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Fort Taylor Pyrate Invasion, Dec 2014 - Key West, FL
Chapter 3: Friday, December 5th, Morning. Arriving just in time for lunch (What? I was writing); setting up the surgeon's display and interacting with the public; entirely missing going
Photo: Zatara Delavega - Lunch at the Mercury Camp with Steve, Iron Jon & Dave
on the ships with the Mercury crew; a bit about Kathy Smith, new recruit via madPete; entirely missing the black powder display on the battlefield (missing things - a Friday theme); meeting and learning about Red the Swede or Jim that Likes to Swim; the trials of Mercury cook Steve; and dinner in the fort.
I arrived at the fort in time for lunch after again breakfasting at Blue Heaven and spending the better part of the morning writing Thursday's account.
Lunch was just ready in the Mercury camp when I got there, but I couldn't eat any of it. Poor Steve
Photo: Poppa Ratsey - The Author and His Surgical Display
(No matter what I do, that comma of hair never wants to stay tucked.)
had bought beans that he thought didn't have any meat in them because the can wasn't labeled "pork and beans". Unfortunately, whatever the large text on the can says,
if it doesn't include the word "vegetarian", such beans always contain bacon as the nutrition label shows in very, very tiny print. I felt bad that he felt bad, but he said that now at least he knew the truth. (This is curious thing about beans prepared in this manner. You would think they would want to trumpet the fact that there was bacon in them, given most people's love of it.)
I set up my surgeon's table with all the instruments and spent the majority of the day at my display talking about period medicine to passers by. While the traffic was not particularly brisk, it seemed to be better than it had been last year on Friday. Many of the questions I got were very good indeed, reminding me a little of the things I usually discuss with the tourists at Put-in -Bay.
 Photo: Mission - The Surgeon's Instruments. (See if you can find the new Shagreen Pocket Fleam Set. Hint: ShaGREEN.) |
Photo: Leigh Collins
Dutch & Keith Loading Powder
Michael Bagley, Tim Clark, Jeremy Nichols and Dave Neville had all gone off sailing on the red-sailed Jolly II Rover with Dutch, Grace, Leigh and Keith. Since few photos have surfaced of this as of this writing, I can only surmise that they would be most incriminating and be used against them in a court of law. Not having been there, I really can't comment intelligently on what happened.
The only picture I have come across so far is the one you see at left. This is an amazing photo because Dutch and Keith are working together to load black powder into a gun. (The amazing part is that their mothers signed the permission slip to let them do this.)
There were three boats participating with the Fort Taylor event this year: The Jolly II Rover, Danger Charter's green-hulled Sarah, and Classic Charter Line's America 2.0. Lily/Leigh told me that there was supposed to be a fourth ship, but "something about the Coast Guard prevented the 4th." I guess you just can't make the Coast Guard take a reasonable view of pirate craft for some reason. They're kind of unreasonable in that way... such are the vicissitudes of fate.
 Photo: Poppa Ratsey - The Three Ships Participating in the Event During Saturday Battle (from left): The Jolly II Rover, America 2.0 and the Sarah |
Fortunately, some other folks who had gone to sea got some shots of their voyages.
 Photo: Ferguss Hardwood Cascabel and Jay on the Jolly II Rover |
 Photo: Francois LaFitte Dutch of the Meka II and Francois Lafitte, Optimistically Eye a Prize |
A few of the other Mercury crew members - madPete and Kathy Smith - were on other boats during the weekend and Kathy took photos of their adventures, some of which you see below.
 Photo: Kathy Smith madPete, Georgiabelle & Ferguss Hardwood |
 Photo: Kathy Smith Kathy & madPete on the Sarah |
 Photo: Kathy Smith Francois LaFitte, Vittoria LaGenovesa & Dutch |
Kathy is a new recruit to the Mercury crew, being brought into our fold by madPete. They met at an Arizona Civil War event, the Battle of Picacho Peak. (madPete cheats on we pirates by participating in another era of reenacting.
