Barque completes circumnavigation

The 180-foot barque Picton Castle returned to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, in June after a 570-day circumnavigation. The three-masted, steel-hulled square-rigger sailed with 40 professional crew and paying passengers who took part in operating the vessel on its 37,000-mile voyage, which included 47 port calls in 22 countries.

Picton Castle was the real-life dream of Daniel Moreland, who found the former trawler in Norway in 1993 in poor cosmetic shape, but with a promising hull and power plant. Moreland and a skeleton crew managed to get the engine working and steamed across the Atlantic to New York and eventually up to Lunenburg for a $1.5 million refit.

Picton Castle will continue to serve as a sail-training vessel, with voyages planned to Bermuda and the Caribbean, according to Moreland, before another circumnavigation in 2001. The vessel’s hold was filled with various exotic cargo, including eight-foot tam tam drums (traditionally used for long-distance communications in the South Pacific), textiles and carvings.

By Ocean Navigator