We recently came across an article online that ties together Picton Castle’s recent year-long voyage around the Atlantic Ocean.

You may know that our ship was named for a castle in Wales. Picton Castle was built in the late 13th century and has been home to the Philipps family, who are direct descendants of the original builder. A visit to the Picton Castle while the ship was in port at Milford Haven was a highlight of the voyage. On the Voyage of the Atlantic, the ship also visited Dakar in Senegal, a major port for the exportation of slaves from Africa. Many of the crew on the voyage have powerful memories of visiting Goree Island, the gateway through which slaves were loaded onto ships and carried away from their home.

This article tells the story of one particular boy who was brought from Senegal to Britain by an officer of the British army and given to Sir John Philipps as a gift. Named for the Philipps family castle, Cesar Picton was raised as a servant in the Philipps household. The family was against the slave trade so Cesar was educated and apparently mixed with the family on equal terms. An inheritance from Lady Philipps allowed Cesar to become a merchant, at which he was quite successful. Owning a home in Kingston and property in the country, Cesar died in 1836 at the age of 81.

On the Voyage of the Atlantic, particularly the passage from Africa to the Caribbean, the crew were mindful of the countless ships that had sailed that way before with cargoes of people. While Cesar Picton sailed a slightly different route, this other namesake of the Welsh castle draws together another connection on this voyage.

With a pile of snow falling earlier this week, Picton Castle may actually experience a white Christmas this year, snugly tied to the dock in Lunenburg. The ship has spent many Christmases at sea in the tropics where the only white is the canvas of the sails overhead. At this time next year, Picton Castle and her crew will be sailing across the Indian Ocean, the little fake evergreen tree strapped to the cargo hatch, yummy smells of cookies and other baked goods wafting out of the galley and the crew going about the daily routine of watches in shorts and t-shirts, thinking of families and friends at home in cooler climates.

The holidays are also a time to reflect back on the past year. Picton Castle has had all sorts of adventures with a fine crew. After crossing the south Atlantic under sail alone, the crew had a great lumber-finding adventure in the forest of Grenada, took part in race week in Antigua and island-hopped in the Eastern Caribbean before sailing triumphantly into Lunenburg harbour in May. With a new gang aboard, Picton Castle sailed south at the end of June for Massachusetts to join up with the fleet of Tall Ships in Boston and Halifax. Picton Castle carried on through Atlantic Canada, first with a smaller group of ships and then on our own, exploring small ports in this breathtakingly beautiful and warmly hospitable part of the world. The Bosun School students were busy ashore this fall, learning everything from wire splicing to caulking, sailing small boats in Wednesday night Hump Cup races and taking field trips in the local area.

From all of us at Picton Castle, we wish you the warmest of holiday greetings and all the best for 2010.

Lunenburg fleet all lit up

Picton Castle with lights at the dock

tree atop the mizzen

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Saturday was an important day on Lunenburg’s waterfront, as the keels for two wooden schooners to be built at the Dory Shop were laid. Laying the keels marks the start of this exciting project, and Picton Castle crew were on hand to assist.

The two schooners, both 48 feet long and built in the Tancook tradition, will be constructed outdoors on the Dory Shop property as twins, frame for frame and plank for plank. Captain Moreland said on Saturday they will be “schooners that are so pretty, they’re make you cry; so comfortable they’ll make you never want to go home; so fast, they’ll make you win every race you’re in.”

Picton Castle crew from the Voyage of the Atlantic have a strong connection to this project as they procured the wood for the keels from the forests of Grenada. With help from Wesley Pilgrim, commonly known as Mr. Bones, an old shipwright friend of Captain Moreland, second mate Paul Bracken and crew member Matt McGraw treked into the jungle to find the right tree that would provide the wood for these keels. The perfect tree was found, a mountain gommier, then cut down and dragged three kilometres out of the forest by hand, with assistance from a team of locals and some reinforcement crew members from the ship. These two 3,000 pound pieces of wood were then towed to the ship and loaded on board, lashed securely on deck for the passage from Grenada to Lunenburg.

The craftsmanship of master boatbuilder Dave Westergaard has turned these two giant pieces of wood into keels for two schooners. And the first spikes were driven into the keels on Saturday, beginning the building process.

