Bluenose

After a season fishing on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland under the command of Angus Walters, Bluenose set out to take part in her first International Fisherman's Cup. The International Fisherman's Cup was awarded to the fastest fishing schooner that worked in the North Atlantic deepsea fishing industry. The fastest schooner had to win two out of three races in order to claim the trophy.[18] The Canadian elimination race to determine who would represent Canada in the 1921 International Fishermen's Trophy race off Halifax, Nova Scotia took place in early October. A best two-out-of-three competition, Bluenose won the first two races easily.[19] Bluenose then defeated the American challenger Elsie, for the International Fishermen's Trophy, returning it to Nova Scotia in October 1921.[20] The following year, Bluenose defeated the American challenger Henry S. Ford, this time in American waters off Gloucester.[21] Henry S. Ford had been constructed in 1921 based on a design intended to defeat Bluenose.[22]

In 1923, Bluenose faced Columbia, another American yacht newly designed and constructed to defeat the Canadian schooner. The International Fishermen's Trophy race was held off Halifax in 1923 and new rules were put in place preventing ships from passing marker buoys to landward. During the first race, the two schooners duelled inshore, the rigging of the vessels coming together. However, Bluenose won the first race. During the second race, Bluenose broke the new rule and was declared to have lost the race. Angus Walters protested the decision and demanded that no vessel be declared winner. The judging committee rejected his protest, which led Walters to remove Bluenose from the competition. The committee declared the competition a tie, and the two vessels shared the prize money and the title.[23] The anger over the events led to an eight-year hiatus in the race.[24]

In 1925, a group of Halifax businessmen ordered the construction of a schooner designed to defeat Bluenose. Haligonian was launched that year and a race was organized between the two ships. However, while returning to port with her catch, Haligonian ran aground in the Strait of Canso. The vessel required repairs and the race with Bluenose was cancelled. In 1926, a new race was organized, which Bluenose won easily.[25] A new American schooner was designed and built in 1929–1930 to defeat Bluenose. Gertrude L. Thebaud.[26] She was the last schooner of her type constructed for the fishing fleet in Gloucester.[27] In 1930 off Gloucester, Massachusetts, Bluenose was defeated 2–0 in the inaugural Sir Thomas Lipton International Fishing Challenge Cup.[28] The second race was controversial, as it was called off due to weather issues both times Bluenose took the lead. The following year, Gertrude L. Thebaud challenged Bluenose for the International Fisherman's Trophy. Bluenose won handily, beating the American schooner in both races.[29]

Fishing schooners became obsolete during the 1930s, displaced by motor schooners and trawlers. Salt cod, the main fishing industry in the North Atlantic had been surpassed by the fresh fish industry requiring faster vessels.[27] In 1933, Bluenose was invited to the World's Fair in Chicago, stopping in Toronto on her return voyage. In 1935, Bluenose sailed to Plymouth after being invited as part of the Silver Jubilee of King George V. During her visit, she took part in a race with schooner-yachts, specifically designed for racing. Bluenose came third.[30] On her return trip to Nova Scotia, Bluenose encountered a strong gale that lasted for three days. Enough damage was done to the schooner that Bluenose was forced to return to Plymouth to effect repairs. She was made seaworthy enough to sail to Lunenburg where further repairs were done.[31] In 1936, Bluenose had diesel engines installed and topmasts removed to allow the schooner to remain on the fishing grounds year-round.[32]

In 1937, Bluenose was challenged once more by the American schooner Gertrude L. Thebaud in a best-of-five series of races for the International Fisherman's Trophy. However, the financial difficulties of the owners of Bluenose almost prevented the race from going ahead. Furthermore, Bluenose's sailing gear had been placed in storage after the schooner had been refitted with diesel engines. It was only with the intervention of American private interests that Bluenose was made ready for the race. Beginning on 9 October 1938, the first race, off Boston, was won by Gertrude L. Thebaud. Bluenose won the second which was sailed off Gloucester, but a protest over the ballast aboard Bluenose led to modifications to the schooner. She was found to be too long at the waterline for the competition. The alterations completed, Bluenose won the third race sailed off Gloucester, by an even greater margin than the second race. During the fourth race sailed off Boston, the topmast of Bluenose snapped, which contributed to Gertrude L. Thebaud's win. The fifth race, sailed off Gloucester was won by Bluenose, retaining the trophy for the Nova Scotians. This was the last race of the fishing schooners of the North Atlantic.[33]

