Bluenose was a fishing and racing gaff rig schooner built in 1921 in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada. A celebrated racing ship and fishing vessel, Bluenose under the command of Angus Walters, became a provincial icon for Nova Scotia and an important Canadian symbol in the 1930s, serving as a working vessel until she was wrecked in 1946. Nicknamed the "Queen of the North Atlantic", she was later commemorated by the Bluenose one-design sloop (1946) and a replica, Bluenose II (1963). The name Bluenose originated as a nickname for Nova Scotians from as early as the late 18th century.

Bluenose was designed by William James Roué, and intended for both fishing and racing. Built to compete with schooners from the United States for speed, the design that Roué originally drafted in late 1920 had a waterline length of 36.6 metres (120 ft 1 in) which was 2.4 metres (7 ft 10 in) too long for the competition. Sent back to redesign the schooner, Roué produced a revised outline. The accepted revision placed the inside ballast on top of the keel to ensure that it was as low as possible, improving the overall speed of the vessel. One further alteration to the revised design took place during construction. The bow was raised by 0.5 metres (1 ft 8 in) to allow more room in the forecastle for the crew to eat and sleep. The alteration was approved of by Roué. The change increased the sheer in the vessel's bow, giving the schooner a unique appearance.

The plans, that were accepted and later built, was a combination of the designs from shipbuilders in the United States and Nova Scotia that had been previously built for the North Atlantic fishing fleet. The vessel was built of Nova Scotian pine, spruce, birch and oak and the masts were created from Douglas fir. Bluenose had a displacement of 258 tonnes (254 long tons) and was 43.6 metres (143 ft 1 in) long overall and 34.1 metres (111 ft 11 in) at the waterline. The vessel had a beam of 8.2 metres (26 ft 11 in) and a draught of 4.85 metres (15 ft 11 in).

The schooner carried 930 square metres (10,000 sq ft) of sail. Bluenose's mainmast reached 38.4 metres (126 ft 0 in) above deck and the schooner's foremast reached 31.3 metres (102 ft 8 in). Her mainboom was 24.7 metres (81 ft 0 in) and the schooner's foreboom was 9.9 metres (32 ft 6 in). The vessel had a crew of 20 and her hull was painted black. The vessel cost $35,000 to build.

Bluenose was constructed by Smith and Rhuland in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. The schooner's keel was laid in 1920. The Governor General the Duke of Devonshire drove a golden spike into the timber during the keel-laying ceremony. She was launched on 26 March 1921, and christened by Audrey Smith, daughter of the shipbuilder Richard Smith. She was built to be a racing ship and fishing vessel, in response to the defeat of the Nova Scotian fishing schooner Delawana by the Gloucester, Massachusetts, fishing schooner Esperanto in 1920, in a race sponsored by the Halifax Herald newspaper.

Bluenose was completed in April 1921 and performed her sea trials out of Lunenburg. On 15 April, the schooner departed to fish for the first time. Bluenose, being a Lunenburg schooner, used the dory trawl method. Lunenburg schooners carried eight dories, each manned by two members of the crew, called dorymen. From the dories, lines of strong twine up to 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) long which had 0.91-metre (3 ft) lines with hooks on the end spaced every 3 metres (9.8 ft) were released, supported at either end by buoys which acted as markers. The dorymen would haul in the catch and then return to the ship. This was done up to four times a day. The fishing season stretched from April to September and schooners stayed up to eight weeks at a time or until their holds were full.

Bluenose's captain and part owner for most of her fishing and racing career was Angus Walters. As Walters only had master's papers for home waters, Bluenose in some international races was sometimes under the command of the deep sea Lunenburg captain George Myra until the schooner reached the racing port. The crew of Bluenose during her fishing career were mostly from Lunenburg but also included several Newfoundlanders. Crew were paid either by the size of the catch when they returned to port or some took a share in the vessel, known as a "sixty-fourth".

After a season fishing on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland under the command of Angus Walters, Bluenose set out to take part in her first International Fisherman's Cup. The International Fisherman's Cup was awarded to the fastest fishing schooner that worked in the North Atlantic deepsea fishing industry. The fastest schooner had to win two out of three races in order to claim the trophy. The Canadian elimination race to determine who would represent Canada in the 1921 International Fishermen's Trophy race off Halifax, Nova Scotia took place in early October. A best two-out-of-three competition, Bluenose won the first two races easily. Bluenose then defeated the American challenger Elsie, for the International Fishermen's Trophy, returning it to Nova Scotia in October 1921. The following year, Bluenose defeated the American challenger Henry S. Ford, this time in American waters off Gloucester. Henry S. Ford had been constructed in 1921 based on a design intended to defeat Bluenose.