A Spirit Deep Within: Naval Architect W.J. Roué and the «Bluenose» Story

A.A. den Otter is a professor of history at The Memorial University of
Newfoundland, and the co-author of Lethbridge: A Centennial History.

The well-known story of the Bluenose, five-time winner of the
International Fisherman’s Trophy, is celebrated with a 50-cent stamp
and on the Canadian 10-cent piece. Less famous is the vessel’s
designer, self-taught naval architect W.J. Roué of Dartmouth, Nova
Scotia. In this nicely balanced biography, Roué granddaughter, Joan,
fleshes out the details of an illustrious career.

Born in Halifax in 1879, W.J. Roué began his career as a clerk in a
wholesale grocery firm and subsequently worked in the family’s
carbonated-water plant. Ship design was decidedly a part-time occupation
for him. In fact, the Bluenose commission was Roué’s first fishing
schooner. Designed specifically for the International Fisherman’s
Trophy races, which required all participants to be working vessels, the
Bluenose was an instant success, winning five of the six races (one of
the races was declared “no contest” due to a rules dispute). The
Bluenose’s only loss was the Sir Thomas Lipton Cup Race in 1930.
Retired from racing after its last victory in 1938, the celebrated
schooner became a freighter and sank off Haiti in 1946. Meanwhile, Roué
devoted more and more of his time to ship design; he established an
office in Halifax in 1929, and five years later he became a successful
full-time naval architect.

Although clearly biased in its subject’s favor, this book is no
hagiography. Included are a brief history of Bluenose II, a fascinating
article by W.J. Roué on the Bluenose design, and a number of the
vessel’s specifications.