Harry

Damn... he must have done something really bad to get that job... Poor Nigel..... :blink Aye... he's the Quartermaster !

Quartermaster Nigel will be responsible for the "unaffiliated." The morning meeting is at 9am followed by safety meeting at 9:30. The evening meeting is at, I believe, 5:30 (I don't have the schedule with me as I'm on the home comp). Those who may other committments will have to get the info shared at the meeting from one of their crewe members. I've scheduled the safety meetings for the morning because of the fact there are so many "other" things folks have to do. Those shooting while on the Wolf will have to have someone else check their weapons while on-board, although I and my staff will be happy to do a check. My concern is the shooting within the park. I understand we have a lot of things going on. I just want to make sure everyone will be on the same page of the program.

To add to William is talking about, there will be an internal schedule for participants. It lists two captain's meetings each day (one in the morning before the event opens and the other at the end of the day before we hit the pub) and one black powder inspection meeting which will be held immediately after the morning captain's meeting. Our morning meeting will be to go over the day's events. The evening meeting will be to go over the day's events and see what needs to be tweaked or tossed. I've been to many a captain's meeting and other meetings at events, so I assure you these will not be long and they will stay on point and nobody will be yelled at. These meetings are meant for two-way discussion--unlike some I have attended at other events. Each meeting is scheduled for a 30-minute time period. That should be more than enough time to take care of biz. The black powder meetings are mandatory for those will shoot. Safety inspections will take place at these meetings. Captains and/or crewe reps can coordinate anything they need either thru me or the Bone Island Buccaneer's Quartermaster, Iron Nigel. Y'all have me cell phone number from the registration form and will be included in the information I will mail out to all next week.

Once again, I appreciate all who have pre-registered early. Next week, I will begin sending out the passes, maps and so forth so you'll have them before you leave for here.

Folks, the image is just a guide to show you where stuff will be placed. We will make sure all who will set up historic encampments will have enough space. The encampments will essentially be in the same general areas as last year. I am moving them a bit closer to the shipping channel and the beach. Once Fantasy Fest here is over and done with, Quartermaster Nigel from the Bone Island Buccaneers and I will begin the process of marking off the area for the historic encampment. We will start that process this coming week. Yes, there will be signage directing the public to your encampments and back to the fort.

Oh yes, the Viceroy will be here with many boomers!

The 3-inch was cast by Paulson Bros. The remainder of our field pieces were cast by my friend in Key Largo. All undergo continual visual inspection prior to and after each firing. My friend an I just finished proofing a new bronze tube yesterday afternoon. It passed inspection with flying colors. The 10-inch seacoast cannon and 8-inch siege mortar at the fort have had radiological inspections since they were cast during the CW era and before. But, the state won't let us fire those any longer, suggesting that because they are artifacts, they should not be fired. At least three CW era cannon (10-Rodman, 8-inch Columbiad and 10-inch Parrott) and the mortar are in excellent condition and could be fired. In fact, the last time we fired the siege mortar was five years ago and the 10-inch Rodman was fired in 1992. And, talking about drills... It's good to see that others are as strict in their drill and safety as I am with my crews. I have attended events where safety practices apparently are an afterthought I can think of at least two pirate events in Florida in recent months where event organizers are lucky that no visitors were injured.

I shoot an 8oz charge from that piece. We have shot 10oz. She makes a nice noise! That piece has also been "live" fired with a Schenkel shell. We plan to head to a CW event in March where they allow "live" firing. Unfortunately we don't allow it at the park.

Well gents and ladies, I can't resist showing off my 3-inch Ordnance Rifle during a night fire. Hope you enjoy.

Looking at home schoolers and 3rd thru 8th grades. Of course, this is all contingent on the cooperation of the schools. They have this idiotic achievement test that they spend the bulk of the year studying for and if the teacher doesn't think the field trip subject matter fits in with the test, they don't participate. The teachers aren't happy with it, either. Something left to us by the Jr. Bush when he was the guv.

Let me put it this way... There is absolutely no place on this island where you can get a couple slices of pig and all the trimmin's plus your own libations (remember, this event is after-hours and closed to the public) for $5!!! I would highly recommend to all who are camping to stock up on grub from the local grocery store and cook over yer own fires instead of heading off to these so-called restaurants around here. NONE of them offer up the food and ambiance like yer gonna get at the encampments! ALL of them are way over-priced. Before I took my present job, I managed two of the so-called eateries on Duval Street. Rip-off city is what it really is!

