Donald Baxter MacMillan | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Nickname(s) | Inuktitut:Nagelak, ('Leader') |
| Born | (1874-11-10)November 10, 1874 Provincetown, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | September 7, 1970(1970-09-07) (aged 95) Provincetown, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/Service |  United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1918–38; 1941–45 |
| Rank |  Rear admiral |
| Awards | |
| Memorials | MacMillan Wharf, Provincetown, Massachusetts |
| Spouse(s) | Miriam Norton Look |
| Other work | 30 Arctic expeditions between 1908 and 1954 |
Donald Baxter MacMillan (November 10, 1874 – September 7, 1970) was anAmerican explorer, sailor, researcher and lecturer who made over 30 expeditions to theArctic during his 46-year career.
He pioneered the use of radios, airplanes, and electricity in the Arctic and put together a dictionary of theInuktitut language. His expeditions producedInuit films, photographs of Arctic scenes, and audio recordings ofInuit languages, thousands of which were taken by American sailorMiriam MacMillan.
In 1921, he commissioned the schoonerBowdoin, which sailed to the Arctic two dozen times.
Born inProvincetown,Massachusetts, in 1874, Donald MacMillan lived inFreeport,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 atBowdoin College inBrunswick, graduating in 1898 with a degree in geology. He later taught atWorcester Academy from 1903 to 1908.[citation needed]
MacMillan often visited his close friends Jerome and Amy Look[1] between Arctic expeditions. Each time, he would bring gifts for their daughter, sailorMiriam Norton Look; "a beaded craft, anivory figurine, or some other token of his adventures in the North."[2] Look referred to MacMillan as "Uncle Dan," and they would correspond via letters.[2]
While piloting herSea Pup motorboat, Look recognized Donald MacMillan's 88-footBowdoin schooner, which had dropped anchor nearBustins Island. Look piloted her boat to MacMillan, who ran summer camps for boys on the island,[3] and asked if he needed a ride. MacMillan accepted her offer, as he stated he had a dinner date that evening; however, the boat ran out of gas minutes later, and MacMillan was a half-hour late to his dinner date. Nevertheless, he stated he was impressed with Look's "expert control" of the motorboat.[2]
On March 18, 1935, when he was 61 years old, MacMillan married sailor, author, and photographerMiriam Norton Look, then 29 years old.[4]
In 1937, Miriam MacMillan said she would like to accompany MacMillan to the Inuit town ofNunainguk, Newfoundland and Labrador. He agreed on the stipulation that she would arrive in nearbyHopedale without his assistance. Deciding it would be a race, MacMillan reached Hopedale days before her husband did, traveling by train and mail carrier. Before his arrival, she studiedInuktitut, custom-madeInuit clothing, and asked locals to tell her stories about Donald. When MacMillan arrived, he mistook her for an Inuk woman.[2] Following this, MacMillan was a member of the crew on her husband's Arctic explorations; she joined 9 Arctic voyages, collecting photographs, artifacts, films, and audio recordings.[5]
After five years as a high school teacher, MacMillan caught the attention of explorer and fellow Bowdoin graduateRobert E. Peary when he saved the lives of nine shipwrecked people in two nights.[6] Peary subsequently invited MacMillan to join his 1908 journey to theNorth Pole. Although MacMillan himself had to turn back at 84°29' on March 14 because of frozen heels, Peary allegedly reached the Pole 26 days later.[7]
MacMillan spent the next few years traveling inLabrador, carrying out ethnological studies among theInnu andInuit. He organized and commanded the ill-fatedCrocker Land Expedition to northernGreenland in 1913. Crocker Land turned out to be amirage. The expedition members were stranded until 1917, when CaptainRobert A. Bartlett of the shipNeptune finally rescued them.
On December 24, 1918, shortly after the armistice which ended the First World War, MacMillan was commissioned an ensign in theNaval Reserve Flying Corps. MacMillan was 44 years old at the time, making him one of the oldest ensigns in the history of the U.S. Navy. After the war, MacMillan began raising money for another Arctic expedition. In 1921, the schoonerBowdoin—the namesake of MacMillan's alma mater—was launched from EastBoothbay, Maine and set sail forBaffin Island, where MacMillan and his crew spent the winter. The expedition was notable for taking along anamateur radio operator, Don Mix, who used station WNP ("Wireless North Pole") to keep them in contact with the outside world.[8]
In 1923 there was concern about a new ice age and he again sailed toward theNorth Pole aboard theBowdoin, sponsored by theNational Geographical Society to look for evidence of advancing glaciers.[9][10]
In 1925 MacMillan led a scientific expedition backed by the National Geographical Society and financed primarily by the Chicago entrepreneurEugene McDonald - which was accompanied by U.S. Navy personnel and planes commanded by Lt. Cmdr.Richard E. Byrd. The planes were to be used for aerial surveys of Baffin and Ellesmere Islands, investigation of the Greenland icecap, and reconnaissance of previously unexplored areas of the Arctic Sea. The aerial results proved to be disappointing due to severe weather conditions, unreliable engines and inadequate navigational tools (although Byrd would use this experience in preparing for his attempt to reach the North Pole the following year). The expedition is noted for the successful demonstration of SW radio in communications from the Arctic Region.
