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Nova Scotia’s famous fishing and racing

schooner.

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In 1920, the America’s Cup Boat Race was cancelled because the high winds that year were

considered too dangerous.

This was to the great disappointment of the fishermen of New England and the Maritimes.

Thus, they resolved to hold their own competition.

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The Halifax Herald Newspaper (based in Nova Scotia) donated a

cup and established rules for the new boat race competition.

The International Fishermen’s Trophy was born. It featured ships

from Gloucester, Massachusetts, and Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.

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The first competition, held in 1920, was won by a ship from Gloucester. This was to the great anger of the Lunenburg fleet.

A young naval architect from Halifax, William J. Roue, was commissioned to design a new

schooner. It was to meet the high standards of the Lunenburg fishing fleet, and was also to be fast

enough to capture the Trophy.

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That ship was the Bluenose. It was the 121st ship built by the Smith & Rhuland Shipyard in Lunenburg. The Bluenose

was launched on March 26, 1921.

Since then, the Bluenose won the International Fishermen’s Trophy five years in a row: 1921, 1922, 1923, 1931, and 1938.

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While most of the Bluenose’s fame came from racing, it was also a capable fishing vessel.

The Bluenose served for nearly twenty seasons, when the average lifespan of a wooden schooner was ten.

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The Bluenose was sold to the West Indian Trading Company in 1942. This was due to a combination of the ship’s age, the Great Depression, and the advance of diesel powered fishing

trawlers.

The Bluenose served as a freighter for four years. Alas, it ran into a reef near Haiti and sank in January, 1946.

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In 1960, the Smith & Rhuland Shipyard built a replica of the H.M.S. Bounty for the M.G.M. movie “Mutiny on the Bounty.”

This even made Nova Scotians dream once again of the Bluenose.

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Around the same time, the brewing company Oland and Sons were planning to build a replica of a Nova Scotian fishing

schooner, to promote their new Schooner Beer.

This was how Bluenose II was born.

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Bluenose II was built from the original plans of Bluenose I. It was also built in the same port in Lunenburg as the original. Some of the original craftsmen who worked on

the original Bluenose also worked on Bluenose II.

Bluenose II was launched in Lunenburg on July 24, 1963.

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Bluenose II is not allowed to race, lest it jeopardize the reputation of the origional. The new ship is still

fast though.

However, the interior is vastly different. Bluenose II has comfortable quarters, a chart room, and a spacious salon. These things are where the original Bluenose would have stored salt and fish.

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In 1971, the Oland family sold the Bluenose II to the province of Nova Scotia for the price of one dollar.

The Bluenose remains the most recognized symbol of Nova Scotia, and is immortalized as

a Canadian symbol on the Canadian dime.

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“I gave her the power to carry sail”.- William J. Roue, designer

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Bibliography

Getson, Heather-Anne. “Bluenose.” World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia. Electronic. World Book, Inc., 2002.

Flinn, Scott. “Bluenose.” Posted January 9, 2004. Online.http://www.cs.ubc.ca/spider/flinn/bluenose/index.htmlAccessed April 28, 2004.

Images used in this presentation were gathered from various sources on the internet. No image was created by the maker of this presentation.