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Santa Maria Pirate Weekend, September 2010 - Columbus, OH
(Photo: Mission)
Chapter 4th. Of Sunday; some old friends arrive; the Mercury
Flag makes a strong showing, even if the ship doesn't; A new friend gets
moved out of the surgeon's area; Some notes and photos concerning our
audience; Speaking of another charming lass met via Facebook, if not directly
at the event; A brief recount of the Sunday Battle; All about the latest
event fad; Why George isn't the ship's surgeon; and Kate's newest
adventure.
Shay and I showed up early on Sunday. She had decided to come dressed in female garb today and spent quite a bit of time sewing (at left). She and Trish sat around and chatted by the surgeon's station (before the audience showed up) as I was tidying up the table. (Whatever they do at night on the ship, my station frequently gets jumbled around in the process.) (Come to think of it, I don't really want to know what they do at night on the ship.)
Left: People do sometimes say my performance is wooden...
(Photo: Mission)
(Photo: Mission)
The Mercury standard, which Mercury Quartermaster William
Brand had done such a splendid job designing and creating for us, was very
present this weekend and had been placed in various locations around
the ship. I saw it hanging from the back (or aft) of the ship and from the
ropes by the crows nest, although none of the photos of these spots seemed to do
it justice. Fortunately, Mark Gist decided to drape it over the
quarterdeck railing so that all might see it on Sunday. (Left.)
We needed to have it because,
as
the editor ranted before, the Mercury crew seems to spend far more
time on the Santa Maria than anywhere else. It created a nice opportunity
for a photo with Shay (right), who is not actually in the Mercury
crew.
Some folks new to the weekend if not to the event showed up on Sunday morning. The first was Richard W. (Below left). He was at the May 2010 Columbus event and, more recently, at the Put-in-Bay event.) His appearance was a surprise even to Michael who had not idea Richard was coming. He was actually returning from a weekend of whisky tasting in Kentucky and figured he may as well stop on his way home. (His extra-curricular activities may explain the dark glasses.) Thomas of the Scioto pirates arrived Sunday as well (below center left) "...and this time, he's bringing his daughter!" (Below center right.) Cora was a charming young lass who brought a sort of little photography/sketching/scrapbook PDA device with her. When I took this photo, she was busily drawing flowers on a photo of her pirate father. (Apparently she has a softer view of him than the English Navy. Which is appropriate.)
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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I had originally planned to have the pig over by me again on Sunday so that he could confuse all the kids, but he started getting all frisky, as can be seen in the photo composition "Boar boarding a barrel" below. Not wanting to drown in alliteration at the surgeon's table, I relegated him to the area under the stairs (below center). This was actually quite appropriate because animals were brought on long sea voyages to provide fresh meat for the crew - so long as they didn't eat too much to make them worth keeping alive (the animals - not the crew). This did little to dampen the audience interest in the reason for the pig's existence, however. (A philosophical question which is so deep and abstruse that we will not even attempt to tackle it here.) As you can see below right, the kids in the audience were still very curious about the pig.
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Iron John)
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(Photo: Mission)
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Speaking of the audience, the ship was literally awash in people during the weekend. I saw some of the largest crowds we have ever had! They were literally standing in line outside waiting to get in. (Below left.) Mark Gist reported, "It was the ship's biggest weekend for the year (with the Spring pirate event coming in second). Interaction between the pirates and visitors was very good."
There were a lot of kids. Since kids always make people get all weepy and "Aw lookit that..." I thought I'd focus on them. (Maybe it will endear you to the Journal. Probably not, but I have to try.) Below center and right we have a brother and sister duo - I think they must be posing as super-heroes since he has a cape on. Maybe he's a buccaneer. I never studied buccaneers very well, so they may have worn red capes. Or maybe he's superman. She is either Dale Evans, pirate or Corporal Agarn.
(Photo: Iron John)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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The great thing about being a little kid is that everything seems like it's fun. Take the two little girls trying to make the bilge pump work. (Below left.) Who else but a kid could find that entertaining? Plus there's the fascination of the masts and ropes that draw the imaginative and underdeveloped juvenile brain skyward. And then we have our brave/not quite so brave lass below right. She was all about exploring until she got a good gander at your author. (A not uncommon response, to be sure.)
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
(Photo: Mission)
Then there was Tirzah, who was on a tour. I never met her, but I liked her
hippie look, so I took some photos. I particularly like the one at right
where she's giving me a look - a look that says, "Who is that weird
guy in the weird hat taking photos of us?" She doesn't like that
photo so much, as she explained when I posted it on Facebook and she saw
it. She had gotten one of my business cards promoting this website and
found her way to the Pirate Surgeon Facebook page. So I replied,
explaining about the hippie thing. (Spelling it 'hippy', which she
corrected without comment. I can't imagine why a woman wouldn't want to be
called 'hippy'.) She said it wasn't really a hippie look, it was just
comfortable. So we e-chatted and I realized that I had another great story
about someone I met on Facebook through the Surgeon's Journal. (Regular
readers may recall
Elizabeth from Paynetown - if they haven't had their daily meds, that is.)
Tirzah thought the ship and presentations were really interesting, which is borne
out by the fact that she and her mom waited for the battle (below
left). She also has an artistic bent, making me four for four for
creative woman featured in this Journal. Below right is one
of her collages.
