INDUCTED INTO CANADA SPORTS HALL OF FAME...
Honoured Member
THE BLUENOSE
Inducted in 1955
Member Details
Date of Birth: March 26, 1921
Place of Birth: Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Date of Passing: January 29, 1946
Sport: Sailing
Member Category: Athlete
Career Highlights
1921-1938
Undefeated champion of International Fisherman's Trophy race
1942
Sold to West Indian trading company
1946
Wrecked off the coast of Haiti
Story
Even though her frame is draped in sails instead of flesh, the Bluenose was as much a Canadian icon as any human being. Unparalleled in her speed, elegance, and mystique, the Bluenose came to symbolize the prosperous Canadian seafaring life of the early part of the 20th century. With Captain Angus Walters at the helm, the Bluenose was the undefeated champion of the International Fisherman's Trophy competition, with the exception of one race which was deemed unofficial due to a technical infraction. In 1920, Halifax Herald owner W.H. Dennis decided to settle the rivalry that existed between Nova Scotia and New England fisherman with the creation of the International Fisherman's Trophy, an award that was to be bestowed upon the fastest fishing vessel along with a cash prize of $4,000. Designed by William J. Roué, a young Halifax naval architect, and built by the Smith and Rhuland shipping company of Lunenburg, the Bluenose was born with the honour and prestige of this trophy in mind. Captain Angus Walters, a fiery fisherman from Lunenburg, was selected as her skipper. He breathed life into her sails, and together they took the North Atlantic by storm. Under Walters' able hand, this speedy fishing schooner soon proved that she was not only seaworthy but a natural nautical champion. The Bluenose won her first International Fisherman's Trophy in the fall of 1921 when she defeated Captain Marty Welch's Elsie. The following year she was victorious once again, this time over the Henry Ford. In 1923, the Bluenose met its next American rival, the Columbia. During the first race, bad blood began to boil when Columbia's Captain Ben Pine forced Captain Walters and his ship into shallow waters. Walters was still able to pull ahead and cross the finish line, but in order to avoid a recurrence, officials passed a ruling prohibiting skippers from coming inshore of the buoys. In the second race, Captain Walters sailed past the buoy line, this time on purpose, and took the lead once more. Captain Pine protested, and officials awarded the victory to the American vessel. In outrage, Walters argued that the Bluenose had sailed over just as much water as the Columbia. So much controversy ensued that the whole event was deemed unofficial, and the race was suspended for eight years. In the meantime, Roué set to work to design another boat that could match, and even surpass, his previous creation. The Bluenose was challenged by her sister ship, the Haligonian, in 1926. Once again, Captain Walters sailed her to victory, proving that her unique design could not be replicated. She truly was one of a kind. The Bluenose's next challenger was the Gertrude L. Thebaud, skippered by Walters' old rival, Captain Ben Pine. The Thebaud beat the Bluenose in an unofficial American race in 1930, but the Canadian ship avenged this defeat the following year to claim the ultimate prize, the International Fisherman's Trophy, once again. The Thebaud challenged her again in 1938, but Captain Walters and the Bluenose would relinquish their trophy to no other vessel. This victory was to be their last. In 1942, following the fading of schooner racing and the rise of World War II, the Bluenose was sold to a West Indian trading company as a freight ship. She was wrecked in 1946 off the coast of Haiti, but her legacy lives on. Her image has been etched on the Canadian ten-cent piece; her feats have been honoured by Canada's Sports Hall of Fame; and, her legend has been forged in the hearts of Canadians.
http://www.sportshall.ca/stories.html?proID=473&catID=all
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for kids... thanks Australia
Bluenose
Bluenose was a legendary schooner from Nova Scotia, a celebrated racing ship and a symbol of the province.
Bluenose was launched at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia on March 26, 1921, as both a working cod-fishing schooner and a racing ship. This was in response to a Nova Scotian ship's defeat in a race for working schooners established by the Halifax Herald[?] newspaper in 1920. After a season fishing on the Grand Banks[?], Bluenose defeated the ship Elsie from Gloucester, Massachussets[?], returning the trophy to Nova Scotia. During the next 17 years of racing no challenger, American or Canadian, could wrest the trophy from her.
Fishing schooners became obsolete after World War II, and despite efforts to keep her in Nova Scotia, the undefeated Bluenose was sold to work as a freighter in the West Indies. She foundered on a Haitian reef on January 28, 1946.
Bluenose and her captain, J. Angus Waters, were inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame[?] in 1955.
Her daughter, Bluenose II, was launched at Lunenburg on July 24, 1963, built to the identical plans by many of the same workers. She was sold to the government of Nova Scotia for $1 and serves as a goodwill ambassador, tourist attraction in Lunenburg, and symbol of the province. During the summer she visits ports all around Nova Scotia. Bluenose II does not race.
Bluenose II, like her mother, has the largest working mainsail[?] in the world, measuring 386 m2; she has a total sail area of 1036 m2.
Bluenose has been portrayed on the Canadian ten-cent piece since 1937 and has been portrayed on a postage stamp.
See Canadian dollar.
Fishing schooners became obsolete after World War II, and despite efforts to keep her in Nova Scotia, the undefeated Bluenose was sold to work as a freighter in the West Indies. She foundered on a Haitian reef on January 28, 1946.
Bluenose and her captain, J. Angus Waters, were inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame[?] in 1955.
Her daughter, Bluenose II, was launched at Lunenburg on July 24, 1963, built to the identical plans by many of the same workers. She was sold to the government of Nova Scotia for $1 and serves as a goodwill ambassador, tourist attraction in Lunenburg, and symbol of the province. During the summer she visits ports all around Nova Scotia. Bluenose II does not race.
Bluenose II, like her mother, has the largest working mainsail[?] in the world, measuring 386 m2; she has a total sail area of 1036 m2.
Bluenose has been portrayed on the Canadian ten-cent piece since 1937 and has been portrayed on a postage stamp.
See Canadian dollar.
In Search of the Truth by Philip F. Eisnor
This is a story of Canada’s most famous ship called the Bluenose, it was written by me some ten years ago and appeared in a ship modeller’s magazine in the early 1990’s. In re-writing this story, perhaps those of you who are interested in ship modelling or just ships and the sea, you will have a greater understanding of the Bluenose and how it all started. After growing up listening to my late father speak so fondly of the schooner, Bluenose, it is no surprise that I developed an obsession for this vessel, the pride of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia and of Canada. As I grew older, I exercised my obsession in the only way my budget allowed - by building numerous replicas of the Bluenose. However, I quickly learned from my father and other seafaring members of the family that the models I was building were far from accurate. This was because I could not find accurate drawings or model kits over these many years, it has become my special project to research every available bit of information I could glean on the schooner that made Canada so proud, so often.
You may ask what would cause a person to have a desire to build a model of a fishing schooner. The Bluenose was not just a fishing schooner; she was the fastest, and in my opinion, the finest fishing schooner ever built - a big, beautiful, black hulled vessel. Her name alone represents Nova Scotia, and yet she represented all of Canada - from the East Coast, across the Prairies, over the Rockies to the West Coast (a distance of some four thousand miles). She was dear to the hearts of millions of Canadians.
The Bluenose was the creation of William Roue of Halifax, Nova Scotia, a noted yacht designer. The best features of Bluenose came from his successful yacht designs incorporating the typical salt banker schooner of the period. She also had the spoon bow profile, originally designed by Crowninshield of Boston. Smith & Rhuland shipyards in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, were the builders. Lunenburg Foundry supplied much of her heavy gear, anchors, windlass, etc., while other items of equipment such as deadeyes, blocks, sails and rigging came from manufacturers and merchants in the town. These craftsmen had a long experience with ship building and the sea since the early 1700’s and to this day are well respected for their craft.
When the vessel was being framed up, Captain Angus Walters, her owner, and George Rhuland, a principal of the company, noted her forward sheer was rather flat and a change was made. This last minute change added eighteen inches to the height of her bow thus giving her more headroom in the foc’s’le and a drier deck forward. This was quite a change from most salt bankers that perhaps did nothing to increase her speed; yet to this day, many people think this change had that effect. however, the change gave her a profile a much “rakish” look that distinguished her from other fishing vessels of her type. Other than this, Bluenose was a standard fishing vessel inside and out.
In as much as the ship was a standard fishing vessel, the following data and specifications may be of interest and dispel misconceptions so often stated by others for many years. The following data is from records found at the Provincial Archives of Nova Scotia and the builders of the Bluenose.
Designed by: William J. Roue, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Built by: Smith & Rhuland, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Owners: Captain Angus Walters & Associates
Construction: Entirely Nova Scotian except for masts. (Spars and booms were from Oregon pine) Frames and timbers of black spruce and oak. Bottom planked with birch, topsides, and rails of oak, decks planked of pine. Deck furniture of black spruce and oak.
Anchors, windlass, donkey engine and winch, blocks, dead eyes, iron work, rigging and sails: all of Lunenburg origin e.g. Lunenburg Foundry, The Block Shop, Stevens & Sons, and others.
Hull colours:-
Bottom: Anti-fouling Red (red/brown shade)
Waterline: White
Top sides: Black
Cove moulding and scroll work: Yellow
Rails and inside of bulwarks: White
Waterways, main cabin top and foc’s’le cabin top: Grey
Decks: Natural
Main cabin and foc’s’le cabin sides, hatch mouldings, main mast and fore mast fife
rails: White
All iron work: Black
Spars, booms and bowsprit: Natural
Dories: Buff (inside & outside)
Note: Anchor hawse pipe lips were painted same colour as hull, however there were times that they were painted a bright red.
Dimensions:-
Overall Length................................ 143’- 0”
Beam (moulded) ............................ 27’- 0”
Waterline Length ........................... 112’- 0”
Depth (main hatch) ........................ 11’-6”
Draught ........................................ 15’-10”
Displacement ................................. 285 tons
Mainmast, above deck .................... 81’-0”
Fore Mast, above deck ................... 73’-0”
Main Top Mast .............................. 53’-6”
Fore Top Mast ............................... 48’-6”
Main Boom ................................... 81’-0”
Main Gaff ....................................... 51’-0”
Fore Boom ...................................... 32’-6”
Fore Gaff ........................................ 32’-6”
Sail Area, including
fisherman’s Stay Sail ...............10,000 sq. ft.
Bluenose was launched on March 27, 1921, and within a month ballasted, masted, rigged and equipped and ready for her role as a salt bank fisherman. But she was destined for greater things than being a fishing vessel. She was the five time winner of the North Atlantic Fisherman’s International Trophy races run between 1920 and 1938, sponsored by the Halifax Herald, a local newspaper. These races were held outside the harbours of Halifax, Nova Scotia and Gloucester, Massachusetts, thus creating an international competition amongst skilled men of the sea. Her exploits have been well chronicled in many publications and the defeat of her worthy American competitors was a great source of pride to her fellow Canadians.
