This is a story of Canada’s most famous ship called the Bluenose, it was written by me some ten years ago and appeared in a ship modeller’s magazine in the early 1990’s. In re-writing this story, perhaps those of you who are interested in ship modelling or just ships and the sea, you will have a greater understanding of the Bluenose and how it all started.

After growing up listening to my late father speak so fondly of the schooner, Bluenose, it is no surprise that I developed an obsession for this vessel, the pride of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia and of Canada. As I grew older, I exercised my obsession in the only way my budget allowed - by building numerous replicas of the Bluenose.  However, I quickly learned from my father and other seafaring members of the family that the models I was building were far from accurate.  This was because I could  not find accurate drawings or model kits over these many years, it has become my special project to research every available bit of information I could glean on the schooner that made Canada so proud, so often.

You may ask what would cause a person to have a desire to build a model of a fishing schooner.  The Bluenose was not just a fishing schooner; she was the fastest, and in my opinion, the finest fishing schooner ever built - a big, beautiful, black hulled vessel.  Her name alone represents Nova Scotia, and yet she represented all of Canada - from the East Coast, across the Prairies, over the Rockies to the West Coast (a distance of some four thousand miles).  She was dear to the hearts of millions of Canadians.

The Bluenose was the creation of William Roue of  Halifax, Nova Scotia, a noted yacht designer.  The best features of Bluenose came from his successful yacht designs incorporating the typical salt banker schooner of the period.  She also had the spoon bow profile, originally designed by Crowninshield of Boston.  Smith & Rhuland shipyards in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, were the builders.  Lunenburg Foundry supplied much of her heavy gear, anchors, windlass, etc., while other items of equipment such as deadeyes, blocks, sails and rigging came from manufacturers and merchants in the town. These craftsmen had  a long experience with ship building and the sea since the early 1700’s and to this day are well respected for their craft.

When the vessel was being framed up, Captain Angus Walters, her owner, and George Rhuland, a principal of the company, noted her forward sheer was rather flat and a change was made.  This last minute change added eighteen inches to the height of her bow thus giving her more headroom in the foc’s’le and a drier deck forward. This was quite a change from most salt bankers that perhaps did nothing to increase her speed; yet to this day, many people think this change had that effect.  however, the change gave her a profile a much “rakish” look that distinguished her from other fishing vessels of her type. Other than this, Bluenose was a standard fishing vessel inside and out.

In as much as the ship was a standard fishing vessel, the following data and specifications may be of interest and dispel misconceptions so often stated by others for many years.  The following data is from records found at the Provincial Archives of Nova Scotia and the builders of the Bluenose.

 Designed by:  William J. Roue, Halifax, Nova Scotia
 Built by:  Smith & Rhuland, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
 Owners:  Captain Angus Walters & Associates
Construction:  Entirely Nova Scotian except for masts. (Spars and booms were from Oregon pine)  Frames and timbers of black spruce and oak.  Bottom planked with birch, topsides, and rails of oak, decks planked of pine. Deck furniture of black spruce and oak.
Anchors, windlass, donkey engine and winch, blocks, dead eyes, iron work, rigging and sails: all of Lunenburg origin e.g. Lunenburg Foundry, The Block Shop, Stevens & Sons, and others.
Hull colours:-
 Bottom:  Anti-fouling Red (red/brown shade)
 Waterline: White
 Top sides: Black
 Cove moulding and scroll work: Yellow
 Rails and inside of bulwarks: White
 Waterways, main cabin top and foc’s’le cabin top:  Grey
 Decks:  Natural
 Main cabin and foc’s’le cabin sides, hatch mouldings, main mast and fore mast fife
 rails:   White
 All iron work:  Black
 Spars, booms and bowsprit:  Natural
 Dories:  Buff (inside & outside)
Note:  Anchor hawse pipe lips were painted same colour as hull, however there were times that they were painted a bright red.

Dimensions:-
 Overall Length................................ 143’- 0”
 Beam (moulded) ............................   27’- 0”
 Waterline Length ...........................  112’- 0”
 Depth (main hatch) ........................    11’-6”
 Draught ........................................     15’-10”
 Displacement .................................  285 tons
 Mainmast, above deck ....................    81’-0”
 Fore Mast, above deck ...................     73’-0”
 Main Top Mast ..............................    53’-6”
 Fore Top Mast ...............................    48’-6”
 Main Boom ...................................     81’-0”
 Main Gaff .......................................   51’-0”
 Fore Boom ......................................   32’-6”
 Fore Gaff ........................................   32’-6”
 Sail Area, including
    fisherman’s Stay Sail ...............10,000 sq. ft.

