Captain's Log

Every year, the community pauses to give thanks for its seafaring residents returning safely to land, and to remember those who did not. Lunenburg’s seafaring heritage has seen generations of people going to sea, whether for fishing, carrying cargo, even rum running during Prohibition. Picton Castle is proud to call Lunenburg one of our homes and the base of our operations, the crew carrying on the tradition of putting to sea from Lunenburg.

We often pass the Fishermens’ Memorial on Bluenose Drive, just down the street from our wharf and office. It’s made up of eight triangular columns of black granite arranged as a compass rose, inscribed with names of ships and seamen who never made it home. In years of bad weather, like the August gales of 1926 and 1927, the lists are long and many of the last names are repeated, some families lost fathers, brothers, uncles and nephews.

While the Fishermens’ Memorial is always available for people to visit, as is the memorial room in the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic, time has been set aside every year for more than 80 years to remember those who were lost and to be thankful for those who returned safely. The Seaman’s Thanksgiving Service was held this year at the Central United Church on Sunday September 11. Many of our crew were in attendance while Mayor Laurence Mawhinney and local clergy led the assembled group in words and music.

After the part of the service in the church, beautiful floral wreaths were presented, some in memory of all seafarers lost from the local area and some to honour a specific lost loved one, and carried down the street to the Adams & Knickle scallop fishing vessel Cachalot I. The sun was shining and there was a fresh breeze, the perfect day to reminisce about being on the water. The Captain and crew of the Picton Castle presented a beautiful floral wreath with pink lilies, gerbera daisies and lush green leaves in memory of all lost seafarers, especially Laura Gainey. Once we arrived on the wharf, wreaths were then passed to the crew at the end of the gangway, who gently carried them to the bow and attached them with string to the rail around the bow of the ship. The vessels of the inshore fishing fleet motored past the end of the wharf and were each individually blessed, then Cachalot I slipped off the dock and went out to sea, carrying her cargo of wreaths and memories. Just past Cross Island, the wreaths were cut away to float atop the Atlantic, marking the graves of so many seafarers who lay below.

CACHALOT I with wreaths on the bow, photo by Ollie Campbell

CACHALOT leaves the dock with wreaths

parade of wreaths to the waterfront, photo by Ollie Campbell

ready to receive wreaths at the gangway of CACHALOT I

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September brings back-to-school time, even for us on the Picton Castle.  The Bosun School has been in session for two weeks now and students are starting to settle in to the daily routine of classes, projects and work. 

The Bosun School is a land-based skills development for young people ages 18-30 who have some experience going to sea and want to advance their skills in a focused environment.  Distractions naturally occur at sea, so it can be difficult for one person to see a project through from start to finish.  By taking away that distraction, students have the opportunity to focus on the task at hand, learning it through demonstrations and lectures, then practicing hands-on several times so they gain familiarity and confidence in each skill.

The first few days focused mostly on orientation and familiarization as the students got to know the ship, the warehouse and the Dory Shop, our main classrooms as well as get a start in the many small boats we keep.  We did full safety training and drills, including getting the students aloft in Picton Castle‘s rigging for the first time. 

An incredible opportunity has come our way in the form of a 33′ Tahiti ketch called Symphony, donated by Richard and Sharon Orpin, to be used to get young people sailing.  The Bosun School students are working on this boat, which had been sitting in the Orpin’s yard, at the Dory Shop, getting it ready to go back into the water.  Once the preparation work is done, the vessel will be launched and it will become another classroom for the Bosun School students, learning to handle yet another kind of vessel.  They’ll also be rowing as crew and as coxswain, and learning to drive the skiff.  Small boat handling is an essential skill for a bosun, one we intend to spend some time developing.  

Keep your fingers crossed for good weather so we can be out on the water and working in the rig as much as possible this month.

below deck on Symphony Heather and Danielle

Bosun School first day

Gabe and Samantha working on Symphony

headrig orientation

scraping and scrubbing the monomoy

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Picton Castle‘s Chief Mate on the Atlantic Voyage and World Voyage 5, Michael Moreland, is now sailing aboard the Danmark, Denmark’s national sail training ship. He joined the vessel in Lisbon in July and the ship is bound across the Atlantic to Philadelphia with a full ship of cadets on a sail training voyage, before heading back across again to Europe.  Mike has been keeping us up to date on his current adventure, which we share with you here.