With about 250 people on hand for the celebration, Lunenburg Mayor Laurence Mawhinney noted the value of this project for the community. “Many years past, this waterfront was the beam upon which Lunenburg was built. So these two beams being laid today are significant of the revival of the watefront that we know and love and want to see rise again.”

The ceremonial pounding of the first spike into each keel was easily done by distinguished mariners Captain Phil Watson, skipper of the schooner Bluenose II, and 91-year old Captain Matt Mitchell whose long career at sea included a period of time aboard the original Bluenose.

Despite the cold temperatures and biting wind, most of the crowd stuck around for some hot cider to warm themselves up and toast the beginning of this new chapter of boat building on Lunenburg’s waterfront.

To follow along with the project’s progress, check out the Twin Schooner blog at twinschooners.blogspot.com.

Captain Matt Mitchell drives in the first spike

Captain Moreland addresses the crowd at keel laying

Captain Phil Watson drives in the first spike

Meredith, Paul and Jackie at the keel laying

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Saturday November 28 was the middle day of Picton Castle’s three-day Cargo Sale, it was also the first annual Santa Claus Parade in Lunenburg. The theme for the whole parade was “Santa in a Fishing Dory,” a fitting theme for a town with such a strong seafaring heritage. In recent years, Santa has made his arrival in Lunenburg on board a scallop dragger, this year he was part of the parade and arrived in a dory.

The Picton Castle crew entered our unique dory in the parade, Sea Never Dry, with her tropical pink, blue, green and yellow paint job. Because of the power lines over the road on the parade route, we couldn’t put up Sea Never Dry’s usual sailing rig, so we used the shorter rig from Mr Bones and reefed Sea Never Dry’s cotton Senegalese sail to fit. The Bosun School students decorated our dory for the parade, going with a tropical Christmas theme. In addition to the things we expect to see at this time of year, like tinsel and garland, Sea Never Dry was decorated with inflatable palm trees and tiki lights.

The crew looked tropical to match Sea Never Dry, with some allowances for November weather in Nova Scotia. Over their pants and long sleeve shirts they wore sarongs and grass skirts, all sorts of brightly coloured clothes. They waved flags from around the world, played drums and handed out candy canes to the parade spectators.

We had a great time in the parade and the crew like being involved in the community while we’re here in port. Many thanks to the parade organizers for the opportunity to participate!

For a video recap of the parade, check this out. You will see us briefly near the beginning of the video.

crew in tropical gear

dressed up in tropical outfits

last minute preparations

parading down Lincoln Street

Sea Never Dry tropical Christmas

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Join us this weekend at our warehouse on the waterfront in Lunenburg for the Picton Castle Cargo Sale!

A previous Captain’s Log will give you details on some of the items for sale, and below are a few photos from the inside of the warehouse on Thursday afternoon. We hope you’ll come down for a cup of warm cider and a chance to browse through the treasures we’ve collected from around the world. Who knows, you may find that perfect gift for someone on your holiday shopping list, or even something for yourself!

Location: 174 Bluenose Drive, on the waterfront in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

Friday November 27, 10:00am to 5:00pm
Saturday November 28, 10:00am to 5:00pm
Sunday November 29, 12:00pm to 5:00pm

a whole wall of sarongs and fabric!

chests full of fabric, hand woven baskets

coffee table, tam tams and day bed

cute little inlaid and painted wood pots

teak armchair and fijian war clubs

teak desk and masks from around the world

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Picton Castle Chief Mate Michael Moreland has recently been awarded Young Sail Trainer of the Year by Sail Training International. Both Michael and Second Mate Paul Bracken were in attendance at the Sail Training International annual conference in Istanbul, Turkey when the award was presented. This award is given annually to a professional sail trainer under 26 years old to encourage and recognize high-performing individuals who deliver sail training programs.

Michael has served as Picton Castle’s Chief Mate since March 2008, on the year-long voyage around the Atlantic Basin, as well as this summer’s voyage on the east coast of North America. Michael will continue on in this role on the ship’s upcoming world circumnavigation voyage, starting in May 2010.

