Hello Everyone,
One of the most wonderful aspects of a Museum is that it can be the focal point in the sharing of history between those who have roots in an area and those who visit. Although this sharing of history happens every day, special events make the exchange even more meaningful.
The Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic, in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, is nearing its anniversary. Each year, on 23 July, we celebrate the history of the Atlantic fishery, especially as it pertains to the Canadian coast.
This year, on 23 July, we’re celebrating both the anniversary of the Museum and the 70th anniversary year of the schooner Theresa E. Connor. Theresa E. Connor is the flagship of the Museum and we are tremendously excited to be celebrating 70 years of her history!
Theresa E. Connor is the oldest saltbank schooner in Canada. In almost 30 years of fishing, the vessel never lost a crew member. During the course of her career, the vessel fished both fresh and salt fishing. This meant that sometimes the catch was preserved on ice (fresh) and sometimes it was preserved in salt (salt fishing).
If you’re planning to head our way on Wednesday 23 July, you’ll be highly entertained! Special events, musical entertainment and historical re-enactments are part of the celebrations. Theresa E. Connor will be open, free-of-charge to the public on that day! Retired fishermen and heritage interpreters will make the vessel come to life, with demonstrations and talks.
Wishing you Smooth Sailing,
Heather
Showing posts with label theresa e. connor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label theresa e. connor. Show all posts
Monday, July 14, 2008
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
The Courage To Do The Impossible ...
Marlon Brando in "Mutiny on the Bounty". Russell Crowe in "Master and Commander". Captain Angus Walters aboard the famous Bluenose.
What do these three men have in common? The connection is found through their vessels; the replicas of the HMS Bounty and the HMS Rose (later HMS Surprise) and the original Bluenose were all built at the Smith and Rhuland Shipyard, in Lunenburg Nova Scotia.
The replica of HMS Bounty was launched in 1960, to the cheers of thousands of Lunenburgers and visitors to the community. It sparked the movement to build a replica of our own Bluenose, and in 1963, Bluenose II slid down the ways at the Smith and Rhuland Shipyard.
In 1970, the replica of HMS Rose was constructed at the same Yard. Marine history buffs were delighted to see another part of nautical history come to life under the skilled hands of Lunenburg craftsmen. In 2003, HMS Rose was immortalized in the release of "Master and Commander", as the vessel HMS Surprise. In honour of that role, the name of the ship was officially changed to HMS Surprise.
The Smith and Rhuland Shipyard was one of the best-known shipyards in Nova Scotia. Located on the Lunenburg waterfront, the Yard produced more than one hundred fine ships. The Shipyard was the creation of Richard Smith and George Rhuland and was established in 1900. In their first year, they built two vessels: Palatia and Quisetta.
From 1900 until the mid-1970s, many vessel designs went from half-models to full-sized craft. Fishing vessels, like the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic’s Theresa E. Connor were built there, as were larger "ocean-going" ships. Vessels that were used for pleasure craft and in serious work went hand-in-glove with other, adventurous ships ~ like rum runners!
The mainstay of the Smith and Rhuland Shipyard, though, remained in the fishery. The fine vessels, the shipwrights that crafted them and the men who sailed them can all be brought together under the same tagline used in the movie "Master and Commander": The Courage To Do The Impossible Lies in the Hearts of Men.
For every fisherman who has gone to sea and for their brave families on shore, the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic celebrates their dreams and honours their sacrifices.
Wishing you Smooth Sailing,
Heather
What do these three men have in common? The connection is found through their vessels; the replicas of the HMS Bounty and the HMS Rose (later HMS Surprise) and the original Bluenose were all built at the Smith and Rhuland Shipyard, in Lunenburg Nova Scotia.
The replica of HMS Bounty was launched in 1960, to the cheers of thousands of Lunenburgers and visitors to the community. It sparked the movement to build a replica of our own Bluenose, and in 1963, Bluenose II slid down the ways at the Smith and Rhuland Shipyard.
