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Brigand's Grove 2011 - Charlestown, IN
Photo: Mission
Iron Spike King and Master of his domain
Chapter 4th. Featuring an in-depth look Iron Spike, a previously un-met shipmate of Mission's, had brought with him to display; surgery on Lob; what happened during the Sunday skirmish along with other oddments.
I had mentioned Iron Spike on the first page of this Journal, but I didn't go into much detail about him. So I thought I'd do that now since I have lots of pictures of he and his gear. He actually showed up Thursday night, traveling from near St. Louis, Missouri. He set up his camp that night along with a few other early arrivals. Mr. Spike is a very sociable person whom I discovered on Friday night can hold forth on a myriad of topics. He has been involved in re-enacting for a long time, although I don't recall hearing how long it has been, exactly. As I noted previously, he's done revolutionary war, Viking and probably several other periods that he either didn't mention or I don't recall.
He had brought a large amount of stuff to the event for his display. He was ostensibly the Mercury's navigator, but at least half of his collection was devoted to one of the things crowds love to goggle over: weapons. I suppose a pirate ship's navigator would need to be armed during a battle like anyone else. (Except a surgeon, of course.) You can see some of this collection below left and center. He also had a rope-encased telescope that had been made by his brother-in-law who goes by the name Bosun Carl on the Pyracy Pub.
 Photo: Mission Iron Spike's rifles and throne |
 Photo: Mission Iron Spike's long-barreled weapons and swords |
 Photo: Mission Bosun Carl's rope work on a telescope |
Photo: Mary Lyons
Iron Spike explains navigation techniques to some visitors
Iron Spike's real focus at Brigand's Grove was his display of navigation equipment. Since his set-up was overflowing with interesting items to look at, there were frequently people gathered around asking questions and listening to him explain all the stuff he had on display.
He told me that some of the treasures of the pirates of the Caribbean were not cargo at all, but maps. He reverently produced a book from inside his tent that was originally written by Basil Ringrose called A buccaneer's atlas. The original title of this book was South Sea waggoner when it was published in 1682. Ringrose had captured it during a raid on a Spanish ship and brought it home to England. The Spanish ambassador demanded that the privateers who had it be brought to trial and the book of maps they stole returned to Spain. The group was acquitted, however, and the maps translated and published with an accompanying narrative which was written by Ringrose.
Iron Spike also explained a great deal about log books, charts and dividers and other items that were used in navigation. He was particularly proud of his brass astrolabe which he had gotten from Portugal. You can see it below center. Mark Gist told me that he had been looking for an all brass astrolabe for some time. I believe he said that most of the reproduced astrolabes were made of brass-clad steel. Iron Spike also showed me an astrolabe that could be used to set both latitude and longitude. At the time of the Golden Age of Piracy, longitude was not standardized. He told me that ship's navigators would set their home port as longitude 0 and then use previous accounts to determine how far "across" the world they wanted to go. I found it very interesting.
 Photo: Mission Map with rules and dividers for determining position |
 Photo: Mission Portuguese Brass Astrolabe |
 Photo: Mission Latitude and Longitude astrolabe |
Photo: Mission
Raggedy-looking Lob (No relation to Anne or Andy)
It sort of looks like he's eating a black worm.
Sharp-eyed readers may have noticed that our stuffed-monkey pal Lob was looking a bit on the peaked side this weekend. (If you actually noticed this, give yourself a cookie.) In fact, as this close up at left shows, half his mouth was falling off. This may have happened during the Put-in-Bay event although neither of Lob's keepers (the Bagleys) could say for sure. By Sunday morning, his entire mouth was off, mostly because Kate pulled it off. If you think that sounds harsh on the stuffed monkey, you have not been keeping up with Lob's adventures in these Journals.
Speaking of which, I learned the origins of Lob's name this weekend. Kate had bought a whole slew of stuffed animals at a dollar store for target practice at a Viking event. (I have mentioned this before.) She and Michael took a shine to Lob and decided to keep him rather than shoot arrows and throw axes at the hapless monk'. To inaugurate Lob's adoption, they trussed his arms and legs and started tossing him back-and-forth across a campfire. This went on for some time with people lobbing the little monkey over the fire. So there you have the genesis of Lob's name. Very appropriate, eh?
