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

Chapter 8: Sunday, December 7th, Evening. Of the taking of the group photo and the crew photos (which the surgeon missed so he could pack my surgical stuff); Mishaps in box packing; Chatting with John Weiss and Rebecca Malek; Hanging out with Wendy and Dawson; The crews partaking of the pig roast feast (except the Mercury crew who were anti-social); Doing honor to the Order of St. Barbara aka. the Stinky Sponge Ceremony; Closing ceremonies and ghost celebrations; The author wandering around the camp afterwards and doing gate duty with Leigh.

Chad Azevedo was back in the Keys and stopped by the event to show off one of his latest creations. Regular readers will recall that Chad makes custom weapons and (at least one time) replica bone saws that can be used to cut pig's rib cages. Chad's wife Sansanee was back in Thailand, having recently delivered their baby. I know Chad had always planned to spend a lot of time in Thailand, but he said he was back in the Keys for at least a while.

Photo: Mission - Chad With His Pistol in the Mercury Camp

Photo: Mission - Chad's Custom-made Pistol

With the tourists driven out of the fort, it was time for the group photo. While I like looking at the group photo, I hate taking it because they always take it right before sunset when I want to get my surgical gear packed up for shipping home. (You can say, "Why not do it by candle light," but that means you have clearly never TRIED to tightly pack a hundred instruments in a box by candle light.) Nevertheless I toddled over to the fort wall and posed for the picture. No doubt you see me.

Photo: Poppa Ratsey - The 2014 FTPI Crew Photo (No, I am not going to identify everyone.)

Photo: Mission
Poppa with Someone Nobody Knows Taking the Photo Group shot completed, it was announced that Poppa was going to take crew shots. I wasn't standing for any of that. (No I wasn't sitting either, you comedian.) If the instruments didn't get packed tonight, I'd have to go into the fort early on Monday and I wanted no truck with that. So I missed out on the Mercury crew photo, but I got everything back into the boxes just before darkness fell.

Since I was the only one missing, Tim Clark decided to add me into the crew photo, which I told him would be challenging to do given the unusual angle of the shot. To Tim's credit, he actually managed to find one of me that was at a pretty good angle, although I was staring off into the distance like someone who had had a photo of him taken and implanted into another photo that he was not actually in. (Jeremy thinks it looks more like I am irritated at him for stepping on my toe and I am plotting his murder.)

Tim also found another picture of me to add, which you can see by placing your mouse on the crew photo below right. (It's sort of fun to see me jump from place to place, so do it to see that if nothing else.)

Photo: Poppa Ratsey The Actual Mercury Crew Photo from Sunday

Photo: Poppa Ratsey & Tim Clark The Modified Mercury Crew Photo from Sunday

Photo: Poppa Ratsey
Tim & Jeremy: "You said there were no reefs here..." Boxes packed, I sat and looked at them, trying to decide what to do with the pair of them. I finally chose to put them inside the fort building behind our site since I had no idea what time I'd be rolling into the fort on Monday morning. (If you're too early, you have to 1) get up early and 2) do a lot of work. If you're too late, you miss everyone. I will be sort of aiming for almost too late.)

Tim saw me getting ready to pick one of the boxes up and he volunteered to take it out to my car. This seemed much better than leaving them there. Unfortunately,  my car was about as far from the fort entrance as you could hope to be. (The downside of arriving at the fort around noon.) Each box weighs about 35 pounds and I didn't want to make anyone walk all that way with them. So I suggested he and Jeremy carry the boxes to the end of the sidewalk while I got my van and brought it over.

This would have gone just fine, except they weren't there. I walked back into camp. They weren't there either. I walked back to the car. Not there. Like an idiot, I walked back to camp again. They still weren't there. I was wondering if they had actually walked all the way out to the distant parking lot, when it occurred to me to have Michael call them. Turns out, they were waiting at the front gate. It was like an Abbot and Costello routine.

With the boxes finally loaded and poor Jeremy and Tim relieved of their 35 pound burdens, I parked and returned to the fort. A beer seemed to be called for, so I got one and went a visiting the folks getting ready for the feast in the main tent.

Photo: Mission - One View of the Pig Roast Feast Dining Tent

Photo: Mission - The Kid's Table (Heavy Drinkers)

Photo: Mission Greg Hudson, Sherry Stilley Walp, Rachel Siegel & Strega

Photo: Mission "A Toast!" Catelina de Alquezar, Henry Avery and Caribbean Pearl

Photo: Mission's Camera - Mission with John Weiss and Rebecca Malek on Sunday
What with the conviviality in the main tent, the beer led to mead which led to more mead which led to rum and diet Doctor Pepper with some folks who remembered me from last year: John Weiss and his fiancee Rebecca Malek.

