Bluenose was a fishing and racing gaff rig schooner built in 1921 in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada.

The accepted revisal placed the inside ballast on top of the keel to ensure that it was as low as possible, improving the overall speed of the vessel.

The vessel was constructed of Nova Scotian pine, spruce, birch and oak and the masts were created from Douglas fir.

The Governor General the Duke of Devonshire drove a golden spike into the timber during the keel-laying ceremony.

[13] The fishing season stretched from April to September and schooners stayed up to eight weeks at a time or until their holds were full.

[17] After a season fishing on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland under the command of Angus Walters, Bluenose set out to take part in her first International Fisherman's Cup.

[19] Bluenose then defeated the American challenger Elsie, for the International Fishermen's Trophy, returning it to Nova Scotia in October 1921.

[22] In 1923, Bluenose faced Columbia, another American yacht newly designed and constructed to defeat the Canadian schooner.

The International Fishermen's Trophy race was held off Halifax in 1923 and new rules were put in place preventing ships from passing marker buoys to landward.

[27] In 1930 off Gloucester, Massachusetts, Bluenose was defeated 2–0 in the inaugural Sir Thomas Lipton International Fishing Challenge Cup.

[30] On her return trip to Nova Scotia, Bluenose encountered a strong gale that lasted for three days.

[31] In 1936, Bluenose had diesel engines installed and topmasts removed to allow the schooner to remain on the fishing grounds year-round.

[32] In 1937, Bluenose was challenged once more by the American schooner Gertrude L. Thebaud in a best-of-five series of races for the International Fisherman's Trophy.

During the fourth race sailed off Boston, the topmast of Bluenose snapped, which contributed to Gertrude L. Thebaud's win.

The vessel was once again stripped of masts and rigging and converted into a coastal freighter for work in the Caribbean Sea, carrying various cargoes between the islands.

Laden with bananas, she struck a coral reef off Île à Vache, Haiti, on 28 January 1946.

[citation needed] However, the large number of wrecks on the reef at Île à Vache and the scattered condition of the wreckage has made identification difficult.

[42] Bluenose appears on a 2021 commemorative silver dollar issued by the Royal Canadian Mint, in honour of its centennial.

That same year another honour was bestowed upon the sailing ship when a new Canadian National Railways passenger-vehicle ferry for the inaugural Yarmouth–Bar Harbor service was launched as MV Bluenose.

[44] Canadian folk singer Stan Rogers wrote a song entitled "Bluenose" celebrating the ship.

Various subcomponents for this Bluenose II project were supplied from notable firms including the ships keel at Snyder's Shipyard in Dayspring, the ships backbone of laminated ribs at Covey Island Boatworks in Riverport and assembly of the vessel in Lunenburg.

[46] In the summer, the schooner tours the Atlantic seaboard and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, routinely stopping in ports across Nova Scotia, as well as Montreal, Quebec City and many ports of call in the United States, serving as a goodwill ambassador and promoting tourism in Nova Scotia.

In mid-2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, Bluenose II restricted its summer tour to Nova Scotia ports.

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.

She cited the need for a new ambassador for Nova Scotia and Canada, listing the particulars at a Bluenose IV website.

[50] The effort came to an end when the Province of Nova Scotia and the Canadian federal government constructed the new Bluenose II in 2013.