Before Picton Castle arrives in a port, the Captain always holds a muster in order to give the crew some guidance and instruction on what to do and what not to do, local customs, places to go, things to see and people to meet. These briefings are always in balance – giving the crew enough […]
At 1100 the pilot came to the Picton Castle alongside West Quay in the inner Alfred Basin to take us back out to sea. We had spent three weeks here at Cape Town, surrounded by lovely wooden fishing boats, ships coming off the synchrolift and right next to the very posh hotel the Cape Grace.
On the afternoon of January 26th the Captain held a lecture on ship handling. The rains had subsided that afternoon – and so the crew settled onto the quarterdeck to learn a thing or two. Primarily he discussed docking – a daunting and fascinating job. There are many factors one must account for including, but
On January 23rd, after Bounty Day celebrations wrapped up, the 8-12 watch took the deck. Before we’d had a chance to muster Mates Paul and Mike ordered the crew to take in all sail. We were about to pass into a nasty little trough and rather than wallow within the mass of foul weather under
By Pania Warren Being from Pitcairn Island is a pretty big thing on the ship. A day hasn’t gone by without a story or a shipmate’s recollection of their time there. DB (David Brown) features in most of these tales. Deebs, your shipmates love and miss you!! So when I was told by the Captain
Almost every year since 1790 on little Pitcairn Island at 25 south latitude and 130 west longitude deep in the South Pacific Ocean, the islanders have held a celebration on January 23. All the islanders gather down at the landing in Bounty Bay, a short cement jetty poured over the rocks that the Bounty crowd
By Bronwen Livingston and Captain Daniel Moreland (not much by me – DM) and others One of our steady crew in this world wandering square-rigger, the Barque Picton Castle is Ollie – a great shipmate, natural seaman, capable rigger, qualified helmsman, brace hauling fool and all around good sailor and seaman. Good man aloft at
The Picton Castle has been racing along at an average speed of 6 knots, making great time, ever since we left Reunion a week ago. We all had a fantastic time during our visit, but we are happy to be back at sea. Land tuckers you out. I have been a landlubber my entire life
On the morning of January 13th, 2011 the Picton Castle cleared out with Reunion customs and immigration and headed back out to sea bound for Cape Town, South Africa about 2200 miles away. One of our beloved crew, Lorraine, originally having planned to sign off in Cape Town, left us here in Reunion to move
The Picton Castle usually gets a little extra loving while in port and Reunion was no exception. The crew were not idle as they waited for our agents and then Customs and Immigration to go over our paperwork and stamp our passports. They hopped in to the skiff almost immediately after docking and began scrubbing
