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.
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