Schooner Gift

A small schooner designed by William J. Roue, who designed the historic schooner Bluenose, has been donated to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax. A small reception today (September 4th) marked the gift of the 11.3-metre (37-foot) Hebridee II by the family of the late Edward Murphy of Halifax. The Roue-designed schooner, which was built, owned, and sailed locally, has a long relationship with the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron and the Nova Scotia Schooner Association and is a significant addition to the museum's small-craftcollection. Ater a condition assessment and appropriate restoration work, museum staff plan to re-establish Hebridee II's sailing relationship with the NSSA.

Picton Arriving

2009-05-21 06:29:00

Picton Castle will be returning to Lunenburg this Saturday, having completed a year-long voyage around the Atlantic Ocean. The ship is expected  to round Battery Point at about 2 o'clock. After a few weeks refit she'll embark on a nine-week summer program sailing along the coast of the Eastern United States and Canada.   In the United Kingdom, the Picton Castle visited ports from the ship's past as a North Sea fishing trawler and World War II minesweeper. Crew members also visited the ship's namesake castle. In Northern Europe, she attended Tall Ship events, then it was on to  Sainte Nazaire, France, where in 1942 she was one of a convey of vessels to participate in a successful raid on a Nazi-held shipyard there. That visit was followed by calls in Spain, Portugal, the island of Mallorca,  Morocco, the Canaries, Senegal and Cape Verde before making passage to the Caribbean where the Picton Castle has been island hopping for the last number of weeks.  The next big adventure for the sail training ship  will be fifth circumnavigation of the world beginning in May, 2010.