Summary of Races
For the International Fisherman’s Trophy
1921, off Halifax Harbour
Oct. 22 Bluenose 4 hrs. 32 min. 16 sec.
Elsie 4 hrs. 45 min. 25 sec.
Oct. 24 Bluenose 5 hrs. 19 min. 49 sec.
Elsie 5 hrs. 30 min. 50 sec.
1922, off Gloucester
Oct. 21 Declared “No Contest”
Oct. 23 Henry Ford 5 hrs. 01 min. 34 sec.
Bluenose 5 hrs. 04 min. 00 sec.
Oct. 25 Bluenose 5 hrs. 57 min. 41 sec.
Henry Ford 6 hrs. 05 min. 04 sec.
Oct. 26 Bluenose 4 hrs. 48 min. 38 sec.
Henry Ford 4 hrs. 56 min. 29 sec.
1923, off Halifax Harbour
Oct. 29 Bluenose 4 hrs. 43 min. 42 sec.
Columbia 4 hrs. 43 min. 02 sec.
Nov. 1 Bluenose 5 hrs. 36 min. 03 sec.
Columbia 5 hrs. 38 min. 48 sec.
1931, off Halifax Harbour
Oct. 17 Bluenose 6 hrs. 34 min. 40 sec.
Thebaud* 7 hrs. 10 min. 30 sec.
Oct. 20 Bluenose 5 hrs. 06 min. 12 sec.
Thebaud 5 hrs. 18 min. 13 sec.
Note:- *Thebaud - actual name of the ship was Gertrude L. Thebaud.
The final series of races was held off Gloucester in 1938 and again the Bluenose beat the Thebaud in two out of three races. The Bluenose was crowned “The Queen of the North Atlantic”, winner of the “Fisherman’s Trophy” five times straight. In 1933 the Bluenose represented Canada at the Chicago World’s Fair by sailing up the St. Lawrence River and through the Great Lakes - long before that route was opened to seagoing travel by the completion of the St. Lawrence Seaway.
Again, in 1935, she was the only sailing vessel present at the Silver Jubilee celebrations in England for George V and Queen Mary.
The Canadian Government honoured the Bluenose by striking a most beautiful engraved postage stamp of her, which has been sought by thousands of stamp collectors. In addition to this, since 1937, the Bluenose profile has shared the surface of the Canadian ten cent piece with every reining Monarch since that time.
For over eighty years, the legend of the Bluenose still lives in story and song. She was a Champion of Champions and except for her masts, she was Canadian through and through - designed by a Canadian, built by Canadians. She sailed to victory and to her honoured place in marine history with a Canadian skipper and crew. Yes, we Canadians are proud of her and her legend - the same kind of pride that many Americans have for the U.S. Frigate “Constitution”
The lifetime of the Bluenose was not all glory: she been worked hard, she had run aground off Newfoundland, sustaining substantial damage, and on several occasions was heavily damaged in bad storms at sea. Because of these happenings and her age, she would be hard put to defeat her American competitor, the Gertrude L. Thebaud, in her last series of races in 1938.
The beginning of the end for the Bluenose was a troubled one. With World War II becoming very heated, age and financial troubles for the ship and her owner proved too much. In 1942 she was sold to the West Indies Trading Co. and with much sadness, her owner/skipper, Captain Angus Walters watched her sail out of Lunenburg Harbour shorn of her tall spars for the last time. Finally, her life ended on a reef off Haiti on January 28, 1946 - a smashed derelict - not a fitting end to a great ship. However, within less than two years, the last of her competitors, the Gertrude L. Thebaud, went down off the northern coast of Venezuela. With the death of these fine vessels, the era of magnificent wooden schooners came to an end.
Bluenose: The ship model
In my opening remarks in this story, I noted my difficulties in building an accurate scale model of the Bluenose. Over these many years in model making I have obtained numerous plans and kits for many types of ships and some of these were one’s of the Bluenose. Because of the erroneous drawings projecting the Bluenose, I made a commitment to develop an accurate set of drawings for the her. I have come to realize that the accuracy and detail is perhaps not what it should be from manufacturers of ship models. Therefore, research of any given vessel is a must, in my opinion, if one desires an accurate, concise ship in miniature.
In researching the Bluenose, I soon found out that a complete set of the original ships drawings were non-existent. However, in searching through numerous records at the Provincial Archives of Nova Scotia, I came across a yellowed, tattered drawing for the hull lines of Bluenose, signed by William Roue. Further, I discovered much data from 1921 to 1946; however, these accounts dealt only with her many exploits.
A copy of these original hull lines drawings became the foundation for my drawings. Still there was much work to be done and I had my work cut out for me.
By early 1988 I was making regular visits to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, the Provincial Archives of Nova Scotia, both in Halifax, Nova Scotia and the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, asking hundreds of questions, digging out old books, sketches, photo’s and other material of value. In addition to this, I interviewed many of the surviving people who were involved with the building and sailing of the Bluenose. Also much data and information was obtained from various Lunenburg companies involved with her construction.
Perhaps the most important factor was the hundreds of photo’s taken by the late Wallace R. MacAskill, a noted and renowned marine photographer, as well as the late John Knickle, a well known marine photographer of that period living in Lunenburg, N.S.
MacAskill’s photo’s were usually taken at a distance showing the ship under sail and in various attitudes, also he had taken many photos during the races. However, I found Knickle’s were the best as he had taken numerous photos on board the ship, photo’s of her deck equipment and much more, some while under sail and others at dock side. There were photo’s that showed all her deck furniture, equipment, rigging, etc., all these were to leave no doubt about her arrangements.
There are two important factors I would like to mention. Firstly, I was a Marine Design Draftsman for many years. This experience was a plus in developing the drawings.
Secondly, the data in Howard Chapplle’s book, The American Fishing Schooners, (1825 - 1935) was of great value to me. Inasmuch as this book deals with the development of American schooners, it contains relevant data to Canadian schooners, with many sketches and details of deck furniture, equipment, etc. This book is a very valuable reference for those who wish to build a detailed schooner, American or Canadian.
Finally, I had all the information in hand. In addition to this, there was the data I had previously collected. From beginning to end the drawings took about one month to complete. They are drawn to a scale of 1/4”=1’-0”, except for the sail and rigging drawing which was done at 1/8”=1’-0” because of the size at the larger scale. Drawn at this scale, the Bluenose is a very large model having an overhaul length of forty-four inches.
The drawings contain all the changes from her original hull lines drawings, and include every piece of equipment, deck furniture, dory construction, masts, booms, etc., and other pertinent information. In addition to construction data, the hull lines offer the builder several methods of construction. The builder may choose a carved hull (bread and butter style) with built up bulwarks, secondly, plank-on-bulkhead or the more complicated construction, plank on frame.
These drawings are not really designed for the “would-be ship model builder”, but more for the experienced model builder who wants a challenge.
Allowing for the fact that, in all my years of investigation, there are no other “as built” drawings of the real ship that I could find, every bit of my drawings is as accurate as humanly possible. Although there are a number of drawings and ship model kits of Bluenose sold today, in comparison with the original hull lines drawings of her designer, William Roue, which my drawings are based on, it is my premise that most are probably not as accurate as claimed to be.
As a matter of interest, I had built sixteen Bluenose models from the original hull lines drawings, plus my sketches for various collectors before I started these present drawings. Since the drawings were completed and copies sold, there are over one hundred Bluenose models started by other individuals as of the present.
In developing these drawings, may I say that it is my personal tribute to Canada’s finest schooner, Bluenose, Queen of the North Atlantic.
One more note in closing, the present replica and perhaps future replicas, will never take her place in the Nova Scotian hearts or in the hearts of proud fishermen everywhere who knew that one of “theirs” became the symbol for the Maritime way of life. Bluenose, your accomplishments are legend, even with the passing of eighty plus years since your launching in 1921, your memory will never die.
Philip F. Eisnor
2982 Lovett Road,
Coldbrook, Nova Scotia,
Canada B4R 1A4
E-mail - philip.eisnor@ns.sympatico.ca
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Bluenose: A Canadian Icon
Then as now, the press knew a good story when they saw one; no sooner had Bluenose won its first International Fishermen's Race in October 1921 than local and international newspapers seized upon the excitement of victory. They immediately understood that this was no ordinary fishing vessel, and that the potential for marketing and exploiting the schooner was endless.
Over the years, Bluenose has been a symbol for many things. In the 1920s, it represented Nova Scotia's prominence in the fishing industry and international trade. Its unmistakable grace, elegance of design and efficiency under sail were advertisements for the architect, William J. Roué, and for the superb workmanship of Nova Scotia shipwrights. The captain, Angus Walters, and his crew were world-famous, admired for their spirit of adventure, their courage, and for their resourcefulness in the face of unrelenting danger at sea.
In the hard times of the 1930s, Bluenose reinvented itself. With all the dazzle of a carnival queen, the schooner became a showboat, trading on its fame and visibility, available for public cruises — and for any advertising opportunity that sailed by. In 1933 it represented Canada at the 'Century of Progress' World's Fair in Chicago, and in 1935 it sailed to the Silver Jubilee of King George V in England. Everywhere Bluenose went the press followed, culminating in the last Fishermen's International Races, revived in 1938 off Boston and Gloucester, Massachusetts, where it was once again victorious.
After 1938 there was no more glory. Despite efforts to have the vessel preserved as a 'national institution', Bluenose was sold out-of-country and became a tramp schooner in the Caribbean; it was wrecked off Haiti in 1946, but never forgotten. Angus Walters remembered; so did the crew members, other Lunenburgers, Nova Scotians in general, and admirers all over the world — every one of them in love with Bluenose's elegance, audacity, elusive mystique, and with its unbeaten record as Queen of the North Atlantic Fishing Fleet.
Like a ghost ship, in 1963 Bluenose returned. A replica schooner endorsed by Angus Walters and William Roué, Bluenose II was built in Lunenburg by Smith & Rhuland in yet another marketing venture. This time it was financed by Oland Brewery, built specifically to advertise their products — while at the same time promoting Nova Scotia's maritime heritage, tourist appeal and business potential. In 1971 the schooner was gifted to the Government of Nova Scotia. In the years since then its role as floating ambassador for the province has been consistent.
Looking back, not much has really changed in the eighty-plus years since Bluenose was launched in 1921. Both vessels have always represented a fixed time, place and way of life — specifically, the great Age of Sail in Nova Scotia and the traditional seafaring existence of a maritime people. Both vessels have also been marketed and promoted by corporate interests — The Halifax Herald, Oland Brewery, the Government of Nova Scotia — for purposes far beyond the primary role of the first Bluenose as a gritty little salt-bank schooner.
