The amazing racing story of the Bluenose

This little vessel recently sailed onto our windowsill at home, a gift for services rendered helping Lizzie's parents move house back in October.  We've been after a nice boat model for a while, and this one - the Bluenose - jumped out at us as the one that would look particularly handsome in our lounge.

Well as it turns out, we have acquired a model of the most famous of all Canadian ships, with the real Bluenose attached to quite a fascinating history.  Her origins lie in the creation of the "Halifax Herald North Atlantic Fisherman's International Competition," a contest between real working schooners that pitched town of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, against its arch rival, Gloucester, Massachusetts.  These two fishing powerhouses  had a long tradition of racing each other to the fishing grounds of the West Atlantic, and both towns were excited to formalise these races, even if the days of saltbank schooners were fast drawing to a close.  In the ensuing battle, The Nova Scotian Delawana faced the American ship Esperanto.  The Americans won two of the three races to take the cup, leaving Nova Scotian pride shattered, and planning for revenge.  

Lunenburg today (source: lunenburgns.com/)

The result was the Bluenose, a schooner that would race her way into Canadian legend.  In her first Fisherman's Trophy, she brought the cup back to Canada, before retaining it in 1922.  Then, during the 1923 competition, an on-course collision brought about protests and controversy that led the Bluenose captain, Angus Walters', refusal to complete the competition - nor would his opponent, Captain Ben Pine of the Columbia, accept the prize.  

The launch of the Bluenose in 1921 (source: Bluenose II)

Seven years then passed without contest until, in 1930, Ben Pine travelled up to Lunenburg to challenge Walters to a race - the Bluenose against the Gertrude L Thebaud, with prize money provided by the Thomas Lipton Tea Company.  An American victory followed, but a year later there was a rematch, and this time, the coveted Fisherman's Trophy was back on the line.  A comfortable Bluenose win cemented her place in Canadian hearts, and led Captain Walters to utter the famous line: "The wood ain't growing yet that'll beat Bluenose."

Angus Walters with the Fisherman's Trophy (source: Canadian Encyclopaedia)

There next followed a trip to England where the schooner impressed King George V, before the Bluenose was incorporated onto the Canadian Dime - a place it still holds today.  Further triumph followed in the 1938 Fisherman's Trophy, when the Bluenose once again took on her adversary, the Gertrude L Thebaud, in a best-of-five series.  Tied 2-2, and with the Bluenose suffering damage, Walters begged: "one more time, old girl, just one more time..."  The Bluenose won the trophy by three minutes, setting an average speed of 14.15 knots - the fastest pace ever recorded over a fixed course by a canvassed vessel.

The Bluenose in action (source: Canadian Encyclopaedia)

Towards the end of the 1930s, fishing schooners became obsolete, and the Bluenose was sold to work as a freighter in the West Indies.  On 28 January 1946, whilst carrying a cargo of bananas, she struck a coral reef off Haiti and was abandoned on the reef.  You would expect that to be the end of the Bluenose story - but it isn't quite.  Fast-forward to the early 1960s, and the launch of Bluenose II, built predominantly for the tourist trade, and captained on its maiden voyage to the West Indies by the same Angus Walters.  Bluenose II still plies the waters around Nova Scotia, a reminder of greatest Canadian vessel ever to grace the ocean.

1988 Canadian postage stamp featuring the Bluenose and Captain Walters (source: Canadian Encyclopaedia)