24 North
58 West

September 1st, 2011

The healthy trade winds which have carried this old girl more than half way across the Atlantic Ocean have begun to ease up a bit.  We found our southing end at about 25 north and have been making straight westing for the last 800nm or so.  Tropical waves, depressions, and storms seem to be sprouting up all around us but not in our way, and we watched a potentially historic hurricane rip up the eastern seaboard from the safety of our weather charts.  The only contact we have had so far is catching the top of a tropical wave a thousand miles ago. It was just as a surfer catches a wave, with the isobars building up right behind us which blessed us with steady 30 knots right on the starboard quarter for three days and 20-25 for another 3 days, with only grey skies and the occasional wave breaking on deck as a side effect.  Now the seas and seaweed seem to indicate calmer winds upon us, a nice respite for all 100 souls aboard this old full-rigger, as well as the bosun to catch up with the painting and varnishing. 

All sails are flying these days, with a devoted team of quartermasters and trainees bending the last of the kites and even throwing up the forgotten crossjack, which is just an old main topmast stay’sl, set like a triangle with the top down.  We all agree it completes the mast.  Lots of tarring aloft, splicing up new wire braces, knocking rust off here and there, scraping and sanding endless teak furniture and fixtures aboard, and the usual bracing, stowing and teaching all keeping this group of sailors content and happy.  We have also had a run of luck with fishing off the stern, with a number of mahi mahi and one wahoo thrown onboard and onto our plates.  The Danes say those names of fish are strange sounding, I tell them that the words they say sound strange too.  But none the less, a good opportunity to teach proper fish cleaning and filleting techniques.  

Seaman’s Sunday fell on a Monday this week, which meant no teaching or ship’s work, but instead time for the cadets to air out their hammocks, organize their lockers and a special treat this week, we inflated our training life raft and made a kiddie pool right on the main deck.  Nice to have a day with no knock-a-rust noise and a little extra time to sit on the foc’sle or poop deck and have a chat.  But the days are going by at a nice pace everyone agrees and this collection of cadets and crew keep learning and improving in all the countless tasks and jobs that keep this ship going forward. 

And forward we go now, maybe with a bit more urgency as the next hurricane in line, Katia, is nipping at our heels a bit.  Should be well ahead of it, as we are motor sailing west at good consistent clip, but a little close for comfort.  Seems like we are in the midst of an active hurricane season.  But all is well aboard the Skoleskibet, almost all aboard are serenely unaware of the potential maelstrom lurking over the horizon.  But that’s fine, no need for extra grief.  Just focus and attentiveness to our daily routine, classes, and ship’s work, and maybe enjoying the last light of day as the sun slips below the horizon just ahead off the starboard bow.

Picton mate Mike plays with a local kid

Skoleskibet DANMARK

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What do our crew do after signing off the Picton Castle at the end of a long voyage? Well, a great many things. But here is one story.

Chief Mate Michael J. Moreland was recruited by the S/V Danmark to become one of their petty officers. The Danmark is the state sailing school ship of the Kingdom of Denmark training seamen and officers for the huge Danish merchant marine. She is known as the Royal State Danish School Ship, and has been steadily at sea since 1933. During the Second World War after Denmark was invaded by Germany her captain turned his ship and her crew over to the US Coast Guard and gave basic sea training to about 5,000 young Americans. Having built ships for the express purpose before, and with an active small vessel program, after WWII the USCG decided that they had better get back into the business of training under sail again and put the big Barque Eagle into commission. Both ships sail today doing what they do better than any other method, preparing young mariners for a life at sea. The Danmark is about 260′ long, with a rig height of about 133′. She carries about 98 crew and trainees and she is a full rigged ship.

