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Santa Maria Pirate Weekend, May 2010 - Columbus, OH
Chapter 3rd. Saturday afternoon's occurrences, wherein most of the pirates abandon your surgeon to go laze about and fool around in the park, the teens and what they were up to after the battle, some details about the other pirates, an account of an exploding birthday cake, M.A. d'Dogge's garish smoking jacket, what happens to young girls who stick around after visiting hours end and a very curious photography project.
Once the battle was over, the tours continued. One actually continued while the battle was going on (as mentioned), but I had already done my surgeon schtick with them, so I could lounge around, watching people play dead on the upper deck until the next crowd appeared. Appear one did so I went back down to man my post. Mark Gist later noted that the take for the weekend was $1,150, which, based on the number of people I saw, adds up to a lot of people.
 (Photo: Count d'Booty) A tour guide explaining period food to a group on the main deck. |
 (Photo: Mission) "And I'll buy you the hat, a really big one... Commodore." |
(Photo: Count d'Booty)
The end of the battle was apparently
also some sort of signal that the pirates should abandon
ship, leaving your poor ship's surgeon all by himself with the hordes
of tourists clamoring for information about period surgery. Ok,
that may be overstating my role a bit, but the pirates really did
disappear. Most of them migrated over to the park across from the ship
(left). For a bunch of people who claim to be
hungry to get on the water in posts on the
Pyracy Pub, they sure seemed to be interested in spending time on the land.
At first it was all about activities. Several of them spent their time cleaning their guns after the battle as you see at left. Mark Gist decided to tangle with a band of street ruffians who were harassing the squirrels (below left). Someone brought out a pair of bullwhips which pirates like Trish's son David played with (below center.) Mostly, they just sat around and laughed at the surgeon stuck on the ship, though. (Below right.)
(Photo: Count d'Booty)
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(Photo: Trish)
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(Photo: Thatchers)
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The Hard Tackers appeared to serenade the pirates. They were the 2009 Southern Ohio Sea Shanty Festival award winners, which sounds pretty impressive. (Raise your hand if you knew there was an Ohio Sea Shanty Festival.) They were out in front of the boat singing very good shanties. I don't know exactly how good because they were facing away from the ship and, as I keep noting (or perhaps whining about), I stayed shipboard from about 11am on. Ok, those of you with your hands still up, can put them down. You look silly. |
 (Photo: Poppa Ratsey) |
Of course, the serenading and all the non-sea activity began to take its toll as the afternoon wore on and the sun rose higher. It soon became apparent that more sedate activities were called for. Being pirates, few of them could read, although Bloody Bess Flint of the Rieske Family Artillery more than made up for the rest of them (below left). Every time I saw her she had a book in her hand (Except when they were firing, of course. That would just be unwise...she might lose her place.) Soon, the pirates were engaging in quiet conversation (below right), taking seats on the concrete walls in the park, maybe stretching back a bit...
(Photo: Karen Jones Arnold)
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(Photo: Karen Jones Arnold)
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...and then it was time for their afternoon nap. Remember when you were little? (Presuming you're not still little, in which case what are you doing reading this?) It would hit mid-afternoon and your mom would announce it was time for a nap. "But," you protested, with a dramatically pouting lower lip, "I'm playing pirate (cowboy, fireman, princess, forensic anthropologist...you get the idea)." "Even pirates need their rest," she'd wisely counsel. You didn't really believe her did you? See how you were so wrong? Hah! Rosabella even managed to snag a blankey (below left). Of course, not everyone needs as much nap time as the others, allowing them to take advantage of a situation in such a way as to try and build their rep. (Below right. Sorry, M.A. d'Dogge, I ain't buying it. Who removes their victim's shoes and weapons and places them neatly at their side after they've dispatched them with a sword?)
 (Photo: Count d'Booty) |
 (Photo: Poppa Ratsey) |
Meanwhile, back on the ship the young boys were afoot. (Relax, I'm not going to complain about being stuck there this time. (Fooled ya', didn't I?)) The boys actually clamored on and off the ship all day, enjoying the fact that they were dressed as pirates and were allowed to go places on the ship that even the tours weren't allowed to go. It's a young boy's dream. Naturally, they gravitated to the most potentially dangerous things they could find, like the hatches between the main deck and the hold. Below is just one of many incidents your surgeon witnessed (but did absolutely nothing about.) Zach Thatcher and Khelben (Count d'Booty's son) ponder the hatches for a bit until the need for random activity overcomes Zach's better instincts. Down the rabbit hole he goes! (Below.)