Anyhow, both Michael and Kate had been discussing sewing Lob's face back together (for it turned out that his nose was also detaching from the rest of him.) On Sunday morning, Kate decided enough was enough and she was going to fix Lob. (Not fix him that way, fix his face!) She started by reattaching his smile. Because Lob is a period monkey, she used the period surgical technique - no anesthesia. Lob was a trooper and made no sounds of protest. She then moved on to reattaching his nose, which all looked good enough until she ran the needle right through the back of his head! While I am only a would-be surgeon and I have discussed some pretty grisly procedures, I don't think even the most ancient of the ancients ever thought of doing that! This meant that it would no longer be possible to stuff Lob's torso up into his head like we have in the past to create the 4-legged Lob-spider. But that is the price you pay when you start having surgery - it's hell getting old.
 Photo: Mission Kate affixes Lob's expression to his face. |
 Photo: Mission Kate stitching Lob's nose back on him |
 Photo: Mission Running a string thru his head. |
Photo: Mission
Brandon and Nick of the Amazing Budabi Brothers
The public traffic was extremely light on Friday and I planned to leave after the 2pm battle, so I decided not to get all my surgical stuff out. That way Jennie wouldn't have to clear the table off for me and I could go up to the Tavern.
The day was actually very temperate compared to Saturday, but it was still nice being up in the Tavern at the John Work house. Nick of the Amazing Budabi Brothers was also up there telling stories, which made it interesting. For example, I learned that they typically did about 20 paying shows a year. Nick showed off his juggling mug which featured five striped balls in the air. He said he had put a similar logo on other personal items because he really liked it. He talked about what happened when the stunts didn't go right as well as how a group of girls on a cruise they were working on had quizzed them about their lifestyle, asking all sorts of questions and showing a great deal of interest in he and Eric. The Budabis figured things were going pretty good until one of the girls asked him how long they had been a couple. When Nick revealed that they were actually brothers, the girls "disappeared. We didn't see them for the rest of the trip."
Photo: Kate Bagley
The brigands attacking! (I look like I'm playing a fife in this photo. I wasn't.)
As afternoon approached, we decided to try and get the spontaneous 2pm Sunday skirmish off to a more timely start than we had on Saturday. So a pack of us went up the hill and stood just inside the woods to prepare for our daring charge on the house.
The story line this time was that Jake Book, the British soldier and King's man, had been hanging out in the Tavern with his friends and keeping the brigands out. (I was a brigand.) We were plenty steamed about this and had decided to gather a mob and storm the John Work house to get rid of the King's man. So those that had guns loaded and primed them and the rest of us either brought sticks or just stood there. (I just stood there.) When the signal was given, we charged from just inside the woods, across the road (checking for traffic) and stormed the house on the attack! Those with guns shot at the house, those with sticks hit the house (for all the good that did) and those with nothing...stood there and yelled. (That was me.)
 Photo: Kate Bagley The brigands a-shooting! (Or a-standing.) |
 Photo: Mission The brigands charge the house... |
 Photo: Mission and hit it with sticks! |
Photo: Kate Bagley
Mark demands surrender!
The British soldier fired back, of course. What kind of skirmish would it have been if he had just decided to come down? Mark Gist bravely stood on the crest of the hill leading up to the house, ignoring the gunfire from the British soldier. There Mark demanded Jake's surrender. That didn't work. So Michael and Clint, who were tired of hitting a three brick wall thick house with a couple of sticks, decided to rush recklessly in and get the armed man by brandishing their sticks! Although I had no weapon, I followed them! (I knew how the script went.)
Jake pretended to put up quite a fight, which was sort of odd given that there was no one there to witness it but us. It did make for the wonderful series of dramatic images which you see below. I know I have been warning you that I am a rather bad photographer, but that was all just to lull you into sense of security so that I could spring these on you! If LOOK magazine was still around, I could probably sell these as proof of the dramatic uprising of Brigand's Grove! It has heart! Humanity! And more than a bit of photo-editing! Thus, Michael and Clint captured Jake Book and shackled him! They than hauled him up and ordered him to walk to his doom! (Do you think I have used enough exclamation points yet? Maybe... maybe not.) The dynamic duo then drug Jake down the stairs of the house and...(see next panel).
