Lunenburg's Original Bluenose - Farewell to the Queen of the North Atlantic
Bluenose History
Courtesy of Nova Scotia Archives & Records Management
After 1938, there was no more glory for Nova Scotia's beloved Bluenose.
Captain Angus Walters became the sole owner of Bluenose and desperately tried to save the schooner. By 1942, the cost of maintaining her was more than he could hope to afford.
Despite the efforts of Captain Walters and others to
keep the ship in Nova Scotia, preserved as a national treasure, the vessel was sold to the West Indian
Trading Company. For four years, she carried freight in the Caribbean.
On January 28, 1946,
Bluenose struck a Haitian reef and sank.
After World War II, fishing and freighting schooners became obsolete. And yet Bluenose was never forgotten. Admirers of her elegance, audacity, mystique, and unbeaten record as Queen of the North Atlantic Fishing Fleet span the globe today - as does respect for Captain Angus Walters and his crew.
In 1955, Bluenose and her captain, Angus Walters, were inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. She was the first and only non-human inductee for five years.
In 1960, another honour was bestowed her when a new Canadian National Railways passenger-vehicle ferry for the inaugural Yarmouth - Bar Harbour service was launched as the M/V Bluenose.
Bluenose under full sail was portrayed on the 1929 Canadian Bluenose postage stamp as well as two stamps issued in 1982 and 1999. She also appears on the Nova Scotia licence plate and the Canadian 10-cent piece.
Captain Angus Walters eventually retired from the sea and ran a dairy, in Lunenburg. In 1963, he sailed on the maiden voyage of Bluenose II.