Bluenose was launched on March 27, 1921, and within a month ballasted, masted, rigged and equipped and ready for her role as a salt bank fisherman.  But she was destined for greater things than being a fishing vessel.

 She was the five time winner of the North Atlantic Fisherman’s International Trophy races run between 1920 and 1938, sponsored by the Halifax Herald, a local newspaper.  These races were held outside the harbours of Halifax, Nova Scotia and Gloucester, Massachusetts, thus creating an international competition amongst skilled men of the sea.  Her exploits have been well chronicled in many publications and the defeat of her worthy American competitors was a great source of pride to her fellow Canadians.

Summary of Races

For the International Fisherman’s Trophy

 1921,  off Halifax Harbour
 Oct. 22 Bluenose 4 hrs. 32 min.  16 sec.
          Elsie  4 hrs. 45 min.  25 sec.
 Oct. 24 Bluenose 5 hrs. 19 min.  49 sec.
   Elsie  5 hrs. 30 min.  50 sec.

 1922,  off Gloucester
 Oct. 21 Declared “No Contest”
 Oct. 23 Henry Ford 5 hrs. 01 min.  34 sec.
   Bluenose 5 hrs. 04 min.  00 sec.
 Oct. 25 Bluenose 5 hrs. 57 min.  41 sec.
   Henry Ford 6 hrs. 05 min.  04 sec.
 Oct. 26 Bluenose 4 hrs. 48 min.  38 sec.
   Henry Ford 4 hrs. 56 min.  29 sec.

 1923,  off  Halifax Harbour
 Oct. 29 Bluenose 4 hrs. 43 min.  42 sec.
   Columbia 4 hrs. 43 min.  02 sec.
 Nov. 1  Bluenose 5 hrs. 36 min.  03 sec.
   Columbia 5 hrs. 38 min.  48 sec.

 1931,  off Halifax Harbour
 Oct. 17 Bluenose 6 hrs. 34 min.  40 sec.
   Thebaud* 7 hrs. 10 min.  30 sec.
 Oct. 20 Bluenose 5 hrs. 06 min.  12 sec.
   Thebaud 5 hrs. 18 min.  13 sec.

Note:-   *Thebaud -  actual name of the ship was Gertrude L. Thebaud.

The final series of races was held off Gloucester in 1938 and again the Bluenose beat the Thebaud in two out of three races. The Bluenose was crowned “The Queen of the North Atlantic”, winner of the “Fisherman’s Trophy” five times straight.

` In 1933 the Bluenose represented Canada at the Chicago World’s Fair by sailing up the St. Lawrence River and through the Great Lakes - long before that route was opened to seagoing travel by the completion of the St. Lawrence Seaway.

 Again, in 1935, she was the only sailing vessel present at the Silver Jubilee celebrations in England for George V and Queen Mary.

 The Canadian Government honoured the Bluenose by striking a most beautiful engraved postage stamp of her, which has been sought by thousands of stamp collectors.  In addition to this, since 1937, the Bluenose profile has shared the surface of the Canadian ten cent piece with every reining Monarch since that time.

 For over eighty years, the legend of the Bluenose still lives in story and song. She was a Champion of Champions and except for her masts, she was Canadian through and through - designed by a Canadian, built by Canadians. She sailed to victory and to her honoured place in marine history with a Canadian skipper and crew.  Yes, we Canadians are proud of her and her legend - the same kind of pride that many Americans have for the U.S. Frigate “Constitution”

 The lifetime of the Bluenose was not all glory: she been worked hard, she had run aground off Newfoundland, sustaining substantial damage, and on several occasions was heavily damaged in bad storms at sea. Because of these happenings and her age, she would be hard put to defeat her American competitor, the Gertrude L. Thebaud, in her last series of races in 1938.
 The beginning of the end for the Bluenose was a troubled one. With World War II becoming very heated, age and financial troubles for the ship and her owner proved too much.  In 1942 she was sold to the West Indies Trading Co. and with much sadness, her owner/skipper, Captain Angus Walters watched her sail out of Lunenburg Harbour shorn of her tall spars for the last time. Finally, her life ended on a reef off Haiti on January 28, 1946 - a smashed derelict - not a fitting end to a great ship.  However, within less than two years, the last of her competitors, the Gertrude L. Thebaud, went down off the northern coast of Venezuela.  With the death of these fine vessels, the era of magnificent wooden schooners came to an end.

