Ooh! Shiny!

The brass bell aboard the schooner Bluenose II, on a rainy August Saturday in Lunenburg, NS.

WPC – ooh! shiny!

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Permission to Come Aboard?

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This door leads to the cabins below the deck of the Bluenose II, a replica of the original fishing and racing schooner.  The original schooner Bluenose was purpose built in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia in 1921 in response to a losing an international race off Gloucester, Massachusetts.  And win she did!  The Bluenose held the title for 7 years.  She was also a working boat, fishing cod on the Grand Banks off of Newfoundland until fishing schooners became obsolete. Sadly, in spite of efforts to keep her in Lunenburg, the Bluenose was sold to the West Indies where she worked as a freighter until she struck a reef off Haiti in 1946.

The story continues in 1963, when Olands Brewery commissioned a replica be built by the same Lunenburg shipyard and using the same plans as the Bluenose.  The brewery used Bluenose II to represent their Schooner brand of beer until it was sold to the Province of Nova Scotia for $1.00 (or 10 Canadian dimes) in 1971.  This beautiful vessel then became our “sailing ambassador” and a great source of pride for the people of Nova Scotia and all of Canada.  In fact, her image in on the Canadian ten cent piece (the dime).

After almost 40 years and several refits, the Bluenose II was decommissioned and a “reconstruction” was ordered.  Happily, several weeks ago, the new Bluenose II received the green light to sail and she is ready to work. She was a beautiful sight earlier today, in the morning light, with her crew polishing and preparing to welcome visitors. It feels like a long lost relative has come home….. and after surviving an illness.  We are so happy to have her back.

The name Bluenose comes from a nickname given to the people of Nova Scotia.  We are called Bluenosers.  Is this because of our cold, damp winters? Or, as some say, from the dye rubbing off the fishermen’s mittens as they rubbed their noses in the cold and wet North Atlantic while fishing for cod?

Weekly Photo Challenge: Door.  Also, my entry for Norm’s Thursday Doors.