In the final analysis, whether all of this is 'anti-modernism', highly romantic sentimentality, or the commodification of cultural heritage, is irrelevant. Both Bluenose and its successor have always been larger-than-life, both iconic and mysterious in the pull they exert over those who are intrigued by the sea and the seafaring experience.
This virtual exhibit presents more than 350 images — heritage photographs, original documents, charts and miscellaneous items relating to both Bluenose and Bluenose II. The final product is the result of a collaboration between Nova Scotia Archives (Halifax, NS), the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic (Halifax, NS) and the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic (Lunenburg, NS). Thanks are extended to the staff of the two museums for the spirit of cooperation which made the project possible.
The exhibit brings together the best of three separate collections to tell the stories of Bluenose and Bluenose II, the people who sailed them and the times in which they lived. Most of all, this is about how a small, intrepid Grand Banks fishing schooner and its replica have sailed into our collective memory and have secured a safe berth there, not just as images on a long-ago postage stamp or the everyday Canadian dime, but as a living part of our larger Canadian identity.
https://novascotia.ca/archives/bluenose/
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Bluenose: the legend, the myth and the truth
Examining what made the Bluenose unbeatable
The original Bluenose is launched in front of onlookers in
Lunenburg on March 26, 1921. (Knickle's Studio/Herald File)
 |
| Lou Boudreau as a 17-year-old deckhand on the Bluenose II in 1969. |
For those who would like to link her race-winning abilities to something magical, it is unfortunately not so. Her successes lay in far more human, down-to-earth areas.
Fast is a relative term. Jetliners go very fast indeed and of course a rowboat doesn’t go very fast at all. The Bluenose was considered very fast in relation to her peers.
All things being equal, the waterline length of a displacement sailing vessel determines her hull speed. Any naval architect will tell you that all things being equal, the longer vessel has the potential to be faster. In the most basic of terms, a longer vessel is able to plow a longer hole in the water and go along faster than a smaller one. If a 143-foot-long wooden schooner is able to have a greater distance between the bow wave and the stern wave than say a schooner of 125 feet, then the larger vessel would have a slight edge in speed.
The Bluenose was just a bit bigger than some of her challengers so she started with that very small advantage. But that alone would not have made the difference. There are other variables that come into play. For a large wooden schooner like the Bluenose to have performed the way she did, all or most of those variables would have to align in the ship’s favour most of the time. Under most conditions and most circumstances, one or more of the variables would not be in alignment and the maximum speed not attainable.
Although this might seem an impossible task, the Bluenose in fact came very close to achieving this.
Here’s a look at what I think made her as fast as she was.
Hull Design
 |
| Generally speaking in shipbuilding, a longer vessel has the potential to go faster. (File) |
In Roué’s time, some designers would often carve a half model hull out of wood and take the lines from it to use full size. There were a few, however, who just plain seemed to have a gift for the job.
William Roué was, I believe, one of these men who almost instinctively knew what the hull should look like and how it should sit in the water.
In designing the Bluenose, his task in particular was not easy. He had to provide a fast schooner that could carry a full load of fish and be able to handle the stormy weather of the North Atlantic. He went about this in a number of ways. In his own words he said that “I gave her the power to carry sail.”
This means that he gave her an excellent combination of buoyancy and stability and the ability of carrying a lot of sail in higher winds. She was ‘stiff’ in sailor’s terminology. This gave her speed. Roué designed a big powerful vessel, well ballasted and trimmed, that liked a good breeze of wind and her skipper, Angus Walters, knew and understood that. And he wasn’t afraid to put his vessel to the test. So the design variable was a winner from day one.
Rig
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| Expertly crafted sails that are perfectly set help maximize the speed afforded by the hull design. Shoen here is the Bluenose II in June 1964. (File) |
This was no chance achievement. To get a suit of eight canvas sails all cut and sewn (by hand) perfectly allowing for stretch and imperfections was a feat nothing short of near miraculous. Following this same train of thought we can see from all of these same photos that the Bluenose not only had a great suit of sails, they were always well set. No, I’ll re-qualify that. They were perfectly set.
This is another variable that would allow the Bluenose to achieve her greatest possible speed. As long as there was sufficient wind her great suit of sails well set and trimmed by her crew would allow her to really go.
Crew
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| The original Bluenose wass never afraid to exploit a stiff wind. Shown here is the Blunose II with the USS Coral Sea in the foreground. (File) |
So we have excellent hull design, good hull length, well positioned spars and rig, excellent sails and then the final part of the equation — a skipper and crew who knew their vessel intimately and knew all there was about sailing her. It was the combination of all of these that I think made her fast.
The last variable was the weather. I think if we could talk to Capt. Walters today, he would tell us that his vessel performed best with a good strong wind. What history and photos indicate is frequent races in a good breeze. So the weather must at least have leaned in her favour much of the time.
I’ve been asked how the Blue-nose would fare against some of the modern schooners sailing today. I think she would fare quite well but my reply would include perhaps, a few words from the old seafarers of Lunenburg.
“We likes a good stiff breeze for our schooners up here in Nova Scotia, we sails them, pretty hard you know.”
I think Capt. Walters would agree.
Capt. Lou Boudreau spent 35 years under sail, before swallowing the anchor and taking up writing. His books including The Man who Loved Schooners are available at Caribbeebooks.com.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/news/1441078-bluenose-the-legend-the-myth-and-the-truth
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A Tidal Pulse: Life along the Bay of Fundy
We live in a very special country. Canada's vast territory, with all its natural splendours, offers limitless opportunities to explore and be amazed. The Bay of Fundy, one of the most unique hydrographical phenomena of our country, draws tourists from around the world, just like Australia's Great Barrier Reef, Italy's Vesuvius, the Amazon in South America and Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.
A vast bay in Atlantic Canada bounded by New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, the Bay of Fundy's coastline is 1,200 km and the Bay itself is 270 km long. Twice a day, the tidal pulse of the Atlantic Ocean funnels a large quantity of water into the bay causing the world's largest tides - the highest, sometimes measuring over 16 meters (about 5 storeys), are recorded at Minas Basin, Nova Scotia at the head of the bay. The tide cycle occurs twice as day, about every twelve hours, meaning you will have to wait just over 6 hours to observe the difference between high and low tides. The amount of water flowing in and out of Fundy during a tide cycle is mind-boggling: about 100 billion tonnes - that's enough to fill another wonder of nature, the Grand Canyon!The energy generated by the ebb and flow action of the tides is harnessed by a small tidal energy generating station on the Annapolis River. There is even more potential for environmentally-sustainable tidal power generation in the future. The turbine operates on the principle that the force of water surging into the bay is strong enough to generate electrical power. The same action is repeated as the tides reverse creating a continuous energy-producing cycle.
Along Fundy's shoreline, nature and culture have coexisted for thousands of years with the tides shaping the coast and people's lives. The geological history of the area is revealed at Joggins Fossil Cliffs, Nova Scotia, a UNESCO World Heritage site containing outstanding fossil records of the Carboniferous (Coal) Age of about 300 million years ago. The exposed rock uncovers vegetation and animal life from this period of Earth's history, including the earliest reptiles to emerge from the sea onto land, and which eventually evolved into dinosaurs and birds.
The Bay of Fundy's natural wonder also shaped the lives of First Nations groups who fished from the Bay and lived along the coastline. Early European settlements were established in the region by 1605 when French colonists under Samuel de Champlain founded Port-Royal, later known as Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia.
The Bay did not escape colonial conflicts. The territory changed hands between France and Great Britain, including the momentous expulsion of the Acadians in 1755. Bay of Fundy communities endured many wars, naval battles and coastal raids during such global events as the Seven Years War (1756-63), American War of Independence (1775-83) and the War of 1812 (1812-1815).
The Acadians - early settlers from France - quickly adapted to life along the bay and developed technology to take advantage of the tidal salt marshes. The action of the tides deposit rich layers of silt onto the marshes providing fertile soil and consequently one of the most productive ecosystems in the world. The interaction of land and sea is still visible at the Acadian settlement Grand Pré, Nova Scotia. Here along the marshlands bordering the tidal flats of Fundy, dykes were constructed to drain the muddy marshes for agricultural purposes. These dykes featured clapper valves which allowed a one-way water flow; fresh water which irrigated the fields flowed freely into the bay while rising seawater was prevented from entering. From the 1630s to 1755, an estimated 13,000 acres (52 km²) of salt marches were dyked by the Acadians. 
Shipping and shipbuilding have long been significant maritime industries in the region. Success of this economy has always relied on safe passages around the bay, up tributaries and along Fundy's treacherous shoreline. The bay's hazardous waters have claimed numerous vessels like HMS Plumper which sank in 1812 after striking cliffs along the New Brunswick coast. One of the oldest navigational aids in Canada is found at Wilsons Beach, New Brunswick. Accessible by foot during low tide, Head Harbour Light Station was the province's second lighthouse when it was built in 1829. Several improvements to the site were made over the years and its arrangement now represents a typical navigation station incorporating elements such as a keeper's residence, fog alarm and boathouse.
Together with shipping, the Bay of Fundy also supports important commercial fisheries. For generations, the tides have actually been used to catch fish. Special heart-shaped traps of polls and nets, called weirs, funnel and confine fish at high tide, stranding them when the waters recede. Fundy yields a rich bounty of fish, its world-renown scallops and the bay's most important catch, lobster. From 1921 to 1948, Edwin Conley, a middleman in the lobster industry, operated Conley's Lobster Factory (known today as Cottage Craft) in St. Andrews, New Brunswick. He bought and shipped lobster to such far away ports as Boston, Massachusetts. In the early days of shipping live lobster, many of these creatures perished as a result of the long trip so Conley patented a novel shipping container which separated the lobster from the melting ice. From this innovation, the entire industry was transformed.It is unthinkable to speak of the Bay of Fundy without mentioning the incredible recreational appeal provided by the tides. Tourists from around the world flock to the bay for a chance to spot different species of whales or go rafting on a tidal bore or experience walking on the ocean floor at low tide. National and provincial parks are located along the coast offering breathtaking opportunities to experience the Bay by land or sea. The functional design of one of the first recreational facilities constructed at Fundy National Park actually makes use of the natural tidal cycle. In fact, the Saltwater Pool and Bathhouse, built adjacent to the
Bay of Fundy in 1950, uses the tides to supply fresh seawater straight from the bay - now that's refreshing!The Bay of Fundy is an important ecological and cultural resource for the planet. It supports biodiversity, agriculture, shipping and fishing, and a healthy tourism industry. The tidal pulse is a way of life which shapes Fundy and its inhabitants. Unrivalled in the world, the tides will continue to provide a source of energy for all life it touches.
