The Bluenose II and the U.S. ship Columbia have a long racing history, and while all eyes are on the new replica American schooner, many say they would like to see the two ships together again.
Captain Karl Joyner and his crew are honoured to have Columbia docked near the schooner’s old racing rival.
“It’s amazing to be here in Lunenburg,” he says. “The town has been really welcoming and I’m glad we were able to get Columbia up here.”
The boat will remain there for three weeks, undergoing minor repair work on its sails.
Several Nova Scotian companies were involved with the construction of the replica schooner, which was originally built in Massachusetts in 1923.
“The hull and interior and rail caps and things like that were all done in Florida,” says Columbia project captain Jacob Stevens. “But everything above the rail cap, all the rig, all the spars, mass, sails, blocks, rigging, standing, running rigging, all built right here in Lunenburg.”
The Gloucester fishing schooner and Bluenose once raced each other, with the Nova Scotia ship walking away with bragging rights.
Captain Agnus Walters once said, “Columbia was the best fishing schooner the Americas ever produced.”
But nearly a century later, many are hoping the two can sail side-by-side again.
“We’d love to do that,” says Joyner. “There was talk of it yesterday. You have to think that would be the first time that sight was seen since 1923 when the original Columbia and the original Bluenose sailed together.”
As Columbia made its way up the eastern seaboard this week, Nova Scotia’s plagued schooner was once again undergoing repairs after a bearing in its steering hydraulic system broke.
The Columbia cost $25 million in the U.S., a similar price as the newly-restored Bluenose II, but Columbia’s project manager says they ran into fewer problems.
“We’re a commercial yard, boatbuilding yard,” says Stevens. “We do a lot of offshore supply vessels, tugboats and ferry boats, so we generally would anticipate some of the problems. With the knowledge and background we have in other vessels, we knew what to expect.”
Among the comparisons, hundreds stood in awe, admiring the craftsmanship and history tied to the vessels.
“They’re absolutely beautiful,” says Alberta visitor Shirley Ross. “You know, we had a privilege to see both the Columbia and the Bluenose. Just fantastic.”
The Columbia is scheduled to sail out of Lunenburg on August 24. The captain says they’ll pay their respects to the original Columbia and its crew off the coast of Sable Island where the vessel was lost with all hands in 1927.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Suzette Belliveau.
