By Cara Lauzon Wednesday March 7, 2018 With the first sunny day this week there is a frenzy of painting, carpentry, and other work going on aboard Picton Castle here in St. George’s, Bermuda. Its been blowing so hard that the ship had what looked like a spider web of lines holding us to the …
Because of a mechanical issue, Picton Castle is returning to our wharf in Lunenburg. The ship was close to home, still in Canadian waters, so we figured it is easiest and better to head back instead of working at sea this time of year to make the fix. The crew and cat are all well, …
First day of the Gulf voyage 2018! Started the day with sunshine, heaved up and got under way at 07:30, bound for Bermuda. Sailing southwest with clear skies, it’s beautiful but cold with icicles forming on the rails. Everyone is as bundled up as possible trying to stay warm, and consuming an extreme amount of …
GETTING READY FOR SEA By: Captain D. Moreland A pretty deep, snowy and proper winter here in Lunenburg these days. The PICTON CASTLE is snugly moored to her wharf; 1,500 pound anchor and 300 feet of big anchor chain out in the harbour holding her against SE gales and storms to which this harbour is …
12 January, 2017 It is an incredibly mild day here in Lunenburg today. It’s actually +12°c/54°f which is incredibly warm for us on a mid-January day in Nova Scotia. The harbour is almost perfectly calm; this morning as I was walking down Bluenose Drive is was a sheet of glass. Just perfect. You would never …
Our 8th Bosun School has come to a close, and we had a lovely graduation ceremony at Lunenburg’s historic Dory Shop on Friday 18 December. Closing ceremonies are an important part of the Bosun School. Each of the participants works so hard -it isn’t easy, this school of ours. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to get through it, and that is one of the reasons we only offer it to individuals who already have some amount of sea experience under their belt; people who already know they want to work at sea. So much hard work deserves acknowledgement, and the closing ceremony is designed to provide that. In the final weeks of the school, Captain Moreland met individually with each of the participants to talk about what they see in their future. He was able to provide them with advice, suggestions, and recommendations, sometimes helping them with their plan and sometimes pointing them in another direction. Some of the graduates are planning going on to take additional courses from other institutions; some are going on to work on other ships; all were offered the opportunity to crew the ship as Picton Castle heads to Bermuda in February. Almost all accepted the offer. Because as important as it is to have the the time to dedicate to learning these skills on land, there is no better place to practice these new skills than at sea. Captain Sikkema is heading south with a very capable crew indeed! The graduation at the Dory Shop was a great night. It started with some music by Bosun School students Cici, Anders & Lars, along with a few drinks and snacks, then a sit-down meal of hot …
If you’ve been with us a while, you know we don’t often send out cheesy requests that you purchase our merchandise. It’s always available, but we usually sell it on the ship. Christmas is nearly here, though, and we have some of our super popular “We May Be Slow” shirts available. At only $25CAD each …
Christmas is on its way – Need a last minute gift idea? Read More »
Former Picton Castle crew member, Erin Greig, was featured in The Royal Gazette in Bermuda yesterday. Erin is the first woman in Bermuda to gain the Junior Navigator’s Certificate from Warsash Marine Academy in England and become an Officer of the Watch. Her sea time on a number of sail training ships, including Picton Castle, …
Erin Greig First Bermudian Woman to be Navigator Read More »
From the mid 19th century until the mid 20th century, sailing ships were the incubator and hatchery for almost all deep-sea steam-ship mariners be they naval or merchant marine. This is what came to be known as “trained in sail” or later, “sail training”. This training service came about due to the extraordinarily rich seamanship …
A very long time before Ecotourism was cool – before it was even a word – Picton Castle was an active ecotourism operator. But what does that mean? Ecotourism is a word that seems to be popping up all over. The latest trend in travel, it is rising in popularity on an international level as …
