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

Chapter 7: Sunday, December 7th, Day. The surgeon takes a brief spin around
Photo: DB Couper
Mission Contemplates the Battlefield the campsite to get some photos of places outside of the Mercury camp; Back to camp to play surgeon; getting a ribbon for his weapon so that it would be allowed in battle; heading out to the battleground to help "cure" people; Learning about Jamie Spiering ; Back in Camp to briefly play surgeon again; A long interview with Tink of the Pirates of the Dark Rose; and finally relieving Jeremy of his surgeon's mate duties after it was too late.

I actually got into the fort before noon today. (People seem to get all concerned when I don't show up first thing in the morning. I am in Key West... are you guys insane? Plus I spend most of the morning writing these accounts. But I digress.)

Since I was so early, I decided to skirt the Mercury Camp and go visiting other places in the fort. It was a pleasant stroll and I chatted with several people, although I don't recall learning anything of consequence. I did manage to pin down Tink (who is a self-proclaimed 'pirate sprite') and got her to commit to an interview which we'll get to eventually. I took several photos of my sojourn around the camp, which you see below.

Photo: Mission Sign, Flag & Hudson Bay Trading Company

Photo: Mission DB & Anne's Wreckers Camp

Photo: Mission Piracy Pub & FTPI Banners

Photo: Mission Francois Lafitte in the Wretched Excess Tent

Photo: Poppa Ratsey Crudbeard Cracks the Whip During His Whip Presentation

I made my way back to camp where I uncovered the surgical equipment and set down to business. I explained the surgeon's tools until it was time to go to the battlefield.

Photo: Mission's Camera The Author Explaining Period Surgery to a Couple

Photo: Mission A Real Surgeon Trying to Figure Out the Bullet Extractor

I wanted to take the Clyster Syringe out on the field today, so I asked Iron Jon to keep an eye on the instruments and went over to see Fayma Callahan about getting my "weapon" certified. She said I needed a particular color of ribbon for such a weapon,which turned out to be baby blue. Now, lest you think you can just buy a roll of baby blue ribbon and certify your own clyster syringe for battle, I want you to know they change them every five minutes, based on a code they get from a random number generator on a key fob. (So there.)

Photo: Mission Fayma Tying Ribbon on Syringe 1

Photo: Mission Tying Ribbon on Syringe 2

Photo: Mission Mama's First Aid Officially Approved Battle Syringe

Having done that, I ambled off to the battlefield. Today the story was that the pirates had captured all the cannons. The main body of them were gathered near the moat, facing away from the fort wall (where the audiences was). Diosa aka Michelle Murillo was inciting those on the fort wall to chant imprecations against the pirates and cheer the Brits, who were nowhere to be seen. This is probably because the pirates were being rude and had their backs turned to the audience.

Photo: Poppa Ratsey - The Battle Tableaux: Pirates Closest to Fort, Then Brits, Then Boats, Then Island with Gun Emplacements

Photo: Mission - The Fort Wall Battle Watchers

Photo: Mission Diosa Inciting the Crowd on the Wall

Since this was the last day of the event, there was a lot of battle group posing going on before the battle. This resulted in many neat pictures some of which I must stick in here for you.

Photo: Poppa Ratsey - The Pirates (and Some Brits) Ready for Battle!

Photo: Mission Brit Crew - Benjamin & Scott Salisbury, Don't Know, Syd Leach, Don't Know and Jo-Anna Graves

Photo: Mission The Breach Gun Crew - Gus Diamond, William Hemmelgarn, Dutch and Grace

Photo: Mission Pirates Ashley Mojica, Timothy Marin, Wannisa Galiel Panthong & Capt. Honey Badger

Photo: Poppa Ratsey (Back) Mission, Capt. Jim, Nobudy, Don't Know, Jamie Spiering , Jhode, Amy Jacobson, Francois, Louisa Strega (Front) Fenris Chase, Tim, Ginger Finnerty & Wasabi

Photo: Mission
Fenris Goofing Off With Pirate Women A smaller body of pirates was manning Laurence's three large cannons which were near the water's edge, facing out to sea. Three schooners were plying their way back and forth along the coast, manned with pirates. (This is thanks to the tour companies who allow us to ride for free on their boats as a way to get tourists to join their early afternoon cruises.)