D. Moreland

From Michael Moreland at sea in the Danmark:

Here is final revised log. All is well here, riding the top of a tropical wave, strong trades 25-30, 200nm day yesterday, catching some fish, overhauling the malerum (paint locker), and the sun shone long enough today to spread some paint around. Looks like a nasty hurricane coming up the east coast, glad we’re not there.
That’s all from here for now.
Michael

Aboard the Full Rigged Danish State Training Ship Danmark
August 22, 2011,
700 nm SW of Canaries



Sailing along just perfectly since leaving Madeira 7 days ago, steady 20-25 kts right out of the NE, t’gallants and big courses pushing this race horse along at 8-9 knots with hardly a splash on deck. All of the cadets are over their sea sickness and self pity and the extensive orientations are all through now, letting us put them to work and handling the sails. The quartermasters essentially run the deck and get to do all the fun stuff, sail handling and deck work, chasing the cadets around and keeping them in line. A good lot of trainees though. Most keen and follow all the rules amazingly well. It is fun working with a bunch of goofy, young kids, easy to get them motivated. And some of them get a big kick out of trying to teach me Dansk. It’s coming very slowly, but coming none the less.

The transition to English as the working language onboard is interesting in many aspects. All the crew is behind it and I believe, all genuinely glad that I am here help it along, but most of the time the old crew will revert back to Danish amongst themselves when working on deck, which is understandable. However, I think they are all glad to expand their maritime English, as it is the universal language in the shipping industry. It is funny, sometimes, to hear all the trainees running around jabbering in Danish with English maritime words thrown in, as all of the marine teaching has been in English. Overall, I think the decision to switch to English will be viewed favourably at the end of this tour.

The ship lives up to her great reputation and is incredible in every respect. The design, layout, construction, and systems are all top notch and she really feels like a big ship. The rig is immensely stout and powerful, with design and scantlings coming straight from age of sail shipbuilders of the 1930s. It is interesting in that you can see where new things have been added and changed and where the original rig layout is still preserved. What is impressive is that over the years they have been switching to products that keeps reducing the maintenance and upkeep in the rig, which can be valuable for a training ship as it allows more time to teach and train the 80 cadets. Still, plenty of good work to be done up aloft, and we have been enjoying the work while the strong Atlantic trade winds blow.

The organization of the Danmark is very well compartmentalized and good communication is facilitated by the mate and captain. All the crew is given free-range to work in their own areas with little micromanagment. Very good to see new styles. I am getting inspired in a lot of ways, such as teaching and crew management, as well as ship organization. It is refreshing to be teaching hands-on again and I am sharpening the effectiveness of my communications as I am teaching to trainees who don’t speak the best English. Besides teaching, the Bosun and I run the deck work all day and discuss all the ongoing maintenance daily. A good ship’s Bosun, about my age and like minded on proper work and organization. The two other quartermasters have been focusing on work aloft with small groups of cadets, while we have been running the deck work. I have started overhauling all the wire ‘baendsler’ (standing rigging seizings) and will have them all perfectly painted by the time we get to the States. A lot of rust busting, varnishing, painting, cleaning, so on. Nice to have 20 trainees all afternoon. I have also been leading a lot of the sail maneuvers and the commands and tempo I brought from the Picton Castle have been working here nicely. I have been complemented on the fast pace and clarity with which I push the cadets around hauling on ropes, keep them moving. Didn’t try to push my way of sail handling onboard, but was asked several times by the Overstyremand (Chief Mate) to just do it like I am used to.

Keeping my mouth shut about Picton Castle as much as possible, but most crew want to know more. A few ideas thrown out here were to advertise the Bosun School and the next voyage to Georg Stage trainees (the other Danish full rigged training ship) as they will be signing off shortly before then. And some good crew here are wondering about the possibility of joining Picton Castle for the next voyage. All I tell them is to just apply and see. As for the next voyage around the Atlantic, it looks really good. Good route, lots of new places, less miles, more sailing. A good mix of northern latitude European coastwise sailing and sweet trade winds from the shores of Africa to the Caribbean. I am convinced that this kind of Atlantic voyage is the superior voyage for a square rig training ship, not that I am alone in this thought though.

