Every time you get some change, you probably get a miniature representation of one of Canada’s most famous icons, the Bluenose. It’s on the back of our smallest coin, the dime.
The original Bluenose, a two-masted schooner was launched in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia in 1921. To qualify as a contender for the International Fishermen’s Trophy, she had to earn her keep as a fishing vessel for at least a season. That she did. For the next 17 years no other competitor could wrest that trophy from her. She also excelled as a fishing ship for many years.
After World War II, schooners were replaced by more modern vessels. For an all-too-brief period, she worked as a freighter in the West Indies, but was shipwrecked on a Haitian reef in 1946.
She was gone, but not forgotten. Her replica, Bluenose II, was launched in 1963 at the same place as the original, Lunenburg. Initially, she earned her keep by promoting the brewery operations of the Oland family who financed her construction. It was not long before the province of Nova Scotia took her over to act as a tourist ambassador. Since 2005 the Lunenburg Marine Museum Society has been her manager.
Bluenose II is a traveller. On her way back from a stay in Toronto, she paid a visit to the Port of Cornwall. On June 26 and 27 throngs of locals boarded her, photographed her, posed all sorts of questions to her crew, then bid her farewell on a foggy Saturday morning. She set off for a brief visit to Trois Rivières, then went on to commemorate Quebec City’s 400th anniversary.
After that, her ports of call include les Îles de la Madeleine, Georgetown, PEI, Sainte-Pierre, Lunenburg,Gloucester, Maine, Halifax, then ending up in Lunenburg to overwinter.
A bit of Nova Scotia visited Cornwall
A bit of Nova Scotia visited Cornwall
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