John told me how he had remembered me from 2013, his first time at FTPI. He said something about how I had been quite open and welcoming to him, which surprised me because it doesn't sound a bit like me. (I am kidding.) (I think.)

Pressing the point out of interest (since we were talking about me), John said that I "always have one of the coolest displays, and yes, you can refer people directly to me to confirm that I actually said that. You were knowledgeable, friendly, and (appeared) to put up with my fairly technical questions about where you found your goodies, and how you researched their original applications on gooey, traumatized, and diseased sailors." (Oddly, I think I remember him now.)

It occurred to me that while John and Rebecca seemed to know about me, I didn't know about them. So I made it my business to find out. They had only
Photo: Mission - John and Rebecca
been reeneacting for a little over a year. "Ft. Taylor (2013) was our first real "historical" event. Before that a few local pirate fests, and the annual Renaissance fair." John explained that he liked the Golden Age of Piracy, calling it a unique time in history and geography. In addition, he noted that he liked shooting things.

Rebecca liked the theatrical aspects of playing pirate, having been brought up in and around the theater in Buffalo, New York. John confided, "She wears the corsets as a concession to me, God love her." Indeed.

They apparently discovered their interest in all things pirate during a weekend trip to St. Augustine. While there they visited Tiger Lee's store, where John procured a pair of breeches and a waistcoat and Rebecca purchased a blouse. "After some libations, we encountered a souvenir store which had a very nice Hanwei cutlass, which she purchased for me as a gift, and a few Renaissance fairs later, she had a corset."

The hook was set. John's mother made them a set of matching outfits for Halloween. "From that point it seemed like in a for a penny, in for a pound." They added belts, baldrics, and other accessories, historically accurate Whydah shoes. John noted, "They are historically uncomfortable for trampling about the fort's pavement, and I discovered their ineffectiveness for maintaining purchase on a ship's deck during our Saturday excursion aboard the "America" to attack the fort." (This folks, is the "in for a pound" part. Maybe even in for a pound and a half, given how much historically accurate uncomfortable shoes cost.)

Photo: Rebecca Malek - John and Rebecca
John is a Key West fan, coming down to the island for almost three decades. He introduced Rebecca to the place. Like me when I first started coming to Key West, he made a study of the interesting restaurants. John suggested that I try Louie's Back Yard, The Flaming Buoy, and The Commodore Waterfront Restaurant. (I have been to Louie's and the Commodore's, although it has been awhile. Louie's has a lovely deck view of the Atlantic. The Flamingo Buoy sounds interesting...)

The restaurants also serve a practical purpose in their relationship. "She puts on a corset and humors me for my birthday weekend, and as a reward for her suffering loyalty, she gets living beyond our means dining, and hot tub equipped hotel rooms. It seems only fair."

Since they were both originally from New York state, I was curious about how they met. John explained that they were each working in Palm Beach, missing each other for several years before he took a job training Iraqi police officers and their paths crossed. (John is a former Marine, so he said he really enjoyed training the police officers.) "She pursued me for two years, but I am socially clueless, so it took a while for me catch on." They had to come all the way to Florida from New York to meet one another!

I noticed on Facebook that John referred to their house as Wigglesworth Manor.
Photo: John Weiss - A Grainy Gunter Wigglesworth (From a Vidcap.)
This is not something your author can just pass by, so I asked about it. Turns out they are animal people. Well, Rebecca is an animal person. She had a cat that had died after 19 years. "One day, after church, she turns to me and says, 'Can we stop by the shelter? I just want to look.'" Surely you can see where this is going.

Knowing John was not a cat person, Rebecca did some research, learning the HOA rules concerning dogs and determining what sort of dog would be best for them. John explained, "At the shelter, we encountered a scratch and dent puppy who seemed to have a non-yippy personality (a non-negotiable trait in my book). Before I know it, there is a dog in the car, and we're on the way home."

Because Rebecca chose the dog, John got to choose the name. "I chose Mr Gunter Wigglesworth because it sounds vaguely British and German (the dog was a Jack Russel/Corgi/Daschund mix), but mostly because "Mr Wigglesworth" is fun to say. Go ahead, say it while looking at a dog a few times, and try not to smile." (He has a point.) John began to call his house "Wiggleworth Manor", which made its way to Facebook and now you know as much as I do.