Trying to be more social onboard, as she is a European ship, they like to talk a lot, but hard to join a conversation when you don’t understand what they are saying. All in all, I think it is going very well, and you were right when you said it was just fun, because I am having a blast, and feel beyond honored to work on this age-of-sail full-rigger.

Anyway, hope all is well back in Nova Scotia and you’re having a good summer. Give my best to everyone.



Michael

DANMARK

Picton DSC07366

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The east coast of North America met Hurricane Irene over the weekend, the weather event that caused evacuations of low lying coastal areas, stopped public transit in parts of New York City and threatened Nova Scotia and the Canadian maritimes. Here in Lunenburg, we had been keeping an eye on Irene since it first formed, watched it batter in the Bahamas and had an eye constantly out for the next forecast as we tried to assess what Irene had in store for Picton Castle.

While it’s good to be optimistic and hope for the best, one should also prepare for the worst. With this in mind, we set about our preparations for Irene on Friday. The crew went through an orientation to heavy weather in port and then got to work preparing the Picton Castle for the storm, including the following:

- extra hawsers and chafe gear
- brace yards sharp on a port tack
- nip halyards in to the rig so they don’t blow around and chafe
- move the skiff from where it was tied up behind the ship
- take small boats off the moorings near the Dory Shop and pull them up on to the beach
- move all boats to higher ground
- haul back the ship’s anchor chain to tighten it and to take the strain off the wharf
- take away the gangway as needed
- check bilges

The highest winds were forecast to be here on Sunday night, so the crew were divided into night watches, keeping an eye on lines, chafe gear, and doing regular ship checks. By the time Irene arrived, it was a post-tropical storm. Sunrise on Monday brought diminished winds, clear sunny skies and no damage.

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Picton Castle arrived home in Lunenburg from her fifth world circumnavigation voyage two months ago yesterday, and we’ll admit we haven’t written much since then. Why? Well, partly because reflecting on an accomplishment so huge can be kind of overwhelming, partly because we’ve been trying to enjoy summer in Lunenburg and all it has to offer, and partly because we’ve been focusing on developing all the myriad plans for our next big voyage.

So, to back up to the middle of June, our return to Lunenburg was a pretty special event. Crew members had friends and family arrive from all corners of the world to greet them and hug them tightly when they stepped off the ship, completing their voyage. From on board the sight of several wharves on the Lunenburg waterfront filled with people waving was a very moving one indeed. From the wharves, the ship looked gorgeous, shortening sail in the channel as she approached the dock. Horns were blaring from other ships in port, people were cheering, it was an all-around festive atmosphere. We certainly appreciate everyone who came out to see the ship and welcome the crew. Memories from that day are always moving, and it won’t be soon forgotten by any of the crew.

In the days following arrival, we had a few homecoming celebrations, final chances for the crew to be together while they made a start at including their loved ones in the experience they just had. The highlight was our awards night where every crew member was recognized for some sort of achievement, most of them quite silly. And then, in the days and weeks following, the crew began to head their separate ways, on to new adventures, old homes, and catching up with what’s been going on the lives of those they left behind when they went to sea.

A small handful of crew members have stayed in Lunenburg to work away at downrigging the ship, getting things cleaned and tidied, taking advantage of the small number of people on board to do an overhaul of now-empty living spaces, and starting to get extra coats of paint, tar, grease and oil on all parts of the ship to preserve her over the winter to come.

We’ve had a few interesting side projects as well, focused on small boat sailing in Lunenburg harbour, one of which was getting the Karl sailing again. This wooden boat was collected in Palmerston Atoll, where crew member Taia is from, on Picton Castle‘s third world voyage. The crew fixed her up then, made a sailing rig and a bright cotton sail, and sailed her in Foxy’s Wooden Boat Regatta in the British Virgin Islands on the way home. After sitting for a few years unused, we got her fixed up and in the water again. Her first sail this time was in the small boat race at the Lunenburg Wooden Boat Reunion. She didn’t place, but she floated and the crew had a great time sailing her. Weekly small boat sailing races have continued in Lunenburg’s front harbour on Wednesday nights, so we’ve been exercising all the small boats regularly.

