Renowned Clark’s Harbour boatbuilder Bruce Atkinson passed away on July 10 at age 93, leaving behind a family legacy of the Cape Island style boats known the world over.
Atkinson was a third-generation builder of the Cape Islander, designed by his grandfather, Ephraim Atkinson in 1908. He grew up learning the trade in his grandfather’s and father’s boat shops in Clark’s Harbour, where he became employed at age 17.
After building boats for four years, Atkinson realized the shops his grandfather had built were getting quite old and outdated so he embarked to Ontario to work on the lake boats. After two years, he had saved enough money to build two new shops.
From there, he continued in the boat building industry through various business ventures with family, and eventually went into business for himself, opening Bruce M. Atkinson Boat Builders Limited in the early 1970s.
During his career, Atkinson went from building traditional wooden boats that were only 10 to 11-feet wide, to building fibreglass vessels as wide as 28 feet.
Atkinson also branched out from the traditional lobster and fishing boat design to passenger boats for the whale and bird watching industries, as well as upscale pleasure craft. In 1991, he made a three-week voyage from Clark’s Harbour to Miami, Florida on board his 43-foot pleasure craft and entered it into the Miami International Boat Show.
While at the Miami Boat Show, he met the owners of the 36-foot Monk Trawler. They were currently having their design completed in Central America. It was decided that the owners of the Monk 36 would have all the fibreglass components of their pleasure craft shipped to Atkinson for moulding and finishing work at his shops on Cape Sable Island. This meant another expansion and hiring more employees. The venture brought millions of dollars into the local economy.
Atkinson constructed yachts for people in the United States, one for the principal of the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, passenger and tour boats for businesses in Newfoundland and countless 45′ x 20′ fishing boats for the Atlantic provinces. Atkinson estimated that throughout his lifetime, he had built or contributed to building around 1,000 boats.
Atkinson continued to follow many business opportunities up until his retirement at age 86, enjoying a fulfilling career that spanned for 70 years. His lifelong dedication to the boat building industry resulted in him receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Nova Scotia Boatbuilders Association in 2015, as well as being inducted into the Atlantic Canada Marine Industries Hall of Fame in 2023.
In 2017, the Cape Island boat was featured on Canada’s 150th anniversary loonie coin, which shows the importance of the vessel and the Atkinson design.
“Bruce put his heart and soul into everything he did in life,” reads his obituary.
“His enthusiasm for the things he loved was easy to see. In his younger years, he developed a passion for playing and coaching sports. He was an active member in his community, holding multiple board positions and volunteer roles during his lifetime. Pastimes that brought him joy included working outside and in his workshop, spending time at the cottages at Sandhills, travelling for business or leisure, and most importantly his love for golf, which was a highlight of his life that he prioritized right up until the end… His zest and love for life set an example of how to remain young at heart and to live every day to the fullest. The legacy he left will continue to enrich the lives of all that knew and loved him.”
