BIOGRAPHY: The Picton Castle

A recent photo of the Picton Castle.

The Picton Castle is registered in the Cook Islands, in the South Pacific, and is owned and operated by the Windward Isles Sailing Ship Company, Ltd. Its homeport is Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. It is a 179 feet long boat, with a steel hull, pine decks, and steel masts, that carries 12,450 square feet of canvas sail.

It was originally built in Swansea (UK) as a motorized fishing trawler. During World War II, the boat was renamed the HMS Picton Castle and was converted by the Royal Navy into a minesweeper. After the War, it was renamed the Dolmar and was used to haul freight around various parts of northern Europe.

Captain Daniel Moreland aboard the Picton Castle.

Picton Castle's new home in Canada

In 1996, the ship came to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, where it began a two million dollar retrofit. The ship's mission as it is described on the Picton Castle’s website, "is deep-ocean sail training and long-distance education. Also, she carries supplies and educational materials to far-flung islands in the South Pacific."

The ship has visited many ports on several world voyages under the tutelage of Captain Daniel Moreland, including the Panama Canal, the Galapagos Islands, Pitcairn Island, Tahiti, Bora Bora, Samoa, Fiji, the Australian outback, Bali, Zanzibar, Cape Town, St. Helena.