Ever wonder where Mark Burnett and CBS found a some-what authentic square-rigged sailing ship to serve as the pirate ship for the premiere season of Pirate Master? Well wonder no more me hearties! She is the Barque Picton Castle, a sail training ship based in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada. Originally built in 1928 in wales as a fishing trawler, she served time as a mine sweeper during World War II. It wasn’t until 1996 that she was finally converted in to a square rigged sailing ship. The Picton Castle is 179 feet long, displaces 300 tons, and carries 12,500 square feet of sail.

However her conversion from a minesweeper and fishing trawler into a barque alone was not a dramatic enough change for Mark Burnett and the folks at CBS. Before being used as the pirate’s base of operation in the show the Picton Castle required a Complete makeover. The changes included the construction of the elegant transom with pane-glass windows and beautifully detailed woodwork on the stern and the large Medusa-like figurehead on the bow. The steels masts and deck cabins were painted to resemble well-weathered wood. The ship’s steel hull which had been white since her conversion was painted coal black (which apparently “proved impractical in the heat of the Tropics”, was necessary to lend an authentic air to the ship).

Visit the Picton Castle’s website to learn more about her history, opportunities to sail aboard her, and her time with the Pirate Master crew.

Special thanks to our friend and loyal reader Corey Stroeder for tipping us off to this nugget.

Check out the rest of our Pirate Master coverage.

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