Once Upon a Schooner: A Foreign Voyage in Bluenose II

The Bluenose was the fastest schooner ever built - the pride of Nova Scotia’s great fishing captains and shipyards. She was launched in 1921 and that year with her skipper, Angus Walters, she captured the International Fishermen’s Trophy from the Yankees. She never lost it. Between races, Bluenose was a working schooner, fishing for cod off Sable Island and the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. Bluenose II is a replica of the famed schooner from Lunenburg, and has had her share of adventures as well. Indeed, Bluenose II is now older than the original Bluenose was when she sank off the coast of Haiti in 1946, and she may soon be be replaced by a Bluenose III.

Silver Donald Cameron has long been captivated by the romance of sailing and by the stories surrounding Bluenose and Bluenose II. One summer he sailed as an ordinary seaman on the second mate’s watch, on a voyage from Lunenburg to New Jersey and the Parade of Sail at Atlantic City.

From his own encounter with Bluenose II, from the memories of men who knew Angus Walters, and from the trials and tribulations of Bluenose and Bluenose II, Silver Donald Cameron has crafted a fine adventure story that does full justice to Nova Scotia’s two legendary schooners.