Promptly at 2pm, the pirates on the Jolly II Rover fired a shot at the battlefield and the Brits marched onto the field from their cover at the side. The pirates at the water's edge fled and the Brits promptly turned the guns back around to face the pirates so that the battle could be joined properly. (Curiously, Fenris was part of the team of pirates guarding the waterside British cannons the year before, and yet he made the exact same mistake then in Chapter 9. You'd think he'd have learned his lesson a bit better by now.)

Photo: Poppa Ratsey British Soldiers Waiting to March

Photo: Poppa Ratsey This Can't Be Good

Photo: Poppa Ratsey British Troops Marching Onto the Field

Photo: Mission - Dutch With Cannister Loaded, Pin Inserted, Ready to Fire Once the Brits had their cannons ready, there was a lot of back and forth cannon fire.

Dutch and Grace were manning a breech-loading cannon, which I thought was sort of interesting to watch because I had never seen one in action before.

The charge for a breech loader is pre-loaded into a canister which is open on one side. This canister is then inserted into the gun and locked into place with a tapered peg so the cannon can be fired. Dutch and Grace had two such canisters, meaning one could be cleaned and loaded by the cannon crew while the other was being fired. As Dutch said, they could fire twice as fast that way.

Photo: Mission Grace Cleaning a Cannister

Photo: Mission Grace & Dutch Prepare a Charge

Photo: Mission William & Dutch Load the Breech Gun

Several pirates with small arms were off to the side shooting, similar to what had happened yesterday.

Photo: Mission - The Pirate Small Arms and Rifles Line Ready to Fire

One of these pirates was a chap by the name of Jamie Spiering , whom I had seen around the event for the past several years but never met formally. (He is in the 2010 FTPI Journal because he had won the Bad Ass Pirate contest,
Photo: Maria de Los Angeles - Jamie at FTPI Giving the Thumbs Up although I didn't know his name.) I actually didn't formally meet him this year, either. But I got it into my head that he looked like an interesting sort of guy and I should interview him. Turns out my instincts were spot on. (At least this time.)

Jamie has lived in the Florida Keys since he was a boy. In fact, he spent much of his youth living on Pigeon Key. Now, for those of you who don't know, Pigeon Key is that little spit of land that the Old 7 Mile Bridge stops on on it's way across the Moser Channel in the Keys. You can see it off the north side of the new 7 Mile Bridge if you pay attention. It has long fascinated me because it started life as a work camp for Flagler's Overseas Railway. (To explain that would take far too long.) In fact, I had ridden a bike down the two mile windy stretch of old highway to it several times during past trips. (Going with the wind on a bike: fun. Going against it: Hell.)

Pigeon Key became a town unto itself until a hurricane destroyed the Flagler Railroad in 1935. In 1938, the government decided to build a very narrow and treacherous roadway on top of the old railroad trestles with a steep curving off-ramp onto Pigeon Key. (This is where the bridge that now goes from Marathon out to Pigeon Key came from. They used the rails as guardrails on the road; you can still see them today.) In 1968, the University of Miami leased the island for use as a marine research facility. This is where Jamie entered the picture.

Photo: Marc Averette - Pigeon Key as It Looks Today - The Off Ramp is on the Left, the Caretaker's House is Yellow. The Old Bridge Dominates the Back

Jamie's parents moved to Pigeon Key in 1968 from Chicago as
Photo: Poppa Ratsey
Jamie and the FTPI Flag caretakers of the island in the employ of the University of Miami, bringing him and his brother and three sisters to the island. They continued to live there until 1992, when the Pigeon Key Foundation was established to formally take stewardship of the island, turning it into a historical and cultural for Monroe County, Florida in 1993.

