Editor’s note: Here we offer Chibley’s second set of log entries. To be sure, this is not her second log as these clearly represent three separate log entries, although we cannot say with precision exactly to which days she is actually referring. We suppose that does not matter.

Today!

It was hot today, hot all day, hot, hot, hot! Except for me, I was cool. I snoozed in the shade after I slept in the warm light. I like them, shade and light. It’s nice to be hot. It’s nice to be cool. When it was dark I went into the big guy’s room and took a snooze on some deliciously smelly old clothes. Mushed ‘em all around until they were just right and then I napped. All the peeps should have such a nice pile of nice smelling old clothes to nap on. In the young peeps’ home they have lots of smelly clothes but they don’t always smell so nice. And there’s lots of black gooey sticky stuff on their clothes. Not so nice to sleep on for me. They seem to like it. Oh well. I purred for awhile. Later I had some food from a bowl and some water too. It was good. Took a look around, everything was okay. Some of the peeps wanted to pass their front hands down my nice fur. Seems a shame they don’t have so much of their own fur. I wonder why ? Their no fur having skin is nice for rubbing down my beautiful fur so it’s not so bad, really.

Editor’s note: In this log entry, Chibley reveals that she enjoys both warm and cool. In the interests of free speech we have not edited out her somewhat untoward comment about the pile of dirty laundry in the captain’s cabin . She is innocent of evil intent, we believe, at least in this isolated case.

Today!

It was windy today and my home leaned over. Sometimes it does that. Small bits of water, the salty kind, spits over the edge of my home and makes me a little bit wet. Sometimes it makes the peeps really wet. They make all sorts of funny noises when that happens. Peeps are funny. One of the peeps up-chucked and I thought how nice that was for them. Up-chucking always makes me feel good. The peeps must like it when that happens. Ate some food from a bowl.

Editor’s note: Apparently there was a great deal of hilarious squealing when a dash of spray took those standing amidships by surprise. Here, also, Chibley shares her feline satisfaction with that feline homeopathic purgative.

Today!

Cold today so I went to one of my warm places to snooze. I have many, many fine places to snooze at my home. Mostly the peeps snooze in the same spots all the time, not always though. Sometimes they snooze in other spots. The peeps are messing with new ropes today. They smell nice. And the peep who makes all the sails put some nice soft sails out for me to relax on. He is a nice peep, always doing nice things like that for me. I don’t up-chuck on his nice sails though, seems a bad thing so I don’t do that. Ate some food from a bowl and had some water too. My friend who makes the food for the peeps gave me some wonderful yummy things.

Editor’s note: In this entry Chibley reveals a high level of discernment and points to her understanding that somehow people are just la ittle bit different than cats.

Introduction by D. Moreland

It is a difficult thing to write a preamble for chronicles of such an internationally well-known character as Chibley the Cat of the Barque Picton Castle. So well known is she on every continent and at so many far-flung islands that I tremble at the task before me. But as the one selected for this intimidating task it falls to me to do my best at this, which is both an honour and a challenge. Now, mind you, cats can’t write, you probably knew this already and it pains me to point this out but for the sake of journalistic integrity, such a rarefied commodity these days, and for the sake of full disclosure, I must make this clear for those who might otherwise indulge in some cute anthropomorphic silliness. Cats can’t write and being a cat nor can Chibley. That said, this cat, and I dare say most other cats who find themselves domiciled in cohabitation with those on two legs and of scant fur, have ways of making their feelings and, yes, thoughts, perfectly well known. So what we have here is sort of a channeling of our esteemed feline’s point of view in her words as best as we can discern them. Anyone who has sailed shipmates (that’s about 1,000 of you out there) with her will tell you that there is little, if any doubt about her thoughts and usually without much, if any, divination. Chibley does not beat around the bush. But she still can’t write. So her most trusted associates have been called upon, without attribution, to write for her, opposable thumbs being wonderful things as well as these shipmates being literate; something Chibley, being a cat, is not.

Chibley came from the S.H.A.I.D. animal shelter near Lunenburg and joined her ship in autumn 1997. The captain went to the shelter to see about a cat to sail with them on their first voyage around the world. At the shelter Chibley sat up straight and licked her paws and whiskers while many of the other cats meowed and made lots of undignified noises and performed gyrations designed to get attention. She then looked up and said “I will go with you”. And so she did. Since that day Chibley has sailed close to 200,000 miles on four voyages around the entire world and Europe and Africa just recently. She has eaten her share of flying fish on trade-wind passages in the tropics, dispatched any number of birds (sad to say, but she is a cat) and enjoyed perfect health. The only times she has gone away from the ship are when well meaning people have picked her up as a friendly stray; this in spite of her numerous tags of identification on her collar associating her with the ship. This occurred once in Halifax and more recently in Bergen, Norway where the quest of locating her and returning her to the ship became nation-wide news in the TV and newspapers and a spirited public mission. Sometimes we wonder if she is not just a little bit of a media hound, er, feline.

