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Fort Taylor Pyrate Invasion, Dec 2014 - Key West, FL

Chapter 4: Friday, December 5th - Evening. All about the
Photo: Poppa Ratsey - Mission on the Bus (That comma of hair...) Buccaneer's Ball at the East Martello Tower; the bus trip to East Martello, talking with Scarlett Jai, meeting Christina from last year and apologizing to the Doll Who Must Not Be Named Without Permission; finishing last year's interview with Christina and meeting Josh; learning of my event poster's location in Marathon from Captain Salazar Wahoo, moments in time from the ball, learning more about fudge-makers Sara Loss, Charlie and Nobudy, and a discussion with Hurricane and Red Handed Jill.

I told Kate and Michael I was going to the Buccaneer's Ball, so they decided to go as well. I originally intended to drive to the Ball, which is at the East Martello Tower by the Key West airport. However, the trolley was waiting when we reached the parking lot and Scarlett Jai was on board, so we decided to take it instead. I wasn't sure how much parking was available at the site and I didn't want to end up paying for airport parking. (I needn't have worried, however. There is all sorts of parking at the East Martello tower.)

Photo: Poppa Ratsey - Scarlett Jai on Her Trike I sat behind Jai and caught up with her. She was, of course, being pulled in every direction, being one of the event coordinators/organizers, but her way of managing life was such that she wasn't entirely stressed out about it. At one point her phone rang, at which I smiled knowingly. She saw that and noted that at least nothing was blowing up because otherwise it would have been ringing non-stop.

Scarlett Jai and Pistol Pete are still working on their boat, which is currently dry-docked while they fit her up for their worldwide tour, something you may recall from a previous Fort Taylor Journal. True to what Dutch had told me the day before when we were discussing the construction of his ship the Luna, the work on Pete's boat was going slowly. "What with work, and friends and other stuff that comes up". She said Pete was worried about it and thought the boat should be gotten into the water by next year at least if they were ever going to sail her. For now they continued to live on board while she was dry-docked.

When we arrived, Scarlett dashed off to handle some situation or another. Michael and Kate and I made our way into the Martello tower where we were met Christina,
Photo: Mission - Pirate Christina, East Martello who worked at the store in the front during events. "Oh, I was hoping to see you again this year!" she said. (This is exactly the sort of thing I like to hear from such a lovely lass.) Regular readers may recall her from last year's Journal. (For those of you who do not recall her because you didn't read last year's Journal, let me first say that you wound me to the quick. Remedy this by going and reading it right now with all due haste.) Christina was dressed as she was last year; it almost as if I had walked out last year for a look at the ocean and then came back in to find her right where I had left her.

"I got your post card about 3 months ago." This was odd, because three months ago was September and I had sent it in January. It turns out that the Haunted Doll Who Must Not Be Named Without Permission receives so many post cards that it takes them months to sort through them all. They hadn’t discovered that the one I had sent was not addressed to the DWMNBNWP, but to Christina. I had no other way to tell her that I had written about her in the 2013 Pirate Surgeon's Journal because no one in Key West seemed to know how to get in touch with her.  The museum curator had thus delivered it to her in September. And you thought your mail was slow!

Last year we had chatted for a long time last year about the doll, discussing the details of his history and I had written about him in the Journal.
Photo: Mission - My Spirit Guide and Me The DWMNBNWP is, in fact, at least according to local pirate and keeper of all ghostly Key West legends - Deadeye Rick - in actuality some type of mischievous spirit called a Santería. Apparently, if you cross them, they curse you with bad luck. I don't believe in such things as regular readers know, but I do know that it has been a helluva year for me mostly due to some really weird health problems. (An ongoing and unpleasant battle with C Diff being the most current example. No, you'll have to look it up if you want to know what it is.) So I was ready to try anything to get rid of it at this point. (It couldn't hurt, right?)

I asked Christina if she would take me to see the doll, so I could make my apologies and maybe get out from under. She agreed and we did that somewhat later in the evening. I asked what I was supposed to say and she rolled her eyes and said something that sounded like "college guys". When we reached the doll, the lights wouldn't turn on, so she made apologies to the doll for me in the dark, with me chiming in it what I hoped were key moments. Unfortunately, this did almost nothing to help the C Diff and, as I am putting together the web page version of the Journal almost a month later, I must again cast my doubts on the supernatural as the remedy for things human. Alas.