Jamie's family were the last permanent residents of Pigeon Key, having lived there for 24 years! He told me his family's picture hangs in the museum on the island, which used to be his house. (When they made it into a Historic District, they had to pick a year to represent. They picked the year 1940 and Jamie explained that to make it accurate to that year, "they had to tear down half the house.")

Now you may be thinking that it would just be the coolest thing in the world to be a young boy living on a difficult-to-access 5 acre island run as a marine research facility in the middle of the Florida Keys. You are probably right. I asked Jamie about that and he said "It was there that I began living the dream of pirating as a young lad. Well, what else can you do when you have as vivid an imagination as I have?" He said that he was able to play pirate every day, hanging out in the shadow of the old 7 mile bridge.

Photo: Jamie
Jamie in His Air Force Blues The U of M Pigeon Key extension site held 60 people. "Out of 12 months we were booked with 10-1/2 months with 9 or ten colleges bringing students back every year. I grew up with college students and college professors." Jamie told me he had worked with shark biologist Dr. Samuel H. Gruber for six months on the island. He almost got to go with Dr. Gruber on a 6 month shark expedition in Bimini, but his mother ruled against it. He enjoyed working with college people so much that he asked his parents, "Why do I have to go to that crappy school in Marathon when I can learn everything I need right here from the students and professors?"

When he was 18, Jamie joined the United States Air Force and was eventually stationed in Rhine Main air base in Germany, where he stayed for 12 years. "I was a heavy Equipment operator and involved in EOD (explosives ordinates detonation) - you know blowing all kinds of stuff up just as Pirates did." He told me, "I was very proud to have served this great country and lived in Europe. It was the best time of my life; I traveled to 10 countries, drove 170 mph daily on the autobahn, drank the best wines and beer around wooed many beautiful ladies and skied the Alps every winter."

Jamie now lives in Marathon, which he likes because life goes at a slower pace. He jokingly referred to it as 'Bore-a-thon', "but I like it that way."
Photo: DB Couper - Jamie Firing During the Battle on Saturday He is a landscape designer. He likes to create landscapes with plants n trees of various shapes and colors, his goal being to create living paintings. One of his projects involved cutting and growing plants on a 5 million dollar estate in such a way that it looked like a Monet painting. His effort won the best property in Florida Keys that year.

Jamie's pirate name is Captain Silky Silver Tips, Pirate Extraordinaire. He told me that 'Silky' came from his career as a master sail maker ("Silky Sail-maker was my name because I sewed silk in the sails making them stronger.") He picked up the captain's title by becoming a Licensed Ship’s Captain. And 'silver tips' is a reference to the silver tips on his mustache and his shark skin boots.

As a pirate, Jamie travels around the state attending events for the Make-a-Wish foundation, Shriners and other local charities like the Abused Children of Florida Keys Homeless Shelter. In this way, he helps raise money for disabled and abused children "for they truly are the future of mankind." Being a former sail maker, he is skilled at sewing and makes all his own garb.

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Back on the battlefield, Jerry "Nobudy" Loss and I agreed that since the little water skit we did on Saturday was such a hit that we would do it again today. Some folks watching yesterday told me my position blocked the view of what I was doing, so I made sure to place myself on the correct side of Nobudy for maximum exposure. I again poured water into his mouth and he spit it out with great gusto. (I got quite a shower as a result of that.) He decided not to be revived, so I announced that he had been killed and should be revenged. Some of the small arms folks picked this up as a minor battle cry. "Revenge for Nobudy!"

Photo: Mission Jerry "Nobudy" Loss, Before Being Wounded

Photo: DB Couper Mission "Curing" Nobudy By Giving Water

Photo: Mission "Maybe I Should Use Spirit Vini?"

