Captain Daniel D. Moreland-sailing ship master, sailmaker, and rigger-has devoted his professional life to the craft oftraditional sailing ship preservation and sail training, and has made seven circumnavigations ofthe globe under square rig. After working in boatyards in Long Island Sound, he got his first berth in a sailing ship at the age of 18 in the Brixham trawler Maverick sailing in the Virgin Islands. While working in the Lesser Antilles, he had the opportunity to sail in a number ofthe Last surviving island cargo schooners and sloops out of
Grenada. 1his Led to a Long stint in the brigantine Romance, a beautiful Danish vessel rigged by Captain Alan ViLliers for MGM and commanded by Captain Arthur Kimberly from 1966 to 1989. Moreland sailed in Romance as chief mate for her first world voyage in 1975- 77. He then went to the Danish training ship Danmark, where he served as boatswain for four years. After receiving his license in unlimited master in steam, motor and sailfrom the USCG at the age of28, Moreland then went on to restore the historic 1894 schooner Ernestina (now Ernestina-Morrissey), for which he received the National Trust for Historic Preservation 1987 National Honor Award. Under his leadership, he got the Ernestina USCG certified as a sail training vessel in ocean service, one of the first so inspected and certified, and carried out successful multicultural sail training voyages from New York and New England, as for as Newfoundland and the Great Lakes. In 1990 he joined Captain Walter Rybka in getting the newly built brig Niagara into service, Leaving that ship to pursue the project that has resulted in the barque Picton Castle and her ocean voyages. He has been honored by the American Sail Training Association (now Tall Ships America) with their Sail Trainer of the Year award in 1999, and its Lifetime Achievement award in 2016. Sail Training International, based in the UK, presented him with its Sail Trainer ofthe Year award in 2012.
SEA HISTORY 157, WINTER 2016- 17
Barque Picton Castle Will Embark on Her 7th Voyage Around the World in Fall 2017 ... Will You Be On board? In November 2017, the three-masted barque Picton Castle will set sail from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, on an epic 18-month voyage circumnavigating the globe. This will be the ship's seventh voyage around the world, all of which have been under the command of Captain Daniel D. Moreland. Sailing from Lunenburg, the voyage heads south and takes place mostly in the tropics and in the trade winds, passing through the Panama Canal and around the Cape of Good Hope. Expected ports on the itinerary include Panama; the Galapagos Islands; Easter Island; Pitcairn Island; French Polynesia, including the Gambier Islands, the Marquesas, Tuamotus, and the Society Islands; the Cook Islands, including Raroronga, Aitutaki and Puka Puka; Tonga; Fiji; Vanuatu; Bali; Reunion; Madagascar; South Africa; Namibia; St. Helena; Grenada; the Grenadines; St. Marrin; the British Virgin Islands; and Bermuda. Picton Castle's mission is sail training and seamanship education. Trainees will sign on for the full year and a half, or for individual legs of the voyage that are at least three months long. By sailing on extended voyages, trainees can truly immerse themselves in life aboard. They unplug from the demands of shoreside life and focus on the immediate needs of the ship and their shipmates. With the guidance of Picton Castle's professional crew, trainees stand watches and take part in operating the ship. Trainees take their turn at the big teak wheel and on forward lookout, they haul on lines and handle sails, scrub decks, wash dishes, paint, tar the rig, splice rope, make sails, bust rust, sand and varnish, help the cook, log the weather, and assist with the long list of other tasks that are required on a daily basis to keep the ship sailing. The long sea passages in trade winds are priceless. Nowhere else in the world can the regular citizen get this experience. In addition, the ship often carries supplies for the remote ports she visits across the world's oceans. On previous voyages, Picton Castle has delivered more than thirty tons of donated school books to elementary and high schools, and provided humanitarian relief to underserviced far-Bung islands. While the experience of sailing aboard Picton Castle is not primarily a travel experience, opportunities like this help the crew to meet local people and be part of their daily lives in a way that regular tourists just can't access. It also gives the crew hands-on practice with loading, unloading, and stowing cargo aboard. "This is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," says Captain Daniel Moreland; "it sounds cliche, but it's true. It is also a lot of hard work to sail a big steel square rigger 35,000 miles. This voyage will shape a person's life in amazing ways-forever." -Maggie Ostler
31