June
27, 2018
We
continued our trip around the southern shores of Nova Scotia to Lunenburg. This
is one of my most favorite places. Lunenburg was a fishing village back in the
day, with a deep, natural harbor it was a perfect setting for the tall sailing
ships of bygone days. In 1920, the Halifax Herald Newspaper established a race
for active fishing vessels, Lunenburg designed and built the Bluenose, a sleek
2 masted, 146 feet long. Built for fishing, with racing in mind. After she was
launched in March, 1921, she did a season of fishing, then entered the
International Fisherman’s Race, and brought the trophy home to Lunenburg. For
the next 17 years of racing, no challenger, Canadian or American could wrest
the trophy from her and she was dubbed the “Queen of the North Atlantic”. The
Bluenose met her watery grave in 1946, hauling freight off the coast of Haiti.
In
the 1960’s, the brewery of Oland and Sons was planning to build a replica of a
fishing schooner to represent their new product, “Schooner Beer”. The result
was the Bluenose II, built from the original plans, at the same ship builders
in Lunenburg and some of the same craftsmen. She was started in Feb of 1963 and
finished in July of that same year. She was then sold to Nova Scotia and serves
as an ambassador of goodwill and tourist attraction for Lunenburg. No racing or fishing for her.
When
we were in Lunenburg in 2012, the Bluenose II was in dry dock for maintenance,
so we only got to view her from a distance. But, this time she was in port and
we were able to purchase tickets for a two- hour sail! It was very windy the
day of our sail, perfect for a trip on a tall ship! What an experience!!
If only I could get my wood floors to look this good!!
This is the Lunenburg Fisheries Memorial, just outside of the Fisheries Museum
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