It’s Monday morning on board the Picton Castle and we’re back to our schedule of ship’s work to keep us busy on watch and, of course, to keep our lovely ship in good shape. Our engineer, Deyan of Switzerland, measured the monkey deck ladder with the help of his new assistant Kevin, of Sweden. Deyan plans to use the pipes that were once working as the heating system for the ship’s aft cabins to replace the ladder. He is prepping the pipes by grinding and cleaning them.
Our sailmaker, John, had a team of helpers this morning up on the quarterdeck including the chief mate Erin, trainees Sue and Braham, and third mate Corey, all assisting in seaming the main topmast stays’l, as well as Andy from Maine Maritime Academy. Crew members who are new to sailmaking were able to have a try at seaming scraps of canvas together and John guided those who are making ditty bags through the process.
Also spotted on the quarterdeck was our rigger, Anne-Laure of France, working high above the sailmakers seizing new ratlines on the mizzen shrouds. Sue and Robert rust busted the bottlescrews and turnbuckles on the foremast port side rigging.
Amongst this all, ship’s boy Dawson has been actively playing ‘catch me if you can’ as he calls it, which involves running all over the ship chasing him. When he closes his eyes, you cannot see him.
Off-duty crew members were doing their laundry on the well deck. If you think our ship comes complete with front load washers and industrial dryers, think again. We sailors do our own laundry, salt water buckets hauled up from the ocean, soaked, soaped and rinsed until the final fresh water rinse and hung to dry in hopes it doesn’t rain.
It’s been a active Monday morning. Our newest trainee from Denmark, Clara, paints the red racing stripe on our longboat. Tomas, our ship’s medical officer, sanded the gunnels of the dory Sea Never Dry and Dustin tarred the port side of the head rig. At 1500 the chief mate will hold a workshop on knots and splices for new hands and those who are interested in brushing up on their rope skills.
From: Suva, Fiji
Towards: Vanuatu
Date: October 8th, 2018
Noon Position: 16°59.1′ S x 171°16.2′ E
Course + Speed: W b N + 4.2 knots
Wind direction + Force: SSE + 4
Swell Height + Direction: 2m + southerly
Weather: Sunny, slightly overcast
Day’s Run: 97.3nm
Passage Log: 100.8nm
Distance to Port: 251.3nm
Voyage: 10070.8nm
Sails Set: All square sails, fore topmast stays’l, inner jib, outer jib, main topmast stays’l, mizzen stays’l