Since 2014, the Nova Scotia Seamanship Education Society has awarded 40+ Scholarships to young mariners. Many have taken that opportunity and gone on to establish promising careers in the Maritime Industry, and almost all of them have come away from the experience forever changed.
Here are some of the testimonies of those who have been given the opportunity…
“After working in the film and television industry for five years, I put my bustling city life on hold and chose to expand my knowledge and life skills in the nautical, specifically sailing, world. In June, 2017, I joined the tall ship, the Picton Castle as a trainee. After remaining with the ship all summer, I applied to the Picton Castle’s Bosun School program. As well as being accepted into the program, I was selected to received a bursary through NSSES. Upon graduating, I was honoured to be chosen as one of two valedictorians.
The financial relief that the bursary offered me was fundamental to expanding my traditional tall ship training. It was a career shift for me and with that comes new required education and skill sets. The positive impact that the financial support provided was essential to my focus and drive both within the program as well as my personal growth. With the great advantage of having a bursary, I was able to focus and immerse myself completely into the program.
Providing a financial support to deserving, hard working individuals, despite their age, plays a major role in their education. The majority of financial support systems, bursaries and grants, particularly in the marine industry, are only available for those in a younger age bracket. These limitations close doors for individuals who, bravely, choose to change their careers or simply want to expand their expertise and skill sets.
My good fortune in receiving financial support in order to attend the Picton Castles Bosun School program enabled me to do what I otherwise could not have done. I hope that future students are provided with the financial support that allows them to have the freedom to grow and learn as students.”
– Ann Featherstone, Canada
“With the support of the Nova Scotia Seamanship Education Society I was able to enroll in the Barque Picton Castle Bosun School.
Well attending the school I was able to acquire the skill necessary to become a competent mariner and learned skills that I might have not been able to learn on other ships. I believe this Bosun School gave me a a kick start on my mariner career. I know have the experience of sending up and down masts and over hauling wire, blocks, and running rigging. I have assisted in sail repair.
After completing Bosun School I feel competent working on other vessels and expanding my growing knowledge. I look forward to seeing where my maritime career goes in years to come.
Thank you Nova Scotia Seamanship Education Society for the support.”
-Dustin Dempsey, Canada – NSSES Scholarship recipient for a Picton Castle Voyage and Bosun School
“In 2015 I received a scholarship from the Nova Scotia Seamanship Education Society to join barque Picton Castle as an apprentice on a round-trip across the Atlantic spanning over six months.
Onboard Picton there’s a heavy focus on traditional seamanship. To get started onboard everybody partook in workshops. It started out with learning all the lines and commands and later on traditional sailmaking, woodworking, small boats sailing and celestial navigation just to name a few things.
It felt very rewarding to arrive to a new island under full sail and the work you put in really payed off when you got to explore the different islands and cultures with your shipmates.
After Picton Castle I’ve been crew on a local topsail schooner called Albanus and working for the Åland Maritime Museum as a museum technician. The experience and knowledge I got onboard Picton has been very valuable in these jobs.”
– Jesper Hagström from Åland Islands, Finland
“Attending Bosun School is the best and fastest way to get from being an amateur sail trainee to landing a job as a paid crew on a traditional sailing ship. 
Without the financial help from the NSSES, I wouldn’t have been able to attend Bosun School at the end of the 2017 sailing season, which would have meant having to go to work outside of the maritime world for time, and thus delaying acquiring the necessary seamanship experience for at least several months.
Spending a few months in Lunenburg is really inspiring. The town is steeped in traditional maritime culture, and full of interesting characters sharing the joy of ‘messing about in boats’. It’s a great experience to be welcomed in and to become an integral part of the community.”
– Rafik Draoui, Canada
“It is the greatest opportunity that has been given to me, a Scholarship to sail on the Sail Training Ship Picton Castle. I am so grateful for that. It is a once and a lifetime opportunity and the experience was far more than I could have imagined. It was full of excitement and what an adventure! I had a blast and enjoyed every single moment of it.
This is a magnificent way to learn about the Maritime world. It’s hard work, tough, and brave – and not only that but you learn to get along with people no matter what. After all team work is the major key.
I learned to wire splice, ratlines, and seizing, tie knots, lots of rigging work, worm, parcel, and serve. How to make sails, basics of carpentry, and basic marine engineering. This is the real deal for me – so much more I can say…
I explored new places, cultures, ways of life.
This changed my life and I will be forever grateful for this opportunity. I got hooked by this life as a mariner, I fell in love with it, and have become a good mariner.”
– Vaiufia Latu, Tonga
“It is very hard to put my experience aboard the Picton Castle into words. It was such an all-encompassing experience.
The ship took me places, physically that I would have never had the opportunity to visit – experiencing cultures and customs that widened my horizons, and deepened my understanding of the global community.
The ship challenged me on every level, inside and out with unrelenting demands. Now looking back that is what I respect and appreciate the most about the experience. She forced me to grow as an individual, gain confidence, learn to rely on others and be dependable for them. My experience aboard shaped who I am today and is one that I will fondly take with me everywhere I go.”
-Mackenzie Fraser, trainee and NSSES Scholarship recipient, Picton Castle
“The Picton Castle is the ship that opened my eyes to Tall Ship sailing and the marine industry as a career!
Since my first voyage on Picton Castle I have sailed on many other tall ships, no other ship offers the same kind of extraordinary seamanship skills and knowledge that you could hope to gain onboard this Barque.
A voyage onboard this one-in-a-million ship offers more then just how do furl their 12’500 square feet of uniquely shaped sails, doing rope work, climbing nearly 100 feet aloft or how to send out Stuns’ls; it shows you the true meaning of comradery and family. The time you spend with the people on boards is real time full of bonding and trust. The life lessons and practical skills you learn apply to more then just sailing but real life on land as well.
Nothing in the world compares to the experiences I had on board and I wouldn’t trade those times for anything. It has been nearly 13 years since my first time stepping foot on Her, since then I have gone to college for the Transport Canada tickets required to work professionally on all varieties of ships. Out of the 7 ships, 25 different countries and endless international friends I have made in those 13 years one thing remains the same, I always come home to Picton Castle.”
-Hayley Goertzen, trainee and NSSES Scholarship recipient, Picton Castle