The Serenity Series No. 7

The Bluenose, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

Copyright 2007 by Edward A. Obermeyer

Acrylic On Canvas, 36" X 48", $900.00

10/31/2007

This is another in a series of paintings based on my travels to Nova Scotia with my wife Kristine. We had the pleasure to visit the quaint town of Lunenburg which is home to some very famous sailing vessels which inspired this very piece.

The following information is from the Nova Scotia Archives and Records:

According to the official operators of the Bluenose II, generations of Atlantic canadians have grown up with stories of Captain Angus Walters and the Bluenose. The vessel became the world's most famous nova Scotian fishing schooner and won a place in the hearts of thousands.

The Bluenose was launched at Smith and Rhuland Shipyard, in Lunenburg, on march 26, 1921. Hundreds of people watched as the vessel went down the ways. The crowd cheered and the hills echoed with jubilant good wishes for the new schooner.

Captain Angus Walters, a Lunenburg native, was 39 years old when the Bluenose was launched. He was eager to prove the worth of the new schooner. Work progressed rapidly to get the Bluenose ready for the first trip to the fishing banks. She fished a complete season and had fulfilled the main requirement as a prospective competitor in the International Series. The racing schooners had to be "real" fishing vessels, and had to fish a full season to qualify for the series.

After many years of successfully fishing and racing, the Bluenose went aground on a reef near Haiti in January of 1946. In 1963, a replica of the Bluenose, named Bluenose II was launched from the very same shipyard where the original was made.

The term Bluenose was a nickname for Nova Scotians that referred to the violent contentions between the Loyalists and the old inhabitants called blue noses.