What follows below are the first Captain’s Logs that were written back when just getting the ship and working at seeing this dream come true. The story begins in Norway in May of 1993. We hope you enjoy the tale. The Story of the Picton Castle The Captain’s Running Letter Captain Daniel D. Moreland The […]
Dawn found the Picton Castle under all plain sail a few miles west of the Scilly Islands, just off Lands End. Breezes were moderate, seas down and the ship slipped along nicely. Lots of deep-water vessels were about, making the corner north into the Bristol Channel or east into the English Channel bound for France,
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.
Cobh is part of the Cork City Port and was one of the major immigrant departure points for North America. Millions of Irish sailed from Cobh for parts west. The first family to walk through Ellis Island in New York stepped foot onto a launch to board a ship in Cobh close to where the
Beautiful Baltimore was quite a hit with all hands, apart from Chibley the cat who did not go ashore. But she did not seem to care much. After four days I was hoping to sail on Saturday but strong gale warnings were being broadcast. If we were at sea they would have made for strong
It seems that Picton Castle has been to Baltimore, Ireland before, maybe many times. When our ship was fishing she sailed out of Swansea, Wales, not too far to the east of here. The fishing grounds were to the west in such areas as Rockall Banks and off towards Iceland. This means that she must
With about 300 people living here, Baltimore is not a huge place. But it is stunningly beautiful, fun and friendly. First of all there are pictures of the Schooner Pride of Baltimore everywhere. Not just in the pubs but on peoples houses and worked in iron on their garden fences. But I get ahead of
The late afternoon of Tuesday June 17, 2008 found our Picton Castle with strong and building winds and seas astern and making good way in squalls and rain into the small bay of Baltimore, Ireland. Weather reports of building gales and rising seas in the waters along the south coast of Ireland had us headed
Monday morning: We are underway again after being hove-to in fresh northerlies yesterday. The sun came out Sunday evening for “marlinspike” and Shackle got dressed up in traditional marlinspike attire: a floral shirt and sarong. We’re pretty sure he’s the only guy at sea on a barque at 50 North wearing a sarong, lavalava or
0800: Picton Castle is at 49-40N / 016-08W and the ship is hove-to in strong easterly winds, about 30 knots, well short of a gale but plenty of wind none the less. If we were bound towards any western quadrant we would be sailing nice and smartly. As it happens the wind is coming directly
