Capt. Phil Watson

Once again, the grip of winter eases and on April 1, the crew of Bluenose II report for duty. In many ways this is the peak of the winter work by our stalwart office staff. They have combed through resumes and interviewed young people from Nova Scotia and across Canada. We hope the crew assembled will join the ranks of those that have come before them as proud ambassadors for Nova Scotia and Bluenose history. For the crew, April 1 is like standing on a tall hill and looking at the mountains and valleys that lie ahead. The valleys are shrouded in fog and the peaks snow covered, the path ahead is mysterious and will no doubt be full of adventure, long hours and hard work. The officers and I know the path ahead and are looking forward to the challenges and success that lie ahead for the ship and crew.

As many of you know, it was an old fashioned winter this year and the paint on the ship suffered because of it. Don’t misunderstand me, getting paint to stick to dense, oily wood is not easy and we are not always successful. The same attributes that give the ship rot resistance makes keeping paint on the ship difficult. Not to worry though, a happy, hard working crew, armed with sharp scrapers are making short work of the task. They have already serviced and varnished the majority of the pulley blocks and the shorter booms and gaffs, and have a cracking start on the mahogany deck boxes.

I look at the blocks and can hear blockmaker Arthur Dauphinee talking about them. The deck boxes, the voice of boatbuilder Bill Lutwick from Indian point, himself a Bluenose II alumni. The booms and gaffs carry the voices of shipwrights Philip Snyder, Wade Croft, Brian and Dennis. There are so many Nova Scotia voices carried with our ship. Now in 2025, the voices are changing and new shipwrights and technicians help carry the ship along. In the middle of it all, the crew give voice to the ship. Their laughter and occasional song echo through the hull and rigging shed. I always hear Anne Murray as the soul of the ship. Many years ago she put her voice to the ship in a video and that has stuck with me.

Enough waxing poetic, so what lies ahead this year? Our schedule has been published and you can certainly see when we will be offering public cruises and tickets are available now. If you have family or friends visiting this summer, it’s a great time to look at our schedule and think about when you would like to visit the ship and maybe even go for a sail. We have over 100 opportunities to sail aboard and many more chances to walk the deck, meet the crew and learn about the ship. This year we are planning to have our small mobile museum travelling to some of our port visits. Meeting Greg, our multitalented driver and museum interpreter is an opportunity not to be missed.

Keep watching our social media pages to meet the crew and officers and see photos and video from inside the rigging shed and under the winter cover.