Kathy & madPete at the Dana Point Tall
Ship Festival
This is, of course, to be punished according to Moses' Law (that is, 40 Stripes lacking one) on the bare Back, but that's not important right now. Pete got Kathy into pirate reenactments by bringing her to the Dana Point Tall Ship Festival. Key West was her second event.
Their Saturday sail was her first time sailing, which she said she loved so much that they did it again on Sunday. One of her favorite things about the sport was seeing "a Magnificent Frigate bird flying overhead... (don't have those in AZ). She was also amused by how the pirates riding on the ship attempted to drum-up business for the Jolly II Rover "by playing/talking as pirates to everyone that passed by." (Better her than me. Although we didn't do so bad at it the year before.)
I asked her what she liked best about the Fort Taylor event and she replied. "I loved the whole experience....from the pirate family aspect, to the music and food of it, the horsing around, to the battles and time around the campfire with new found friends! I didn't truly understand
Kathy at the Battle of Picacho Peak in 2013. She and
Her Mom Made the Dress.(I love the colors here.)
till experiencing it, and now I know why everyone tries to come back every year... it's a "wholeness" felt like no other... not even any Civil War event I've been to can compare..." (She'll really understand how different the two event types are when Pete gets his punishment for cheating on us.)
One of the most fascinating things I learned about Kathy is that she can trace her lineage back to Sir Francis Drake who either was or wasn't a pirate, depending on who you talk to. Now in case you think this is just another newly coined pirate reenactor grasping hopefully at a family legend, she gave me a run-down. Drake's uncle, Sir Richard Drake, married Ursula Stafford in 1778. "All the Staffords being related, and me being a descended of the Stafford line, (the first coming into Jamestown in 1622) makes Frances some cousin however many removed."
Now we must move on to... wait...wait...wait... As I was proofing this chapter, I found images that Michael Bagley took with Kate's camera of their sailing adventure. I would be remiss if I didn't include some of them here.
 Photo: Michael Bagley The Jolly II Rover |
 Photo: Michael Bagley Jeremy Nichols, Sailor and Sail |
 Photo: Michael Bagley Michael Bagley, Forter and Fort (Or something) |
 Photo: Michael Bagley Tim Steering - "Iceberg Right Ahead!" |
 Photo: Michael Bagley Keith - "Mr. Christian!" |
 Photo: Michael Bagley Dave, the Ship's Boy, Happy to Be at Sea |
Photo: Poppa Ratsey - The Jolly II Rover Turning In the Wind
They didn't have a battle today. Instead, they put together a firing demonstration on the field in front of the fort. What with my late arrival and setting up the surgeon's table, I never made it out to see this demonstration. There was a flurry of interest in my display right before it began, so by the time it had actually began, I was ensconced at my table and too indolent to journey to the battlefield or even the fort wall. (Plus, to be quite honest, the view from the fort wall of the battlefield leaves a lot to be desired IMO, so I figured it wouldn't be worth the trip. It's like watching people set up those little plastic army men. Since you can't hear what's being said from up there very well, the plastic army men seem to be mumbling to each other unless they really scream.) Fortunately several pictures were taken by Poppa of this, which you see here.
 Photo: Poppa Ratsey |
 Photo: Poppa Ratsey |
 Photo: Poppa Ratsey |
Photo: Mission's Camera
Unlacing Kate. See, she had gotten wet
during a photo shoot and... you know.
Photo: Mission's Camera
Becoming Frustrated Unlacing Kate
(It's amazing the human race survived this
period in history given the clothing they wore.)
When I was not talking about period medicine, I was talking with Kate Bagley and not taking notes so that I almost can't comment intelligently on what we discussed.
See, so much happens at these events that I if I want to keep track of more than a small part of it, I need to come back to the condo and record it all at regular intervals. But once I am in the fort with the pirate family, it's tough to tear myself away and come back to the charming, yet sterile environs of the condo.