Links:
Bay of Fundy official site
Bay of Fundy official site
http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/pages/28_fundy.aspx
---------------------
BLOGSPOT:
Canada Military News: FISHERS-1632 honour of father's family- Canada and Atlantic Canada Fishing history/history of atlantic Canada since 1500/COME VISIT NOVA SCOTIA AND ATLANTIC CANADA- GETCHA CANADA ON FOLKS /blogsand links
http://nova0000scotia.blogspot.ca/2015/11/canada-military-news-canada-atlantic.html
----------------------------
The Queen of the Grand Banks Schooners
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWUD_r6E4U8
-------------------------
Basement treasure becomes centrepiece of new Lunenburg museum exhibit
A 15.5 ft (4.7m) birchbark canoe that was constructed by Mi’kmaq builders in the early 1900s for hunting and fishing in the backwoods of Nova Scotia is the centerpiece for a new exhibit at the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic in Lunenburg.
First Fishers opened in October and is a permanent display at the Museum on the Lunenburg waterfront that chronicles 13,000 years of history, said Nova Scotia Museum Curator of Technology, Roger Lewis.
“To get a canoe in that kind of condition is a rarity,” said Lewis. “We didn’t have to do any conservation to it. We had to repair two or three pieces of bark in the bow and the stern. The patina is original. It’s in beautiful shape. We are very fortunate to have it in the exhibit
For decades, the canoe sat untouched in the basement of the Whitman home in Lawrencetown. Constructed from oak, spruce root, birchbark and iron nails, it was built by the late Steven and Newel Labrador around 1910 at the Mi’kmaq settlement in Paradise for the late Rice Whitman and Barclay Bishop at the cost of $1 per foot.
It was used until 1947, said Lewis, generally for moose hunting in the McGowan Meadow area.
Eventually Rice Whitman became the sole owner. “It belonged to my husband’s dad,” said Margaret Whitman in an interview. “Mr. Whitman used it for hunting and fishing when he was a young man.”
The canoe was passed down to Margaret’s husband Lewis, and after he passed away, to Margaret.
No one ever talked much about the old canoe, said Margaret. “I was in it once,” she recalled.
“My husband and I, and another couple. We went camping back to the meadows on South Mountain. We stayed all night and went fishing. It’s a very wide canoe. That was the only reason I got in it. I don’t like those narrow ones. Then we brought it home and put it back in the basement.”
That was about 50 years ago, said Whitman.
“I loved to fish at the time. I can’t remember if I caught a fish or not but you can say that was the time the big one got away,” she said with a laugh.
For the next 30 years the canoe would sit in the basement. Then in the 1990s the time had come for Margaret to downsize. “I knew I had to do something worthwhile with it,” she said.
“When I first saw the canoe, it was almost like walking back in history,” said family friend Viki Gaul, who helped Margaret with the move, and with the arrangements with the Nova Scotia Museum.
“We always knew there was an old canoe in the basement, but I had never seen one like this before. Following its journey from the basement of the old house to its location today has been a real accomplishment, both for historical purposes, and to bring such happiness and satisfaction to Margaret. She is so special, just a really lovely person.”
As it turned out, storing the canoe in the basement all these years kept it at the right humidity and in museum quality shape. A good brushing was all that was needed to clean it, said Lewis.
Whitman was a guest of honour when the First Fishers exhibit opened last fall.
“I’m so glad I can share it with others,” she said.
Located on the first floor of the Fisheries Museum, First Fishers “I think is one of the better exhibits for treaty education,” said Lewis. “What preceded, and what followed. It’s very well done.”
http://thechronicleherald.ca/southshorebreaker/1437434-basement-treasure-becomes-centrepiece-of-new-lunenburg-museum-exhibit
---------------------------
Hank Snow - Squid Jiggin Grounds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyHJ7XU5eLE
Oh this is the place where the fishermen gather
Oil-skins and boots and the Cape hands batten down;
All sizes of figures with squid lines and jiggers,
They congregate here on the Squid Jiggin' Ground.
Oil-skins and boots and the Cape hands batten down;
All sizes of figures with squid lines and jiggers,
They congregate here on the Squid Jiggin' Ground.
Some are workin' their jiggers, while others are yarnin',
There's some standin' up and there's more lyin' down;
While all kinds of fun, jokes and drinks are begun,
As they wait for the squid on the Squid Jiggin' Ground.
There's some standin' up and there's more lyin' down;
While all kinds of fun, jokes and drinks are begun,
As they wait for the squid on the Squid Jiggin' Ground.
There's men of all ages and boys in the bargain,
There's old Billy Cave and there's young Raymond Brown;
There's Rip, Red and Gory out here in the dory,
A runnin' down squires on the Squid Jiggin' Ground.
There's old Billy Cave and there's young Raymond Brown;
There's Rip, Red and Gory out here in the dory,
A runnin' down squires on the Squid Jiggin' Ground.
There's men from the harbor, there's men from the tickle,
And all kinds of motor-boats, green, gray and brown;
Right yonder is Bobby and with him is Nobby,
He's chawin' hard tack on the Squid Jiggin' Ground.
And all kinds of motor-boats, green, gray and brown;
Right yonder is Bobby and with him is Nobby,
He's chawin' hard tack on the Squid Jiggin' Ground.
God bless my soul, list to, there's Skipper John Champy,
He's the best hand at squid jiggin' here, I'll be bound;
Hello, what's the row? Why he's jiggin' one now,
The very first squid on the Squid Jiggin' Ground.
He's the best hand at squid jiggin' here, I'll be bound;
Hello, what's the row? Why he's jiggin' one now,
The very first squid on the Squid Jiggin' Ground.
The man with the whiskers is old Jacob Steele,
He's gettin' well on, but he's still pretty sound;
While Uncle Bob Hockins wears six pairs of stockin's
Whenever he's out on the Squid Jiggin' Ground.
He's gettin' well on, but he's still pretty sound;
While Uncle Bob Hockins wears six pairs of stockin's
Whenever he's out on the Squid Jiggin' Ground.
Holy Smoke! What a scuffle! All hands are excited,
It's a wonder to me that there's nobody drowned;
There's a bustle, confusion, the wonderful hustle,
They're all jiggin' squid on the Squid Jiggin' Ground.
It's a wonder to me that there's nobody drowned;
There's a bustle, confusion, the wonderful hustle,
They're all jiggin' squid on the Squid Jiggin' Ground.
Says Barney, "The squids are on top of the water,
I just felt me jiggers jig five fathoms down
But a squid in the boat squirted right down his throat,
Now he's swearin'like mad on the Squid Jiggin' Ground.
I just felt me jiggers jig five fathoms down
But a squid in the boat squirted right down his throat,
Now he's swearin'like mad on the Squid Jiggin' Ground.
There's poor Uncle Louie, his whiskers are spattered
With spots of the squid juice that's flyin' around;
One poor little guy got it right in the eye,
But they don't give a darn on the Squid Jiggin' Ground.
With spots of the squid juice that's flyin' around;
One poor little guy got it right in the eye,
But they don't give a darn on the Squid Jiggin' Ground.
Now, if you ever feel inclined to go squiddin',
Leave your white clothes behind in the town;
And if you get cranky without your silk hanky,
You'd better steer clear of the Squid Jiggin' Ground.
Leave your white clothes behind in the town;
And if you get cranky without your silk hanky,
You'd better steer clear of the Squid Jiggin' Ground.
----------------------
History of Fisheries in the Northwest Atlantic:
The 500-Year Perspective
W. H. Lear
Department of Fisheries and Oceans, 200 Kent Street
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0E6
------------------------------------
History of Fishing in Canada
Early Years of Fishing in Canada
Thousands of years ago, First Nations and Inuit were already fishing with nets, hooks, and longlines as well as spears and traps, to catch species ranging from shrimp to whales. Native people gained deep knowledge of fish growth and migrations.From the early 1500s, European vessels fished northwest Atlantic waters using hooks and lines. In Newfoundland, many British vessels dried cod ashore on platforms as “flakes”. In time many fish harvesters settled there, fishing from small boats but larger merchant firms based in Britain dominated.
French vessels often salted down fish on the banks of Newfoundland, without short drying. They also fished the Maritime and Québec waters of “New France”. And in New England, ice-free waters allowed a year-round fishery that aided colonial growth.
The British took over mainland Nova Scotia in 1713 and the rest of New France in 1763. Over the following decades, more settlers poured into British North America. In the Maritime Provinces they fished mostly for cod and other groundfish including halibut, haddock, and Pollock.
In Nova Scotia and the Bay of Fundy, many enterprises of mixed size and strength worked the coastal waters and offshore banks. German settlers at Lunenburg developed a particularly strong fishery, often backing each other through joint-stock companies.
In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, most Acadian and Québec fish harvesters fell for many decades under the domination of British-controlled merchant firms, such as the powerful Robin interests.
In the 1800s, many vessels switched to longlines that could use hundreds of hooks on groundlines set on the bottom. On offshore banks, New England-style schooner carried dories that were launched to tend the longlines. But almost everywhere along the coast, small or medium-sized boats far outnumbered the larger vessels.
Newfoundland by the 1800s was pursuing a major seal fishery, with steam vessel in use from the 1860s. Salt cod still provided the most revenues, and large merchant firms still dominated. Gradually Newfoundland ownership took over, and more small and medium sized enterprises appeared.
The Newfoundland fleet grew by the 1870s to about 18,000 small boats and 1,200 larger vessels. By the end of the century the cod trap, a cork-and-twine structure, was catching a large share of inshore fish.
The Maritimes built up their own large fleet, and ship-building, lumbering, and trading reinforced the coastal economy. After mid-century hundreds of lobster canneries sprang up, some very small. Herring weirs adapted from First Nation methods spread in the Bay of Fundy, where an important sardine-canning industry joined the trade in salted and smoked herring and in mackerel.
The end of the century saw the beginnings of a scallop fishery and a growing trade in fresh fish. For cod and other groundfish, steam-powered tralwers (or “draggers”) were becoming more common, towing conical nets along the sea floor.
By the early 1900s, in both Canada and Newfoundland, engines were bringing more mobility to independent fish harvesters using small or medium-sized boats. As fishing increased, some river, estuarial, and near-shore stocks got scarcer. Meanwhile, the Atlantic economy linked to fishing, ship-building, and trading began lagging behind the growing continental economy.
After Canada’s Confederation in 1867, early regulations enforced by Fishery Officers aimed mostly to protect salmon and inshore fisheries, where problems were most visible. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, many Royal Commissions set rules on gear types, size limits, and seasons for dozens of fisheries, a major one being lobster.
As settlement spread west, gillnetting became a popular fishing technique on the Great Lakes and prairie lakes. In the late 19th and early 20th century, British Columbia saw great fishery growth. Although First Nations and immigrating Japanese included expert fish harvesters, whites dominated. They influenced fishery regulations that would favour them for decades to come.
