In 1773, 189 Scottish immigrants were carried to Nova Scotia by the Hector. 252 years later, a full-sized replica of the historic vessel is being rebuilt in Pictou, Nova Scotia.
The Hector and its replica are a 110-foot, 200-ton Dutch fluyt — a model of ship specifically designed for cargo shipment by maximizing cargo space and allowing operation by a smaller crew. Vern Shea, the project manager for the refit of the ship, said the original replica of the Hector — originally launched in 2000 — had deteriorated over time.
“Over the years, time and lack of maintenance took its toll. [The Ship Hector Society] got a hold of it and wanted to bring it back to its glory,” said Shea. “They got a hold of me and we met — I did all the original drawings on the vessel, project management and supervising the construction back then.”
After some discussion on the best way forward in reviving the Hector, Shea and the group decided to recreate the hull of the ship with composite material while saving as much of the original structure as possible.
“We lifted it onshore with a 400-ton crane, got it set up, started doing inspections and we found that pretty much all the top sides, the inner hull planking and a lot of the deck planking was really bad — much worse than we thought,” said Shea. “So, we took it down to waterline. It was all oak plank and oak timber. We stripped all the wood off the vessel; all the wood, all the timbers and decking.”
Shea and his team recreated much of the vessel with layers of composite material covered in fibreglass, which was then covered in wood to give it the appearance of a ship from its time period.
“When you’re standing on the vessel, you’d never know the difference, except we saved about 60 per cent in maintenance costs by going with the composite,” said Shea.
Now, with the Hector almost complete and waiting by the water, the Ship Hector Society has set a date of July 12, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. to officially launch the vessel. The ship will be side launched, according to Shea, as no cranes are available to transport the Hector in time.
“It’s going to be quite an exciting day. The last time we launched in 2000, we had close to 30,000 people in the town watching,” said Shea.
Alongside the Hector is an interpretive centre for visitors to the ship, which was funded in part by the federal and provincial governments. The building comes outfitted with solar panels, which has brought the building to nearly net-zero power consumption. In the future, plans have been made to add electric propulsion to the Hector, which will be charged using the solar power drawn from the interpretive centre. The end goal, according to Shea, will be using the Hector as a passenger vessel.
“We’ll be doing harbour tours, sailing training, taking at-risk youth aboard,” said Shea. “Once the ship is off the site, we’ll be putting up a boatbuilding school. There will be a dormitory there and kitchen facilities. The crew will be there and anyone on the two-to-four-week boatbuilding program can stay right on site.”
In total, the project cost around $3.6 million — about $2 million of which has been raised so far. The Ship Hector Society has a donation page for anyone looking to aid in the restoration of the Hector at www.shiphectorcampaign.com.