Well, this is not entirely true. One time in the southern Indian Ocean, Chibley went off on her own we think. The Picton Castle was alongside at an island. It was very hot and she took off for a couple of days but came back before we sailed. There were some fishing boats nearby. Maybe they smelled yummy. Maybe she wanted some cool shade at night. Who knows? She didn’t say. After worrying the crew sick she just ambled back aboard, tail forming a furry undulating question mark as she ever so casually made her way up the gangway at midnight. She seemed oddly and inordinately pleased with herself, but she divulged nothing of her movements or adventures. From time to time we are asked why we do not, for her safety, lock her up in every port when alongside. The answer is simple; she is her own cat and she looks after herself quite well and we figured that out. Why do people who have cats in the house all do the same thing and never let their cats out? For the same reason, yet many cats are done in by cars while wandering freely outside. Which is safer? Living near a road with cars whizzing by or visiting a dock from time to time, say four times a year? Besides, Chibs is smart about such things. In truth, and she would not want this to get around, we do, in countries where it is required, incarcerate her in some location of the ship and keep her absolutely onboard. This, which she makes quite plain, she does not like at all. We are also often asked if she is the ship’s cat (or horrors, ‘mascot’); we say yes, sort of, but more better to say that the Picton Castle is Chibley’s ship.

So off we go here to attempt to chronicle Chibley’s remarkable sea-going life, the life of a sea cat. She who has licked more saltwater off her tail than any thousand lesser sailors have wrung out of their socks is putting forth her story here, personally for the first time. Do not expect a linear chronological narrative, this is a cat speaking a cat’s story and linear. Well, cats, it seems, just look at things a little differently; So, for our collective illumination and enlightenment, and even though she cannot write, here is Chibley’s Log. We trust that we will receive further installments as the spirit moves her…

Chibley’s Log – by herself; Chibley The Cat

Today – ate some food from a bowl, had some water too. Walked around home, see what’s going on. Not much right now. Home was still, dark and quiet and we had land tied up to us again which has been happening more than normal lately. The big hot Yellow was gone from the blue and I saw the sparkles up there. That happens a lot. Been a lot of grey fuzzy for awhile though recently. I had already gone on the land and sniffed it. Not so interesting, no fish, no burgers, no cats, a lot of peeps, a little bit of green grass so I chewed that and up-chucked and then I felt better. Felt good before but always feel good after a good up-chucking, don’t you? It was nice for the moment and not too many peeps about in the dark so snoozed on the hatch in case any of my friends needed to rub my belly. Sometimes they need to do that it seems and I kind of like it most the time.

Editor’s note: In the above account Chibley is referring to the Picton Castle’s stay in the lovely Cape Breton seaport of Sydney – “home” is of course, the Picton Castle. “Dark” is because it was night time most likely. Cats do not seem to make such a big distinction between night and day we don’t think.

Today – we had a get together of all the peeps at my home. I like it when the peeps do that, don’t really know why they do that but it is most likely to admire me. I let them. There is no bad in it. Then all the peeps pull in the big ropes, the big noise shakes my home and the land goes away. Then I went to the warm food place to see if there was something nice for me there. My friend who lives there sometimes has nice things to munch for me – I bring him things too, it’s only fair. Bits of Fish, very exciting! Up high there is no Big Blue but all is grey and fuzzy. This has been happening a lot lately. I hope it gets better but I don’t mind. I ate some food from a bowl and drank some water too.

Editor’s note: Here we believe Chibley is referring to a morning muster where the captain and / or mate describe upcoming events.These are common events. Chibley almost always attends these musters amidships around the canvas-covered cargo hatch, surrounded by the crew, after which it is pretty clear that the ship got under way. We think that she is also referring to fog and overcast skies in the above. She is more accustomed to the tropics. She seems to refer to her shipmates and all humans as “peeps.” Special peeps she calls ‘my friend’.