Above the important halibut and herring trades towered the Pacific salmon fishery. Dozens of industrial-scale canneries processed salmon taken by gillnetters, trollers, and seiners. Pacific fish harvesters established themselves not only in small settlements but also in centres such as Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo, and Prince Rupert. They formed organizations more quickly than on the Atlantic, to influence prices or regulations.
Individual fish harvesters always varied greatly in their fortunes. But in general, fishery earnings in eastern Canada lagged behind those in British Columbia, and incomes in Newfoundland trailed those in the Maritimes.
Fisheries through the World Wars
In Newfoundland, though the First World War brought better prices, hard circumstances were common. William Coaker founded the renowned Fishermen’s Protective Union and became a cabinet minister in the government. But his attempts to reform salt-cod marketing ran afoul of merchant firms, and ultimately failed. Newfoundland sank early in to the Great Depression and by 1934 lost self-governing status.In the early 20th century, sizeable companies in Nova Scotia were building up a fleet of large trawlers. Many independent fish harvesters blamed these larger vessels for the 1920s price drop in saltfish that ricocheted into other fisheries. A federal inquiry brought a virtual ban on trawlers in the 1930s.
But the Second World War brought another boom. Post-war, an evolving mentality took hold, particularly on the Atlantic.
Boat building subsidies and loans helped strengthen fleets. Radar, radio, sonar, nylon lines and nets, bigger hulls, better engines, hydraulics, and the growth of large trawlers and smaller draggers multiplied fishing power. Exploratory fishing found productive new areas.
Atlantic shrimp, scallops, crab and eventually offshore clams became more important. But the chief Atlantic growth took place in groundfish, the most widespread and highest-employing fishery. Frozen blocks and fillets, typically sold for further processing in the United States, became the leading product.
Independent Fish Harvesters Under Pressure (1960s - 2000)
By the 1960s and 1970s, large-trawler companies in the Maritimes and Newfoundland expanded to operate dozens of substantial plants, the larger ones each employed hundreds of people. In the groundfish fishery, the hundred trawlers (boats over 100 feet long) and draggers could match the catch of the many thousands of smaller crafts, which often fished other species as well. The large-trawler companies also held strong influence over many of the hundreds of smaller plants dotted around the coast.The Fisheries Council of Canada (FCC) represented fish processors, whose plants came under provincial control but many processors controlled vessels, and the FCC exerted strong influence on the federal fisheries department.
Independent fish harvesters, the great majority of the fleet, lacked any such national organization. The strong local organizations common in British Columbia were scarce on the Atlantic, and fish harvesters there sometimes felt voiceless.
Fishing pressure kept rising: not only Canadian but foreign. Factory freezer trawlers congregating outside the three-mile limit brought on a national outcry for a 200 mile limit. Canada extended fisheries jurisdiction in 1977 and sharply curtailed foreign fishing.
Between 1968 and 1982, federal fisheries management became far more comprehensive. Before, regulations had concentrated mainly on gear, seasons, size limits, and to a degree on quality standards. Under Ministers Jack Davis and Roméo LeBlanc, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans limited the number of licences in almost every fishery. The idea was to help both conservation and average incomes, and dampen the boom-and-bust pattern that often saw attractive fisheries draw too much pressure.
The most powerful British Columbia harvester organization, the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union, had pushed the government towards the licence-limitation rules that eventually spread across Canada. Despite “limited entry,” the Pacific fleet rose rapidly in fishing power.
A major Salmonid Enhancement Program commencing in the 1970s brought in new hatcheries and other techniques to increase abundance. But new boats built in boom years raised costs and would put more pressure on salmon and other species.
Still, in the 1970s Canada’s coastal fisheries looked progressive, with better boats and closer management. Scientific research and statistical analysis of catches increased. Vessel size limits and fishing zones became common.
So did conservation quotas, especially for groundfish and herring. Quotas often got subdivided by area and fleet, to give fish harvesters a more secure share. By the early 1980s individual boat quotas, followed by individual transferable quotas, were spreading into many fisheries.
Meanwhile, under LeBlanc, scores of fishery advisory committees gave fish harvesters a bigger voice in management. On the Atlantic, his policies prevented larger companies from taking over licences for boats less than 65 feet long.
LeBlanc also encouraged Atlantic fishermen’s organizations. In Newfoundland, the Fishermen Food and Allied Workers led by Richard Cashin became the most powerful organization since Coaker’s time. Other groups such as the Maritime Fishermen’s Union, The P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association, the Grand Manan Fishermen’s Association, and dozens more represented groups of all types and sizes.
The new Atlantic organizations faced new complexities. Costs of boats and licences would keep rising, while markets fluctuated. A groundfish resource and market crisis in the early 1970s brought federal aid.
Despite rising groundfish abundance after the 200-mile limit, a cost-price squeeze in the early 1980s forced several large-trawler companies into near-bankruptcy. Again federal aid helped them survive, in somewhat consolidated form. Federal and industry initiatives brought some improvements in quality and marketing.
Individual transferable quotas (ITQs) held by individuals or companies not only protected fish shares but allowed some consolidation. In various fisheries on both coasts, they seemed to add stability and value. But ITQs could also bring new problems such as “high-grading” and misreporting catches. Meanwhile, electronic fish-finding and other technical improvements put more strain on fishery resources.
Atlantic groundfish stocks that were growing in the early 1980s crashed in the early 1990s, apparently from overfishing and environmental factors. A new round of assistance programs totaling more than $4 billion accompanied fleet-reduction schemes.
Fishing From 2000 To Present
The number of fishing craft on the Atlantic dropped from 29,000 in 1990 to 20,000 in 2000 and 17,200 in 2010. The once-dominant large-trawler companies closed down most of their fleets, and tended to shrink or disappear.With fewer groundfish around, lobster catches increased remarkably. Crab, shrimp, and scallops helped shellfish to displace groundfish as the dominant industry. Atlantic landed value overall nearly doubled in the 1990s, with fluctuations since.
| 1990 | $956 million |
| 1995 | $1.4 billion |
| 2000 | $1.77 billion |
| 2005 | $1.75 billion |
| 2010 | $1.3 billion |
In earlier times, despite the required skills to be a fish harvester it was often considered a poorer-than average occupation. By the early 2000s, fish harvesters tended to enjoy better incomes and more influence on management.
In central Canada, the smaller Great Lakes fishery through the 20th century had gone through major changes in species composition. It too appeared more stable by the early 2000s. Fish harvesters and companies had generally adopted individual quotas, gaining a strong voice in provincially-controlled management.
Marketing had traditionally posed a problem for prairie province fishery, especially for Native and other fishermen on the northern lakes. In 1969, the Freshwater Fish marketing Corporation, a federal crown corporation, provided more stability.
In British Columbia, the strong fleet that boomed in the 1970s saw both crises and good years in the 1980s. Then in the 1990s, a none-too-clear combination of factors including fishing pressure, oceanic changes, and habitat degradation brought a drastic drop in salmon catches. The decline dragged down the overall landed value for Pacific species.
| 1990 | $476 million |
| 1995 | $419 million |
| 2000 | $369 million |
| 2005 | $330 million |
| 2010 | $294 million |
On the Atlantic, the fleet became better suited to the resource. Shellfish became more important and the fishery as a whole became more diversified – less industrial and more entrepreneurial. Pacific fishermen have traditionally shown high levels of organization and engagement in management which continues in their challenging but rewarding occupation.
Overall, Canada’s fishery in the early 2000s seemed to be shaking down into a smaller but potentially more stable sector. Fish harvesters were powering a major modern industry generating well over $3 billion in export value in 2010, and supporting communities across the country.
Though more mechanized and technological than ever before, the fish harvester’s occupation retains its traditional elements of adventure and self-reliance. Independent fish harvesters continue to gain ground in co-research and management.
The Canadian Council of Professional Fish Harvesters, a federation of fish harvesters’ organizations that came together in the 1990s, reflects a higher-than-ever degree of information, organization, and self-management in most parts of the country.
http://www.fishharvesterspecheurs.ca/fishing-industry/history
-----------------------------
L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia
History of the Canadian Fisheries
[This text was written in the
1930's and was published in 1948; for the precise citation, see the end of the
document.]
Fisheries. Canada's fisheries are
extensive and important. The Atlantic coast line from Grand Manan to Labrador is
5,000 miles in length, while the total area of coastal waters, including the bay
of Fundy and the gulf of St. Lawrence, is not less than 200,000 square miles.
The Pacific coast of Canada measures 7,180 miles in length and is exceptionally
well sheltered. When it is remembered that the fishing grounds of the ocean are
practically limited to the comparatively shallow inshore waters over the
continental shelf, it is realized how large a proportion of the fishing grounds
of the north Atlantic and north Pacific Canada possesses. In the matter of
freshwater areas Canada stands unequalled in the number and size of the lakes
within her borders. She possesses more than half of, the fresh water of the
globe.
In the
quality of her fisheries Canada also stands preëminent, since due to her
northern situation the dominant fish are the salmon, trout, whitefish, cod;
halibut, herring, bass and their relatives, which include the finest of the
world's food and game fishes. The annual production of the commercial fisheries
fluctuates around $50,000,000. In order of importance, the chief commercial fish
are the various species of Pacific and Atlantic salmon, cod, halibut, herring,
haddock, whitefish, pilchards, sardines, trout, yellow pickerel, smelts and .
mackerel. The principal game species are the various bout; salmon and char,
bass, maskinonge, pike and yellow pickerel.
Research aimed at the improvement of the
fisheries is carried out by the Biological Board of Canada, which operates under
the minister of fisheries. These researches are concerned not only with the
conservation and improvement of the fisheries, but also with freezing, canning,
and curing, and with their utilization in the manufacture of fish meal, oil,
glue and other products. These studies are carried out at four stations, two on
the Atlantic coast, at St. Andrews, New Brunswick, and Halifax, Nova Scotia, and
two on the Pacific, at Nanaimo and Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Some
freshwater fisheries research is carried out by. the Biological Board, but the
most outstanding studies in this field are carried out by the Fisheries Research
Laboratory of the Department of Biology, University of Toronto. For further
information the publications of these organizations should be consulted. There
is no definitive work on the fishes of Canada or of any of the provinces. The
federal government in 1913 published a check list of the fishes of the Dominion
of Canada and Newfoundland by A. Halkett.
History of the fisheries.
