Roue-designed Schooner Donated to Maritime Museum

A small schooner designed by the same naval architect who created the iconic schooner Bluenose has been donated to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.

The museum thanked the family of the late Edward Murphy of Halifax at a reception today, Sept. 4, for the generous donation of the 11.3-metre (37-foot) Hebridee II. The recreational schooner was designed by William J. Roue in 1936 as a scaled reduction of the original, much larger, Bluenose.

Built at the Weagle Boatyard in Dartmouth in the winter of 1952-53, Hebridee II may be one of only four of the design built. Mr. Roue frequently visited the boatyard during the vessel's construction and even sailed the schooner immediately after launch.

In the mid 1960s, Hebridee II became a founding member of the Nova Scotia Schooner Association (NSSA), a group of more than 20 Nova Scotia designed and built wooden schooners still competitively racing.

"She has an impressive pedigree," said Eamonn Doorly, boatbuilder at the Maritime Museum, of Hebridee II. "As a Roue-designed schooner, built, owned, and sailed locally, with a distinguished relationship with the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron and the NSSA, she is an important addition to the museum's small-craft collection."

Museum staff plan a thorough condition assessment of Hebridee II before appropriate restoration. They will then re-establish the schooner's longstanding relationship with the NSSA.