Today – still making noise but home is steady. Big Hot Yellow is back up in Big Blue. That’s nice. I can smell land getting close to us. I like how it smells. I wonder what land is coming to us? Maybe there will be burgers…

Editor’s note: The ship motored over smooth seas sailing from Sydney. When the Picton Castle approaches land from the sea, Chibley can often be found on the main pin-rail ( she is nicely protected by the t’gallant rail) with her head raised and if you look closely you can see her nostrils twitching. She is sniffing the breeze off the land. The crew do much the same the same thing too. Breathing in the perfume of pines and spruce of Nova Scotia (or palms and Frangipani of Tahiti in the South Pacific) is like ambrosia to those coming in from the salt sea after a long ocean passage.

Today – All very exciting – new Land! My peeps make a nice thing for me to go onto the land with. It is very nice of them. I went on the new land that came up to us today. Many, many peeps on the land. All size peeps. The small peeps always get excited when they meet me. I let them touch me as I am very nice to touch. Sometimes there are dogs, but I make them stay away. Dogs are gross. Well, most of them. I have met some nice ones too. But I still make them stay away.

Editor’s note: Here Chibley refers to a gangway and children. She also mentions dogs for the first time and although like most self-respecting cats she holds for short truck with dogs, here she allows for the fact that she was once pretty good buddies in Lunenburg with Rocky the famous Dory Dog, a story in itself. Rocky kind of had a crush on her and Chibley makes allowances for sentient beings that worship her.

The day came in grey, overcast and drizzly. The morning light began to seep through the dark of night well before dawn at four AM. In these northern latitudes we get a lot of light at this time of year – plenty of light by 4:00 AM and you can still see at 10:30-11:00 PM. Proper dark night time is only about five hours long.

All hands were bestirred at about 0500 this morning to get underway to sail from Ireland bound for Falmouth, Cornwall, England, 190 miles away. The way the Picton Castle was moored we needed the last of the ebb tide to help peel her bow off the stone bulkhead, otherwise we would be stuck there until the next tide change. Soon the main engine was deeply rumbling as it faithfully does, chafe gear was off the hawsers and they were being singled up. Two hands stayed on the quay to let go our last lines, with the third mate standing by in the skiff to pick them up and get them back out to the ship before hoisting the boat. We backed down on a stern spring, the ebb tide caught the bow and the bow paid off away from the quay and soon we were making our way down the channel.

We called Cork Harbour Radio and let them know we were underway and our general intentions. They in turn let us know about inbound traffic. At this point Chibley came on deck (she had been incarcerated in the fore-peak due to animal regulations). It was raining and we rarely see her on deck when it is raining but this time she stomped all around checking on her ship, rain or no rain. She got a good soaking of rain before she was satisfied with her inspection tour. Well, something was on her mind anyway.

As we made our way past the channel buoys we saw a big 150,000 ton oil tanker at the oil terminal that had come in overnight and a small 400 ton coaster piled high with logs steaming inbound. At 0700 we were abeam of Roaches Point making our departure from land and loosing sail. By 0730 we were several miles at sea under all sail to the t’gallants steering southeast making 5 knots towards Lands End, Cornwall. The name gives it away. Lands End is the most southwestern point of land of mainland England. Our wind was a decent force 5-6 down from 7-8 last night and seas were not too big at all. By 0900 we were making good way in the right direction – ship well secured for sea. Just us and a couple fishing trawlers out here dragging around in the mists of the Celtic Sea. All is well enough. Wind making up here before noon, took in and furled t’gallants. Kolin, Corey and Nadja aloft to stow the stiff wet canvas and get a gasket passed around the sail and the yard.

1500

Wind has picked up a little and faired or veered, which means the direction has rotated clockwise making it all the more useful to us. The ship is going along very nicely, making 6+ knots with a point to spare on our course for Lands End. The seas have made up to 6-10 feet, all a pale grey with peaks covered in spreads of white sea foam. Visibility is about three miles. We have fresh fruit in our deck fruit lockers from the market in Cork, apples and sweet little pears, pretty nice to munch while on the quarter-deck.

Alongside in Cobh

Celtic Sea

Chibley on the Rail

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43-50N / 025-48W

Wind SEly at force 5-6, steering NEly at 5+knots under upper topsails, courses, fore & main topmast-staysl’s

Our skies are grey, overcast and low clouds scooting across. But the barometer is pretty high and steady, we are sailing along just fine. The Picton Castle is about 800 miles from Ireland, the Azorean Islands are 300 miles to our south and Lunenburg is now about 1800 miles back in our wake, we have sailed every inch apart from four hours motoring in a flat calm a couple weeks ago. We are having a North Atlantic passage to be very pleased and satisfied with… thus far. We could crack on more sail and go a little faster but with the way seas are arrayed the fo’c’sle gang would get a bit of a roller coaster ride. We are plugging along just fine at 120 miles a day, not so bad.

