Island where Comdr
Macmillan plans to pass the night
The Peary after stopping at Booth
Bay Harbor to take on 5000 gallons
of fresh water, continued to speed on
toward Sydney.