Eventually all the powder was spent and the British advanced across the field toward the pirates, yelling all sorts of things at them.  This turned into a melee, complete with LARP sword fighting. It looked just like you would think a scrum of pirates and Brits should look – disorganized and chaotic.

Photo: Mission The Pirates and Brits Advance on Each Other on the Battle Field

Photo: Poppa Ratsey The Lines Blur and the Battle Degrades Into Hand-to-Hand Combat

Since I had my clyster syringe with me, we got several photos with that. The best one was done specifically for Diosa on the fort wall with Laurance.

And that was the Sunday battle.

Photo: Mission's Camera The Battle Clyster Treatment for Spike

Photo: DB Couper And a Special Battle Clyster Treatment for Hiz Honor, the Viceroy

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Photo: Mission - The Mercury Camp in the Shade I returned to my surgical table in the fort where I took over for Kate Bagley, who was filling in for me. (Kate is an old hand when it comes to filling in for me. I don't know if she was the first person to realize she had heard my little speeches often enough to repeat them for the crowds, but she was certainly one of the first.)

In between my explanations of period medical procedures, Kate worked on fixing my clothing, which was wonderful. (I can sew on buttons, but that is about the extent of my sewing skills.) The Mercury tent was full of folks and we had a nice time chatting about this and that in the shade of the tarp. Occasionally some tourists braved the sun and came by to listen to me babble.

Photo: Mission - Kate the Acting Surgeon

Photo: Mission's Camera - Kate Sewing Mission's Sleeve

Eventually my sugar went low (which frequently happens at these things because of the erratic nature of the event and my activity level.) For some years now, when this happens, I have trouble speaking, so Jeremy stepped in and took over for me while I sat down to eat something. Jeremy proved to be quite adept at filling in for me.

Photo: Mission's Camera - Mission Interviewing Tink About this time, Tink appeared (or, rather, reappeared) to be interviewed. We had started the interview before the battle, but Crudbeard had ordered her onto the field, so we didn't get very far before she scurried off. 

Tink is short for Tinkle, her last name. She strikes me more as being like Pan than Tink, with all her energy and short, somewhat wild hair, but her last name isn't Pandle, so Tink it is.

Hers proved to one of the most involved in situ interviews I have ever done. Tink does not tell her story in a linear fashion and frequently wandered off the narrative and into philosophy and theory. Being a great fan of these things myself, I didn't interrupt, merely adding a comment here and there on where our philosophies intersected. However, this does not make for fascinating prose in most people's opinion, so I will stick primarily to the facts.

Photo: Ashley Childers - Tink and a Spider Sculpture. (It reminds
me of the Mohawk Spider Gremlin, which is why I put it in here.) Tink hails from Portland, Maine and has led a rather complex, wandering life thanks to the early influences of an aunt in San Francisco and a variety of traveling programs and grants available to American-born Jews. 

Her aunt started flying her out to San Francisco at the age of 3 and, finding they were kindred, free spirits, continued to bring her back every two years or so. She made her first solo flight from Maine to San Francisco at the age of 12 or 13.

At 14, she was given the gift of overseas travel as a Bat Mitzvah present by her aunt.  She traveled to London and France where she saw Stonehenge, Bath, Stratford on Avon and several other cultural sites. She particularly enjoyed the Stratford, something which cemented an interest in Shakespeare and acting. She told me that she had been in a play of the Tempest at age 12. "Reading the play before-hand, I decided I would play Prospero, because he was the most interesting character. Not wanted, would. And I did."

Photo: DB Couper
Tink With Cannibal Chrispy's Cannibus Tink's hair is short and slightly wild, which I suspect is done as much for utilitarian reasons as it is fashion. During the first meetings at the Tempest she announced that everyone should call her 'Goatie Tinkle.' I asked her what this meant and she explained that when all the other kids were asked what their favorite animal was, 90% of them said things like cats and dogs, with the remainder volunteering rabbits, horses and hamsters. "I always wanted to be different, so I picked goats." She learned that goats were mischievous, intelligent, good at climbing, picky eaters (despite their reputation for being indiscriminate omnivores), ornery and stubborn. This suited her.

