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preserved or restored has increased dramatically, and, with it, the increase in people taking up traditional seafaring and maritime trades as a career. Each ship has its own educational or institutional mission, but sometimes, while carrying out a variation on an educational program at sea on these hardworking training ships, there is little time to focus on advancing particular skills , such as wire work, caulking, and sailmaking. Rarely does the opportunity roll aro und t0 actually help rig a ship from the keel up, or lay out and construct a sail with a professional sailmaker. The goal of the Picton Castle's Bosun School in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, is to provide an opportunity for young dedicated mariners to advance their hand skills in a concentrated fashion . They do so ashore, while working with a ship, but without the natural demands and distractions of being underway at sea and the dmies associated with being at sea. Once signed aboard their next ship-or job at a maritime museum, boatyard, or sail loft-the Bosun School graduates have that much more to offer and will be greater contributors to the mission of their ship or outfit. The Bosun School is designed for young people preparing for a career at sea with some previous experience in sailing ships, and as either a student or crew member. They need to have the ship- and sea-going bug before they join the Bosun School. H ere in Lunenburg, this fall we have had a gang of young mariners working to learn and master their skills as Bosun School students. The pore is a UNESCO World H eritage Site, known the world over for its shipbuilding. We have the entire Lunenburg working waterfront, our own wharf and warehouse, as well as access to the Dory Shop, which has been building dories for fishing schooners and draggers continuously since 1917. Small-boat handling has taken a backseat to other skills in recent years, yet smallboat handling is a critical skill for a mariner-and it has the added advantage of being quite good fun. Every day in the afternoon the gang takes some of our many boats out on Lunenburg harbor for instruction and plenty of practice. We h ave a 20-foot-long cutter from the South Pacific atoll of Palmerston-sails like a witch, she SEA HISTORY 157, WINTER 2016- 17
The Origins of the Barque Picton Castle The Picton Castle was built in 1928 of riveted steel at Cochrane's Ship Bui lding in Yorkshire, England, as a fishing trawler on the lines of what was called at that time a "medium clipper." She fished out of Swansea and Milford Haven, Wales, from the English Channel out to Iceland during the winter and summer. Many of her crew came from Baltimore, Ireland, which she would pass on the way to the fishing grounds. Just before World War II, she was conscripted in the Royal Navy and refitted as a minesweeper trawler, a role she carried out through the war, participating in the raid on Saint-Nazaire, France, to destroy the largest drydock serving the German navy on the Atlantic coast. About seven months after the termination of hostilities, having spent many months cleaning up mines in the North Sea, our Picton Castle returned to fishing. In 1955 she was bought by interests in Norway, went through a technical rebuild, and repowered and commenced freighting along the coast of Europe, from the USSR to Portugal. When I found her in 1991, she was still working out ofKopervik, Norway. I looked at forty different vessels before selecting the Picton Castle. She was exactly what I was looking for. She had the lines and strength and seaworthy form that was ideal for the plans we had to establish a faithful small barque for carrying out deep-sea sail training voyages, especially voyages aro und the world. I started out looking for something like the Joseph Conrad, but could find nothing in her 200ton size. At 300 gross tons, this ship was that much more powerful and spacious. We purchased the ship in 1993, and from there sailed her to Kristiansand, Norway, to visit a breakers' yard, where we bought all sorts of useful gear for the upcoming refit. On to Marstal, Denmark, with a great shipyard to overhaul machinery and make sure that this small 300-ton ship could handle a transAtlantic voyage under her own power. A brief stay in Svendborg, Denmark, and then up the Kattegat, bound for the North Sea and English Channel, where we put in at Ipswich, England, for the winter. In early spring, we made our way downchannel in plenty of gales and on to Madeira, Bermuda, and New York City, where we found a generous berth at Pier 15, South Street Seaport Museum. In due course, our financing began to come together and we made our way to Lunenburg to begin the big refit of this fishing trawler into a classic deep-water sailing barque. While not expecting to be under the jurisdiction of the US flag, we followed or exceeded USCG Subchapter-R regulations for Sailing School Vessels for stabi lity, down-flood, subdivision and safety, rescue and fire fighting, and much else. We set sail in November 1997 for the first of six voyages around the world; the seventh will depart Lunenburg in fall of2017. In addition tO her circumnavigations, Picton Castle has made some remarkable voyages to Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean. In 2012-14 the ship sailed all over the South Pacific, engaging in carrying cargo and relief supplies to many islands as well as carrying folks to medical services between various islands . -Captain Daniel D. Moreland 29