Stowing Cargo

In addition to being a sail training vessel, the Picton Castle (www.picton-castle.com) is a cargo vessel delivering books, school supplies, and clothes to people at our ports of call. In addition, Pitcairn Islanders have requested delivery of a number of items including an ATV, a bandsaw and blades, a planer with dust collector, re-bar, concrete, paint and diapers.

We have been loading cargo for most of the past week, whenever the weather is dry. Everything is wrapped in plastic and taped closed, then weighed and tallied before being loaded. The books, school supplies and clothes, along with a number of other items, were stored on the 3rd floor of the warehouse by the dock until it was time to load them on the ship. We have a rope and pulley for lowering a cloth tote full of cargo down from the 3rd floor to the ground; then it is carried to the dock alongside the ship and half a dozen or more people line up to pass the goods down into the cargo hold.

We've stowed close to 10,000 pounds of books, over 5,000 pounds of clothes, 25 rolls of paper each weighing 50 to 80 pounds, and much more. Everything is carefully packed to minimize shifting while we are sailing.