She continued to travel, spending time in British Columbia. Through the Bridge of Understanding program she was able to travel to Germany at 16, having to pay for only 1/3 of the airfare. This program was designed to show Jewish Americans how far Germany had advanced from the dark days of World War II. "Most Jews are horrified when you even mention Germany, but I wanted to see it." She spent two weeks there.

She also joined Model United Nations, a program that engaged in mock debates about the issues facing the UN. This was one of her favorite experiences up to that time because it involved communication, enthusiasm, understanding and conciliatory skills. Since the work involved people, travel, culture and understanding, she decided to pursue it as a career.

A friend told her about the United World College, which is a network of schools scattered around the world, with the American branch being located in (or possibly near) Las Vegas, New Mexico, "basically in the middle of the desert."  With her diligent school work she got a full scholarship. She and her brother packed their car and drove from Maine to the school in New Mexico. "I was in a really anti-America phase at that point, but the trip helped me to see what was wonderful about this country.
Photo: Shana Tinkle
The ARRR!!! Acapella Pirate Group With Tink It made me realize how privileged we are to live in a place with so much variety, possibility and space."

Her UWC class consisted of 200 students from 90 different countries and was located in a castle. "It was like Hogwarts without the magic classes." From there she got a scholarship to Brown University, where she continued to follow her interest in writing and theater.

Until Brown, she had pursued school with a zealous interest in good grades, but upon arriving, "I became a total slacker." She did, however, complete a thesis, which was a 30,000 word epic poem, "mostly about myself", in which she tried to use every word in her vocabulary without reusing them. She also joined the ARRR!!! Acapella Singing Group on campus, allowing her to "let out my pirate sprite."

Tink continued to travel, going back to Europe on the "Facebook Plea" plan. She explained that this is where you announce you are going someplace on Facebook and ask any of your friends if they can put you up for a few days
Photo: Poppa Ratsey
Mission Interviewing Tink, Part II (New Location). "I planned my route around who was willing to have me." She spent three and half months in Europe in this fashion, visiting Wales, Scotland, London, Norway and even managing to take a boat trip to Germany.  "The whole trip cost me $2000. I lost a lot of weight." She told me she carried a container of Walker Shortbread cookies throughout the trip, "as emergency rations."

To list all of her travels would make a long tale longer, but she spent time in Alaska, working as a bartender on a glass roofed train, worked tall ships on the West Coast, worked a whale watching cruise for awhile, "until I didn't appreciate it any more." She wanted to see the 6 'plausible' continents before she turned 23, which she did. ("I cheated a little bit. I managed to sneak into Palestine while in Israel and I count that as Asia.")

She's currently affianced to a man in South America and they're planning a pirate-themed
Photo: Mission
Jeremy Manning the Surgeon's Station wedding "that will be very non-traditional." Her dream is to establish a tall ship cruise business, with something of a pirate theme, but that can be modified to suit the needs of the patrons.

By the time I returned to the Mercury camp, the tourists were being pushed towards the exit. I had managed to miss most of the late afternoon while interviewing Tink. (You might think that it would be easier to interview someone than to present surgical tools, but you would thinking wrong. It's just different.) The interview had taken almost two hours, but I gotten so involved in the ideas and philosophies that I sort of lost track of things.

Still, Jeremy had managed to work the station the whole time, a testament to his fortitude and ability to pick things up quickly. I was really glad he was willing to do that for me.

I told him I needed to go to every event with him so that we could do this more often. His comment? "I can't believe you do this for 5 hours!" (So I take it that's a 'No." on being my permanent fill-in, Jeremy?)

Photo: Mission Zatara Captures Chrispy

Photo: Mission Michelle Leading the Kid's on Kid's Day (Sunday)

Photo: Mission Last Shot of the Battlefield

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