It was Cabot's voyage of exploration in 1497 that first brought
Europeans in touch with the abundant marine life of the Atlantic coast of North
America. The coastal plain north-east of New York, which had been submerged to a
depth of 1,200 feet, provided in its uplands the series of banks extending from
New England to the Grand Bank of Newfoundland and the resistant geological areas
of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and the mainland. The prolific character of the
cod, and its range from Labrador to New England, supported a rapid expansion of
the fishing industry from Europe, particularly to meet the demands of Catholic
countries with restricted agricultural development and limited supplies of
protein foods and of shipping, including the navy, with its demands in long
voyages for such compact foodstuffs as dried fish. In the sixteenth century,
ships from the widely scattered ports of France prosecuted the fishery over an
extended coast line in North America, and probably developed the bank fishery
about 1550. The Portuguese, with closer concentration of ports, were concerned
more directly with the favourable concentrated fishing area in Newfoundland
along the southeast coast. The Spanish fishery began in the last decade of the
first half of the century, but succumbed in the face of aggressive English
activity, culminating in the Armada and the effect of high costs of production,
which followed continued imports of treasure from the New World. Expansion of
the English fishery implied cheap supplies of solar salt obtained in tropical
areas and the opening of markets. Profitable markets in Spain and Portugal
hastened development of the English dried fishery from the concentrated ports of
the coast line of the west country to the favourable area of Newfoundland, and
in turn to a weakening of the position of the Portuguese and extension of the
scattered French fishery to more remote small areas for the prosecution of the
dried fishery, as at Canso and Gaspé. Penetration of Europeans to the more
distant coast lines, following importation of treasure and the rise in prices,
led to a more pronounced development of the French fishery in Canadian waters
and of the English fishery in New England after the turn of the century.
A monopoly granted to the Marquis de la
Roche on the mainland, with an establishment at Sable island, broke down in the
fishing industry, but survived with financial support from interests in the
channel ports concerned with the green and dry fisheries and the furtrade in the
St. Lawrence gulf and river. The continental character of France and the large
number of ports and markets ranging from the channel to Marseilles in the
Mediterranean involved reliance on domestic consumption and emphasis on the
green fishery, produced largely on the banks. The French fishery extended from
the Canadian Labrador to Gaspé, Cape Breton, and the Nova Scotia coast.
Advantages in the bank fishery's dependence on domestic consumption, scattered
character of sites suited to the dry fishery, attempts to enforce company
control, and difficulties of settlement as a result of limitations on
agriculture weakened the French fishery and contributed to the withdrawal from
Nova Scotia in 1713. New England fishermen, with the advantages of settlement
and the development of shipping, lumbering, and agriculture were in a position
to send small vessels to the banks off the coast of Nova Scotia to take fish,
which were dried on the Nova Scotia shore even in the French régime, and after
the treaty of Utrecht developed an important trade at Canso. French attempts to
develop an extensive dry fishery in Cape Breton with Louisbourg as a centre
failed because of the necessity of dependence on the agricultural development of
the basins of the bay of Fundy and on the English colonies for adequate supplies
of foodstuffs. The capture of Louisbourg, chiefly by the aggressiveness of New
England from 1745 to 1748, weakened the French in foreign markets for dry fish,
and the establishment of Halifax in 1749, the expulsion of the Acadians in 1755,
and the Seven Years' War led to the downfall of the French régime in the
Atlantic maritimes.
Retreat of the French was followed by
migration of pre-Loyalists from New England to Nova Scotia, by penetration of
New England fishermen to the gulf of St. Lawrence, and by participation in the
fishery of Gaspé and Cape Breton of fishermen from the Channel islands of
Guernsey and Jersey. The outbreak of the American revolution involved serious
disturbance to the fishery and the treaty of Versailles introduced restrictions
on the New England fishery. Attempts of British policy to substitute Nova Scotia
as a base of supplies of fish and other products to the West Indies for New
England were destined to failure, but the fishery continued to expand in Nova
Scotia and the gulf of St. Lawrence until disturbed by the outbreak of the War
of 1812. The convention of 1818 rigidly narrowed the rights of New England
fishermen in the waters of British North America to "the purpose of shelter and
of repairing damages, of purchasing wood, and obtaining water, and for no other
purpose whatsoever", and established the basis for later negotiations.
The demands for the narrow terms of the
convention and for rigid interpretation of its clauses were supported by trading
interests, particularly in Halifax, anxious to check smuggling as an inevitable
part of the fishery carried on by New England vessels in inshore waters.
Enforcement of the regulations in the seizure of vessels within the threemile
limit led to numerous conflicts between officials of Nova Scotia and the United
States, particularly with the use of purse-seines in the development of the
mackerel fishery. These difficulties disappeared with the Reciprocity
Treaty of 1854 to 1866, by which American schooners were permitted again to
fish in Canadian waters. Abrogation of the Reciprocity Treaty and imposition of
licences brought renewed conflict, which was again eliminated with the Treaty
of Washington from 1873 to 1885. The treaty provided `for an arbitration to
estimate the advantages obtained by American fishermen in Canadian waters in
contrast with those obtained by Canadians in American waters. The arbitration
gave the Halifax award of $4,500,000 to Canada, a sum which was invested to
support bounties to the extent of $150,000 to the fishery beginning in 1882.
With the end of the treaty, modus vivendi licences were issued to
American fishermen, allowing them to fish in Canadian waters on payment of
annual fees. In 1918 these were superseded by a reciprocal arrangement between
Canada and the United States, which lasted until 1921 in so far as the United
States was concerned, and to 1923 so far as Canada was concerned. In 1924
modus vivendi privileges were discontinued, but were revived in a
modified form in 1933. Exclusion of American vessels from Canadian waters became
more effective with increasing efficiency in enforcement of the treaty, with the
spread of settlement particularly along the Labrador shore, and with the results
of the North Atlantic fisheries arbitration, which ruled that American vessels
were not allowed to fish within three miles of a line drawn from headland to
headland of bays less than ten miles wide.
Restrictions on American vessels were
accompanied by attempts to encourage the Canadian fishery. Bounties were paid
throughout the nineteenth century at various intervals and with varying degrees
of success. Jurisdiction of the fisheries, partly because of the international
character of the industry and of its close relationship with problems of the
tariff and smuggling, was given to the Dominion in the British North America Act
in 1867. A department of marine and fisheries was established, and in 1884 a
department of fisheries. This department was merged with that of the marine in
1892; but in 1927 a fisheries branch was re-established, and in 1930 provision
was made for the appointment of a minister of fisheries. Administration has
tended to become decentralized, as it was transferred to Ontario in the nineties
and to Quebec in 1922. A decision of the Privy Council in 1898, permitting both
provinces and Dominion to impose licence duties, was followed by the creation of
a provincial department in British Columbia in 1901. A decision in 1928 (
Somerville case) limited rights of the Dominion to fishing operations only, or
until the fish were landed.
The character of administration has
changed, partly as a result of changes in the technique of the fishery and in
the increasing importance of the fresh fish industry, with its reliance on a
number of varieties. The West Indies continued as an important market for the
dried fish of the Canadian Atlantic after 1818, but abolition of slavery in 1833
had serious effects on the industry. Competition from fish taken by the French
with support of a heavy bounty and development of the trawl line fishery on the
banks in the forties added further difficulties. The Reciprocity Treaty and the
Civil War brought improvement. The fisheries began to spread from Gaspé across
the gulf to the Labrador shore, and settlement weakened the position of Nova
Scotia schooners accustomed to carrying on the fishery in that region.
Consequently Lunenburg vessels began to adopt the technique of trawl-line
fishing and to carry on the fishery on the Grand Banks. The first vessel went to
the banks in 1873. Production of dried cod increased in Nova Scotia to a peak of
791,044 cwt. in a five-year average from 1884 to 1888. After the peak in 1886,
decline followed the increasing importance of the steamship and the
disappearance of the wooden sailing-vessels with its .disastrous results to
numerous ports, weakening of the market as a result of competition from beet
sugar with cane sugar, increase in tariffs, competition from meat products and
development of fresh fish industries. Demand for ships during the war and
competition from Norway, with the introduction of motor-boats, and from Iceland
with the steam trawler in the post-war period, which forced Newfoundland out of
the European markets into the Brazil and West Indies market, had serious effects
on the position of Lunenburg with its production of heavy salted fish specially
suited for the Porto Rico market. Production of dried fish in Nova Scotia
declined to 123,885 cwt. in 1931. The number of Lunenburg vessels declined from
149 in 1920 to 26 in 1933.
Increase in urban population,
development of the railway and fast transportation, and development of
refrigeration led to a rapid expansion of the fresh-fish industry, with emphasis
on haddock and halibut to offset the decline of the dried-fish industry, with
its emphasis on cod. Mechanization was extended in the increasing use of the
trawler, especially after 1911, in the development of refrigeration express
service from the Atlantic coast to Montreal and the interior (with government
support from 1909 to 1919), and with a shift in demand from frozen to fresh
fish. The tendency of the trawler fishery to concentrate on Halifax has been
accompanied by protests from out ports and by increasing restrictions on the
number of trawlers. The gasoline engine and proximity to the Banks have
strengthened the position of points along the Atlantic shore. The number of
nations concerned and the highly competitive character of the industry, as
prosecuted on the Banks, has made general conservation measures extremely
difficult.
The inshore fishery has been
particularly dependent on the fresh-fish industry, and has become highly
specialized in relation to the geographic background. The herring fishery has
developed along the shores of Charlotte county, New Brunswick, and the smelt
fishery along the Northumberland shore. Fish that spawn in the rivers have been
subject to rapid exploitation, and production has declined. Depletion of the
shad fishery is an illustration of the effects of rapid exploitation.
Conservation measures have been worked out in great detail in the lobster
fishery and the oyster fishery. The salmon fishery is controlled by leases in
Quebec and New Brunswick and by licences in Nova Scotia. Expansion of this
fishery has been directly dependent on improvement in transportation to the
interior, particularly from New Brunswick rivers and from Gaspé and the Canadian
Labrador. The high-quality dried cod produced by established firms of Channel
Island origin, especially at Percé and Paspebiac, has continued to hold the
Naples and Brazil markets, although these firms have tended to withdraw from the
north shore as a result of competition, following improved steamship navigation.
Mechanization, with its demands for
refrigeration facilities, trawlers, and plant for the utilization of
by-products, has involved demands for large-scale capital organization.
Fluctuations in prices as a result of changes in technique, in economic
conditions, and in markets, have contributed to serious difficulties for the
fishermen and to demands for governmental assistance and for extension of
co-operation, particularly through the efforts of the St. Francis Xavier
University. In 1930 subsidized fast vessels improved the position of fishermen
in eastern Nova Scotia. Improved methods of grading, of handling; and of
marketing the product have been the object of extensive interest on the part of
the governments concerned.