Bluenose: The ship model

 In my opening remarks in this story, I noted my difficulties in building an accurate scale model of the Bluenose.  Over these many years in model making I have obtained numerous plans and kits for many types of ships and some of these were one’s of the Bluenose.  Because of the erroneous drawings projecting the Bluenose, I made a commitment to develop an accurate set of drawings for the her.  I have come to realize that the accuracy and detail is perhaps not what it should be from manufacturers of ship models.  Therefore, research of any given vessel is a must, in my opinion, if one desires an accurate, concise ship in miniature.

 In researching the Bluenose, I soon found out that a complete set of the original ships drawings were non-existent. However, in searching through numerous records at the Provincial Archives of Nova Scotia, I came across a yellowed, tattered drawing for the hull lines of Bluenose, signed by William Roue.  Further, I discovered much data from 1921 to 1946; however, these accounts dealt only with her many exploits.

 A copy of these original hull lines drawings became the foundation for my drawings.  Still there was much work to be done and I had my work cut out for me.
By early 1988 I was making regular visits to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, the Provincial Archives of Nova Scotia, both in Halifax, Nova Scotia and the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, asking hundreds of questions, digging out old books, sketches, photo’s and other material of value.  In addition to this, I interviewed many of the surviving people who were involved with the building and sailing of the Bluenose.  Also much data and information was obtained from various Lunenburg companies involved with her construction.

 Perhaps the most important factor was the hundreds of photo’s taken by the late Wallace R. MacAskill, a noted and renowned marine photographer, as well as the late John Knickle, a well known marine photographer of that period living in Lunenburg, N.S.
MacAskill’s photo’s were usually taken at a distance showing the ship under sail and in various attitudes, also he had taken many photos during the races.  However, I found Knickle’s were the best as he had taken numerous photos on board the ship, photo’s of her deck equipment and much more, some  while under sail and others at dock side. There were photo’s that showed all her deck furniture, equipment, rigging, etc., all these were to leave no doubt about her arrangements.

Finally, I had all the information in hand.  In addition to this, there was the data I had previously collected.  From beginning to end the drawings took about one month to complete.  They are drawn to a scale of 1/4”=1’-0”, except for the sail and rigging drawing which was done at 1/8”=1’-0” because of the size at the larger scale.  Drawn at this scale, the Bluenose is a very large model having an overhaul length of forty-four inches.

The drawings contain all the changes from her original hull lines drawings, and include every piece of equipment, deck furniture, dory construction, masts, booms, etc., and other pertinent information.  In addition to construction data, the hull lines offer the builder several methods of construction.  The builder may choose a carved hull (bread and butter style) with built up bulwarks, secondly, plank-on-bulkhead or the more complicated construction, plank on frame.

These drawings are not really designed for the “would-be ship model builder”, but more for the experienced model builder who wants a challenge.

Allowing for the fact that, in all my years of investigation, there are no other “as built” drawings of the real ship that I could find, every bit  of my drawings is as accurate as humanly possible.  Although there are a number of drawings and ship model kits of Bluenose sold today, in comparison with the original hull lines drawings of her designer, William Roue, which my drawings are based on, it is my premise that most are probably not as accurate as claimed to be.

As a matter of interest, I had built sixteen Bluenose models from the original hull lines drawings, plus my sketches for various collectors before I started these present drawings.  Since the drawings were completed and copies sold, there are over one hundred Bluenose models started by other individuals as of the present.

In developing these drawings, may I say that it is my personal tribute to Canada’s finest schooner, Bluenose, Queen of the North Atlantic.

One more note in closing, the present replica and perhaps future replicas, will never take her place in the Nova Scotian hearts or in the hearts of proud fishermen everywhere who knew that one of “theirs” became the symbol for the Maritime way of life. Bluenose, your accomplishments are legend, even with the passing of eighty plus years since your launching in 1921, your memory will never die.

BLUENOSE PLANS

The drawings are drawn to two scales, eg 1/4" = 1'-0"  and  3/16" = 1'-0" which make two different sets.

The first set comprises of five (5) sheets of drawings and makes a model having a hull length of about 44".....

The second set comprises of six (6) sheets of drawings and makes a model having a hull length of about 33".... This set explains how to build a P.o.B model of the ship and patterns are drawn for the hull.

Both sets are contain much data and are highly detailed.

FOR PLANS OF THE BLUENOSE PLEASE CONTACT ME AT:

philip.eisnor@ns.sympatico.ca

Philip F. Eisnor
2982  Lovett Road,
Coldbrook, Nova Scotia,
Canada  B4R 1A4
 

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