The Bluenose 10-Cents.

Although the nickname “Bluenose” first appeared in print in the works of the 19 th century Nova Scotian humourist Thomas Chandler Haliburton, it would appear to have already have been around for some time. Probably it refers to the sailors' noses during the frigid North Atlantic gales. Began as a joke, the name later covered itself with pride through the extraordinary exploits of her namesake schooner.

In the early 1900s, the working fishermen of both the Maritimes and New England made fun of the “fair-weather” yachts manned by sportsmen each year in the America Cup race. Accordingly, just after the First World War, a new prize was initiated by Senator William H. Dennis, publisher of the Halifax Herald and Mail , open to designated champions from both nations but restricted solely to working fishing schooners who had spent at least one season on the Grand Banks. The first International Schooner Race did not go well for Canada, her entry, the Delawana , losing out to the Esperanto from New England who sailed away with the cup and $4000 cash.

Stung, a consortium of Nova Scotians set out to build a supreme racing/fishing schooner and their ideas and suggestions were incorporated by naval architect W. J. Roue of Halifax into a lean-hulled 154-ton schooner, the Bluenose . Except for masts of Oregon pine, she was constructed entirely of native Nova Scotia wood by the firm of Smith & Rhuland of Lunenburg. The firm were notable shipbuilders, the Bluenose being the 121 st constructed by them.

Lt: Capt. Angus Walters; Rt: Bluenose under sail. Photos from the 1930s

One of the consortium was Capt. Angus Walters, a sort of legend in his own right, who was designated skipper as well as owner/manager of the schooner. Born in 1882, Walters was the son of a captain and went on to independent command as well as ship owner. Just after WW1, his Gilbert B. Walters , one of the largest “salt bankers” ever built in Nova Scotia, brought in a catch of 790,400 pounds of fish, the largest single catch of any ship of the type.

Built to win, the Bluenose was given the honour even during her building of having the Governor General of Canada, the Duke of Devonshire, drive home a golden spike in her keel. Launched March 26 th , 1921, she was immediately fitted out as a Grand Banks schooner and left for the fishing grounds. In the very first season, she was named “Highliner”, indicating that she had caught more fish than any other schooner – and the record has never been broken.

Happy chance during the final period of construction saw more room in the forward fo'c'sle result in her ability to ride swells instead of ploughing through them and she could sail closer to the wind than any other vessel in Walters' – or anyone else's – experience. In a headwind, she had extraordinary advantages in future races.

And there were future races. That fall, she eliminated all other Canadian challengers for this country's championship and on October 24 th , 1921, she took both of a best-two-out-of-three race between her and the American entry, the Elsie , beating the latter in the second race by nearly three miles. This was her first win of the International Fishermen's Schooner Racing Trophy, a prize she was destined never to relinquish. In 1922, she defeated the American entries Mahaska (in preliminaries) and then the Henry Ford . The 1923 meet off Halifax against the Columbia was declared “no contest”.

A Nova Scotia challenger – the Haligonian - appeared in 1926, designed with “improvements” by the same W.J. Roue. In a challenge match, the Bluenose crossed the finish line with her rival not even in sight.

In 1930, the Bluenose suffered her first and only defeat when she lost to the Gertrude L. Thebaud off Gloucester, Maine, for the Lipton Cup. Determined on a clean sweep, the Thebaud challenged for the International Cup as well but in the contest off Halifax on October 17, 1931, the Bluenose had no trouble defending her title. It was against this same rival that she sailed her final International Cup race in 1938 – again a winner.

By the late 1920s, the Bluenose had become a national institution. Aside from the below stamp printed in her honour, she represented Canada in 1933 at the Century of Progress Fair in Chicago and crossed the Atlantic in 1935 to attend the Silver Jubilee of George V – by whom she was received with Royal Honours and presented with a set of Royal Sails from the King's Yacht.

Stamp honouring the “Bluenose”. Issued January 8, 1929.

There was almost a mystical bond between Walters and the Bluenose – even the hard-nosed captain admitted as much. He frequently talked to her while at the helm, and she seemed to respond. To the crew, orders were most often given with a screech. One member was heard to observe: “The Bluenose is nearly human. And so's Cap'n Angie”.

But she was still a working vessel, fishing for 11 months of each year and by the outbreak of WWII, the toll was being taken. “Bankers” were in danger of enemy action and in 1942, the Bluenose was sold to the West Indies Trading Company as a cargo carrier. On the night of January 28 th , 1946, she hit a hidden reef off Haiti and sunk the next day in deep water. All that remains of her is the ship's bell, in the 1960s (and probably still) in the possession of the Maritime Provinces Association in Edmonton, Alberta.

As for “Cap'n Angie”: he left the sea and ran a dairy in Lunenburg until his death in 1968.

Although the original Bluenose was gone, she was far from forgotten. In the early 1960s, movie interests had a replica of the Bounty built at the Roue yards in Lunenburg and interest ran high to have an exact replica of the Bluenose built as well. The sentiment inspired Mitch MacDonald, the Nova Scotian then president of the C.N.A., to have a medal struck in honour of the Bluenose. Of 1½-inch diameter, they were struck in bronze (indeterminate number) and sterling silver (200); the last sold at $10 each.

The same building of the Bounty replica also inspired the Halifax brewing firm of Oland & Son Ltd. to commission Smith & Rhuland, builders of the original Bluenose , to construct an exact replica to be known as the Bluenose II . A golden spike was driven into the new keel by Angus Walters, William Roue (designer of the original) and Col. Sidney Oland. On July 24 th , 1963, Mrs. Sidney Oland christened the new hull which then slid down the ways.