This summer Lunenburg hosted the first annual Lunenburg Wooden Boat Reunion. On that same weekend, we held a cargo sale on our wharf. We had a fine array of treasures remaining in the warehouse from previous voyages. We dug them out, polished them up and found that we had all sorts of wonderful stuff to put out for sale. While people browsed through our open-air shop, they also took in workshops our crew offered at our wharf on knot tying, splicing, lead lines and heaving lines. It was also the perfect place to watch all of the wooden boat races, including the Nova Scotia Schooner Association’s Heritage Cup and the parade of sail beforehand, the small boat sailing race, the putt-putt race for wooden boats with single cylinder make and break engines, and the dory rowing races. And our very own Katelinn, second engineer and deckhand, demonstrated her musical skills, playing violin as part of the weekend’s lineup of musical entertainment under the tent at the Fisheries Museum.

While much of the summer has been rainy, foggy and grey, we’ve been making the most of the good weather days when they happen. Finally this week we had a few sunny days back-to-back and the crew have been grinning like fools, tar buckets attached to their hips while they work aloft tarring the rig, as well as painting and varnishing, cleaning and overhauling the ship. While not at work, we’ve all been enjoying BBQs (known as braais when our South African friends are around), sightseeing, taking in local music and events, and relaxing a bit.

Next up for us is the Bosun School, starting on August 30th. Young mariners with some experience at sea on different vessels will be joining us for an intense three months of workshops, lectures and lots of hands-on practice with the skills required to keep a ship, well, ship-shape. We look forward to welcoming these new folks to our happy gang.

Aase and Taia paint the KARL

Aase rust busts the quarterdeck rail

Aase teaches knot tying

Cargo Sale

Chibley helps Maggie paint a banner

Pania and Davey paint the hull of KARL

Pania prepares the KARL for painting

Pania teaches splicing at the wooden boat reunion

the KARL sails again!

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Here at the Picton Castle we are all very excited to be offering this next deep sea voyage of the Picton Castle to Europe and Africa and the Spanish Main. In 2008 we sailed the ship back to Europe were she had come from and sailed so much for so many years. That voyage was seen as something of a ‘homecoming’ voyage for the ship in so many ways and we were not sure that we would undertake another such trip – but that voyage all over western Europe, to Africa and through the eastern Caribbean was so amazing, powerful and rewarding for the crew that we figured we simply would have to do a voyage like that one again. And we are with some expansions.

This 2012 Voyage of the Atlantic and Spanish Main in the Barque Picton Castle will be one year long, 15,000 miles of deep sea voyaging under square sail, two transatlantic passages, learning the way of a deep sea windjammer and becoming real crew in her, coastal passages in and around Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales, Norway, Denmark, Sweden to the Aaland Islands of Finland where the last great Cape Horners made their homes. On to Germany, France, Portugal and Spain at charming old world cobblestone port towns and havens, small quiet island harbours and big maritime city ports, sleepy little fishing ports, meeting up with tall ships from around the world, then on to Morocco and Senegal in amazing west Africa – then sailing the famed “Middle Passage” followed by an extended sojourn through the islands and ports of the ‘unknown’ Caribbean and the Bahamas exploring as few others have had a chance to do as we sail our ship.

The voyage begins in Lunenburg. We sail in May 2012 but the trainee crew show up well before sailing in order to help get the ship ready and take part in all manner of orientation and safety training.Then, with cooperation of the weather we cast off for an eastward bound passage across the North Atlantic Ocean. Perhaps cold and foggy at first we will sail with the prevailing westerly winds across the “Western Ocean” as this part of the Atlantic was once known. About 2,800 miles it is, all the way across, broken up by a stop at some sweet island in the Azores off Portugal before heading onward to all our European ports of call. It is quite surprising how nice the winds and waters usually get a few days offshore of Nova Scotia.