On the brighter side of the Santería. world, it did give me an idea in another realm. Before I can explain that, I need to provide a bit of backstory. Michael and Jessica had been to some events with Dave Neville during the six months since I'd last seen them.
Photo: Mission
Dave, Giving Us the... er... Thumbs Up with Bobbie on His Stomach At one of these, Dave announced that he was going to the bathroom and Jessica (I think it was Jessica) asked Dave to "bring me back something nice." So he brought her back toilet paper. (Well, I can see it. There aren't too many gift options available in such a trip.) End of backstory.

As Michael, Jess and me were leaving the camp, Dave asked Jessica to bring him back something nice. Once Jessica explained the story to me, I hit upon the perfect gift. "We need to bring him back a Bobbie. I'll even chip in." Jessica was wanted to know what a Bobbie was, but I couldn't figure out how to explain it adequately, so I said she would see when we got there.

A Bobbie is a miniature version of the DWMNBNWP. They are called Bobbies by the locals on the island, probably so they don't invoke the doll's actual name and bring bad luck upon themselves. As we learned last year (and you just learned if you went back and read the Journal like I told you - there's even a picture of the Bobbie I bought for myself), Christina puts the Bobbies in their packages. When Jessica saw the stack of Bobbies and learned the story, she realized what a perfect gift this would make for the slightly morose (at times) Dave. Done and done. While I wasn't actually there when Bobbie was presented, I learned of Dave's heartfelt love of our splendid gift, as you can see in the photo above left. Here, he is clearly indicating that I am number one, a symbol he threw me immediately after I placed the Bobbie on Dave's stomach while he was resting. But enough about Bobbie, let's get back to the Ball.

Photo: Christina's FB Page - Christina and a Piratey Parrot Although I hadn't brought my notebook to the Ball, Christina gave me a bit of receipt paper and a pen and I proceeded to do the interview I wanted to do last year. (Last year's write up of her was written entirely from memory, which, as I have frequently explained, is a spotty thing for me.)

As it happens, Christina has a Masters in Journalism from Boston, although she has never worked as journalist because of all the politics associated involved with succeeding in that career. (In fact, politics are a part of most professional careers, but when she discovered this particular flavor in graduate school, it soured her on that career trajectory.) Finding it difficult to write deep human interest stories without having to appease the powers that be made her want to quit the field entirely until her grandfather told her, "I am so proud of what you're doing." So she stuck it out and got her Master's.

Photo: Mission
Christina and Josh at East Martello Upon graduation, she took on a variety of careers which included commercial production assistant, accounting clerk, telemarketer (which she hated), law clerk and three or four other things which I didn't manage to write down quickly enough. (She referred to herself as a 'jackass of all trades' at one point.) None of these jobs seemed to fit. She eventually wound up in New Orleans where a friend had an apartment to sublet for two months. So she took the berth and became a bartender. Two months eventually turned into seven years. Christina explained that the place was on the wrong side of Bourbon street, and she worked the 2-7 am graveyard shift - solo. As a result, her customers were "pimps, drug dealers and hookers", but she ran the place as
Photo: Christina's FB Page
Christina and Josh, Pirates a sort of safe house, enforcing her rule with a baseball bat. "There are some people down there who still refer to me as 'the French Quarter Slugger'." (This is pretty funny given that she can't weigh 100 pounds dripping wet.)

After Hurricane Katrina hit the town, she left. With no desire to return to the Big Easy, she wound up in Key West. That's where what little I remembered from last year's account started. She currently works at the East Martello Tower and also as a bartender at the Cork and Stogie, a place I am not familiar with.

While we were chatting, Christina's house mate and boyfriend Josh appeared in pirate finery so I turned my attention to him. Josh is as quiet as Christina is chatty - a stalwart man of few words. Very much in the Clint Eastwood 'Man With No Name' sort of cast. I learned that he also worked as a bartender. He had come to Key West in 2001 on spring break and liked the place so much that he had moved down here. He spent five years in Key West, plying his trade and eventually getting married. Unfortunately that fell apart and he decided to leave following the divorce. Spending four years away, he missed the place, so he returned three years ago to resume bartending. At some point he and Christina got together and they now live on the island.