Thanks to all 50+ of you who have sent or faxed in the form. It is most appreciated!!

They be comin' to us. The living history displays are planned for the fort at this time as opposed to the encampments.

That's correct. We want to do a special Living History day for the area schools. These "school days" have been quite successful with our CW event. We're hoping to translate that to this event.

Ah Silkie, a fine video find!! Nothing like seein' that big mortar speak!! It should be back with us this for this year.

I received yours Capt Jim. I've also received a few more that were faxed. I've been trying to respond to all who've sent in their forms. So far it hasn't worked because of all the other things I've got going on now like writing grants and getting other materials ready for PiP. For those who have sent/faxed forms, I will be sending out a package containing the important info--gate combo, festival pass, crewe-only schedules and such. If you haven't sent/faxed your forms yet, please do so. These things help me plan how many will attend and mark off spaces for living history encampments, vendors, etc. Of course, I know that not everyone will do the early form thing. We will still have the registration table set up to handle those who have not pre-registered.

How tight? As it was kind of hard to find space last year for tents (i.e. flat, not in a gully where the rain water collected or huge pieces of coral to sleep on...) Just curious I'm going to have spaces marked off for each encampment. Every effort will be made to make sure all will be on as flat of land as possible. I, too, want everyone to avoid the gullies in case of rain!

That pesky Ike took a good portion of our beach away. All the sand we had brought in last year is now up in the picnic area. We just got permitted to "level" out the beach---the cliffing was pretty bad. That's been done. But don't look for any new sand in the near and probably far future. There's a group down here that's opposing the move to bring in more sand. Now for the fort... the structure survived the last rash of storms. The barracks building has been under renovation since February. However, the contractor is gone for hurricane season and the talk is that they won't be back until January. So, we will have use the fort for our event. The construction fence will be moved back to open up the parade ground. I'm working on trying to get the Sally Port to hold the trial. It's covered and there's two jail cells in there where the women can be held. The living history encampments will be out where they were last year. But, I'm tightening up on the space because we want the visitor to go thru the encampments. I have a site map made up which I will get posted when I get it off my work computer. Otherwise the event and its planning is moving along very nicely.

The 2008 registration forms for participants and vendors is now on-line. You can find the participant form at http://www.forttaylor.org/pipregform2008.pdf The vendor form is at http://www.forttaylor.org/pipvendregform2008.pdf We ask that you complete the form, print it out and mail it to the address on the form. Registration closes November 1, 2008. It is important to fill out and mail the forms as it allows participants to have insurance coverage in the event of a mishap. If you have questions, please email them to me at the email address listed on the form. Thanks

This is an excellent idea! That's what Living History, as I term it, is all about. We do this for our Civil War event as well as our monthly Living History encampment I would propose that each camp set up their own displays rather than put everything inside the fort. And, these displays do not have to be huge either. A simple table or ground cloth displaying items works just as well. Obviously one of the important components in making this work is having the knowledge of what one is displaying. And, if folks are able to do this in "first person," that makes it even better for the visitor. By the way, many of you are already doing this sort of thing just with your encampments. I see this proposal is an extension of what many of you are already doing. We can also establish the hours for this so crewes don't have to remain in their camps for the duration.

I've got a pa system that can be used. The speakers can be hidden under the stage so they wouldn't be so obvious.

Well, we fired up the forge today during our CW Living History day. It was most excellent with all the new tools. We hammered out a bunch of nails and other goodies for tentage and such. So, those who wish to partake in 'smithing this year will have a ball. I hope to have enough basic stock on hand so you can hammer out what you need.

I also have a projector that hooks up to a computer for slide show presentations if needed. BTW, great house pub!

For those of you who receive Pirate's Magazine (and those who don't-get a copy) last year's PiP is featured in photos on page 75 of the Winter/Spring 2008 edition. Many thanks to Jessie at Pirate's Magazine for thinking of us and many thanks to the Callahan's for making the pictures happen!!

The blacksmith shop can be open for this year's event. We've just acquired a bunch of new tools. Not only that, we will have an actual blacksmith available. He used to work up at Saint Augustine with the National Park Service and has made numerous artifacts at that forge.