[2] The replica was commissioned by Sidney Culverwell Oland for roughly $300,000 (2.5 million in 2020 Canadian dollars) as a marketing tool for their Schooner Lager beer brand.

In 2004, the Bluenose Preservation Trust, with Lex McKay and Senator Wilfred Moore, donated a piece of wood from the deck of the ship to the Six String Nation project.

During this time Bluenose II was involved in the Sponsorship scandal when the federal government allocated $2.3 million for the schooner through a consulting firm but only a small amount[clarification needed] of the money reached the vessel.

[4] In May 2009, the provincial and federal governments announced support for a major restoration of the Bluenose II to be led by the province's Tourism, Culture and Heritage Department.

Tourism, Culture and Heritage Department sources stated that the restoration was "not intended to create an authentic replica of the original Bluenose"[citation needed] and that the builders would not be using the plans.

[10] Bluenose II spends much of the year tied up at the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic wharf in its home port of Old Town Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, a UNESCO World Heritage site and origin of its predecessor.

[14] Summer activities include onboard tours, harbour cruises and deckhand experiences, as well as outreach for schools and youth groups in Nova Scotia.

The schooner's 20-person crew formed a Bluenose quarantine bubble for training, maintenance and sailing, and its visits to ports aside from Lunenburg were restricted to at-anchors or sail-pasts.