---

From there, I headed out to the East Martello courtyard proper where the Ball was going, full tilt. Since everyone was dressed in their finery, loads of photos were taken, some of which you can see below.

Photo: Poppa Ratsey Captain Black at the Ball

Photo: Poppa Ratsey Cat Icona in a Lovely Ball Gown

Photo: Poppa Ratsey DB Couper and Anna Maria in Finery

Photo: Poppa Ratsey Admiral Braze

Photo: Poppa Ratsey 1st Mate Matt, Caribbean Pearl & Gitana Barbarossa

Photo: Caribbean Pearl Jonathan Childs, Charles Brooks, Mark Dauck and Gitana Barbarossa at the Ball

Photo: DB Couper Mercury Members Captain J and HIs Wife Janet

For myself,
Photo: Mission
Deadeye & Sarah Loss Chatting With Kate & Michael I didn't spend much time on the side of the many-headed, preferring to be on the less populous side of the central building. I should explain that the East Martello courtyard is lined by a brick outer building which encircles the center part where the revelries were taking place. Smack in the center of all this is a building called the keeper's quarters (I think). On one side of this building were the ball festivities, on the other side was mostly open space and the entrance to the rest room.

The first person I talked with was on the opposite-of-party-side was Deadeye. He was the one who first told me that the DWMNBNWP was actually a Santería. When he said this, Kate gasped and advised me to make
Photo: Mission
The Keeper's Quarters at East Martello all due apologies so that it would stop bothering me. Apparently Santerias were nasty beasts according to some pseudoscientific television show she had seen. (I am lucky she recognized this word because I had to ask her at least four times what it was, hoping I would remember it for the web Journal.)

Deadeye also explained the center building or keeper's quarters for us. During the early days of the fort it served as the officer's quarters and the building of last defense. The walls of this little fortress were lined with slits for riflemen and a small, well-fortified longitudinal slot on top that allowed marksmen to pick off any attackers who managed to make their way into the courtyard. Deadeye was going to give us a tour, but the building was locked. (This was just as well. There was more than enough to see already.)

Photo: Poppa Ratsey
Bagpiper There was an amazing bagpiper performing at the Ball (which I sort of heard, although since I was usually talking with people, it wound up being mostly background music for me.) I know he was amazing because Captain Salazar Wahoo and his wife said so. They own Aargh Maintenance and Service in Marathon and were helping to sponsor the event. I ran into them while were talking with Mama Ratsey, who explained that the great thing about the bagpiper (bagpipest?) was that he played from the heart. When Captain Wahoo saw me, he exclaimed, "Hey! We have your poster!" (Papa made a Fort Taylor poster of me to advertise the event. In fact, he told me, "It was the first one I made.") I asked the captain if I could come up and get it on Monday and he said that would be fine. So now another good reason for having rented car.

Photo: Mission
Richard, Kate & Michael Await Mr. Tumnus Richard Warren of Put-in-Bay Pirate Fest fame happened to be wondering through the courtyard while Michael, Kate and I were on the less populous side of the courtyard, so he stopped and talked for a bit. He liked the Ball, although he admitted that he missed some of the freewheeling days of previous Key West pirate festivals where there were a number of events held in conjunction with the local bars and restaurants in Old Town. It was nice to be able to get out of the fort into town and hang out at the various contests and parties held on Duval Street. In addition to everything else, it advertised the pirate's presence at the fort.

Richard had lucked into a sublet rental at a really good place near Louie's Backyard for a week, paying less than half what I was paying for the condo. (It helps that he has so many friends down in Key West who can help him find such deals.)

Photo: Poppa Ratsey - Sarah Loss I also ran into Sarah Loss while wandering about and had a long chat with her. She runs Nobudy's Bizness candy and fudge shop, which has been a regular vendor at the fort for as long as I can remember.

Sarah hails from Minnesota, but she spends about 42 weeks each year on the road going from event to event with her candy shop. She makes all the fudge herself. I asked how this was possible when she was on the road so much and she said, "Oh, I have a trailer set up specifically to do that on the road." Being a food shop, she has to get licensed in the states where she sells the fudge. She has one for Ohio and seemed quite interested in the Pirate Weekend at Put-in-Bay, so I plan to hook her up with Michael so she has all the info necessary.