I can promise all those that join our ship on this voyage will sail a great ship on a voyage rarer than the sailing ship herself; that they will have the chance to learn about ships and the sea to a level rarely available or achieved elsewhere – they will visit new lands and ports and countries as crew of a sailing ship which is so completely different than visiting as a backpacker or fly-in tourist.

Steering a tall ship, learning the 205 lines and what looks like acres of sail, steering, keeping a good lookout, hauling braces, ropework, splicing, seizing, sailmaking, painting, varnishing, tarring the rig (and yourself we must admit!), heaving up the anchor link by link, setting and furling the 21 sails all made on board by hand by the crew, making life-long friends in the ship, helping the cook get the endless meals on the table, sunny days under sail, running with a fair wind gale or hove-to instead, standing anchor watch and becoming a valuable integral member of the crew is what Picton Castle is all about. And times ashore off watch in the many and wildly varied ports all over Europe, West Africa, the Caribbean, South America, Central America and the Bahamas will become an encyclopedia of experiences that defies description in these short paragraphs.

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To say that this voyage feels over, three weeks after arriving back in Lunenburg, 14 months after the voyage began, would be a falsehood. To say that anyone who was crew during the 5th World Circumnavigation Voyage can yet explain what we saw, what we felt, what we experienced, would be untrue. The Captain warned us of this reality. He warned us it would take months before we can even begin to tell the stories that beg to be told; before we realize that nothing will ever be the same. Being somewhat of an authority on the subject, we believed him, of course. Yet to experience it for ourselves was something none of us could have prepared for…
________________________

On the morning of June 18th, after a good passage mostly under sail from Bermuda we had dropped anchor in Rose Bay Nova Scotia, mere miles from the mouth of Lunenburg harbour. Knowing that the inevitable task of clearing into Canada still awaited us, we opted to do so far enough away from our loved ones already gathering. And customs & immigration Canada agreed. The process was a potentially lengthy one and the general consensus was that it would be much more distracting within eyesight of all those welcoming arms. Far better, we felt, to sail triumphantly into the harbour, get moored all ready to greet the crowd without apparent delay.

In had been a good six day sail from Bermuda. As the Captain wrote in a previous Captain’s Log, we did encounter a squall or two. Fortunately they came from the west and the south, helping to push us up the coast toward Nova Scotia, aiding our journey home. North of Bermuda the weather had seemed to make a seasonal shift overnight – from hot summer in shorts and t-shirts into fall – though we knew that true fall was still months away. Out of the tropics for the first time in months, we adapted to the temperature drop by unpacking our blankets and donning wool sweaters. It had been a long time since any of us had felt even remotely cold, and most relished it, sort of…

The forecast had called for rain on June 18th, but as we waved goodbye to the Canadian officials after clearing in and hauled up the anchor, the sky remained overcast but dry. The air was thick with anticipation as we sailed down the few remaining miles of coastline. Some of the crew stood by the rails, craning their necks as they searched for familiar landmarks. Others couldn’t contain their excitement. All stood ready to handle sail. The Captain said the ship required our FULL attention until AFTER we were tied up properly. The wind had picked up throughout the morning and while the Captain is quite familiar with docking the ship in Lunenburg, a stiff breeze from the wrong direction would complicate the task exponentially.

Sophie was at the helm and as we grew closer and could see the pretty town around the corner and began to take in sail. The ship had grown silent, but for small seas along the waterline and the Captain’s orders, called and repeated, “Take in the royals!”, “Take in the spanker!” “Midships!”

Several local boats had come out to greet the ship and a convoy of supporters followed us as we rounded Battery Point and Lunenburg harbour opened up before us. An incredibly vibrant and picturesque town, Lunenburg seemed all the more alive with colour due to the reality of the day. We had come full circle. We had come home. The voyage, or at least the sailing part of it, was almost over.