In 1970, the replica of HMS Rose was constructed at the same Yard. Marine history buffs were delighted to see another part of nautical history come to life under the skilled hands of Lunenburg craftsmen. In 2003, HMS Rose was immortalized in the release of "Master and Commander", as the vessel HMS Surprise. In honour of that role, the name of the ship was officially changed to HMS Surprise.
The Smith and Rhuland Shipyard was one of the best-known shipyards in Nova Scotia. Located on the Lunenburg waterfront, the Yard produced more than one hundred fine ships. The Shipyard was the creation of Richard Smith and George Rhuland and was established in 1900. In their first year, they built two vessels: Palatia and Quisetta.
From 1900 until the mid-1970s, many vessel designs went from half-models to full-sized craft. Fishing vessels, like the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic’s Theresa E. Connor were built there, as were larger "ocean-going" ships. Vessels that were used for pleasure craft and in serious work went hand-in-glove with other, adventurous ships ~ like rum runners!
The mainstay of the Smith and Rhuland Shipyard, though, remained in the fishery. The fine vessels, the shipwrights that crafted them and the men who sailed them can all be brought together under the same tagline used in the movie "Master and Commander": The Courage To Do The Impossible Lies in the Hearts of Men.
For every fisherman who has gone to sea and for their brave families on shore, the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic celebrates their dreams and honours their sacrifices.
Wishing you Smooth Sailing,
Heather
Monday, March 3, 2008
Lunenburg on the Money!
Hello Everyone,
We’ve always said that the smell of fish, when being made into various products at a fish processing plant, is the "smell of money". I’m sure that Lunenburg is not alone in that regard. Fish processing, whether it was in the days of salt fish or in modern plants, has been the economic backbone of coastal communities.
The Museum schooner Theresa E. Connor played a successful part in the economy of Nova Scotia, from 1938 until 1966. The vessel was originally owned by the Halifax-based National Fish Company.
However, Theresa E. Connor has an added connection with the Canadian economy. The Canadian one hundred dollar bill, issued from May 1976 until December 1990, had a picture of three vessels on the Lunenburg waterfront. It was part of the Bank of Canada’s "Scenes of Canada Series". The vessels were, from left to right, Lilla B. Boutilier, E. P. Theriault and Theresa E. Connor. The schooner Lilla B. Boutilier was the sister ship to Theresa E. Connor. The original photograph, from which the engraving was copied, dates to early 1939.
On 3 December 1990, the Birds of Canada Series one hundred dollar bill was first issued. The front of the bank note remained the same, with Prime Minister Robert Borden. The reverse showed the Canada goose.
Wishing you Smooth Sailing,
Heather
Monday, February 18, 2008
A Fish Gone Bad
Hello Everyone,
Perhaps the greatest disservice done to the good name of fish has been the wide-spread assumption that if something smells like a fish, it’s "off". It does not smell good. It has been part of our language for generations: if a statement seems "fishy", we know that there is something bad about it. A fishy excuse, as teachers all recognize, is no excuse at all!
A fresh fish has virtually no smell. In fact, it has a freshness of scent that is quite delightful.
A fish that is not so fresh, however, has that unmistakable smell of a fish gone bad.
When buying fish at your market, the sniff-test is essential. Yes, asking the fishmonger if the fish is fresh is a sensible question, but you need to examine the product before you buy it. Honest sellers may recommend buying fish and seafood frozen at sea, if their "fresh" fish is not top of the line.
Thoughts of fishy smells have transcended into misconceptions about fishing vessels. There are those who equate a fishing boat with a vessel that is unkempt and unclean. Any fisherman knows that the vessels and all of the on-board gear need to be kept scrupulously clean.
