Interactive timeline: The history of the Bluenose, 100 years after launch

Aug. 13, 1920

The International Fishermen’s Trophy is put up by William H. Dennis of The Halifax Herald and The Evening Mail for the fastest North Atlantic fishing schooner. Competitors must have fished the Grand Banks for at least a season. Best two-out-of-three races over 35 to 40 nautical miles, finishing within nine hours. The winner to get $5,000 (more than $72,000 today).

Oct. 11, 1920

 Over a 30-nautical mile course, Delawana bests a score of other Lunenburg/LaHave vessels, including Gilbert B. Walters (which loses its fore-topmast and falls behind), skipped by Capt. Angus Walters. Delawana becomes Canadian challenger.

Oct. 20 & Nov. 1, 1920

The American challenger Esperanto from Gloucester (with a captain from Digby) defeats Delawana in two straight races off Halifax to win the first International Fishermen’s Trophy.

Fall, 1920

 Almost immediately, the Bluenose Schooner Company is formed to build a new Canadian challenger, designed by William James Roué and captained by Angus Walters, to race for the 1921 trophy.

Dec. 19, 1920

 The keel for Bluenose is laid at Smith & Rhuland shipyard in Lunenburg.

March 26, 1921

 Bluenose is launched in Lunenburg. She is christened by Audrey Smith, daughter of shipbuilder Richard W. Smith and niece of Capt. Walters.

Late March-early April, 1921

 Bluenose’s mast, rigging and other gear are completed. Her sea trials are successful. Cost to build: $35,580.76 ($516,300 in today’s dollars).

April 15, 1921

 Bluenose’s inaugural fishing trip. Fishing schooners would make roughly six fishing trips between April and September.

May 30, 1921

 The reigning International Fishermen’s Trophy champion, Esperanto, is lost after striking a submerged wreck off Sable Island. Her crew is rescued.

Early October, 1921

 In elimination races off Halifax, Bluenose easily wins two straight races over numerous competitors to become Canadian challenger for the trophy.

Oct. 22 & 24, 1921

 Bluenose defeats the American challenger Elsie twice in succession off Halifax, reclaiming the International Fishermen’s Trophy.

Early October, 1922

 Despite having to once redo a buoy marker, Bluenose easily turns away three Nova Scotia challengers.

Oct. 23, 25, 26, 1922

 Bluenose wins two of three races to top the American challenger, Henry S. Ford, off Gloucester. The American schooner had been built specifically to try to beat Bluenose.

September, 1923

 Bluenose declared the Lunenburg fleet’s highliner, with a record catch of 213 tons of fish.

Oct. 29 & Nov. 1, 1923

 Controversy mars the contest off Halifax between Bluenose and Columbia, the latest American challenger built to defeat the Nova Scotia schooner. Bluenose wins the first race, despite the rigging of the two vessels at one point coming together. In the second race, Bluenose breaks a new rule about passing buoys to landward, and Columbia, skippered by Capt. Ben Pine, is declared winner. Judges reject Capt. Walters’ protest, leading him to withdraw from the competition. The overall result is declared a tie, with both sharing title and prize money. The lingering bad feelings pause racing for the International Fishermen’s Trophy until 1931.

April, 1926

Bluenose is caught in a terrible storm off of Sable Island. Capt. Walters is said to have lashed himself to the wheel for up to eight hours to guide the schooner to safety.

October, 1926

 Bluenose easily beats Haligonian, a Shelburne-built, Roue-designed schooner built to take on to Bluenose.

Jan. 6, 1929 

The Canadian government issues a 50-cent stamp that depicts Bluenose under full sail racing for the International Fishermen’s Trophy.

October, 1930

Yet another American vessel designed and built to defeat Bluenose, Gertrude L. Thebaud (built 1929-30), skippered by Capt. Pine, bests Bluenose, two races to one, off Gloucester, in the inaugural Sir Thomas Lipton International Fishing Challenge Cup. Controversy mars the result, as the second race is twice called off due to weather with Bluenose leading. Thebaud challenges Bluenose for the International Fishermen’s Trophy, but no races are held this year.

October, 1931

 Bluenose easily beats Thebaud in two straight races off Halifax to retain the International Fishermen’s Trophy.

1932

 The Great Depression made times tough. The famed Bluenose is made available for charter cruises.

1933 

The government of Canada asks Bluenose to represent the country at the Century of Progress World’s Fair in Chicago. While there, she wins the Mackinac Cup, an all-vessel race at the exhibition, taking the grand prize, a giant 135-kilogram wheel of cheese. Bluenose stops at Toronto and Montreal on her way back to Nova Scotia.

