The Picton Castle undertakes 13-month round-the-world voyages, and a variety of shorter voyages along the east coast of the Americas. The Picton Castle's home port is historic Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. In 2001 a series called the Tallship Chronicles followed the Picton Castle on her voyage around the world. The ship has carried out four world voyages to date. In 2008, she will embark on an epic 12-month voyage around the Atlantic, sailing from Lunenburg to the British Isles and mainland Europe, down the coast of West Africa, across the southern Atlantic to Brazil and north through the Caribbean..

The Picton Castle is rigged as a three-masted barque, is 179 feet  long, and carries 12,500 square feet of sail. She has a 690-hp diesel engine for the times when sailing is not feasible. The ship has space for roughly 50 people, consisting of about 12 professional crew and 40 sail trainees.In the spring of 2007 the Picton Castle was featured in Mark Burnett's CBS reality show Pirate Master. The show was filmed in the Caribbean island of Dominica and premiered May 31, 2007 in the spot previously occupied by Survivor.