---

At this point, I was a happy Mission and I started chatting with Wendy Wellman. We talked about her new baby, Riley, and her son Dawson's career as a professional Rubik's cube player.
Photo: Poppa Ratsey - Dawson, Riley & Wendy
Seriously, they have timed contests and everything. He likes figuring out the solutions in his head. Of course, I can remember when it first came out. (Because I'm old.) My big feat was figuring out that you could take the stickers off the plastic without too much trouble and stick 'em back on. So that's how I solved it. But Dawson wants to go pro, so he doesn't cheat like that.

Tim Clark was near me when I wandered around the dining tent and I told him he had to see the Viceroy's table because it started the trend of having fancy dinner settings during the Sunday feast. Before that, we just all grabbed our paper plates and plastic utensils and bellied up to the wooden tables to pig out. (Heh.)

By the time I finally found the Viceroy's table, I managed to lose Tim, but I got a chance to talk with Crudbeard. It turns out that while this was the Viceroy’s table, the idea originally belonged to Crudbeard’s wife Barbara. Barbara unfortunately passed this year from cancer, but Crudbeard was pleased to see all the fancy tables settings and thought it a nice legacy to Barbara. Indeed. Miss you Barbara.

The pig roast was a jolly affair, as usual. Cascabal and Braze used their guns to ignite the pig and dinner was served.

Photo: Mission Cascabel and Braze Light the Pig for the Sunday Feast

Photo: Mission Gus Diamond & Crudbeard at the Viceroy's Table

We had our own little feast in the Mercury encampment because we're anti-social that way. Plus Iron John and Steve put together such a nice spread that there's no reason to wait in the long, long line for food. I believe the crew had pork tenderloin, which this vegetarian couldn't have. However, they also had a sort of cabbage stew with apples and wine that I remembered from last year that more than made up for what I couldn't eat.

After dinner, the Order of St. Barbara ceremony was held with what had to be a record number of people this year. (Although, it probably wasn't. I think I say that every year.) This 'ceremony' is to recognize those who had fired ordnance for the first time by smearing them with the stinky sponge used to clean out the cannons. Since I was chatting with Wendy and Dawson again, I gave my camera to Michael, who gave it to Kate, because she actually knows how to take good photos. She got several of Dave Neville being smeared with the stinky sponge. (St. Barbara would no doubt be appalled if she saw what her name had been attached to.)

Photo: Kate Bagley Part of the St. Barbara Line-Up

Photo: Kate Bagley Ashley Getting 'Special' Treatment

Photo: Kate Bagley Wannisa Watching the Sponge

Photo: Kate Bagley Dave Gets the Sponge

Photo: Mission's Camera
Mission With the Mercury Award for Most
Anti-Social Crew During Pig Roast
Awards and closing ceremonies and similar stuff followed that. The Mercury crew actually got an award, which I accepted because the rest of them were still being anti-social and hanging around the camp instead of being at the closing ceremonies. (This is notable. Usually I am the anti-social one. It must have been the mead.)

After that, everyone repaired to the Ole Zach's Tavern inside the fort where they did the solemn closing ceremony of the ghosts. Not believing in ghosts, I was
Photo: Mission - Ghost Tales and Sailor Songs in Ole Zach's Tavern
a heathen, so I hung out with Tim and got the padre's perspective on the religious aspects of the matter. (Well, he was probably doing a better job discussing such than me because I had a snootful of mead at that point.) 

Eventually I wandered out of there and started ambling about the camp like a social gadfly. I finally made my way over to Keith and Leigh's place. Tink and Cat Icona were there, talking about going swimming in the ocean. I offered to go and take pictures, not even thinking how creepy that must have sounded. (But seriously, I just thought it would make for neat pictures...people swimming in the surf in the moonlight. Ah, never mind.)

Leigh had taken the last gate duty, which she does every year. I had about exhausted my interest in the festivities and had stopped drinking anything but water quite awhile back, so I volunteered to go with her. We sat up there and discussed the event and how well it had gone, enjoying the evening. Leigh posed her Morris Animal Foundation stuffed golden retriever Moose at the gate so she could get photos of it to advertise the group and its mission, which we'll discuss in detail in the next chapter. I kept her company until Keith arrived with the Sammy and Sophie. By then, I was ready to call it a night.

Photo: Mission Moose - the Morris Animal Foundation Mascot - On Gate Duty

Photo: Mission Leigh and Keith With Sammie and Sophie

So that was the official end of the Fort Taylor Pyrate Invasion. (Not the end of the Journal, of course, just the end of the event.) It was quite an enjoyable event this year and I had a pretty good time on Sunday night as you can see from the closing photos. (But then, I usually do.)

Photo: Mission Drinking with DB Couper

Photo: Mission Hanging Out With Caribbean Pearl

Photo: Mission Cuddling with a Dreaded Mae Snake

 

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