Last updated on 9 January 2004.
Bluenose was a fishing schooner that earned her rightful place on the Atlantic banks. In her 25 years, she entered into competition only six times. Yet of all the ships of the Lunenburg fleet, she first and foremost was built to race.
The accounts below provide a glimpse of the races and a taste of the circumstances that made them so popular and hotly contested. However, it is impossible to reflect everything in a few paragraphs. If something here captures your imagination, then you may want to investigate some of the excellent books and other resources written about Bluenose, her skipper and crew, her competitors, and her time and place in history.
For a more concise synopsis of race results, including official race times where known, you may also be interested in a list of race results and competitors.
The preferred America's Cup yacht designs that emerged near the turn of the twentieth century were large gaff-rigged cutters that reached astonishing extremes in the amount of sail they carried. The yacht Reliance, one of the contenders in the 1903 series, carried 16,160 square feet of sail on a single mast. She was about as long overall as Bluenose (144 feet), and had a 175 foot telescoping mast. One writer observing the 1903 races referred to Reliance as "an unseaworthy freak", and wrote, "It is time to call a halt when 135-foot yachts cannot go out in a breeze over 12 knots in strength without danger of losing the entire rig overboard."
The trend continued nevertheless, and the contenders in the next America's Cup series in 1920 were once again fast but very fragile. One particular race in that series was cancelled because a 23 knot wind was considered too dangerous. The men of the fishing fleets of Nova Scotia and New England, who regularly weathered winter gales while fishing on the Banks, considered this a disgrace. There was considerable enthusiasm for the idea of a separate competition, to be held between ships proving sufficiently sea worthy to spend at least one full season fishing the Banks. Senator William H. Dennis, publisher of the Halifax Herald, donated a cup and, in a deed of gift, set out the conditions that ships must meet to be eligible for competition. In addition to the requirement that only true fishing schooners be allowed, restrictions on dimensions and sail area were specified. The cup was officially designated the Halifax Herald North Atlantic Fishermen's International Trophy, but was more commonly referred to by simpler names: the Halifax Herald Trophy or the International Fishermen's Trophy.
The distance of time has served to diminish two important facts concerning the Trophy series. In those days the fishing industry was a more visible and integral part of society in east coast ports, and Lunenburg and Gloucester could boast two of the finest fishing fleets in the world. Both ports were thriving centres of activity and commerce, and their fleets were a matter of considerable pride. It was this matter of pride that spurred intense interest in the series, not just in the two host ports but throughout all of New England and the Maritimes.
Although Lunenburg and Gloucester supported similar fleets, there was an important difference in the type of fishing they did that makes the achievements of Bluenose even more remarkable. The Lunenburg fleet was engaged in salt fishing while Gloucester was more interested in the fresh fishery. [Note] The Lunenburg vessels were therefore constructed to carry large amounts of salt to the Banks where they would stay for extended periods of time, salting and stowing fish as it was caught. For this purpose the ships had to be both large and sturdy. The Gloucester ships, in contrast, were built for speed so that small catches could be hastened ashore while still fresh. That their ships be proven faster was therefore a matter of particular pride for the Gloucestermen.
The Gloucester schooner Esperanto defeated the Lunenburg vessel Delawana in the first Trophy series of 1920. Although the Gloucester citizenry believed that all was right with the world, the Lunenburgers were determined to reverse the situation. A design was commissioned from William J. Roue for a ship that could reclaim the Trophy, and Bluenose was the result. The Gloucester ships were well designed, well built and as beautiful as any, and many of the series were close. But the quality of Bluenose's design and construction, combined with the pride, determination and skill of her skipper and crew, were sufficient to meet every challenge.
In 1930, Sir Thomas Lipton, the British tea magnate, was in the twilight of his life and wanted to see the salt bankers race once again. He put up a trophy that became known as the Sir Thomas Lipton Cup. In 1930 Bluenose and the new Gertrude L. Thebaud competed for the Cup.
Bluenose had a new set of sails for her first race. The new material stretched badly and the race was a disaster for the Lunenburgers.
The second race was much closer, but Bluenose again lost. Captain Walters has always maintained that this loss was his own fault and not a true indication of the relative merits of the two ships. A poor choice of tactics allowed Gertrude L. Thebaud to overtake and win on the last leg. That a tactical error such as this happened only once in all the races is a testament to Walters' ability as a skipper and a seaman.
Bluenose, Walters and crew redeemed themselves the following year, decisively winning the Fishermen's Trophy from Gertrude L. Thebaud in a cleanly contested series.
The Nova Scotian vessels that sought to out-sail Bluenose -- Canadia, Alcala, Mayotte, Keno, Mahaska and Delawana -- were ultimately taken by the ocean for which they were built. So too were the American challengers Mayflower, Henry Ford, Elizabeth Howard, Gertude L. Thebaud, Columbia, Peerless and Elsie.