(Photo: Count d'Booty)
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(Photo: Count d'Booty)
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(Photo: Count d'Booty)
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(Photo: Karen Jones Arnold)
(Photo: Karen Jones Arnold)
(Photo: Mission)
Speaking of kids, there were several babies about. Salty and Callenish
brought their son Hamish (far left). Everyone kept an eye
on Hamish, but Connie Thatcher excelled at it (left). Andrea
Logsdon had her son Philip (Pip), whom she kept watch on (right). All these babies on
shore were actually an incentive for your ship's surgeon to stay on the
ship. (You never know with those things, they're delicate, sometimes
stinky and might be contagious.)
(Photo: Poppa Ratsey)
(Photo: Karen Jones Arnold)
I did get a chance to talk to the Logsdons. They are the consummate
re-enactors. They go to many, many re-enactments, organize several
re-enactment events including the Pirates
of Paynetown and own Taylor-Rose Historical Outfitters, for which the pair of them actually make a lot of the
items they sell. Andrea (left) confided to me that she loves
to hand sew and if it wasn't for that, re-enactment wouldn't be nearly as
much fun for her. I cannot begin to explain how foreign this
concept was to me. I'd almost rather hold a baby. (Almost.)
Nathanael was very excited about a project he is working on to renovate an historic site. He plans to put his store on the main floor, a blacksmithing operation either in the back or in one of the outbuildings and meeting place/library in the upstairs. Very exciting!
Of course all good things must come to an end. It was nearing six and I had given my last presentation, so I started folding up shop. (Below left: "This? Why, I can make a hat or a brooch or a pterodactyl...") I noticed a pair of young girls hanging around the ship from the last or second-to-last tour. Where ever there are young men engaged in slightly aberrant behavior - like David and Cody (below center), there are also young girls congregating. I learned this working on Haunted Houses. Being young boys, they decided to shackle one of the young girls hanging about to the ship. (The modern equivalent of dipping their ponytails in ink wells, I suppose.) This may sound cruel, but just as young girls in Haunted Houses seem to enjoy the extra attention of young boys dressed in monster outfits who go wayyyy out of their way to scare the bejeesus out of them, this girl seemed pleased at being shackled. (Below center.) Then again, what else could she do once she was chained to the ship? This occurrence apparently significantly impaired her judgment, because once she got off the ship, she posed with her friend and the only two pirates who wore outfits made from Persian rugs - M.A. d'Dogge and Shannon (below right).
(Photo: Bagleys)
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(Photo: Count d'Booty)
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(Photo: Thatchers)
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(Photo: Thatchers)
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(Photo: Karen Jones Arnold)
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Of course, being a disinterested photo-anthropologist is all well and good, but who can resist trying on pirate clothes when they are available. (I know, I'm preaching to the choir here.) It all started out innocently, with Rosabella offering our intrepid photographer an opportunity to wear her hat (right). Then d'Booty offered up his dashing hat and coat and the next thing you know, the artist becomes the medium. It's just another one of those cool things that happens to re-enactors.
The afternoon ended (at least as far as this account goes) with another celebration of birthdays. Just like last year, the spring Santa Maria event featured a birthday cake. While this celebration wasn't quite on par with the orgiastic hedonism that occurred last year*, it was a nice affair celebrating the birth of Andrew Thatcher that ended with the shooting of his father Silas. (You can see it on in this video on YouTube, although you can't see Silas. Just trust me.) For those of you who can't watch the video (probably because you're reading this at work. Tsk, tsk.), you can see the cake below with one of Shannon's cannons on it. (Shannon's cannons. Heh.) As you'll recall, Shannon has a whole collection of little cap-firing cannons. (We'll see more of them later.) Andrew bravely suffered through all these birthday festivities and was then rewarded with a nice piece of cake. *Santa Maria Surgeon's Journal, May 2009: The Missing Journal.
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(Photo: Count d'Booty)
(Photo: Karen Jones Arnold)
(Photo: Thatchers)
(Photo: Bagleys)
(Photo: Bagleys)
(Photo: Karen Jones Arnold)