During World War ll, Bluenose remained at dock in Lunenburg. No longer profitable, the vessel was sold to the West Indies Trading Company in 1942. The vessel was once again stripped of masts and rigging and converted into a coastal freighter for work in the Caribbean Sea, carrying various cargoes between the islands. Laden with bananas, she struck a coral reef off Île à Vache, Haiti on 28 January 1946. Wrecked beyond repair, with no loss of life, the schooner was abandoned on the reef. The vessel broke apart on the reef.[34]

Various divers and film makers have claimed to have found the wreck of Bluenose, most recently in June 2005 by divers from the Caribbean Marine Institute searching for Henry Morgan's ship HMS Oxford. However, the large number of wrecks on the reef at Île à Vache and the scattered condition of the wreckage has made identification difficult.[35][36]

Bluenose sloop racing, Armdale Yacht Club, Nova Scotia, 2022

Roué produced a design, at the request of a group from the Armdale Yacht Club in Halifax, for a small one-design sloop that would be both fast and elegant and could be sailed easily by two or three people. The schooner Bluenose was still afloat, but had been sold to the West Indian Trading Company for use as a freighter. The new class was given the name Bluenose to help perpetuate the memory of the great champion. The first Bluenose-class sloops were launched in the spring of 1946, just months after Bluenose was lost on a Haitian reef.[44]

The first twelve boats were constructed at the same time together by their first owners under the direction of master boatbuilder John H. Barkhouse, of Barkhouse Boatyard in Chester, Nova Scotia. Many of these original twelve boats are still actively sailed or even raced. B1 was allowed to fall into a state of disrepair, but has since been restored and is on display at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.[45]

In 1963, a replica of Bluenose was built at Lunenburg using the original Bluenose plans and named Bluenose II. The replica was built by Smith and Rhuland, sponsored by the Oland Company.[7] Used as a marketing tool for Oland Brewery Schooner Lager beer brand and as a pleasure yacht for the Olands family. Bluenose II was sold to the government of Nova Scotia in 1971 for the sum of $1 or 10 Canadian dimes. The replica schooner is used for tourism promotion as a "sailing ambassador". In honour of her predecessor's racing record, Bluenose II does not officially race. The replica has undergone several refits to extend her life. This vessel was decommissioned and dismantled in 2010, and an entirely new Bluenose (also named Bluenose II, since Transport Canada deemed it a "reconstruction") was built as close to the original schooner deemed necessary and launched in Lunenburg in 2013. Various subcomponents for this Bluenose II project were supplied from notable firms including the ships keel at Snyder's Shipyard in Dayspring, the ships backbone of laminated ribs at Covey Island Boatworks in Riverport and assembly of the vessel in Lunenburg. Much controversy has surrounded the vessel due to overspending on the "refit". After further repairs ownership of the restored Bluenose II was returned to the province of Nova Scotia and she began a tour of Nova Scotia ports in the summer of 2015.[46]

Bluenose II spends much of the year tied up at the Lunenburg Foundry wharf in its home port of Old Town Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, a UNESCO World Heritage site and origin of its predecessor.[47] In the summer, the schooner tours the Atlantic seaboard and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, routinely stopping in ports across Nova Scotia, as well as Montreal, Quebec City and many ports of call in the United States, serving as a goodwill ambassador and promoting tourism in Nova Scotia.[48] In the summer months, the schooner also offers onboard tours and harbour cruises.

In the summer of 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, Bluenose II restricted its summer tour to Nova Scotia ports. The schooner's 20-person crew formed a Bluenose quarantine bubble for training, maintenance and sailing, and its visits to ports aside from Lunenburg were restricted to at-anchors or sail-pasts.[49]

In 2007, Joan Roué, the great-granddaughter of Bluenose designer William Roué, started raising funds to build a new Bluenose. She cited the need for a new ambassador for Nova Scotia and Canada, listing the particulars at a Bluenose IV website.[50] The name Bluenose III is owned by the province of Nova Scotia, and Roué could not reach an agreement for its use on the new schooner; Roué and North Atlantic Enterprises proceeded anyway, under the name Bluenose IV. An agreement was reached with Snyder's Shipyard to build the new replica when fundraising was completed. However, as of 2009, Roué had not succeeded in raising the required funds.[51] The effort came to an end when the Province of Nova Scotia and the Canadian federal government constructed the new Bluenose II in 2013.[52]

• McLaren, Keith (2006). A Race for Real Sailors: The Bluenose and the International Fisherman's Race 1920 – 1938. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre. ISBN 978-1-55365-162-8.
• Robinson, Ernest Fraser (1998). The Saga of the Bluenose. St. Catharines, Ontario: Vanwell Publishing. ISBN 1-55125-009-8.