1935

 Ottawa again asks Bluenose to represent the country, this time at King George V’s Silver Jubilee. The schooner crosses to Plymouth, where during festivities Bluenose finishes third in a contest against schooner-yachts designed for racing. During her return to Nova Scotia, huge seas whipped up by violent September gales in the English Channel badly damage the schooner, forcing her to return to Plymouth for repairs. Some call surviving the worst Atlantic storm Bluenose ever encountered a victory in “the greatest race of her life.”

1936

 Bluenose’s topmasts are removed and two 90-horsepower diesel engines are installed, so the schooner can fish year-round.

1937 

A composite image of three schooners, including Bluenose, is used on the dime, although most Canadians consider the schooner depicted to be Bluenose.

1937

 The Halifax Herald begins a campaign for government to preserve Bluenose for posterity “as a national institution,” but public interest seems lacking.

1937

The Gertrude L. Thebaud again challenges Bluenose to a best-of-five series for the International Fishermen’s Trophy. But Bluenose’s sailing gear had been in storage since being refitted with diesel engines, and the schooner’s owners were having financial difficulties. American private interests reportedly help make Bluenose ready to race the following year.

Oct. 9-26, 1938

Two aged schooners, Bluenose and Thebaud, clash in a riveting series of matches off Gloucester and Boston. The American challenger takes the first race, but Bluenose responds by winning races two and then three by an even greater margin. In the fourth race, Bluenose’s topmast snaps, leading to Thebaud’s victory. The deciding race is a close duel, but Bluenose sprints to the finish line ahead of her rival, retaining the trophy. It’s the last time the International Fishermen’s Trophy will be contested.

1938

 Both the national and Nova Scotia provincial governments ignore Capt. Angus Walters’ pleas to preserve Bluenose as a national treasure, permanently berthed as a museum ship.

Nov. 14, 1939

 Capt. Angus Walters, newly retired from sailing, buys Bluenose an hour before she was to be auctioned off. He pays $7,000, using prize money from the 1938 International Fishermen’s Trophy.

November, 1942

 Capt. Walters, unable to afford Bluenose’s upkeep, sells the schooner to the West Indies Trading Company. He is said to weep as he watches Bluenose sail away for a final time from the Lunenburg waterfront.

1942-1946

 Bluenose, again stripped of masts and rigging, works as a coastal freighter in the Caribbean Sea, carrying cargoes such as sugar, bananas, rum and war supplies to the United States. Once, a German U-boat surfaced beside Bluenose while she carried aviation fuel and dynamite near Havana, Cuba. The sub captain asked what Bluenose was doing and the schooner’s captain replied fishing. One account claims the German recognized Bluenose and so let it go.

Jan. 28, 1946

Bluenose, laden with bananas, strikes a coral reef off Île à Vache in southwestern Haiti. The crew is saved, but the wrecked schooner is abandoned and breaks apart on the reef.

1955

 Bluenose and Capt. Angus Walters are inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. The schooner is the first non-human inductee.

January, 1956

The Canadian National car ferry M.V. Bluenose, named after the famed schooner, makes its inaugural run from Yarmouth to Bar Harbor, Me.

July 24, 1963

Bluenose II, built at Smith & Rhuland in Lunenburg for Olands Brewery to promote its business, is launched. Capt. Walters is aboard for her maiden trip. Construction budget: $200,000 (about $1.7 million today).

1967

 Bluenose II represents Nova Scotia’s fishing heritage at Montreal’s Expo 67 World Fair.

Aug. 11, 1968

Capt. Angus Walters dies, aged 87. He is buried at Hillcrest Cemetery in Lunenburg.

Jan. 14, 1970 

 William James Roué dies, aged 90. He is buried in Mount Hermon Cemetery in Dartmouth.

1971

 Bluenose II is gifted to the province of Nova Scotia for the ceremonial price of 10 dimes.

May 20, 1982

 Canada Post commemorates the International Philatelic Youth Exhibition with a 60-cent stamp that features Bluenose.

Nov. 18, 1988

 Canada Post issues a 37-cent stamp celebrating Bluenose skipper Capt. Angus Walters.

July 21, 2000

 The Royal Canadian Mint unveils a $20 collector’s coin depicting Bluenose.

March 15, 2002

The Royal Canadian Mint declares the image on the dime is definitively Bluenose.

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