Dutchman

oy harry, i just had a thought. This is more of a weapons issue than barriers though. You have a color of the day to ensure weapons are inspected. would a "shooters band" of some sort work out here? the group is still small enough that yourself and the weapons safety folks will know the shooters. Proven return shooters get a permanent band on themselves or the weapons for the week. A color wire tie instead of ribbon maybe? If its not there and noone recognizes the shooter on line, potential problem children could be readily identified. the drawback to this is a safety class would need to be provided as a refresher to those who would like and afford new weapons owners an opportunity to shoot- with all your free time- this would not be a problem i'm sure after the class, the band is issued.

without causing a raucus- brig hit half of the problem and its our fault. why were people shooting that close to the crowd? the crowd may have been held at a point, but why are we going that close to the line? A line actually needs to be two sided. one to keep spectators away from the weapons and the second to keep reenactors away from the crowd- a no mans land. there were a lot of good folks shooting, and a lot of folks taking the time to learn how to handle powder and weapons safely, but there were some lulus out there trying to freelance that i would not have trusted with a waterpistol. fortunately, most of them were caught. the guy that popped a round off directly behind me on the cannon line and the barefoot smoker that wanted to be on a gun crew next to the powder box come to mind.

ah just remembered this one last night. a few years ago a few of us at work were pulling the holiday "public guard" watch, which equals colonial militia wandering about ensuring the publik is safe upon the seat of government- more politically correct, than a bunch of uniformed thugs and a great conversation starter as we are not always out in that attire. the catch is not only do we carry the militia gear, but also our duty gear- its amazing how well we can hide that stuff. anyhow, we travel in pairs or within eyesight of each other. So my partner and I are walking by one of the buildings being renovated and notice a propped door- at 1030? odd. So we stack our muskets and call in a search on the radio. It did not take long to find the cause of the propped door as he was making plenty of noise cutting the new copper wire and brass fittings. I don't know what was funnier- the fellows face when he realized he was being arrested by colonial militia or the uniformed officers faces when we came out with him.

oy sterling, the trailer did not bottom out till you arrived with TWO loads of gear- granted only one was yors- rest being the belongings on one DDogge. Heck, my original packing had me down to the bell tent, my small chest, and a sea bag. then plans changed- for the better mind you- and grace was able to attend after all. While i'm able to travel lightly, i must pay my dues to the master of small loads Mr. Hand. I saw it but still cant figure out how he manages to pack that lightly for a week. there is no comparisson. now back to topic. I ran across a book in the library dealing with Mr. Jeffersons inventions. there are a few pages dedicated to his furniture. while not period, it does give some good examples of his multipurpose gear. Most interesting and full of ideas.

I think i posted this story before, but i still laugh at it. last october i was to land Rev War troops on the bank of a creek. The day before the battle some troops came over to see what sort of "barges" had been lined up to put them ashore. The first thing they asked was what unit we were attatched to. Sir, the museum owns the boat, i run it. i'm with what ever unit they tell me to be with and showed him my weekeend collection of six different nationality coats. Well, this was no good for these fine officers and they told us so, cut me short in the middle of explaining the history of the boat, seems we were in the midst of reenactor royalty and noone told us. Oh well says I, if yhe didn't want to know, he shouldn't have asked. The next morning were loading up the first wave of troops an lo-behold theres ol' fancypants and his troops in starched white trousers. Hmmm says I and look to my #1 & 2 sweeps. The devil took ahold of me and I know i'm goin to hell for what followed. We are all in agreement without a word. We had a bit of a headwind and were a couple minutes late getting to the drop-off (a timing issue we corrected the rest of the weekend) so ol' fancypants is really upset now. Seems he was a horseman of some sort and he was uncerimoniously bumped to the landing party. We got to within twenty feet of shore and held position. "Ok lads, over ya go- we cant get any closer else well scuff the bottom up and get sand between the seams" there was a moment of silence and a blank look then the belly aching began. "Lads, either over or back where we started, we have more troops to pick up." One intrepid trooper went over then another, then the rest. fancy britches was purely undone by this point and took a bit of extra coaxing but he went over. Of course as they went over the boat rose and we backed out of our "stuck" position. Poor troops had to wade ashore. Did i mention that they landed in three feet of fine virginia backwater mud underneath two feet of water. So much for white trousers. Now I admit it wasn't very nice, might even be considered improper. But noone is better than anyone else in this game and we all can learn from each other. Seems the tide rose after that first landing and noone else got muddy- go figure

huzzah mates. well done!!!!!

nope, thats all dutch. i wouldn't let robbie near that little bundle for anything. after all- i may not have morals but i do have standards!