 Photo: Mission Michael & Clint force soldier Jake to kneel |
 Photo: Mission Clint shackles Jake |
 Photo: Mission A dramatic shot of the shackling |
Photo: Kate Bagley
Dragging Jake from the house
Photo: Mission
Restraining soldier Jake
...pulled him bodily outside to the waiting mob! From here Jake was dragged out to an old tree that was located in a corner of the raised area on which the house was located (that also happened to be positioned in such a way that the black powder weapons wouldn't be pointed at anyone or any thing.) Michael and Clint held their sticks across soldier Jake's chest (those sticks turned out to be pretty handy things after all, as it turned out) while the firing squad lined up.
The executioner squad stood resolute... brandished their weapons... aimed them, prepared them to fire and... now I don't want to break the tension here or anything, but I have seen these guys fire before and if I were Michael and Clint standing that close to the target, I would be a bit concerned. OK, where was I? Oh, yes. They shot Jake, who went down in a heap. Huzzah! Or is that the right response? It's actually all rather horrible when you think about it, because Jake is actually a really nice guy. But let's not dwell on that because he'll just get up in a few panels like in the cartoons.
 Photo: Mission The execution squad prepares to fire. |
 Photo: Kate Bagley Shooting the British scum! |
 Photo: Mission Michael & Clint check to see he's dead |
Photo: Mission
Photo: Mission
Of course it's never enough to just kill an enemy in a pirate re-enactment. You have to steal his stuff! (This is what would have happened, after all. Pirates sometimes killed people to get them to reveal hidden treasure.) So our brigands surged forward and began to claim soldier Jake's material possessions. They took all the easy stuff like his hat and shoes. For some reason there always seems to be someone who wants to steal your shoes when you "die" in a battle. In this case it was Michael Bagley. After a bit of this, Jake did indeed get up.
Jake is the son of David and Beverly Book, the owners of McCannon Creek Station. I suspect he's been re-enacting since he was a kid. He told me that his family was planning to build a replica fort called Fort McCannon on their land in Iowa. They are also putting together a re-enactor only French and Indian War event for November this year. When Kate asked him what the weather was like in November in Iowa he told her, "You never know. It might snow or it might be in the 60s." Hmm. So far you're really not selling me on this...
Jake and his wife Autumn made a great team, performing music several times as I mentioned previously. They also had their daughter Emmaline there - who is clearly a re-enactor from the word go. Autumn struck me as a little shy, so I was delighted to see that she wore bright red buckle shoes. I asked Michael if they were period or not. (Seeing as she was a member of the Book family, this was probably a rather stupid question, but if you don't ask you don't really know, right?) Michael assured me they wore. (I wonder how they'd go with pink flamingo breeches?)
 Photo: Kate Bagley Jake Book and Lob (who is looking for goats to ride) |
 Photo: Mission Emmaline book with mom Autumn |
 Photo: Mission Autumn's red shoes |
Photo: Mission
A group of proud brigands
Photo: Mission
Mission really is all wet. Following the successful shooting (and re-animation) of the invader soldier, we looted the house. This was made much easier by the people in the house who had a stack of neatly packaged boxes just inside the door near the stairway. Clint Barnett, Mark Gist and Michael Bagley hauled the haul down to the grove and made a nice neat stack of it in the center of the clearing. They posed jauntily for the photo you see at left. Their postures boasted proudly of their accomplishment. (Then we left it there for the rest of the day because it was just a bunch of wrapped empty boxes.)
I want it noted that there was some collateral damage on the part of your surgeon. Similar to the Saturday skirmish, people had gathered jugs of water and were throwing them out the windows at us. I happened to be in the wrong place at the right time and I got pretty well splashed all up and down my back. So the new(er) Michael Bagley original long-sleeved red waistcoat has now been officially christened with battle damage (slight though it may be.)
With that, it seemed like a good time to pack up my stuff and head out. There was no battle scheduled and I had five or six hours of driving ahead of me. So I bid everyone goodbye and headed for home. It was a very nice, low-key event which I enjoyed a great deal. Now I just have to find out where you get red latchet shoes...