Mainmast, height from deck	38 metre
Foremast, height from deck	36 metre
Sail area	1036 m² (11,151.4 sq ft)
Mainsail area	386 m² (4,154.9 sq ft)

Bluenose II is a replica of the fishing schooner

Schooner

A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....

 Bluenose

Bluenose

Bluenose was a Canadian fishing and racing schooner from Nova Scotia built in 1921. She was later commemorated by a replica Bluenose II built in 1963. A celebrated racing ship and hard-working fishing vessel, Bluenose became a provincial icon for Nova Scotia as well as important Canadian symbol in...

 which serves as Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

's sailing ambassador

Goodwill Ambassador

Goodwill Ambassador is a collective term sometimes used as a substitute honorific title or a title of honor for an Ambassador of Goodwill; but, most appropriately for a generic recognition, it is a job position or description that is usually indicated following the name of the individual recognized...

. Bluenose II was launched at Lunenburg on July 24, 1963, built to original plans and by many of the same workers. The original Bluenose captain Angus J. Walters took the helm of the new replica for her maiden voyage. She was built by the Oland Brewery

Oland Brewery

Oland Brewery is a brewing company in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and a unit of Labatt Brewing Company, itself a unit of InBev.The Oland family, which formerly owned Oland Brewery, has been active in public life in Nova Scotia. Victor de Bedia Oland was lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia from...

 for $208,600 as a marketing tool for their "Schooner Beer" brand. Her popularity led to the schooner being sold to the government of Nova Scotia

Government of Nova Scotia

The Government of Nova Scotia refers to the provincial government of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Its powers and structure are set out in the Constitution Act, 1867....

 for the sum of $1. After a number of years of managing the schooner directly, the province gave possession of the ship to the "Bluenose II Preservation Trust". The trust's mandate was to restore the ageing schooner to full operational status and continue to operate her for the people of Nova Scotia. Over the winter of 1994–95 the ship’s hull was restored and she was recommissioned in May 1995. The trust maintained and operated Bluenose II until 31 March 2005, when the government of Nova Scotia placed the vessel under the management of the Lunenburg Marine Museum Society at the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic

Nova Scotia Museum

Nova Scotia Museum is the corporate name for the most decentralized museum in Canada - 27 museums across Nova Scotia, including over 200 historic buildings, living history sites, vessels, specialized museums and close to a million artifacts and specimens...

. In a controversial move the head of the Trust, Senator Wilfred Moore

Wilfred Moore

Wilfred P. Moore, QC is a Canadian Senator representing Nova Scotia.-Early life and education:Born in Halifax, Moore received a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Saint Mary’s University in 1964 and a law degree from Dalhousie University in 1968...

, has so far refused to release approximately $600,000 raised by the trust in the schooner's name to the current operators of Bluenose II.

The Bluenose II serves as a goodwill ambassador, tourist attraction in Lunenburg, and symbol of the province. During the summer, she visits ports all around Nova Scotia and frequently sails to other ports on the eastern seaboard. In honour of her predecessor, Bluenose II does not officially race.

In May 2009, the provincial and federal government announced support for a major restoration of the Bluenose II. The project is valued at $14.8 million.

In July 2010, the province of Nova Scotia awarded a $12.5 million contract for the restoration of Bluenose II to a consortium of three Nova Scotia shipyards.

This restoration is not without controversy. Tourism, Culture and Heritage Department sources have stated that the restoration is "is not intended to create an authentic replica of the original Bluenose" and that the builders would not be using the plans. Although the unwanted pieces of the vessel such as the bilge were chipped, a substantial amount of the wood was given away for a small donation. Leaving the masts, sails, booms, gaffs, deck boxes, rigging, ironwork, etc... as original pieces that will go back onto the vessel upon completion. This has led Joan Roue, a descendant of the first Bluenose's designer William Roue and current rights-holder of the design, to question whether this should even be considered the same ship

Ship of Theseus

The Ship of Theseus, also known as Theseus' paradox, or various variants, notably grandfather's axe and Trigger's Broom is a paradox that raises the question of whether an object which has had all its component parts replaced remains fundamentally the same object.The paradox is most notably...

.

Bluenose IIs mainsail measures 386 m² (4,155 ft²) and she has a total sail area of 1036 m² (11,150 ft²).

Funds for the operation of the ship are raised through charging for passage on the vessel, public donations, and sales in the Fisheries Museum Gift Shop (in Lunenburg), run by the Lunenburg Marine Museum Society.

In October 2009, Rick Mercer

Rick Mercer

Richard Vincent "Rick" Mercer is a Canadian comedian, television personality, political satirist, and blogger.Mercer first came to national attention in 1990, when he premiered his one man show Show Me the Button, I'll Push It, or Charles Lynch Must Die at the Great Canadian Theatre Company in...

 sailed on Bluenose II as part of a segment for his Rick Mercer Report

Rick Mercer Report

Rick Mercer Report is a Canadian television comedy series which airs on CBC Television...

 program.

See also

• List of museum ships
• List of schooners
• Museum ship
  Museum ship
  A museum ship, or sometimes memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public, for educational or memorial purposes...
  
  
• Ship replica
  Ship replica
  A ship replica is a reconstruction of a no longer existing ship. Replicas can range from authentically reconstructed, fully seaworthy ships, to ships of modern construction that give an impression of an historic vessel...
  
  
• Ships preserved in museum

P.S. You should really watch Rick Mercer Report. It is Hallarious.

External links

• Bluenose II
• Bluenose: A Canadian Icon
• Bluenose II Preservation Trust
• Bluenose II donated to Nova Scotia (1971 footage)
• Construction of a Bluenose II Replica model—A group of pictures which follows the construction of a highly detailed scaled wooden model of the Bluenose II.
• Bluenose IIs Latest Reported Position from Sailwx
  Sailwx
  Sailwx is an integrated maritime information service that aggregates worldwide ship locations into a single map. Weather conditions including ocean currents, wave height and tides are also available and can be integrated into ship location maps....