Ship’s work: At 0800 fore and main royals were set by the oncoming and off coming watches. Another gorgeous day aboard the Picton Castle. An egret bird has made refuge on deck, taunting our ship’s cat Fiji. Our sailmaker, John, from Boston, mends a spare royal sail, while his favourite sailmaker’s bench is getting an […]
Ship’s work: A sun filled blue sky morning, we couldn’t ask for more pleasant sailing weather. The well deck is sprinkled with remnants of saw dust and wood shavings, as the bosun and assistants are busy upgrading the forward head. At the aft end of the ship the sail maker is pleasantly hand seaming together
Ship’s work: After a day of “make and mend” Sunday’s rest the crew are back at it on their watches. A beautiful blue sky sunny day with a sweet breeze, all hands are turning to for some useful jobs. Sounds of chipping away rust, wire brushing metal, lathering tar on the shrouds smells great across
Ship’s work: Sundays at sea consist of no ship’s work, the sail maker and bosun can rest their hands, the cook can sleep in as we look after cooking for the day and the on watch crew can work on their personal projects, yet are always standing by on deck for sail handling. At 0900
First full day at sea under sail after much training and drilling. Warm, light northerly winds as we make our way towards the westernmost point of Cuba and on to Panama. Ship’s work: Continued chipping away at the windlass. Bending on mended main t’gallant staysail. Sailmaker John Gareri vigourously seaming together the lower topsail that
By Cara Lauzon We had the most amazing sail yesterday afternoon into the night, the stars were gorgeous. We starting steaming around midnight to be in time to pick up our pilot for the transit up the Mississippi River to New Orleans for the final tall ships festival in the Gulf of Mexico Tall Ships
By Cara Lauzon Pensacola was fun! The city was beautiful and the tall ships festival we just participated in there over the weekend was a little smaller so all the ships were close together and it was easy to wander and see them. The crew made the most of their time off enjoying the sunshine
By Cara Lauzon Beautiful sunset last night, becoming the first sunny day of the passage. Now that the sun is out and conditions are calming down, the Chief Mate is making sure lots of teaching is happening, helping the new hands learn lines. The wind was in our favour for a little while today so
By Cara Lauzon We had smooth yet chilly and foggy departure from Galveston yesterday, we left early just as the sun was rising. There was a magical moment when the monomoy, the double ended boat we use for rowing practice, came out of the mist making her way back to the ship to be hoisted.
By Cara Lauzon We are approaching Galveston, Texas through a maze of oil rigs and tanker ships. At night the oil rigs are lit up like giant Christmas trees, and the tankers appear out of nowhere, massive looming structures. Last night we were overtaken by the topsail schooner Lynx, she slipped up on our port