We heard them before we saw them – the cheering was almost deafening. The community had shown up en masse. Our families and friends held banners and screamed our names, their bodies filling two community docks. Ships horns going off up and down the docks. We smiled and waved back, but the moment seemed almost dreamlike, but for the goosebumps on our skin and the butterflies most of us felt. I was almost thankful for the nausea, for it rooted me to the reality of the tasks at hand. We still had a barque to dock and secure. We were still crew on the Picton Castle and that felt very real indeed.

After the ship was secured, there were the inevitable tearful embraces. Even to write this brings back the raw emotions of that day… and yet, as I mentioned at the beginning of this log, my descriptive words are still missing. Most of the crew have left by now. The sails and most of the lines have been sent down and stored for inspection and/or repair. The ship is still my home for now, though in the mornings I am greeted by a crew of 5, not 50. What I do know is that the Captain was right. This journey did not end when the World Voyage came to an end. This voyage will continue in the way we now look at the world; in the ways we will now treat those around us; in the ways we approach the next challenge in our lives. My brother, who has also sailed around the world on the Picton Castle, hugged me upon my return and said, “I’m sorry, but now you understand.” I think that I do. Nothing will ever be the same.

Chris on engine controls with the Captain on the bridge

lots of people to welcome us home!

the Captain pilots us in to Lunenburg harbour

the crowd on the wharf to watch the ship sail home

the welcoming crowd on the dock in Lunenburg

watching for familiar landscape in Lunenburg Bay

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By Paula Washington

The last scheduled stop of World Voyage Five appeared on the horizon around noon on Wednesday June 8th. From ten miles away it did not look like much, a low lying sandy island that stretched for 13 miles in front of us. Despite its lack of elevation and its lonely location approximately 700 miles from Lunenburg, New York City or Boston, Bermuda is home to 60,000 people and a thriving economy boasting the highest GDP per capita in the world. The famous island has been an important landfall for ships throughout a lot of new world history, dating back to 1500s when the Spanish and Portuguese used it to replenish their supplies. Today it is a popular destination for yachts and hosts a few famous regattas each year.

As we neared the island its distinct features became clear. The shoreline was scattered with beaches and long inlets snaked their way deep into the centre of the island. Any where the rock appeared through the tangled vegetation it displayed the power of erosion. The white limestone was pitted and marked by years of rain and waves pounding the shore leaving the battered rock looking beautifully sculpted against the blue ocean and green foliage. Coming through the narrow passage the buildings of St Georges, Bermuda’s first capital and smaller of its two municipalities, became visible. We were all lined up along the midships rails commenting on the beautiful architecture and strange roofs. The houses and shops were painted in a large array of pastel colours with distinct matching white roofs. Inside the protected harbour we gracefully docked against a large well maintained dock on the edge of the town.

Coming into Bermuda I had no preconceptions about the landscape, the people or what we would get up to there. I just thought of it as a convenient stop roughly half way between Jost Van Dyke and Lunenburg where we could get some work done before we arrived at home. It turns out that it was so much more than that. On an early morning run the first day we had there I explored the town. It was small geographically but had everything you really needed. The water front was scattered with pubs and restaurants, their patio jutting out of the habour. The streets ran up from there with a square in the middle and shops and businesses scattered around town. At the top of the hill bordering the back of the town was a beautiful old ruin of a church. It was built all of limestone and must have been abandoned years ago for it had no roof or window panes and the floor had been taken over by nature as grass spread between the palm trees growing inside. You could tell it must have once been a grand place with skillfully placed windows that framed the landscape around it. I later discovered it was only one of the striking ruins over grown by gardens in the town. The small town turned out to be a great place to explore with lots of public spaces.

With the trip quickly coming to a close we spent the time in Bermuda diligently working to make the ship look great for our homecoming. We scrubbed and painted the waterways that run along the edge of our deck, put an extra coat of varnish on our bright work, spot painted the rails and shined up the engine room. On top of our own work list we were busily working on getting our secondary skiff ready. The wooden boat was built at the Dory Shop a few years ago and after a few minor repairs and a fresh coat of paint is looking great.

