Description
BLUENOSE 100th ANNIVERSARY UNCUT PRESS SHEET UNOPENED MINT CANADA
Overview
Celebrate the centennial of the launch of the most recognized sailing vessel in Canadian history with this uncut press sheet that features both PermanentTM domestic rate stamps (six rows of four stamps, se-tenant pairs) from Canada Post’s Bluenose, 100th Anniversary issue. The first image portrays Bluenose fishing, the second image commemorates Bluenose competing in its debut race in 1921.
Designed by William J. Roué of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, and built in Lunenburg’s Smith & Rhuland Shipyard, Bluenose was launched on March 26, 1921 and helmed by Captain Angus J. Walters. It outpaced all other competitors in the North Atlantic to win the International Fishermen’s Trophy. It remained undefeated in four subsequent Trophy series over the next 17 years – 1922, 1923, 1931 and 1938 – earning the schooner the nickname the “Queen of the North Atlantic”. Sold to work as a freighter in the Caribbean, Bluenose struck a reef and sank off the coast of Haiti in 1946.
Bluenose has famously adorned the 10-cent coin almost exclusively since 1937, is featured on Nova Scotia’s current licence plate and has been immortalized in song by folk legend Stan Rogers. The background photo for this uncut press sheet is of Bluenose (sail no. 2) as it makes its way to the start of the International Fishermen’s Trophy first elimination race in Halifax Harbour in 1921. The photo is by W.R. MacAskill, from the Nova Scotia Archives.