Photo: Poppa Ratsey - Charlie on the Fort Wall Sarah and I talked for a while about Charlie, her son, who is 8. He has Down's Syndrome and he travels with her and her husband everywhere they go.

Being on the road so much, Charlie is home-schooled. She said she has to take him back to Minnesota to check in with whatever public authorities are there who concern themselves with home schooled children. They were initially very skeptical about their taking Charlie on the road and educating him in such a seemingly haphazard way, but the powers-that-be have since admitted and even embraced her method of education, saying that Charlie is one of the most advanced students for his age with that condition.

Charlie, of course, loves the road and all the attention he receives at the pirate, renaissance and cowboy festivals they attend while selling their wares. It is certainly the sort of lifestyle any 8 year old boy would envy. (It's certainly one I would have envied.)

Photo: Mission - Sarah and Jerry's Fudge Shop at the Fort

Photo: Maria de Los Angeles - Sarah & Jerry Ply Their Trade

Photo: Poppa Ratsey - The Rum River Pirates and Their Commodore Charlie has another enviable position - he is leader and founder of his own crew: the Rum River Pirates. Sarah said that this is a nationwide group which currently has 39 members, each of whom has a direct relationship with Charlie. You can only be made a member of the RRP crew by Charlie himself; he picks the crew members. That way, he has a crew of friends he knows he can look forward to seeing during his travels. Sarah explained, "It helps with his social skills. Charlie added 6 members this year." When they were doing group pictures, Charlie wanted a picture of his crew to help him remember them when he was away from the event, which you see at left.

Meanwhile, back on the other side of the keeper's quarters, a very good band was playing. Although I didn't actually see them and don't know their name, Michael and Jessica told me they were very good and hailed from Detroit. Jessica had even talked to them about the possibility of coming out to Put-in-Bay to perform there since they were so close. When we talked with Richard from Put-in-Bay, he encouraged this idea.

Photo: Poppa Ratsey - The Brigands Performing After that band came The Brigands, who were playing their bawdy song sets for the evening.

I tell you all this as if I were watching, but, in fact, I was primarily on the opposite side of the courtyard from where the bands were playing. I meant to go over to the other side, but I just kept running into people I hadn't seen in a long time. It was like old home week with all the folks from past Key West pirate events and I was fascinated to talk with them.

Photo: Mission's Camera - Hurricane, Red Handed Jill and Mission One such person was Hurricane who had a lovely lady on his arm to turned out to be Red Handed Jill from the Pyracy Pub. She was going under another name now, Crimson... something. (No notes.) We'll just call her Red Handed Jill. She and Hurricane are engaged to be married on 1-23. (She explained that this was to make it easy for him to remember the date. A wise choice, knowing Hurricane.)

They live in Washington state and had known each other for about a decade before they met without really knowing each other. She had applied to join Hurricane's crew when he was living down in Florida years ago, but since she lived in Washington, he didn't take it very seriously. When Hurricane returned to Washington a few years back, they kept nearly missing each other until they got together some time this year.

Photo: Mission - Kate, Michael and the Black Powder Sugar Michael and Kate had left, but they returned to find us chatting. Michael was delighted to see Hurricane. He recalled how he had first met Hurricane at the Searle's Sack of St. Augustine event.  Michael had just awakened, and was gathering round his first cuppa' when Hurricane summarily poured black powder into it from a powder flask.  Michael was distraught – you don't get between him and his first cup of coffee – until Hurricane revealed that it was black sugar. "You can get it from Amazon!" he explained.

He also braided Michael's hair for him one morning at St. Augi, something Hurricane had forgotten, but Michael distinctly remembered. "Why did you do it?" I asked. "As a joke!" Hurricane replied.

With friends like that...

About 9:30 we had all seen as much of the dance as we needed. It had been a long hot day in the sun and Michael, Kate and me were ready to go back. Unfortunately the busses didn't start running again until 10pm and I rued our choice not to bring the van. (Next time...) At 10, the bus appeared and we were soon back in the fort. It was the Mercury crew's turn for gate duty, but I was done for the evening and elected to return to the condo.

Photo: Mission - The Viceroy and His Entourage at the Ball Watching the Bands Perform For His Very Own Amusement

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