Here are a few highlights from Michael’s nomination:

“Michael joined this ship as a 16 year old cadet in the summer of 2000 and
returned as a trainee for the Picton Castle’s third circumnavigation 2003-
2004. At the end of this voyage he immediately headed off to the Maine
Maritime Academy where I am told by his instructors… he excelled in every way. After graduating with distinction
from MMA Michael went to serve in the Brig Niagara, Schooner Amistad and
other vessels to advance his craft.

The Picton Castle just completed a remarkable 20,000 mile voyage around the
Atlantic including much of coastal Europe, West Africa, Brazil, West Indies,
New England and the Canadian Maritime provinces. For this voyage Michael was
originally signed up to be Second Mate but when the designated Chief Mate
had to back out for reasons at home at the last minute I asked Michael to
step up to the plate…

As an upcoming yet accomplished mariner, I have seen few Michaels equal. As
a small boat handler he is exceptional. As a calm, well organized leader he
is a pleasure to work with. As a sailing ship and sail training officer he
is dedicated to his craft. As a shipmate you could not ask for better.”

Congratulations, Michael, we’re all very proud of your accomplishments!

For more details, check out Sail Training International.

Mike leads plotting workshop

Mike teaches workshop on piloting

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Looking for a unique gift? Or a handcrafted piece of furniture? Look no further than the Picton Castle Cargo Sale in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia on the last weekend in November.

As Picton Castle sails around the world, Captain Moreland and the crew personally select handcrafted items from markets, studios and workshops in exotic ports to bring home for sale. These items are representative of the tropical trade-wind routes the ship sails, little pieces of paradise that we can bring home and share.

More important to us than the places these treasures represent are the people who made them – gentle Wayan in Bali who creates exquisite, intricate beaded baskets that require hours of patience and delicate work; the people from the Vanuatu island of Pentecost, famous for their land divers, who walk for hours to the village of Bwatnapne Bay for trading day with their woven pandanaus bags, baskets and floormats; our friends and gracious hosts on Pitcairn Island who, in addition to being descendants of the mutineers on the Bounty, are fine wood carvers who create dolphins, sharks, turtles, boat models and even fids (sailors’ tools used for splicing rope) out of tropical hardwoods, sanded and finely finished; Josepho from Vava’u in the Kingdom of Tonga who brought his masks with Polynesian gods and sculptures of whales and fish on board the ship to sell; Mohammed from the waterfront craft market in Suva, Fiji who sells Fijian war clubs that are exact replicas of clubs found in the Fiji Museum in Suva and who invited some of the crew into his home for supper; the tall, thin Rastafarian men with their dreadlocks tied up on top of their heads in the heat of the fruit and vegetable market in Port Elizabeth, Bequia who sell tote bags made of recycled grain sacks with nylon webbing for straps.

Whether you’re a sailor, a traveller or an appreciator of fine handmade items, you’re sure to find some interesting gems at the Cargo Sale.

Join us at our warehouse on the Lunenburg waterfront at 174 Bluenose Drive on Friday November 27 and Saturday November 28 from 10am to 5pm and Sunday November 29 from 12pm to 5pm.

Crew in basket from Tonga

Loading sea chests inlaid with mother of pearl on to the ship in Bali

Pania with whale carving in Tonga

Wayan and her beautiful handmade beaded baskets

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The Picton Castle crew woke up this morning, the first workday morning since we changed the clocks back an hour this weekend, with some sun. They put on their long underwear, lots of layers, sweaters and hats and got to work. Craig, Andrew, Dave, Sarah and Jack are in the Dory Shop for the next week or so, apprenticing as wooden boat builders with dory builder Jay Langford. This morning they selected and prepared the wood that will eventually be the bottom of a Handline Dory. Meredith and Nick are working on overhauling blocks, taking apart each one to clean it up, inspect it, put some new coatings on it and put it back together again. The ship has over 300 blocks in the rig, so this task will be ongoing. David continues to stitch away in the warehouse, making repairs to the sails that have been sent down for the winter. Erin and Katie are painting aboard the ship, getting good coats of paint on all the steel parts so they can stay covered through the winter when painting outdoors isn’t possible. Nicki is in the galley today, preparing meals for the crew. The ship’s cook, Donald, has returned to his tropical home of Grenada, having had enough of this Canadian autumn weather, so the crew are taking turns cooking. This afternoon, everyone other than the dory builders will turn to painting on board.