In the summer of 1926 MacMillan led a group of explorers which included three women and five scientists collecting flora and fauna inLabrador andGreenland. He believed it was possible that the ancient ruins off Sculpin Island, twenty miles from Nain, Labrador, were the remains of aNorse settlement 1,000 years old. On the side bordering the mainland MacMillan found what he considered the vestiges of ten or twelve houses. He estimated the age of the dwellings to be hundreds of years old according to the lichens which partially covered their foundations. However MacMillan could not say for certain if these had been built byVikings. According toInuit tradition the "stone igloos" were constructed by men who came from the sea in ships. Inuit called the siteTunitvik, meaningthe place of the Norseman. MacMillan said the strongest argument that the Sculpin dwellings were of Viking origin was their resemblance to those he found in Greenland the previous year.[11] The argument that Sculpin Island was a Norse settlement was refuted by geographerVäinö Tanner in 1941.[12]
MacMillan was placed on the Naval Reserve Honorary Retired List with the rank of lieutenant commander on his 64th birthday in 1938.[13] Despite being past retirement age, he volunteered for active duty with the Navy duringWorld War II.
On May 22, 1941, he transferred theBowdoin to the Navy for the duration of the war and served as her initial commanding officer before being transferred to theHydrographic Office inWashington, D.C. He was promoted to the rank of commander on June 13, 1942.[14]
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.
From 1937 onward, Miriam MacMillan joined her husband on 9 Arctic expeditions as part of his crew. She took thousands of photographs, films,Inuit art artifacts, and audio recordings ofInuit, which she later organized and curated for thePeary-MacMillan Arctic Museum.[5]
In 1939, MacMillan was pictured in aportrait photograph taken by Miriam MacMillan on theBowdoin, in his Captain's hat, holding a puppy named Kahda.[15] TheMaine Historical Society explains: "Some of Donald MacMillan's work in the Arctic relied on sleds pulled by dogs especially bred for working. Occasionally a particular dog, like Kahda, became a pet as well. MacMillan was known to be fond of dogs and very good at working with them -- skills he learned from Inuit companions on his first Arctic expedition with Robert Peary in 1908-1909."[15]
On June 25, 1954, MacMillan was promoted, by a special act ofCongress, to rank of rear admiral on the Naval Reserve retired list in honor of his lifetime of service and achievement.[16]
Admiral MacMillan made his final trip to the Arctic in 1957 at age 82, and died in 1970 at the age of 95. He is buried in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where a main wharf is named after him.
In 1927, theBoy Scouts of America made MacMillan anHonorary Scout, a new category of Scout created that same year. This distinction was given to "American citizens whose achievements in outdoor activity, exploration and worthwhile adventure are of such an exceptional character as to capture the imagination of boys...". The other eighteen who were awarded this distinction were:Roy Chapman Andrews;Robert Bartlett;Frederick Russell Burnham;Richard E. Byrd;George Kruck Cherrie; James L. Clark;Merian C. Cooper;Lincoln Ellsworth;Louis Agassiz Fuertes;George Bird Grinnell;Charles A. Lindbergh; Clifford H. Pope;George Palmer Putnam;Kermit Roosevelt; Carl Rungius;Stewart Edward White; andOrville Wright.[17]
MacMillan Pier in Provincetown is named in his honor.
The bagpipe band at Robert E. Peary High School inRockville, Maryland, was formed and named after him with his permission in 1961. The adult MacMillan Pipe Band continues to this day, formed by the graduates of the high school pipe band.[18]
Captain Donald B. MacMillan, Arctic explorer, and his picked crew of six sailed for the Far North tonight ...
Captain Donald B. MacMillan, who will sail from here June 16 on the little schooner Bowdoin to resume his arctic explorations, announced today that one purpose of the expedition is to determine whether there is beginning another ice age, as the advance of glaciers in the last seventy years would indicate. ...
Thinks Relics of Settlement Off Labrador Perhaps 1,000 Years Old. Sub-Arctic Expedition of Field Museum of Chicago Returns to Sydney. The authenticity of old legends telling of Norse settlements established in America by Vikings long before Columbus sailed for the New World has received ...
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