Ship Hector

The Hector Heritage Quay is one of Nova Scotia's major cultural tourist attractions. The Quay is home to the Ship Hector, a full sized replica of the original ship which brought the first wave of emigrants from Scotland to Nova Scotia in 1773. Step aboard the Hector and relive the tale of these early settlers and the hardships they faced beginning a new life in a new land. Go below deck to see the living conditions these hardy souls call home during almost 11 weeks at sea.
Hector was a ship famous for having been part of the first significant migration of Scottish settlers to Nova Scotia in 1773. The replica of the original ship is located at the Hector Heritage Quay, a heritage centre run by local volunteers, in Pictou.








We were part of the crew that built the replica in 1998-1999

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, heritage officials in Nova Scotia sought to commemorate the Hector's contribution to Nova Scotia's Scottish history. In 1992, the Ship Hector Foundation was formed from a group of volunteers in Pictou County and elsewhere who began to raise funds for the construction, maintenance and operation of a replica of Hector.

The Hector Heritage Quay, along with the Ship Hector Company Store were opened on the Pictou waterfront in the ensuing years. The marine architect firm J.B. McGuire Marine Associates Ltd. was commissioned to research the particulars of the original Hector and to develop blueprints for an accurate replica. Scotia Trawlers of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia were commissioned to complete phase one and two of the construction at the Hector Heritage Quay, which allowed visitors to the Pictou waterfront to observe the ship's progress, making it an important local attraction. After several years of construction, the replica Hector was launched with great fanfare and media coverage on September 17, 2000. The date had been delayed due to poor weather on the 16th.


 Keith Mathison was the carver on site back in the late 1900s and early 2000s.















 Artist David MacIntosh was the painter who documented the history, building and launch during the construction and launch days.














We have tried to stay involved with the ship and the Quay over the years.







It is so sad to see the condition of the ship today.  They are planning to take it out this fall and hopefully repair it.  They need sponsors and lots of money to do that.

We would like to see the ship fully rigged, giving harbor tours and in good shape once again.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Houston Fest Galax, VA

Image
We arrived in Galax, VA and stopped at our friend, Harold's. He was just putting the finishing touches on a cake he made for his nephew.  Harold is great in the kitchen! Brenda arrived!  We had a nice meet and greet. We went to the school across the street with Brenda and Harold and met Linda who likes hugs. Each day the three of them and others from the community volunteer to prepare backpacks of food items for children who otherwise would good the weekend hungry. They have fund raisers to get money and purchase food items that children can manage for breakfast and lunch.  They also get donations.  There is a man in Florida that heard about their need for food so ships items from Amazon.com for them to distribute. They get everything organized then run an assembly line to package items. The bags are then sent to the classrooms where the teachers put them in the children's backpacks so that no one is called to any attention. Time to head to Houston Fest whose mission is to hon
Read more

Pandemic

 This has been a strange year. We arrived in Florida in March and have stayed home since. That is about 6 months now. The Covid-19 virus has set the world to be a different place with stay at home orders, restaurants and bars closed, shelves in the grocery stores empty of toilet paper and antiseptic good, virtual school and doctor visits, hospitals that don’t let visitors enter and no only emergency care, wearing a mask when you are in public and people staying six feet apart. Who knows what the new world will be like after this. 
Read more

Hospital Stay to Camping Out

Image
Update: morning started early with vitals checked every four hours, bloodwork ( interesting side note: you are given an IV port in the emergency room, but that port is not used to retrieve blood for any of the various tests once you are admitted. Instead someone comes and draws blood through a new prick hole each time. ).    I started taking a new pill, Imdur, that helps keep the arteries open. It gave me a terrible headache so I won’t be taking that again!    Went for a CT angio of the chest. Then I waited       It is now 3:00 and they are going to discharge me!!    Yippie. That was about three weeks ago. Since then life has made a 360. We bought a house!! A touchspot really because we still plan to travel. We bought a new to us PleasureWay!! We are scrubbing and painting the house. It is the best way to get to know your new space. And it makes it your own. I take it slow and sit more than I remember doing in days gone by, but we are just ma
Read more