Tall Ships - Blog Posts

she is for sale? let me sell my soul real quick to raise funds

It's almost done, just one night and it's Christmas Eve. But that also means that the calendar is coming to an end for us. That's why we're delving into the world of films today in the 23rd door and I have two beauties that we know from the Hornblower movies - HMS Retribution and HMS Hotspur

HMS Hotspur and behind HMS Restribution

Here is more about the two and who is actually behind them:

The Earl of Pembroke was built in 1945 in Pukavik, Sweden, under the name Orion and was used for timber transport in the Baltic Sea until 1974, when she was laid up in Thisted, Denmark. She was transferred to the United Kingdom in 1980, where her complete restoration began in 1985. As part of the restoration, the ship was converted from a schooner to a barque (to resemble the famous HMS Endeavour, on which Captain Cook discovered Australia) and renamed Earl of Pembroke. From then on she served in various films in different rigs, but is best known as HMS Hotspur. Unfortunately, she had no further use in recent years and was completely scrapped in 2022.

The smaller Restribution is actually the Phoenix of Dell Quay, a brigantine. She was built by Hjorne & Jakobsen at Frederikshavn, Denmark in 1929, originally as an Evangelical Mission Schooner. Twenty years later she retired from missionary work and carried cargo until her engine room was damaged by fire. In 1974 she was bought by new owners who converted her into a brigantine before being purchased by Square Sail in 1988. A first aid over-haul enabled her to sail back to the UK where she underwent a complete refit. During 1991 she was converted to the 15th century Caravel Santa Maria for Ridley Scott's film 1492: Conquest of Paradise. She has also worked in: In the Heart of the Sea, Poldark, Taboo, Hornblower and Frontier. At the moment she is for sale.

Picton Castle also has a ship cat! I got to meet her at the Green Bay Tall Ships Fest this summer. Her name is Fiji and when I found her she was chilling at the pet booth in the ‘Maritime Marketplace’–the lady working at the booth said Fiji just waltzed right up and started nuzzling in her catnip toys, haha. 

Very friendly, very smart, allowed me to pet her–10/10 would run away to sea for her :)

Hi! I have a bunch of sailing questions if you don't mind. What's the usual minimum time commitment for someone with no experience? What if you get a job on a ship but can't take it? You recommended the sail training international website - was that to find a paid job or just to take part in the training voyages? I'd swear I've seen someone on tumblr talk about working on cargo tall ships, but I can't for the life of me remember who, do you have any info? Also, are ships cats a thing? Thanks!!

Hi!

Usually the minimum is two or three months - just the maintenance period, or summer break while in university, or because you’re working on a boat that has a three-month contract, or because you’re only free the first half of the season, discussed it in advance, and the company is willing to half you for just half.

It’s not uncommon for at least one crew member to head out unexpectedly over the course of the seasom. Sometimes it’s because sailing’s not their jam after all; sometimes it’s disputes within the other crew, or because something in their personal lives demands immediate attendance. My first season only myself and the first mate made it through the entire season; conversely this year out of about 16 crew only two people quit that I can remember. Obviously if you’re able to give the captain some warning to find a new deckhand that’s best, but people do leave. (Also why it’s worth checking in with captains even in the summer - someone might have a position just opened up).

If I remember right, I mentioned sail training international mostly as a list of ships that operate internationally, and a resource for finding the names and whereabouts of more tall ships, since I’m best informed on New England and only shakily beyond that. At least some of the ships on there will offer paid positions, so it’s worth contacting interesting vessels to ask (might be limited to crew who already have experience/certain certifications/nationality of the vessel, but I couldn’t say for certain).

I’m afraid I have no idea about cargo tall ships; I know of Tres Hombres, which is frankly The Dream (at least one shipmate of mine would kill to work on her!) but off the top of my head, no others.

Ship’s cats are a thing! I believe it’s the Adventuress out west that has one, and I know the Mary Day had one for several years before she passed away of old age. Not as common as I personally wish, but they’re around!

Tall Ships and all views from and of them are simply so gorgeous, and looking at pictures like these always puts that sailorly tingle in my chest. I know I tend in hindsight to idealize the week and a half or so I spent studying on Schooner Roseway, but I do keep feeling that ‘call of the sea’...

*Unbidden, Moana slinks from the shadowy corners of my mind to sing her song.*

just spent three days delivering the soggiest schooner i’ve ever been on a hundred miles down the coast, in the company of a really excellent dog!