A description of the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic’s Theresa E. Connor, from the November 1944 edition of "Canadian Fisherman":
While the gang were dressing down, I went below to the fish-hold to see what it was like. Located in the waist of the schooner, it was quite a lengthy compartment and also occupied the whole width of the vessel. Walls and partitions were painted white and shone dazzingly [sic] in the glow of the electric lights. The air below deck was clean and fresh and not stagnant and odorous with the smell of fish as I expected it would be. Were it not for the chill of the atmosphere I would have fancied myself in a hospital corridor. With our vessel just come from having been completely overhauled I thought that this cleanliness was exceptional, but some of the men working below assured me that such was not the case. "The fish-hold has to be clean," said one. "We have to keep washing these storage pens after every trip, or they would go sour on us and spoil the fish."
Wishing you Smooth Sailing,
Heather
Perhaps the greatest disservice done to the good name of fish has been the wide-spread assumption that if something smells like a fish, it’s "off". It does not smell good. It has been part of our language for generations: if a statement seems "fishy", we know that there is something bad about it. A fishy excuse, as teachers all recognize, is no excuse at all!
A fresh fish has virtually no smell. In fact, it has a freshness of scent that is quite delightful.
A fish that is not so fresh, however, has that unmistakable smell of a fish gone bad.
When buying fish at your market, the sniff-test is essential. Yes, asking the fishmonger if the fish is fresh is a sensible question, but you need to examine the product before you buy it. Honest sellers may recommend buying fish and seafood frozen at sea, if their "fresh" fish is not top of the line.
Thoughts of fishy smells have transcended into misconceptions about fishing vessels. There are those who equate a fishing boat with a vessel that is unkempt and unclean. Any fisherman knows that the vessels and all of the on-board gear need to be kept scrupulously clean.
A description of the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic’s Theresa E. Connor, from the November 1944 edition of "Canadian Fisherman":
While the gang were dressing down, I went below to the fish-hold to see what it was like. Located in the waist of the schooner, it was quite a lengthy compartment and also occupied the whole width of the vessel. Walls and partitions were painted white and shone dazzingly [sic] in the glow of the electric lights. The air below deck was clean and fresh and not stagnant and odorous with the smell of fish as I expected it would be. Were it not for the chill of the atmosphere I would have fancied myself in a hospital corridor. With our vessel just come from having been completely overhauled I thought that this cleanliness was exceptional, but some of the men working below assured me that such was not the case. "The fish-hold has to be clean," said one. "We have to keep washing these storage pens after every trip, or they would go sour on us and spoil the fish."
Wishing you Smooth Sailing,
Heather
Friday, February 15, 2008
Canada's Oldest Saltbank Schooner
Hello Everyone,
The flagship of the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic is the retired fishing schooner Theresa E. Connor. Launched on 14 December 1938, from the Smith and Rhuland Shipyard in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, the vessel fished until the mid-1960s. In 1967, as Lunenburg’s Centennial of Confederation project, Theresa E. Connor was unveiled as the Lunenburg Fisheries Museum.
The schooner is important because it is representative of thousands of two-masted fishing schooners that plied their trade all along the Atlantic coast of Canada and the United States. In turn, crew life aboard Theresa E. Connor also speaks of the lives of hundreds of thousands of fishermen.
As a saltbank schooner, Theresa E. Connor fished on the fishing banks near Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as those nearer Nova Scotia. The men fished from dories and brought their catch back to the mother schooner. The fish, mostly cod, were cleaned and then preserved in salt, in the hold of the vessel.
Theresa E. Connor was launched into a time that included steel trawlers. The last of the schooners fished virtually side-by-side with side trawlers that hauled their catch aboard their vessels with huge nets.
The fishing history of Theresa E. Connor ended on a bitter-sweet note. In May 1963, Captain Harry Oxner prepared the schooner for one final trip to the Banks. With a few Lunenburg-area fishermen, he set sail for Fortune Bay, Newfoundland, to get the remainder of his crew.
Unfortunately, the steady march of progress and technology made it impossible for him to get additional crew members for the last salt fishing trip. No one was willing to undertake the danger and hard work of dory fishing, when they had the chance to go on trawlers. Although the work was still hard and dangerous, they did not risk the danger of being lost in a dory.
