When the barque Picton Castle was recently anchored off St. Geroge, we had a chance to go aboard. Check out www.pitcon-castle.com for more info, crew diaries, photos, captain's log, etc. This 179 foot ship is a deep-ocean sail training vessels equipped with a steel hull, oil pine decks, and 12,450 square feet of canvas sail. Tar is used on the lines, just as it would have been in the old days of wooden ships, so most of the crew had tar on their clothes. Well, this is an authentic working tall ship, the likes of which have not been seen in many a year. It must take a new crew's breath away the first time all the Picton Castle's sails are filled with wind. After being on this amazing ship, books like Master and Commander became MUCH more real to me. Mind you, after seeing the damp communal sleeping quarters below on the rainy day we visited, I lost all interest in actually being onboard a ship like this for more than, say, an afternoon.

In the "small world" category, the ship's doctor, Dr. Morton, from Maine was a board member of the Gulf of Maine Aquarium back in the 1970s when I was a staff member there. How about that?!