Our afternoon workshops have been much about greater weather patterns, dealing with lows and sail handling and sail choices and decision making in strong winds and heavy weather.

Chibley the cat is very talkative lately. I am convinced that when she meows off at me or someone else she is absolutely sure that she is clearly articulating a very specific and logical point and quite likely giving instructions. She comes into the chart house, twirls around, meows at me or someone else looking up with her big, soulful cat eyes, flips her tail with a little curl at the tip and goes out on deck with one final glance. She has made her point clear and left us to sort it out. Trouble is, we have no idea what she said apart from “meow.” If she had words she would be using them. As it is I think she is pretty sure that she has words, maybe she does and we are just too dense to sort it out…she likes the cargo hatch if there are people on it doing something, like working on sails.

Winter has really taken hold here in Lunenburg. It’s snowing outside my office window, the beginning of what is forecast to be five centimetres tonight. The wind is blowing from the southeast, causing whitecaps in the harbour and I can hardly see the golf course across the water through the snow and fog. Picton Castle is still tied snugly to her wharf, rocking in the waves that are formed when the wind blows up Lunenburg Bay.

Work continues aboard as we prepare for the Voyage of the Atlantic. Finn is making great progress in the engine room, mounting and re-wiring lights, getting parts overhauled and keeping the furnace running when it gets really cold to stop the pipes from freezing. Kjetil, Ben, Ryan and Sarah have made good headway in overhauling all the blocks (over 300 of them!), which were sent down and into the warehouse in the fall. Each block is taken apart, inspected, scraped, cleaned, greased and oiled as necessary. Some take only a few minutes to overhaul, some take much longer. They’re also doing some varnish work, with yards laid across sawhorses in the warehouse for scraping and sanding, then hung from beams in the ceiling to varnish.

The office continues to be busy, with packages arriving almost daily by courier or mail that contain catalogues, publications and samples as we provision the ship for the voyage. We need to make sure there’s enough of everything from crew T-shirts to Chibley’s flea medication. We have heard recently from a number of people in Europe who have connections to Picton Castle, many family members of former crew who worked aboard when she was fishing or carrying cargo. They’re excited to see what the ship is like now, and we’re thrilled to share her with them. There are only a few more months of winter, and a few more months until we sail away on our next exciting adventure.

Kjetil overhauls a block

Ryan sands a yard

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She’s circled the globe three times and continues to be one of the most recognized members of our crew. She’s Ms Chibley Bits, the Picton Castle’s cat, and she’s just written her first book.

Of course, Chibs needed a little help—keyboards being rather cumbersome for her six-toed paws—so Mineville, Nova Scotia resident Ruth Wells kindly came to her assistance.

A sailor herself, Ruth first met Chibley in 2004, though she’d been introduced to her ship and reputation a full four years earlier.

It was during the giant Tall Ships 2000 celebration at Halifax and Ruth had just returned home from touring the visiting ships, including the Picton Castle. “I was telling my daughter, a 911 dispatcher, about being aboard the Picton Castle and she said ‘that’s the one that had the cat go missing.’”

In fact, several of Halifax’s finest had been dispatched to look for Chibley, who had gone AWOL following the Parade of Sail. Crew members, previously anxious to get underway for the ship’s home port of Lunenburg, refused to sail until she was found.

Of course, Chibley eventually turned up—she simply wasn’t finished with matters ashore. The media had a heyday.

As for Ruth, she was “fascinated to learn of a shipboard cat. Everyone we knew lost them overboard.” That’s why the Wells’ had a rabbit aboard their sailboat. She decided this feline had a story to tell.

Ruth spent a couple of years writing this first book, Chibley: the Cat Who Went to Sea. A second tale is already in the works.

Ruth and the book’s illustrator, Doug McCabe, will both be on hand at the Picton Castle Sea Chest, 132 Montague Street, Lunenburg, this Saturday, May 12, from 2-4 p.m.

While unable to attend personally, Chibley—currently bound for Charleston aboard the Picton Castle—will be offering special paw-o-graphs for $2 with all proceeds going toward the purchase of educational materials to be distributed to needy schools during future voyages.