The schooner spent the remainder of 1963 fishing with cod traps, in the Labrador fishery. Theresa E. Connor continued to fish, in a reduced capacity, for Zwicker and Company (Lunenburg) until 1966. The vessel was then sold to the Lunenburg Marine Museum Society.
Since then, hundreds of thousands of visitors have been welcomed aboard the schooner. The retired fishing captains who now work aboard the vessel share their experiences with people from around the world, keeping the memories alive for new generations.
Wishing you Smooth Sailing,
Heather
Monday, January 28, 2008
Mug Up!
Hello Everyone,
Aboard Lunenburg schooners, mug ups meant ‘lassie cookies and big, steaming cups of tea. Huge slabs of fresh bread, butter and molasses. Tea biscuits and baked beans. A little bit of whatever you could "lay your hand to".
"Mug ups" were an important part of life aboard fishing schooners. The men would go to the galley and have a hearty feed, whenever they could take a break. It was a time to re-fuel themselves, have a momentary sit down in the forecastle and warm up before going back to work or going to their bunks.
The cook and the galley stove had few breaks. Bread, cookies and full meals had to be kept at the ready. Even during the poorest of times, the owners of the vessels understood that the crews needed to be well fed. Healthy, contented fishermen were able to work with all their strength; a crew that was half-starving couldn’t fish the North Atlantic with any success or degree of safety.
‘Lassie (molasses) cookies were favourites of crews from Lunenburg. They were huge, usually soft and always a treat.
The term "mug up" made an easy transition from ship to shore. It was used in coastal communities by the mid-1800s, if not earlier, to describe any snack throughout the day or evening. From the Dictionary of Newfoundland English: "Had a mug up at the Skipper’s house, after which he and one of his men took me in their punt and rowed me up to the head of the Arm." (Manuscript, Howley, 1869)
Mug ups are special events at the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic. This coming summer we plan to have them to help celebrate the 70th anniversary of our schooner, Theresa E. Connor. ‘Lassie cookie, anyone?
Wishing you Smooth Sailing,
Heather
Aboard Lunenburg schooners, mug ups meant ‘lassie cookies and big, steaming cups of tea. Huge slabs of fresh bread, butter and molasses. Tea biscuits and baked beans. A little bit of whatever you could "lay your hand to".
"Mug ups" were an important part of life aboard fishing schooners. The men would go to the galley and have a hearty feed, whenever they could take a break. It was a time to re-fuel themselves, have a momentary sit down in the forecastle and warm up before going back to work or going to their bunks.
The cook and the galley stove had few breaks. Bread, cookies and full meals had to be kept at the ready. Even during the poorest of times, the owners of the vessels understood that the crews needed to be well fed. Healthy, contented fishermen were able to work with all their strength; a crew that was half-starving couldn’t fish the North Atlantic with any success or degree of safety.
‘Lassie (molasses) cookies were favourites of crews from Lunenburg. They were huge, usually soft and always a treat.
The term "mug up" made an easy transition from ship to shore. It was used in coastal communities by the mid-1800s, if not earlier, to describe any snack throughout the day or evening. From the Dictionary of Newfoundland English: "Had a mug up at the Skipper’s house, after which he and one of his men took me in their punt and rowed me up to the head of the Arm." (Manuscript, Howley, 1869)
Mug ups are special events at the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic. This coming summer we plan to have them to help celebrate the 70th anniversary of our schooner, Theresa E. Connor. ‘Lassie cookie, anyone?
Wishing you Smooth Sailing,
Heather
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Lunenburg "hung on a fish hook"
Hello Everyone,
There’s an old saying that Lunenburg "hung on a fish hook". It means that the future and good fortune of the town relied completely on the success of the fisheries.
For most of our 255 year history, this has been accurate. The first generation of Lunenburgers consisted mostly of farmers. By the time of the second generation, we were well established as a place for shipbuilding and for fishing.
