April 12

Good day winter weary readers,

Greetings and salutations from the Lunenburg waterfront and Fisheries Museum wharves. I’m often asked upon returning to work, “is Bluenose II back in the water?” The ship actually spends all her time in the water with the exception of when we haul out for inspection and bottom painting. Lunenburg rarely freezes with heavy ice anymore, like Mahone Bay does with the two rivers feeding into the harbour. There are reports from days gone by, when the winters were colder, that the tern schooners used to tie up to the ice edge in the harbour. The goods being transported were moved across the ice by sleigh. Those days have long gone now, I think.

During the winter, the engineer, director and I keep an eye on the ship. We pumped the bilges when needed, checked the lines and cover and looked after any technicians working aboard. We have been granted access to the museum's security cameras which is a big help, particularly in the middle of the night when there is a strong breeze from the south east or a heavy snowfall. It’s much easier to check in on the computer than stand on the wharf in gale and watch.

In February this year we convened the hiring committee and began interviews for crew positions. I am always amazed by the depth of experience of young people these days. Between 19 and 27 years of age, these potential crew would be a credit to any employer. We can't take them all, and building a crew isn’t always easy from an hour of conversation on a computer screen, but year after year the ship is filled with young people from across Canada who represent this national icon with such passion.

On April 1, most of the crew joined the vessel to begin our annual spring refit. They are well warned that the days will be long but the food is good and the time spent aboard is rewarding. We start in the rigging shed, crammed full of rigging and rafts and everything you could imagine needed to rig a schooner for sea. Sanding, varnishing, painting takes up our time for the first several weeks. Each pulley block is taken apart and greased prior to sanding and varnishing. With 120 or so blocks, three coats of varnish takes some time. The crew get weary doing the same thing day after day but it must be done!

We have also started working underneath the winter cover scraping the bulwarks of loose paint. The bulwarks and stanchions are like a radiator — although they look simple, there is a great deal of surface area to be looked at. There is lots of work to be completed in the following weeks, all the while the crew are learning the language of the ship and the sea and building the trust needed to be a crew at sea.