STERLING DOES NOT NEED A BIGGER TENT. He needs to downsize as it is. he set that bloody thing and the neighborhood went to heck. why trying to bury people in coffins. squaters out back. the wind blew the flaps open and it looked like a debris field in there- mostly cheekys fault though. did i mention how heavy the body bag is with the tent in it- oh and don't even get me started on the poles! I think it would be grand if his crew bought him a smaller tent for christmas!

mission- i again did not finish my out loud thought with the typed thought. the comment was directed towards observations of a crew that was not at pip- en masse. of course at pip nothing is expected other than a good time so it is a mute point. my appologies to anyone who read it the way it was written rather than intended. Please remember, all i do at events is living history- and stomp out fires. this was the first event in three years where i actually got to see something other than my camp or the view from the coxwains seat and heard no complaints- so i tend to only be able to offer a one sided view. I have never seen downtown hampton at the festival. i never get to leave the waterfront. PIP was a ball. got to see a fort, and a social life after hours, and even wandered through the streets of key west.

let me clarify. i would not leave the tents open, but have living quarters out of both ends instead of this is the front, this is the back. And for heavens sake, if no one is around the flaps need to be down or gear stowed (i'm always fussing about that one). there was a lot of loose stuff about in all the camps, I actually ended up sitting one battle out because there was noone in the camp with lots of stuff out and lots of beach patrons milling about.. we stake off our living quarters almost all the time and always the dangerous parts of the living history. it has its good points and bad. the worst that occurs is reenactors "hide" behind the ropes because they know the public wont go there and they don't come out. Bloody security blankets and comfort zones, defeats the whole purpose. the other bad thing is the camp becomes structured to make everyone fit in the space. PIP would loose its charm if that happened. I personally don't see a need for ropes, but maybe a concentradet thought on the flow of the camp set up to invite guests. the path side folks had it down, but us beach vagrants botched it.

right, well then off to the flea markets i go. maybe find an odd piece that can be converted. thanks for the inspirationMary, like i dont have enough to do already!!!! wench P.S. dad says Hi.

another thought is the positioning of the camps. not location, but positioning. create an inviting flow to the areas. the sites all looked great and well thought out for camping but a few of us (including myself )had the tents facing the water for obvious reasons- most of those tents have two sets of flaps. maybe make an effort to work out of both sides.

ack- jessica rabbit looks like my ex- the vile strumpet. except the vile strumpet was not that good looking nor had money or class. well she got my money- but that doesn't count. my stomach does a backflip any time i get near someone that reminds me of her. i don't know how poor grace puts up with me. at least jessica rabbit is better than bugs dressed as a woman.

oh well if it isn't miss rusty nell. of the fall down go boom brigade. what brings ye and your matching condo commando attire to this corner?

oy sutlerjon, welcome to the pub- now head up to the crows nest for a proper introduction of yourself and buy the crew a round. ye can afford it ye bugger- crimpin us like ye did at PIP with yer fancy tables an lanthorns and shinny bobbles.

oy sterling... ye drawn head of a festerd boil.

HOLY @#$% thats patrick and animals boucaneer roast. an oldei but goodie, a catchy little tune. yes there are some rabbits in here. http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/llama

im up for an immersion weekend, but as diosa pionted out- noone has to do anything. its not everyones idea of fun and i cant blame them. some wont be comfortable, some just wont want to, some will get bored with it, (note- the Deltaville 2010 event is setting up as an immersion) half the fun of PIP is being on the beach goofing off with other pirates. Some of my most memorable skits and characters come from a lul in action. An ADD pirate who is bored is a dangerous thing. I know the crowd is there for a show and if there is a lul- they get bored. just try to fill the gap with something- anything. Ive discovered that people get bored of singing after a while- unless they are drunk. Last year we were socked in by bad weather aboard a boat that had hired us- no sunset cruise here, so i whipped of the scarf grabbed a hand full of shinny bobbles, handed them out to the crowd and began a round of sweatrag. It became a game to actually hide the "gambling" from the ships officers. I had an older- actually ancient couple- that said watching that was the most fun they had had since they went to the chicago worlds fair. anyhow- another revelation is adding to harrys dilema. the fort is a waylay to the beach. Which incidently sterling, if you would have had us arriving at a decent hour, then not putting me right to work that morning providing housing for your unsheltered wards mabe i would have seen the fort before noon. but oh no- "dutchie, captain sterling is leaving us out in the snow, we have to walk up hill both ways to the fort, could you please help us" this was my first year and i may be beating a dead horse, but.... the crowd that is coming to the fort for pirates is already on the hook. they are sold. locals know we are there but have probably seen this before and write it off as another local ammusement. so who is left? tourists on the ships and those staying near by. face it- the fort is out of the way. so how to draw the beach crowd and the cruise ship crowd. I have not been to the docks, but can we do a street show there to drum up business? (i think someone mentioned something similar earlier) edit* well put aminal