Like many coastal communities in Atlantic Canada, we starting fishing close to shore, then moved out towards the various fishing banks of the North Atlantic.
Canada’s oldest saltbank schooner, Theresa E. Connor, is the flagship of the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic. Launched in December 1938, the schooner was born into a time of danger on the Banks. The Theresa E. Connor did not start fishing until the first months of 1939; in less than a year, the world was at war, again.
Fishing schooners were in danger from enemy U-boats as well as from convoys and large shipping vessels. Torpedoed and cut down, men and vessels were lost at sea.
Theresa E. Connor survived the war years. Equipped with an engine, as well as sails, the men fished from little dories and salted their catch in the hold of the vessel. Eventually the Theresa E. Connor went fresh fishing, as well. This meant that the men still fished from the dories, but the fishing trips were shorter, as the catch was put on ice in the hold. Since the fish were not salted, they were "fresh".
The spirit of adventure has not dimmed along the Atlantic coast. A visit to the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic guarantees memories of the best of Nova Scotia!
Wishing you Smooth Sailing,
Heather
There’s an old saying that Lunenburg "hung on a fish hook". It means that the future and good fortune of the town relied completely on the success of the fisheries.
For most of our 255 year history, this has been accurate. The first generation of Lunenburgers consisted mostly of farmers. By the time of the second generation, we were well established as a place for shipbuilding and for fishing.
Like many coastal communities in Atlantic Canada, we starting fishing close to shore, then moved out towards the various fishing banks of the North Atlantic.
Canada’s oldest saltbank schooner, Theresa E. Connor, is the flagship of the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic. Launched in December 1938, the schooner was born into a time of danger on the Banks. The Theresa E. Connor did not start fishing until the first months of 1939; in less than a year, the world was at war, again.
Fishing schooners were in danger from enemy U-boats as well as from convoys and large shipping vessels. Torpedoed and cut down, men and vessels were lost at sea.
Theresa E. Connor survived the war years. Equipped with an engine, as well as sails, the men fished from little dories and salted their catch in the hold of the vessel. Eventually the Theresa E. Connor went fresh fishing, as well. This meant that the men still fished from the dories, but the fishing trips were shorter, as the catch was put on ice in the hold. Since the fish were not salted, they were "fresh".
The spirit of adventure has not dimmed along the Atlantic coast. A visit to the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic guarantees memories of the best of Nova Scotia!
Wishing you Smooth Sailing,
Heather
Monday, January 14, 2008
Threescore and Ten!
Hello Everyone,
2008 is a special year at the Museum. The last of Canada’s saltbank schooners, Theresa E. Connor, is 70 years old this year!
The Museum had its start aboard the schooner, in 1967; since then we’ve grown to occupy a set of buildings that once housed a huge fish processing plant, a carpenter shop, boat building shop and an ice house. Theresa E. Connor is now joined at wharf side by the trawler Cape Sable, giving a well-rounded view of fishing on the banks of the North Atlantic.
One of the great things about the history of the fishery, on the Atlantic coast of Canada, is that it led to a migration of fishermen and their families. Many Nova Scotians went to the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, establishing a strong link between those left at home with their cousins in the "Boston States". Many fishing families from Newfoundland came to Nova Scotia; their vim and vigour injected a strong burst of energy in the workforce of places like Lunenburg.
We’d love to connect with families who have roots connected to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Do you have a connection to our schooner, Theresa E. Connor? The vessel fished from early 1939 until the 1960s.
A saltbank schooner is one that preserved its’ catch by salting it, rather than keeping it on ice. The method of preserving fish in salt is one that dates back thousands of years. When technology developed to the point that there was a steady supply of ice available for the fishing fleets of the North Atlantic, "salt" fishing gave way to "fresh" fishing ~ fish were kept fresh, on ice, and the vessels returned home within weeks, rather than months.
Wishing you smooth sailing,
Heather
Heather
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