Boat Boom

In the little shipyards that line the coast of Nova Scotia, builders are busier than they have been since the days of wooden ships and iron men. Now, as 70 years ago, saws screech through oaken timbers and pine planking; middle-aged craftsmen, wielding adzes, cut keels so that they look as though they had been planed. U.S. yachtsmen and game fishermen set off the boom. They had discovered that Nova Scotians could still build stout, trim sailing craft, besides modern power boats--and build them cheap.

Class of 42. At Mahone Bay, 58 miles southwest of Halifax, Henry Gerald Stairs had just finished putting the first of his new class of schooners through her trial paces. The Acadia 42 (socalled because of her 42-ft. overall length), designed by Stairs and built wholly of native white oak, pine and spruce, worked up to eight knots in a brisk breeze. Said Stairs:"She's fast, staunch, sound--a darned good sea boat. I'd take her around the world tomorrow." Instead, he loaded her on a flatcar last week for delivery to a California buyer.

A civil engineer and marine architect, 43-year-old Gerry Stairs settled in Mahone Bay because he could find no living quarters in Halifax after discharge from the Navy. With little original capital and no office staff except his wife (who is still his secretary), Stairs has worked up his business to $250,000 a year. Eight Acadia 425 have been ordered. Complete with galley, auxiliary engine and berths for four to six, the boat sells for about $8,700. Canadians estimate that the same ship would cost $20,000 if built in the U.S.

Class of 23. The tradition of the late, famed schooner Bluenose* is perpetuated in a class of pleasure craft designed by William J. Roue and now being built in four Nova Scotia yards. The baby Bluenoses, sloop-rigged, are only 23 ft. overall and retail for about $1,250 in Canada, or $1,500 in the U.S. Bluenose owners have already started an international association to freeze the design of the class, regulate racing and keep alive the name of the original Bluenose.

Not all the building is for sportsmen. In Meteghan, Atlantic Shipyards (builders of wooden ships for two centuries) has plans for turning out small steel freighters, has already converted a wartime corvette into a freighter and passenger carrier. The biggest order to date: three 3,100-ton transports for the Argentine Navy. Never in peacetime have Nova Scotia's yards had it so good.

* Built in 1921, the Bluenose (143 ft. overall) won all five of the International Fishermen's Races. Diverted to inter-island cargo trade, she was lost on a West Indies reef in January 1946.

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