Now of course we didn’t spend all our waking minutes working. One of the inhabitants of the island is our great friend Paulina. Over the past five world voyages she has sailed around the world, joining for a different leg each time. Being a local Bermudian she has a great love for the ocean and quite a talent as a sailmaker. We last said goodbye to her in Bali where she promised to throw us a great party when we arrived in Bermuda 7 months later. True to her word she had us all over for a great barbeque at her lovely home just outside the biggest city of Hamilton. The party was full of stories of this and past voyages as her son Alex sailed on Picton Castle‘s third world voyage and many of her friends had questions about our trip. Over dark & stormys, the famous Bermudian rum drink, we stayed up late into the night reminiscing about all of the fun and insane things we did this year. On top of entertaining us at her house, she provided us with connections for water, provisions and anything else we could think of.

It turns out that Bermuda is much more than just a convenient pit stop on our Atlantic passage, it is a beautiful island with terrific people and lots to do, leaving us with even more great stories to add to our repertoire of tales from this amazing world voyage.

Lauren, Adrienne, Taia and Clark in Bermuda

Mitch, Adrienne and Clark in a cave

Picton Castle alongside at St Georges Bermuda

Rebecca stroking Darth Vader at the aquarium

Taia and Clark and a cannon

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By 2nd Mate Paul Bracken

The ship and her crew are homeward bound. We are just two days out from Bermuda, logging six and a half knots under full square sail as we plough our way north. For now the wind is a fresh westerly that was kicked up from a nearby low and my watch has the deck as the sun slips away and we run into the night. As we make our way through the North Atlantic we can’t help but reflect back on those generations of sailors who passed through these waters in days gone by. I think of the Captain voyaging for his fifth time around the world on this ship, and of how many times the Picton Castle has made this 700 nm passage north cross the Gulf Stream and into the northern latitudes.

Our last port of call in the Caribbean was Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands, which for the Picton Castle is a place rich in our traditions. This year, we had the honour of hosting Captain Moreland’s mentor, Captain Arthur Kimberly (also know as “Skipper”) along with some of the old crew of the Brigantine Romance on board for a few days. Skipper was the Captain and owner of the Romance and he sailed her from 1966 to 1989 with his wife Gloria. They sailed around the world twice, once with our Captain Dan Moreland as Mate. They also spent many months in the South Pacific and around the Caribbean. The Romance was not Skipper’s first ship for he left home at the age of 17, just after finishing high school, and signed onboard a 2500 ton Swedish four-masted barque with just 13 crew! (He later told me they might have been a little short handed!) He spent his life sailing the seas, and Romance was to be his last command, but not his last sail or ship.

Skipper spent one afternoon aboard with my watch spending time with his old crew, and meeting some of the Picton Castle crew. Within moments of him stepping aboard you could tell that this was where he belonged. As an ancient mariner he paced the decks all day inspecting the rigging, pulling on lines, giving skilful advice to the sail makers, and spinning yarns of his days at sea. Lunch came and the watch gathered round as Skipper went through picture books of the “Last Age of Sail” with us, having been there is his early days at sea. Hearing his first hand account of what it was like to sail in these ships, known only to us as they appear in photographs or tied to docks of maritime museums was truly something special. Sailing in Picton Castle comes pretty close I figure.

The following day the Picton Castle went for a day sail. Pretty unusual for us. It is not a simple feat to take a 600 ton Barque, sail off the hook, and tack up a four mile wide channel just to sail back onto the hook in two hours. This time, however, as hands gathered round the windless there was a different feeling in the air as if the crew felt a need to impress not just Skipper, but our Captain as well. Knowing full well he was under Skipper’s watchful eyes (his captain of four years) things could not have gone better! We set full sail smoothly and smartly as a crew who has sailed together for almost 30,000 nautical miles should. We tacked up the channel, wore ship bringing her back to the same spot we left from two hours earlier. I don’t know when Skipper might sail again in something with yards but I am glad to be able to say that I sailed with Capt Kimberly once in a proper sailing ship.

Bert, Michael, Captain and Foxy

Day Sail with Skipper

Skipper at the helm

Skipper guides Meredith

Skipper sailmakes with Sophie

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