Bluenose

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Bluenose, leading Columbia in a 1926 race on this postage stamp of 1929.
Career

Launched: March 26, 1921
Fate: Struck reef in Haiti and wrecked, January 1946
General Characteristics
Displacement: 258 metric ton
Total Length: 49 m
Length, waterline: 34 m
Beam: 8 m
Draft: 5 m
Mainmast,height from deck: 38 m
Formast,height from deck: 36 m
Propulsion: Sails, Masts
Sail area: 1036 m²
Mainsail area: 386 m²
Crew: 5 Officers, Chief Cook, 12 Deckhands

Bluenose was a Canadian schooner from Nova Scotia, a celebrated racing ship and a symbol of the province. The name "bluenose" originated as a nick-name for Nova Scotians.

Bluenose, leading Columbia in a 1926 race on this postage stamp of 1929.
Career
Launched:	March 26, 1921
Fate:	Struck reef in Haiti and wrecked, January 1946
General Characteristics
Displacement:	258 metric ton
Total Length:	49 m
Length, waterline:	34 m
Beam:	8 m
Draft:	5 m
Mainmast,height from deck:	38 m
Formast,height from deck:	36 m
Propulsion:	Sails, Masts
Sail area:	1036 m²
Mainsail area:	386 m²
Crew:	5 Officers, Chief Cook, 12 Deckhands

Designed by William Roué and built by Smith and Rhuland, Bluenose was launched at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia on March 26, 1921, as both a working cod-fishing schooner and a racing ship. This was in response to a Nova Scotian ship's defeat in a race for working schooners established by the Halifax Herald newspaper in 1920.

After a season fishing on the Grand Banks, Bluenose defeated Elsie (out of Gloucester, Massachusetts), returning the trophy to Nova Scotia. During the next 17 years of racing, no challenger, American or Canadian, could wrest the trophy from her.

Fishing schooners became obsolete after World War II, and despite efforts to keep her in Nova Scotia, the undefeated Bluenose was sold to work as a freighter in the West Indies. She foundered on a Haitian reef on January 28, 1946.

Bluenose and her captain, Angus Walters, were inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1955. That same year another honour was bestowed upon the famous sailing ship when a new Canadian National Railways passenger-vehicle ferry for the inaugural Yarmouth-Bar Harbor service was launched as the M/V Bluenose.

Bluenose under full sail has adorned the Canadian dime since 1937, has been portrayed on a postage stamp, and appears on the current Nova Scotia licence plate.

Bluenose II

Her daughter, Bluenose II, was launched at Lunenburg on July 24, 1963, built to original plans by many of the same workers. She cost $300,000 to build. She was sold to the government of Nova Scotia and serves as a goodwill ambassador, tourist attraction in Lunenburg, and symbol of the province. During the summer she visits ports all around Nova Scotia and the world. Bluenose II does not race.

Bluenose II, like her mother, had the largest working mainsail in the world, measuring 386 m² (4,155 ft²); she has a total sail area of 1036 m² (11,150 ft²). Currently, the sloop Mirabella V has the largest working mainsail in the world, measuring 1557 m² (16,760 ft²).

In the Media

Canadian folk singer Stan Rogers honours both ships in his song Bluenose, found on his albums Turnaround, released in 1978, and Home in Halifax, released posthumously in 1994.

External links

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