By John Kinley, apprentice April 15th, 2014 It was a dark and stormy night. The crew of the Picton Castle was restless as the anchor chain cranked and rattled in the hawse pipe. The anchor’s fragile grip held our bulky ship in the lee of the small atoll of Palmerston on a narrow strip of …
By Captain John Beebe-Center April 15th, 2014 Sometimes you just know. Being at anchor at Palmerston Island presented some logistical challenges – primarily because one goes from no sounding to a coral reef in about 200 yards distance. The out fall of the lagoon and the prevailing Easterly breezes are what keep an anchored ship …
I was delirious with exhaustion and hesitant to go ashore at Palmerston Island after our night of heaving up the anchor aboard the Picton Castle. The ship was hove-to, like the night we arrived. We had drifted seven miles. The weather was gloomy and I could see us making a quick getaway that night if …
By Chelsea McBroom April 13th, 2014 Port went ashore to Palmerston Island while starboard stayed on board to continue with a day of ships work. Melbourne, a man from Palmerston, came by asking if we had any soap to spare and so I brought him a bag full of bars to take back. Some locals …
By Chelsea McBroom April 12th, 2014 The Picton Castle sailed to Palmerston Island quicker than expected. The winds reminded us of the Roaring 40s and all we needed to sail with to get us to five knots were the topsails, the foresail, the inner jib and the main topmast staysail. The Captain originally planned for …
By Chelsea McBroom April 11th, 2014 A family in town that ran a bike rental shop were given a tour of the ship and were so pleased with how excited the kids were, they offered to repair our Picton Castle bicycles. Somehow I always end up riding the bright pink cruiser bike with the back …
By Chelsea McBroom April 10th, 2014 April 5th was the dreaded day when Pania, the Picton Castle‘s bosun, and Sam, the watch officer, cleaned out their bunks and packed their bags. Their time with the ship was over (for now) and they were signing off in the port of Rarotonga. We went to dinner at …
By Chelsea McBroom Wednesday April 9th, 2014 It was a bright sunny day in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, a bit windier than usual and people were kite surfing along the shore closer to town. The beach stretched into town and the waves could be heard crashing with the sounds of traffic. Pania, Maria, Lily …
By Chelsea McBroom April 8th, 2014 The day before we arrived in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, as we were sailing the Picton Castle from Huahine in French Polynesia, we had a workshop to introduce the island of Rarotonga to the crew. Everyone who had been to Rarotonga before gave the others advice on visiting …
By Chelsea McBroom April 1st, 2014 (April Fool’s Day) It was another beautiful evening aboard the Picton Castle and Anne was looking sorrowful as she came out of the charthouse, having found that we were again going slower than 2 knots. In trying to make it for our early morning meeting with the tug boat …
