Step aboard the storied schooner BOWDOIN with Captain Graham McKay for an evening of Arctic adventure, history, and firsthand storytelling. Built in 1921 for legendary explorer Donald MacMillan, BOWDOIN has spent over a century navigating some of the world’s most formidable waters. In 2024, after nearly two decades away from the far north, the vessel returned to the Arctic, sailing to the 70th parallel along Greenland’s rugged west coast. McKay, a seasoned tall ship captain and master boatbuilder, will share his experiences steering through towering icebergs and witnessing scenes where “ice mast high came floating by as green as emerald.”
Graham McKay is the director and master boatbuilder at Lowell’s Boat Shop, a working museum located in Amesbury, Massachusetts. Lowell’s Boat Shop was founded in 1793 on the banks of the Merrimack River and is the birthplace of the dory. Today, Lowell’s is a National Historic Landmark and America’s oldest operating boat shop.
Prior to coming to Lowell’s Boat Shop, Graham was (and still is occasionally) a tall ship captain. He has also spent time as a commercial diver, commercial fisherman, and a fisheries scientist. McKay has a master’s degree in Maritime History and Archaeology from the University of Bristol, in England and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Harvard College. He currently serves on the Massachusetts state board of Underwater Archeological Resources.