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Tirzah - used with permission...for once)
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This brings us to the Sunday battle. I was once again the gunner in the
Green Black Sheep (you'll see me in the front below
left). Our crew included the newly-arrived Tom, Iron Jon, Paula
and Mark Gist at the tiller. We are heading for the bridge where
we hide until it's time for us to come back over to the ship. There was
another crew of 'ship rope ladder climbers' in the HMS Scow (below
right) which included Georgia (again), Michael as chief paddler,
Shannon and Thomas Alleman (again). I wisely gave Shay my camera this time
which is why there are actually photos of both boats.
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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The Sunday battle actually seemed a lot like the Saturday
battle, only with a few new people in the mix. From my vantage
point, the big difference is that all the powder that had gotten
scattered about in the prow of the Green Black Sheep
caught fire creating a huge flash when it ignited. That was both
exciting and stupid, so I vowed not to try it again. On the Santa
Maria, the pirates boarded on the now completely repaired rope
ladders, as we see can see below left where Georgia and
Thomas are ascending. On the quarterdeck, Jay had armed himself with an
oar and was taking all comers. He and Thomas attacked Rachel. Er...yeah.
Really dangerous, that Rachel.
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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Naturally, there were some casualties. First was Blue Jess, who, as the governor's daughter was made a prisoner of the pirates. (Although this is sort of a foregone conclusion at this point, isn't it?) Below left, we see her good friend Trish shackling her - what are friends for, after all? Richard was also hit (below right ), probably by gunfire. Well, either that or all that whisky from his other weekend activities finally caught up with him. I believe the pirates won the day...this is usually standard fare for pirate events - they are rebuffed on Saturday and achieve victory on Sunday. (Funny how we think that's a good outcome these days...)
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Trish)
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The real epicenter of the second battle seems to have been firing hand weapons. In fact, there were so many photos of this, that I'd have to say that this was the event fad for Columbus' Talk Like a Pirate Day celebration. I didn't actually witness any of this, so I'm going to have to provide an explanation consisting of educated guesses (which really means I'm just going to make stuff up. Again.)
We start this particular pack of lies with Thomas showing cabin girl Georgia how to fire a musket. (Below left.) Someone, and if I had to guess, I'd guess Mark Gist, came running toward them waving his arms, yelling, "Stop blowing holes in my ship!" So it was decided to give a little instructional to all and sundry. Michael was the obvious choice for this since he had been so effective at checking weapons at Paynetown this year. So Michael gave the training, as you see below center. Being a good instructor, he had all his charges load their charges as practice for the big battle. That's Rachel, checking the cleanliness of the barrel. (At least I think that's what she's doing. I've never fired a musket or pistol before. This is why I am making stuff up.) Once instructed, it was time to fire. And fire they did, as you see below.
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Trish)
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(Photo: Trish)
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(Photo: Trish)
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(Photo: Trish)
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(Photo: Jessica)
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(Photo: GL or his minions) |
Rachel tried it and you can tell by the look of pleasant surprise that she is probably already thinking about purchasing her own black powder pistol. Blue Jess took her turn at the rail, following Michael's instructions with an air of confidence. However, some people just can't be taught, as we see above right. (Note to the kids - never point a gun at someone and pull the trigger. Only professionals should do that.) Sam thought he was Han, but he was actually more like a stormtrooper - meaning he missed. (I am kidding. He didn't fire. In fact, the full photo is cool...I'll put it in the epilogue.) Several others fired the pistol - more than I can show here without going on too long - but to give you an idea of the variety, we have George looking manly and firing resolutely (below left), Trish adopting a jaunty "hand on the hip" pose while firing (below center) and Paula who believes gun control is using both hands (below right). |
(Photo: GL or his minions) |
(Photo: Trish)
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(Photo: Trish)
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(Photo: Iron John)
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(Photo: Mission)
(Photo: Isn't the web a strange place?)
One last item and we'll move on from the battle. (Have you noticed
I really haven't talked much about the actual battle? Or should I
have just left this out so you wouldn't notice?) There were some new
folks with the Rieske Family Cannon Crew. They included the very mature Rachel and her no-doubt
long-suffering mom Laurie Altvader (at left).
I think they were involved in a co-op program to help educate young people on
how to properly fire a mortar. Altvader. Altvader? Alt-Vader! (Yeah, I
know...I'm really reaching. But I had to fill space; otherwise there would
just be more puerile drivel for you to read here.)
This brings us to the end of the final chapter. There's only one way to effectively close a journal like this one that doesn't involve binge drinking...and that's with George. (His real name is Kenneth, but we call him George because... Well! I honestly don't know why we call him George, but you should call him that too.)
(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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(Photo: Mission)
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It seems that in my absence during the Sunday battle, George was giving a tour which reached the surgeon's table to find me missing. For some reason, George is really fond of the surgeon's table, probably because it tends to make certain people turn pale when I explain period surgery. (It helps that the equipment has a bit of a barbaric look to the untrained observer.) Not wanting to miss an opportunity to gross out his tour group, George decided to try explaining the surgeon and his equipment to them in my absence. He has heard me give my presentation dozens of times. Of course, hearing is not the same as doing. George hit many of the high points, going so far as to make up a few of things that I had never heard about which made them even higher points. (above left) When he finally spotted me, I encouraged him to keep going - mostly to see what he would come up with next - but he insisted I take over (above center). Following my presentation, he continued to take his group around the ship where he could easily explain things he understood a little better...like the bitter end (above right). Note that he cleverly placed it in the hands of the group member voted most likely to be embarrassed by scatological humor.