The ship is mostly ready for winter now, she looks quite bare on deck with all of the deck boxes stowed in the warehouse and all of the manilla running rigging sent down. The wooden fore and main t’gallant yards have been sent down for the winter, stowed in the warehouse where they will be overhauled and ready to send back up next spring. The fore and main t’gallant masts have also been sent down, but they were overhauled on the wharf and sent back up. The tops’l yards and the course yards on the fore and main masts, which are made of steel, have been cockbilled and lashed firmly in place for the coming months.

The crew continue to live on board, there is some heat in the Batcave so some of the crew have already moved aft and more will likely do that soon. Chibley, the ship’s cat, also continues to live on board, although she is becoming increasingly interested in curling up in our office and store across the street. With a group of people still on board, the crew are able to make their own fun wherever we go. Sailing on Wednesday nights has continued through the fall, Norm and Steve continue to make the Grand Banker feel like our living room, and we occasionally have special occasions to celebrate. There was a big turkey dinner on board in the main salon for Canadian Thanksgiving and I’m sure we’ll do it again in a few weeks to celebrate with our American friends. With our experience of marlinspike parties on board the ship, dressing up for Hallowe’en was no problem for our crew.

As we enter the last month of our Bosun School program, the ship is pretty much ready for winter. There will be lots to do in order to get the ship ready to sail around the world again, so work will continue with maintaining and overhauling the ship and all her parts.

Andrew, Jack and Dave dig in to lunch

Craig and Sarah learn to build a dory with Jay

empty looking decks and wheel and binnacle covered for the winter

Meredith overhauls a block

the fore yard cockbilled at a sharp angle for the winter

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Now that Picton Castle is tied up for the fall and winter in Lunenburg, we are spending more time on our computers, on the phone and on the internet. We have computers on board the ship and use them daily for electronic charts and navigation and also for communications, but we don’t have access to the internet on board and our phones aren’t constantly ringing. Coming back to the office is a bit of an adjustment that way.

One of the things we’ve been looking at lately is our own website, trying to figure out what works well and what should be changed. Because we’re so familiar with it, it can be hard to see the site from the perspective of someone who visits it occasionally, or even for the first time. So, we’re asking for some feedback from you. Please send us an email at info@picton-castle.com to let us know what you like about our website, what you don’t like and what you would like to see change. All comments and suggestions are welcome.

Saturday, September 12 was an extraordinarily busy day on the Lunenburg waterfront, what with the International Dory Races, the launching of the schooner Kitty Cochran at the Dory Shop, and all of the other events of the Lunenburg Waterfront Seafood Festival.

One of those events was the Bailly’s Fuels Charity Dory Challenge in support of the South Shore Health Foundation. The Picton Castle had a team in the dory challenge, kindly sponsored by the folks at Nova Scotia Building Supplies. There were two other ships teams, one from the schooner Bluenose II and another from the US Coast Guard Cutter Grand Isle (also sponsored by local hardware stores), as well as teams from local businesses.

The small problem was that the dory challenge was scheduled to begin at 1:30 and at 1 p.m. the schooner had not yet been launched. Our crew not only worked to put the schooner’s masts in place – without a crane, no less – but also worked to rig the boat, so everyone wanted to be on hand for the launch. Add to that the fact that it was the dad of one of our rowers who built the boat and you can imagine that no one was going anywhere until the Kitty Cochran was in the water. Thankfully that happened just before the half hour and our rowers, Kyle Westergaard and Ollie Stiler-Cote, were able to hightail it to the other end of the waterfront for the challenge. Which they won!

We honestly don’t know what was more entertaining – the fine show of rowing skills or members of our crew all decked out in hats and dresses from the schooner launch cheering from the bowsprit of the Bluenose II. However it was a great event and our team was proud to bring their trophy back down to the Dory Shop for celebrations that carried on well into the night.

charity challenge dory champs

PC rowers in dory challenge

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