harry i must admit, i fell to the where's the fort mentality. We arrived at midnight and i did not leave the beach till our camp was set around noon. only then did i ask sterling "wheres the fort?" i simply had not looked in that direction and did not see it through all of the beautiful cedars you have so lovingly preserved. anyhow- an invasion from the fort would be grand, maybe send spies out ahead of time on the beach looking for smuggled goods.. gun fire from the fort is expected, but could we secure an area in the camp and pop of a limited number of small arms to get some attention.

i'm in. i'll pm you with personals. i hope to talk grace into doing the same and will return those in kind.

so i was on the porcelain throne and had a thought. here is my rationalle. if you go to williamsburg or a major historical fort as a tourist you go there to be educated and entertained, you know what to expect. if you go to the beach in key west as a tourist, you go to the beach- where you expect to see other people on the beach doing beach vacation things. you don't expect to see pirates, much less know what to do with one. It may seem natural to us, but this takes folks back sometimes. (excuse me- i'm getting married tomorrow, can you move the tents. i don't want them in my pictures) maybe a sign at the entrance to the careening camp itself saying welcome to the GAoP, pirates don't normally bite, but the FPS is committed to the resocialization of an endangered society, please interact with them before they start drooling on themselves. Well maybe not worded like that, but you get the idea. I still believe that guides are a good thing, but how to do the living history without loosing the crowd?

the problem with doing boat battles is you are subject to the weather and all sorts of logistical problems. hampton is notorious for spectator boats in the battle zone. obviously the battle stops. anyhow on to the living history discussion. Folks, there was plenty of living history out there- you just have to realize what you are looking at. most of the navigation discussions were on the fly when visitors were wandering through camp. the only organized thing we did were the noon sites (for obvious reasons) and the two groups that came through on tours. I'll fill ya in on a little secret about living history. If ya stay in character and do it- they will come. when you drop out of character, you loose your potential audience. This is why its so very important for each person involved in living history to have a skill or trade. you don't have to be good at it- just don't break character. lets start at the fort side of the camp and take a tour. we entered and had gunner with a weapons display- obviously he talks about guns. next along the walk is sir willie of the wobble shire with his fancy knotwork- marlin spike is the theme here. while he may not have meant to do it, he had a crowd a few times watching him work on his bottles. the bonies were along the beach- kind of hard to see what was going on in their camp from the path- but you could tell there was alot there from the sea. weapons, tools, daily life and a jolly good time! back to the other side were the guys wearing bent car hoods with sticks on fire. they were a wealth of good information about the local history and the attitude of florida at the time. next along our path was the ordinary- what fun-nough said about that. then along to surgery, navigation, and mourning. silas' kids and the snotties were at play- doing what kids did then as well as now- having fun (by the way- gotta do something about those plasic and aluminum containers). all throughout the camp there were visitors taking pictures all day long, just strike up a conversation and introduce them to the Golden Age. Ahoy mate- i see youre interested in the camp fire. well welcome to sealkies hide- let me introduce you to the proprietress. They may not be interested in Navigation or Surgery or what ever you are versed in, but try to find out what interests them and find a pirate who can provide them with information if you cant. here is a humble observation and suggestion. due to the distance between the fort the battle field and camp a guide of some sort is needed. but a guide through the camp can become a canned lecture. if you look at the picture of my navigation tour, yes there are people, but one is kicking coral, the kids are fidgiting, and one is yawning. how long had they been in the camp? were they really interested? had i bored them to death? who knows. let them wander through the camp and engage what ever they find interesting- a self guided path, if you will- the important thing from our end is to know who else is doing what, find the visitors interest and get them there!

well heck- its practical furniture for our needs so maybe we should just call this the practical pyrate furniture thread instead. very nice indeed. i did not see it folded up at PIP. you were holding out!

sterling, i've heard of the amazing furniture tent of bill and teds and cant wait to see it sometime. does anyone know when they will be setting up sometime? the observation was at that particular tent----with the pricetags on stuff.

apparently the museum found our first building. its moving in sometime over the winter. the seaport may come to life after all! its an old smokehouse and i'm not sure what kind of shape its in or how big- but atleast its a start. i'm hopefully going to meet up with a few of the museum folks this week.