The problem of conservation with more
limited supplies and greater ease of exploitation was more acute in the
interior: The fisheries of the lakes and rivers of continental Canada,
particularly the lakes extending along the edge of the Precambrian formation
from the Great lakes to Bear lake and in the Precambrian formation, were
exploited by the Indians, and in turn by Europeans in support of extension of
the fur-trade and later of settlement. The fishery of the St. Lawrence provided
an important supply of food for settlement. Salmon in lake Ontario were rapidly
exhausted with increase in population: White fish on the upper lakes,
particularly at Sault Ste. Marie, and in smaller lakes in northern Ontario and
northern Manitoba, were exploited during the period of the fur-trade, and later
of settlement, and decline in production followed. Railways extending to the
north contributed to depletion and to problems of conservation. Sturgeon rapidly
disappeared. Supplies of whitefish in James bay, of Arctic trout along the coast
of the Arctic regions, and of the inconnu in the Mackenzie, support fur-trading
posts through providing food -for men and (more important) for dogs.
On the Pacific coast drainage-basin,
salmon occupied an important place in the support of trading posts established
near the headwaters of the rivers and lames near the mouths of the important
rivers and along the coasts. Indian culture was profoundly influenced by the
Pacific salmon, and the fur-trade expanded in areas suited to the capture of
large quantities of fish. The Hudson's
Bay Company began to export salted salmon to the Hawaiian islands after the
establishment of Fort Langley on the Eraser river in 1827. After the decline of
the gold rush, many persons attempted to develop various industries in British
Columbia, and became engaged in the salmon fishery. The first canning of salmon
was apparently carried out by Captain Edward Stamp at Alberni in 1860, but it
was not until the technique of production had been elaborated and markets
provided that the industry was in a position to expand. Drift nets were
introduced about 1864, and canning was added to the salt fishery in the
seventies. Individuals such as Hapgood in the United States and Ewen and Loggie
in Canada, with experience acquired in the lobster-canning industry of the
Atlantic coast, made important contributions. Completion of the Canadian Pacific
Railway widened the market for the finished product, and provided larger
quantities of lower-cost raw materials; but problems of capital forced large
numbers of plants into bankruptcy prior to 1890. A rapid increase from 29 in
1890 to 72 in 1901 brought further difficulties and led to the formation of the
British Columbia Packers Association in 1902, which acquired 41 canneries and
closed 19.
Mechanization became increasingly
important with the turn of the century. The gill net was improved with the
substitution of hand-laid sturgeon twine for linen twine, as a result of the
suggestion of G. Robertson, a fisherman from Labrador, about 1900, and with the
introduction of gasoline engines. Large power-boats and purse-seines were
followed by rapid increase in production and by more efficient technique in
manufacture. The iron chink invented by E. A. Smith in 1901 was introduced into
British Columbia plants in 1906, each machine displacing possi bly 20 men.
Disappearance of double cooking after 1898, introduction of the rotary cutter,
and improvements in the manufacture and handling of cans, facilitated expansion
of the industry. Traps were prohibited in the regulations of 1889, but a limited
number were permitted off Vancouver island in 1904. In 1892 licences were
restricted to British subjects, and fishermen coming from the Columbia or the
Fraser river were excluded.
The sockeye, as the highest quality and
most uniform size of fish, spawns in the tributaries of lakes in the interior;
the fry remain in fresh water at least a year and go out to sea to return in the
fourth or fifth year to the same stream to spawn and to die. Cohoes , pinks,
chums, and spring salmon spawn in running streams. In 1902, 85 per cent. of the
catch was made up of sockeye, but with the outbreak of the Japanese-Russian war
the lower-quality species of pinks and chums increased in importance. The
problem of conservation became acute following a slide on the Fraser river as a
result of construction work on the Canadian Northern Railway and the inability
of large numbers of salmon to reach the spawning ground in 1913, a year of the
"big run" (the year after leap year). The war and post-war period increased the
demand for lower-quality varieties, and by 1933 the percentage of sockeye
declined to 20.4 per cent., whereas chums had increased to 23 per cent. and
pinks to 42 per cent. Attempts of the Dominion to control canneries, by
requiring licences in an Act passed in 1908, were declared ultra vires. The
province introduced legislation in 1910 limiting the number of boats in each
area. In 1930 the provincial government granted five-year leases to canneries
and compelled enforcement of conditions of operation The problem of restricting
American fishermen in taking fish going to the Fraser river has proved
insuperable, and treaties have been invariably defeated by the Senate In 1935.
however, traps were forbidden in American waters leading to the Fraser.
Competition from the salmon fishery of Siberia and Japan since the war has
increased the burden of conservation on Canadian industry, and as a partial
relief Canadians were allowed to use purse-seines in 1932. Scientific research
has been actively prosecuted in the interests of conservation and hatcheries
have , been established on an important scale.
Pressure toward the formation of large
organizations of canneries has been persistent, and the tendency toward
amalgamation has been pronounced. Peak-load costs incidental to short seasons,
long-run fluctuations, and attempts to reduce the number of Orientals engaged in
the industry (Japanese in fishing and Chinese in canning) and to improve labour
conditions, have tended to raise costs. The independent fishermen in the
vicinity of the Fraser river and the gulf of Georgia have been able to dispose
of their product more advantageously than the majority in other regions, who are
forced to rely on the canneries for advances of credit and equipment. In
addition to utilization by canning, salmon are sold as fresh or frozen (cohoe
and spring), or as mild cured and kippered (spring), or as dry salted (chum) for
the Japanese market.
Refrigeration has been more important in
the development of other types of fishery, notably halibut. Two chief zones,
banks from cape Scott to cape Spencer, and banks between Middleton island and
Shumagin islands off the Alaskan coast, have been exploited following completion
of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway to Prince Rupert in 1913, the building of
cold-storage plants along the Pacific coast, and the use of the Diesel engine,
especially after 1923. Depletion of the banks led to the creation of an
International Fisheries Commission under the Halibut Treaty of 1923 between
Canada and the United States, and to the introduction of conservation measures.
In 1917 large numbers of pilchards were
discovered off Vancouver island, and a canning industry emerged. But it was not
until an order-in-council of March, 1924, permitted use of pilchards for
reduction purposes that the industry began to expand to its present size. In
1928-33 reduction plants were in operation, producing 3,997,656 gallons of oil
and 14,502 tons of meal. In 1930 over three million dollars were invested in the
industry, and 700 fishermen were employed. A herring fishery has been developed
to an important scale in Barkley sound.
The significance of the fishery in the
recent economic development of Canada has been enhanced with development of the
tourist trade. Road construction to less accessible areas has been responsible
for rapid depletion, for increasing attention to problems of conservation, and
for the introduction of extensive regulations on the part of departments
concerned with fisheries.
In contrast with the fur-trade
and its emphasis on continental development and centralization, the fishing
industry was essentially a maritime development with emphasis on
decentralization. Fish were taken over a wide area by relatively small units of
capital equipment (the fishing vessel) through the efforts of individuals
employed on a profit-sharing basis. It was essentially an industry
based on relatively inexhaustible supplies and European labour in contrast
with a trade based on exhausting supplies and an Indian population.
Whereas the fur-trade tended toward monopoly and centralization, the fishing
industry stressed individual initiative and decentralization. Monopolies
flourished in the fur-trade on the continent and persistently disappeared in the
fishery in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and New England. The fishery and the
individualism which it fostered stressed development of trade and shipping, and
served as a spearhead to break the control of European monopoly in North
America. New England influence flourished in Nova Scotia and with its
contributions to the solution of the problem of responsible government checked
the tendency of the second Empire to follow the path of the first. The influence
of the Maritimes in the development of continental Canada following
Confederation was evident in the insistence on lower tariffs of finance
ministers chosen as a guarantee of protection for the Maritimes. The
movement toward independent status gained momentum under a Maritime prime
minister, Sir Robert Borden, and in relation to extraterritorial matters
primarily concerned with the fishery, as in the Halibut Treaty, the first to be
signed between Canada and another Power without the intervention of Great
Britain. The increasing .importance of machine industry in the fishery has been,
evident in a tendency toward centralization, particularly in British Columbia ;
but the tradition of freedom in the industry survives in the Atlantic Maritimes,
as the effective protests of fishermen and the development of cooperation
attest.
See O, W. Freeman, Salmon fishery of the Pacific coast
(Economic geography, April, 1935), J. Q. Adams, The Pacific coast
halibut fishery (Economic geography, July, 1935), R. F. Grant, The
Canadian Atlantic fishery (Toronto, 1934), G.G. Strong, The salmon
canning industry in British, Columbia, (University of British Columbia,
1934), Report of the Royal Commission investigating, the fisheries of
the Maritime provinces and the Magdalen islands (Ottawa, 1928), C. E
Cayley, The North Atlantic fisheries in United States-Canadian relations
(Doctoral thesis, University of Chicago, 1931), Annual reports of the
departments of the provinces and of the Dominion concerned with
fisheries; Report on the marketing of Canadian fish and fish products
(Cockfield, Brown and Company), Canadian Fisherman, Pacific Fisherman,
W. S. Fox, The literature of salmo solar in lake
Ontario and tributary streams (Trans. Roy. Soc. Can. , 130), N.
Denys, The description and natural history of the coasts of North America (
Acadia ) (Toronto, 1908), Sea-fisheries of eastern Canada,
(Ottawa, 1912), Commission of Conservation reports.
Source
: H. A. INNIS, "Fisheries", in W. Stewart
WALLACE, ed. The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. II, Toronto, University Associates of
Canada, 1948, 411p., pp.
341-348. http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/encyclopedia/FisheriesinCanada-HistoryoftheCanadianfisheries.htm
----------------------
COMMERCIAL FISHERS- Atlantic Cod
Two centuries before the arrival of the Pilgrims,
explorers reported an abundance of enormous cod in the waters of
present-day New England and Atlantic Canada. English explorer
Bartholomew Gosnold was so impressed that he changed the name of Cape
Saint James to Cape Cod in 1602.
Salt cod was an essential element in the web of early Atlantic
commerce, but cod were not harvested on an industrial scale until the
mid-1800s. As waves of immigrants reached America, the nation’s cities,
industries, and population all grew. Commercial fisheries grew with
them.
The Banks
Vast underwater banks stretch along the edge of the continental shelf from southern New England to Newfoundland, Canada. They provide the right combination of water temperature, currents, and food-rich shallows and ledges for Atlantic cod and other species to thrive. Two areas were especially important to commercial fishermen: George’s Bank, located about 100 miles east of Cape Cod, and the Grand Banks, 1,000 miles beyond.Get Your Fish!
In 1876, Gloucester businesses were all about selling fish and outfitting fishermen.
From The Fisheries of Gloucester from 1623 to 1876 . . . (1876)
Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution Libraries
Gloucester: Fishing on the Banks
The New England cod fishery grew explosively in the mid-1800s. Men of Italian, Canadian, West Indian, and especially Portuguese descent flocked to Gloucester, Massachusetts, to find work in the fisheries and escape the discrimination they encountered in other New England communities. By 1888, approximately 200 Portuguese families lived in Gloucester, making it the largest Portuguese community on the East Coast.By the late 1880s, nearly 400 vessels fished out of Gloucester.
