Hi all,

I’m sitting in the chart room listening to the sounds around me. I can hear excited chatter on the wharf here behind the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic, as the principals from High Liner Foods and the Toronto Stock Exchange gather for coffee. In half an hour the stock exchange will ring the bell and open, live from the waterfront here in Lunenburg. High Liner has been operating for 125 years. How great to see a Lunenburg-started business still thriving as they change with the times. Their plant here in Lunenburg is still busy and High Liner Foods remain good community partners.

Ships crew have been very busy since our last day under sail. It’s hard for me to convey the amount of work completed. Our last harbour cruise ended at 15:30 on the 30^th of September. By 18:30 that evening there was not a stitch of sail left on the ship. By the end of the next day, gaffs and halyards were ashore. Two days later the lower masts and the main boom are the only spars left aboard. Having all the topmast gear sent down allows for some routine maintenance and the crew have been busy in the rigging shed yard applying the coatings to the wire stays and shrouds and servicing the turnbuckles. All good seamanship to learn and practice for ship and crew.

Onboard the ship, the cook has been emptying the freezers and slowly cleaning the ship from stem to stern. On top of the daily cleaning, the steward receives extra duties to clean the nooks and crannies we sometimes miss.  There will of course be a final big clean around the ship just before we leave. In the meantime Dale, also known as Cookie, will keep the hot food and coffee rolling along.

There is lots of other work being completed right now. All the winter mooring lines are being fitted and wrapped with chafing gear. This spider web of lines must survive winter gales and the sometimes strong seas that push into Lunenburg harbour. When standing on the wharf at two in the morning there is some comfort in knowing how well the ship is moored to the wharf.

The mates are also taking time to catch up on some of our bright work. They have undertaken to strip the varnish from some of the lids to our life jacket deck boxes. Lots of varnish to come off and lots of coats to go back on. Lots of other coatings too, paint and tar are being thrown around liberally and a good accounting of halyard wear and tear. Eventually we will compile a list of supplies to be ordered over the winter months and a reminder work list for the spring. Spring seems such a long way away but I know it’s rushing at us already.