For the occasion, a holiday was declared in Lunenburg and the Oland firm distributed BU Bluenose 10-cent pieces encased in plastic as keyring souvenirs. Olands also had a special medal struck by Birks in bronze, silver and (for V.I.P. presentation) a few in gold. The obverse showed the Bluenose under full sail with “Bluenose II” at the top; the reverse gives the legend: “Bluenose II Launched at Lunenburg, N.S. 24 July, 1963. Replica of the Original Bluenose Built 1921”.

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Canadians are most familiar with the Bluenose as she appears on our 10-cent piece – even though for decades the government refused to name the design as such, coyly listing it in official documents as “a fishing schooner under sail”. But its numismatic appearance was not without some twists, turns and convolutions.

Lt: U.S. 10-cent “dime”, 1796 (enl.)		Spain, cut “pistareen	Canada, 10-cents, 1858 (enl.)

As a denomination, the Canadian 10-cent has been around for a long time – since 1858. As a value , much longer still. It has its antecedents with the first U.S. 10-cent piece of 1796 (although there was no value expressed on this coin at this time; then “10 C.” 1809-37 and “One Dime” thereafter. There is no “Canadian Dime”, just 10-cent piece). But even then, the Spanish silver1-real had an equivalent value, sometimes as the Spanish 2-real "pistareen" cut in two. All three of the old coins had the same value: 6d “Halifax Currency” which became “10-cents Canadian” after decimalization.

The year was 1936 and George V had died in January. At this point, it was decided that the old, boring designs for Canadian coins be completely changed to something more modern and distinctly Canadian. The reverse of the 10-cents, for instance, wasn't markedly different from the first Canadian issue of 1858! Two of the main proponents for change were John H. Campbell, Master of the Royal Canadian Mint and Emanuel Hahn, held to be Canada's premier sculptor at the time. Therefore, with what seemed to be plenty of time, a competition was held for new designs but although many were of high calibre, they were turned down by Prime Minister King and Finance Minister Dunning as depicting Canada as a “howling wilderness”.

Emanuel Hahn's original model concept for the “Bluenose”, 1937. It was originally intended for a 25-cent piece.

The unfortunate Canadian trait of somehow believing that non-Canadians can do the job better then came to the fore with the two officials passing the project was over to the “real” engravers of the Royal Mint: George E. Kruger-Gray, Percy Metcalfe and Frank Dobson – plus any Canadian artists who happened to still be working on the designs. By definition, that was Emanuel Hahn alone, the rest having quit in disgust. Dobson was dropped when Canada refused to pay the fees for three artists and Metcalfe was soon too busy with other designs to attend to Canada's. Finally, the reverse designs for the new Canadian coinage of Edward VIII were Hahn's and Kruger-Gray's alone.

But the “howling wilderness” theme still crept back in. When Sir Robert Johnson, Deputy Master of the Royal Mint, cabled Lord Tweedsmuir, the Governor General of Canada, for instructions as to the general designs used by his artists, the answer came back as a suggestion for animal subjects and historical themes comparable to that on the reverse of the silver dollar, which was to continue to be used. Thus it came about that a sprig of maple leaf appeared on the reverse of the cent; a beaver on the 5-cent; a “fishing schooner” that everyone knew to be the Bluenose on the 10-cent; a caribou on the 25-cent and a coat-of-arms on the 50-cent. Both the 10- and 25-cent were by Hahn (as was the dollar reverse from 1935), the others by Kruger-Gray.

But in December, 1936, Edward VIII abdicated the throne before he was coronated and the Duke of York became king as George VI. This late in the game, great pressure was placed on all the Commonwealth mints to produce coinage for the new monarch with all the Edward obverses now scrapped. Canada was even forced to issue 1936 25-cent pieces with a dot below the reverse bow to signify they were actually produced in 1937; there also exist 1- and 10-cent pieces with the dot but these are generally believed to have been issued only in V.I.P. presentation sets in very early 1937. (Mint figures show that 191,237 1936 “dot” 10-cents were struck in early 1937 but presumably all melted.)

Every shortcut available was taken, even to the primary Canadian coining tools being produced at the Paris Mint from Royal Mint models. By dint of overtime and hard work, Ottawa was able to issue coinage of 1937 in George's name by May 10 th , just two days before his coronation. The 50-cent and silver dollar denominations still weren't ready but would follow in a month or so.

Lt: Intended obverse for the 1937 10-cent depicting Edward VII; Center & Rt.: the coin as it actually appeared. (Illustrations enlarged).

In 1937, roughly 2½-million coins were struck – except for 1948 the lowest mintage to the present time (and even then 9.6-million of the 1948s appeared in the form of “1947 maple leaves”). In 1938 the date placement on the reverse was changed to larger, more “wirier” figures centered on the sail. From that day to this, Hahn's Bluenose reverse has appeared on the 10-cent in every year except 1967 when a herring was used during Centennial Year. Even in 2001, when there appeared a special reverse for the International Year of the Volunteer, there was also the “regular” one (270-million of them).

The obverses, of course have changed: George VI legends without ET IND IMP (1948-52); and four different portraits of Elizabeth II (1953-64; 1965-89; 1990-2203; and 2003-present). The 10-cents were composed of .800 fine silver until 1967, dropped to .500 silver 1967-8, to pure nickel 1968-2000 and nickel-plated steel 2001-present. There are only a couple of outstanding rarities in the series: the old-style “large date” in 1969 and the 2000 10-cent with a “P” below the portrait.

Lt: Obv. And Rev. of brass trial strike made at the Paris Mint to test the dies; thicker, heavier (2.46 grams) than regular issue and with upset reverse.

Rt: Reverse of silver collectors' coin, “$20”, 2000. One of a set of 3, each with a mintage of 44,367 but with a market value at least 3 times the others. Designer: J. Franklin Wright; Engraver: Stan Witten. Sterling silver, 38mm diameter, weight of 31.103 grams.