4 August 2013 Back to Lunenburg

Today I worked with Jerry on repairing the landing legs to his RV until noon and then Patrice and I drove back to Lunenburg to visit the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic. The museum is located in the former Lunenburg Sea Products fish processing plant that dates back to 1899. Several fishing vessels anchored at the adjacent dock are part of the museum, as well three floors of exhibits in the main building.

A self-directed tour of the museum took us about three hours to complete. We started in the aquarium (first floor) where salt and fresh water fish native to the Atlantic East Coast are kept. The tanks contain Atlantic salmon, cod, haddock, pollack, trout, and a few other species of fish. A room next to the aquarium presented information about lobsters and lobster fishing. One of the exhibits held a preserved lobster weighing more than 14 pounds and a panel told that the largest lobster ever caught weighed  44.4 pounds. Another exhibit showed how a lobster trap was baited and why the lobster could not escape the trap. All sorts of lobster fishing equipment was also on display.

The next part of the tour took us outside to the wharf. The first boat we toured was the Cape Sable, a side trawler built in Holland in 1962. The boat fished for cod, haddock and redfish with a net dragged along the ocean bottom. A crew of 18 men cleaned, sorted and packed up to 300,000 pounds of fish in ice below the deck. The ship returned to port in 9-12 days with fresh fish. The steel hulled ship was 131 feet long.

Cape Sable side trawler

Patrice beside the Cape Sable in a dory picnic table

The salt bank schooner Theresa E. Conner was built in 1938 and fished for cod from dories on the Grand Banks off Newfoundland. The fishermen baited hundreds of hooks on 1-1/2 mile long trawl lines and set them at daybreak. The dory fishermen would row or sail back and forth several times a day, checking the bait and bringing back the fish to the schooner. The fish were forked on board, cleaned, split open, washed and piled into the hold along with salt. The schooner could carry 425,000 pounds of salted fish. I was able to tour this beautiful old schooner and see how the crew of 28 men worked, ate, and slept.

Theresa E. Conner Schooner 

 Dory on Theresa E. Conner Schooner   

The Cape North main wheelhouse and captain's quarters is all the remains of the wooden hulled side trawler. Patrice toured this wheelhouse.  Inside were pictures of each of the captains and their crews who manned this boat during the years it worked. Photo copies of the daily logs of the weather and boat activities were in a binder near the bunk. The boat was launched in 1934 and soon after it had been out fishing for a year, it brought in a record load of 370,000 pounds of fish.

Also a Anderson Brothers dory used by Newfoundland fishermen was displayed on the wharf. The fishermen would row out to sea in these dories, set their lines, catch their fish, and row back to shore.

 Anderson Brothers Dories

Next we returned to the second story of the museum. Half of this floor was devoted to the cod fishery. Panels explained the history of cod fishing in the Maritime Provinces from the 1500's up to the time it was closed down in 1992. Information presented included how the British caught, salted, and dried their cod on racks located in onshore "rooms," how the French had ice to preserve their catch until they returned to their home base, and how the "green fishery" preserved their undried fish between salt layers. One exhibit included a wood model of the largest cod ever caught weighing 211 pounds.

One of the most interesting exhibits showed the Grand Banks fishing area and the Ocean currents that provided the nutrients for the great cod industry.

Grand Banks fishing area

The blue arrows represent the cold Labrador current, the red arrows represent the warm Gulf stream, the grey arrows represent the St. Lawrence currents.

Other exhibits included an outfitted dory with long-line trawls placed in barrels; cases of model boats including schooners, green fishing ships, and one- and two-man dories; and historic fish labels and stencils for the barrels. A ship model shop was also located in this area and a model boat builder was there working on a model.

The other half of the second floor of the museum was devoted to the highliner fishing Bluenose schooner. The Bluenose was built in Lunenburg in 1921 and was a very successful fishing boat that operated on the Grand Banks. Angus Walters oversaw construction of the Bluenose and was her commander from her first to last voyage as a fishing boat.

In 1920 the fifth and deciding America's Cup race was postponed due to winds that were gusting to 20 knots. This postponement was viewed with disgust by most of those involved with sailing, and in particular by those fishermen accustomed to sailing and fishing from their schooners in winds up to 50 knots. In response, the Halifax Herald issued a challenge for fishing schooners to engage in their own race for the International Fisherman's Trophy. The first race was won by Gloucester's Esperado, beating Nova Scotia's Delawana. This did not set well with the Nova Scotia fishermen and construction of the Bluenose. Although a working fishing trawler, the Bluenose was built for speed. Under the command of Angus Walters, she won the trophy 18 straight years and was never defeated. Her most dramatic race was the last when the "old and tired schooner" beat a newly designed and built Gloucester schooner. This was to be the last fisherman's schooner race because of the impending World War II and because the fishing schooners were being replaced by the long-haul, steel hulled ships. The International Fisherman's Trophy therefore resides in the museum in Lunenburg.

International Fisherman's Trophy

All kind of theories have been advanced as to why the Bluenose was so successful. Was it because because of the last minute hull design changes or because frost had set the timbers, or because the commander and crew were so talented? No one knows. Canadians were so proud of their Bluenose that its image appeared on their 50 cent stamp and their dime. Following the last race Angus tried to raise funds to buy the Bluenose for permanent residence in Canada. Not one cent was collected for this purpose and so in 1942 it was sold as a freighter in the West Indies. It foundered and sank off the coast of Haiti. An underwater plaque marks the exact spot where she sank.

A replica Bluenose II was built in 1963 from the same plans, in the same shipyards, and by some of the same workers. It has been owned by the Nova Scotia since 1971 and sails as its ambassador. It has however never been as fast as the original Bluenose. The Bluenose II is now in dry dock in Lunenburg being repaired and outfitted (see our July 31 blog). It is scheduled to be relaunched yet this year.

Finally we made it up to the third floor of the museum. The first exhibit on this floor was devoted to the rum running carried on by boat during prohibition in Canada and the U.S. Organized crime groups operated out of the French island possessions near Newfoundland and many fishermen became involved in the illegal transport and distribution of alcohol. They were quite successful because of the many isolated coves. Another interesting exhibit honors the former Lunenburg marine artist Earl Bailey. He had contracted polio as a youngster and was partially paralyzed. Consequently, he painted holding brushes in his teeth. Many of his original paintings hang in the museum. Other exhibits included a salt fish business office, a cooperage (building barrels), sail lofts, and sea products displays. I found a case of salt cod boxes just like the ones my dad used to get when I was growing up.

After visiting the museum we had dinner at the "Savvy Sailor." Patrice had seared scallops and I had  lobster and scallop linguine. This the best seafood dish I've had in Nova Scotia--chock full of perfectly cooked lobster and scallops.

Forty-four fish sculptures were commissioned by the City of Lunenberg to honor the top twenty shellfish species landed by the area's commercial fishery. They were created by artist Laurie Fisher in 2002. We noticed a couple--these baskets were attached to all the poles with the sculptures.

Farewell to Lunenburg, we really enjoyed visiting.