I believe we talked about clothing and she sewed some of my now raggedly clothes while we talked. (I like a lived in look, but she insisted. OK, actually, I just can't sew.)
During
Photo: Mission
Red the Swede on Friday
the day a bright, stalwart young man came into the Mercury camp and introduced himself as "Red the Swede". He has another name, which is somewhat less descriptive, but I didn't write it down. (After he arrived and started talking, I realized that this was an interesting chap and I got my notebook and pen out. So I CAN comment intelligently on what happened here.) Although I don't remember his normal name, he said the locals called him "Jim who likes to swim", so I will guess that his name is Jim, or possibly James.
Red the Swede is a mural artist who lives in Key West. He painted a charming Conch house mural on several pieces of 4' x 8' plywood which were placed by the entrance booth of the park. (You can see it below.) I asked him what brought him here and he replied, "My Buick." (*rim shot* Kate thought this uproariously funny.) He explained that he had lived up and down highway 1 in southern Florida for his entire life. When he got to Key West, he took jobs as a chef in various local kitchens, but soon tired of that. "It's hot in Key West; it's even hotter in a Key West restaurant kitchen." Indeed.
Red presently works at Ben Franklyn in the custom framing department and has a studio on Stock Island where he does his art work. I asked about his murals and he said that he had done them all over the island, sometimes two and three times.
"A restaurant will call me to do a mural on their wall, I'll do it, and then they get bought out by
Photo: Mission
Red's WB Tattoo
another restaurant who wants a new mural in the same place." I wondered if he had to paint over his own murals (which sounds a bit painful to me), but he said the owners usually did that for him.
He also had created an exotic faux finish for the bamboo in a house on the island which had appeared on the show Househunter. "I didn't get any credit or anything, but my work has appeared on national TV."
This was his first year being a pirate and I remarked on how well he had put his costume together. He had a couple of painted stone crab claws on a necklace which I noted. "Yep. I ate it, then I made it." He explained that stone crabs are wonderful creatures because you can remove their claw, eat it, and they grow a new one for you. So it's like having a stone crab garden.
He also has an elaborate classic Warner Brother's cartoon tattoo on his arm which I have to mention. There is nearly always (if not always) a classic WB cartoon reference in these Journals, but I usually have to work a little for it. This time it was presented to me on a silver platter, so you definitely get a photo of that. It contains all the expected characters as well as the Crusher and Gossamer (the big orange monster), which were inspired touches.
 Photo: Mission - Red the Swede's Key West Mural for FTPI at the Fort Entrance |
Photo: Mission
Steve Cooking Squab on Friday
The ship's crews returned in the late afternoon and things began to wind down at the fort. Steve had begun preparing dinner which consisted of squab and baked potatoes. So I was happy with that because I could definitely eat the potatoes. He offered to make salad, but with some recent digestive issues I couldn't seem to digest raw veggies very well. So I said I appreciated the offer, but if no one else
Photo: Mission
Rachel at Sunset
wanted salad, he could pass on that. (Poor Steve. He really was trying, but my diet was equally trying this weekend.)
There were several event newby's this year, so I suggested we all go up to the fort wall and watch the sun set. Watching the Key West sunset is time-honored tradition and it is particularly lovely from the fort wall. Unfortunately, the clouds defied me this year, so there wasn't much of a setting sun to see. I'm sure everyone thought I was crazy for dragging them up to the fort wall to watch and take photos of this bland affair. I'm also sure it wasn't the first time they had thought this. (The crazy part. Not the bland affair part. I don't usually have much to say about bland affairs.)
I did get one nice photo or Rachel Siegel, which you see at left. Poppa got some good shots of the sun setting in a more grandiloquent way on another day at the fort, which I include here for your edification. (Pretend this is what everyone saw on Friday.)
 Photo: Poppa Ratsey - Sunset at Fort Taylor in Key West |