Our Lady of Good Voyage
Portuguese families in Gloucester have worshiped at Our Lady of Good Voyage Church since 1893. The statue on the second level shows the church’s namesake holding a boat in her left hand, symbolizing a safe voyage.
Courtesy of the Cape Ann Historical Association
Work at the Wharf
Gloucester fishermen unload, cull, weigh, and cart
away Grand Bank cod at the wharf of Parmenter, Rice & Co., in
Gloucester, 1882.
Drying Fish
At the height of the cod fishery in Gloucester,
the waterfront was filled with fish drying racks like these at D.C.
& H. Babson, in 1882.
A Terrible Mortality
Gloucester’s dependence on the North Atlantic meant a close acquaintance with tragedy and death. “The history of the Gloucester fisheries has been written in tears,” wrote an anonymous reporter in 1876.Between 1866 and 1890, more than 380 schooners and 2,450 Gloucester men never returned from the fishing grounds. In a single storm on August 24, 1873, nine Gloucester vessels and 128 fishermen were lost. In 1865, community members formed the Gloucester Fisherman’s and Seaman’s Widows and Orphan’s Aid Society Fund to help fishermen’s families.
Widows’ Home
This house was built for fishermen’s widows in Gloucester around 1870. It had ten apartments of three rooms each. Rent for each apartment was $3 per month.
“When will the slaughter cease?”
In 1882, Capt. Joseph Collins asked this question in Gloucester’s newspaper, the Cape Ann Weekly Advertiser. Too many fishermen perished at sea, and Collins and others lobbied for new schooner designs featuring deeper, more stable hulls and sail plans that didn’t require a long bowsprit, the spar that projected forward from the bow.![Whitman Emulsion of Cod Liver Oil with Hypophosphites [ca 1910]](http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/assets/object/full/2008-17228.jpg)
It’s Good for You
View Object Record Cod liver oil was a byproduct of the cod fishery. The oil contains essential vitamins and helped prevent rickets, a common disease among malnourished children in the late 1800s. Children dreaded the taste of their daily dose, and this sample from the early 1900s recommends three doses a day.
Gift of Mario Casinelli
Gloucester Schooners
Schooners were built around Gloucester, Massachusetts, beginning about 1713. These vessels had large holds for fish and supplies, but they were also designed for speed to reach fishing grounds quickly. With fishing so profitable, owners demanded ever larger and faster vessels.They got what they wanted—longer, wider hulls to carry more fish and immense amounts of sail to catch more wind. But safety was sacrificed for speed. Many schooners were dangerously top-heavy and prone to capsizing in storms. They were also hazardous for the men who clambered out on the long bowsprit to tend the sails. Schooner bowsprits came to be known as “widow makers.”
Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins, about 1882
The George’s Bank Cod Fishery
Fishermen using hand-lines stood at the rail of the schooner, each fishing a single line that had a spreader and two hooks. One fishermen is using a gaff to bring in a fish, one is cutting out the cod’s tongue—the method used to keep track of how many fish were caught by each fisherman—and the third is tending his line. George’s Bank fishermen used about 900 feet of line. Hauling in a pair of cod by hand took about thirty minutes.![Half Model, Fishing Schooner Helen B. Thomas [1901]](http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/assets/object/full/2008-7196.jpg)
Fishing schooner Helen B. Thomas
Built by Oxner & Story shipbuilders, Essex, Massachusetts, 1902
Gift of Thomas F. McManus
McManus Knockabouts
View Object Record Thomas A. McManus, a Boston-born son of Irish immigrants, designed a safer fishing schooner. The hull of his vessel was short and deep, with a rockered keel for stability. McManus made this half model and displayed it for a year in his Boston shop before Capt. William Thomas of Portland, Maine, decided to have a full-sized vessel built to the lines. The Helen B. Thomas was launched in 1902 and was the first of many schooners called “knockabouts” that were built without bowsprits.![Cod Hand-line [1800s]](http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/assets/object/full/2009-5588.jpg)
Hand-line
View Object Record This hand-line—a reel with fishing line, a sinker, and hooks—was the type used in the 1880s.
Gift of the U.S. Fish Commission
The Bank Trawl-Line Cod Fishery
In the 1850s fishermen started working from small boats called dories, using long lines baited with many hooks. Fishermen caught significantly more cod working from dories that were carried aboard schooners to the fishing grounds.
Drawing by H. W. Elliott and Capt. J. W. Collins, about 1882
Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution Libraries
![Ship Model, Fishing Schooner Dauntless [1894]](http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/assets/object/full/2009-2180.jpg)
Fishing schooner Dauntless
Built in Essex, Massachusetts, 1855
Lost at sea, 1870, with 12 men aboard
Transfer from U.S. Fish Commission
The Dauntless
View Object Record The fishing schooner Dauntless is shown equipped for dory trawling, with nests of dories stacked amidships. At the fishing grounds, the dories were lowered with two men in each, and the dory mates set their trawl line, which typically had 1,200 to 1,600 baited hooks. To haul in the catch, they had to steer the dory, lift the line into the boat, and remove the fish. The dory mates returned to the schooner to off-load the fish.
Hook
Imagine having to bait and fish 1,600 of these on a single fishing line. That was one of the jobs of a dory fisherman, day in and day out, for months at a time.
Gift of Peter Nelson, from the schooner Grace L. Fears
![Bait Knife [1877]](http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/assets/object/full/2009-5576.jpg)
Gift of G. P. Foster
Fish Knife
View Object Record Gloucester fishermen typically baited their trawl lines with small fish such as menhaden or capelin. They used knives like this to prepare slivers of bait.![Ship Model, Schooner Fredonia [1889]](http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/assets/object/full/2009-2146.jpg)
Schooner Fredonia
Designed by Edward Burgess
Built by Moses Adams, Essex, Massachusetts, 1889
Transfer from U.S. Fish Commission
The Schooner Fredonia
View Object Record The Fredonia’s deep hull, narrow beam, and fine lines represent the pinnacle of design for deepwater fishing schooners. It influenced the design of many other fishing vessels. In December 1896, while fishing on the Grand Banks, the Fredonia was hit by a heavy sea and sank. Two of its 23-man crew perished; the rest were rescued by a passing steamer.![Mackerel Plow (Knife) [1880s]](http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/assets/object/full/2009-5665.jpg)
Gift of the U.S. Fish Commission
Fish Plow with Pewter Inlays
View Object Record This type of knife, also called a plow, was used to cut the flesh of a fish along the backbone to give it a thicker, fatter appearance that appealed to customers. It was used in the iced fish trade.![Fisherman’s Oilskin Hat [early 1880s]](http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/assets/object/full/2009-2222.jpg)
Gift of A. J. Tower
Oilskin Hat
View Object Record Grand Banks fishermen toiled in all kinds of weather. To protect themselves from the icy winds and spray, they wore felt-lined rubber boots and jackets and hats made of oiled canvas. This flannel-lined oilskin hat was new when it was displayed in an exhibit of fishermen’s clothing in London in 1883.![Fishermen’s Woolen Nippers [1880s]](http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/assets/object/full/2009-5624.jpg)
Gift of the U.S. Fish Commission
Nippers
View Object Record The fishermen’s nippers were knit of woolen yarn and stuffed with woolen cloth. Fishermen were able to grasp and hold a fishing line better if they wore woolen nippers on their hands.Cook’s Clothing
In the summer, cooks aboard Gloucester fishing schooners wore cotton trousers and plaid shirts like these. In the era of dory fishing, the cook was one of the most important men on board. He prepared four or five meals a day, fished if needed, and assisted the captain when the men were out in the dories.![Man's Shirt, 1878-88 [1878 - 1888]](http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/assets/object/full/74-9704.jpg)
![Man's Trousers, 1878-88 [1878-1888]](http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/assets/object/full/74-9703.jpg)
Gift of the U.S. Fish Commission
![Schooner Cook's Bell [1883]](http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/assets/object/full/2008-3003.jpg)
Cook’s Bell
View Object Record This bell was used aboard a Gloucester schooner to summon fishermen to their meals. Daily meals started with breakfast before dawn, dinner as the main meal, and a hearty supper. Frequent “mug-ups,” or coffee breaks, usually consisted of coffee or tea and leftover snacks. On larger schooners, the cook served meals in two shifts.
Gift of the U.S. Fish Commission
Feeding the Crew
Cook George W. Scott kept a journal on the fishing schooner Ocean King during a voyage out of Gloucester to the Grand Banks in 1879. Among the provisions brought aboard for a four-month voyage were:- 210 Hogsheads of salt (for salting the cod)
- 5 Barrels beef
- 1 Barrel pork
- 1 Barrel hams
- 10 Barrels flour
- 330 Pounds of sugar
- 50 Gallons molasses
- 15 Bushels potatoes
- 200 pounds butter
- and including all other things usuly [sic] found in a grocery store
![Fox and Geese Game Board [1883]](http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/assets/object/full/2009-5574.jpg)
Gift of Capt. George Merchant Jr.
Fox & Geese Board, 1880s
View Object Record Fishermen passed the time on long voyages playing Fox & Geese and other simple board games. This game requires two players. The fox (a single token) has to remove the geese (multiple tokens) before they surround him.![Foghorn [1880s]](http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/assets/object/full/2008-3006.jpg)
Gift of Wilcox, Crittenden & Co.
Foghorn, 1880s
View Object Record Getting lost in the fog was a dory man’s nightmare. Dories were equipped with foghorns that the dory mates used to signal their location. In foggy weather, men aboard the schooner would sound a more powerful fog horn operated with a pump or bellows to let the dory men know the vessel’s location.What Happened to Cod?
After the peak catches of the 1880s, Gloucester fishermen continued to work coastal and offshore waters. In the 20th century, they typically used diesel- and gasoline-powered vessels called trawlers that pulled large nets to catch cod, haddock, flounder, and other fish.Foreign trawlers began to appear in the 1950s, and a decade later huge factory trawlers from nations around the globe were capturing tons of fish. In 1977, the United States and Canada banned foreign trawlers from the fishing grounds. With foreign competition gone, the American and Canadian fleets soon expanded and the stocks of cod declined further. In the 1990s, both nations agreed to close much of George’s Bank to fishing for bottom-dwelling species like cod. Today, most cod at supermarkets was not caught in the North Atlantic.
![Carved Cod-in-a-Coffin [1994]](http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/assets/object/full/AHB2009q07007.jpg)
Cod Coffin
View Object Record In 1992, Canada declared a moratorium on cod fishing in its Atlantic coastal waters. Fisherman Dan Murphy of Dunville, Newfoundland, made this cod-in-a-coffin to express his view of the decision and its impact on his livelihood. He sold these coffins at a local flea market.http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/exhibition/3_4.html
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