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When the real Mercury arrives....


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Did you guys see the post in Plunder about the Royaliste possibly going up for sale next year?

Hmmm.....

How about making a pitch to the Ft and to Key West to "buy" a new Ambassador for the region.

Rename her "Mercury"????

If we had a couple o' thousand bake sales.....

GoF

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How about making a pitch to the Ft and to Key West to "buy" a new Ambassador for the region.

Rename her "Mercury"????

If we had a couple o' thousand bake sales.....

Every large wooden vessel requires a huge endowment. When you buy a boat like that, the maintenance & repair,crew, materials is what should be factored in, not the mere price tag of the boat. Even if you are planning on using it for commercial ventures such as tours, charters, living history & training, it's still a total money-loser. that's why state governments often own the ships (Kalmar Nyckel=Delaware, Sultana= Merry-Land, Bluenose=Canada), they pick up the tab.

Any sugar daddies out there willing to foot the bill? C'mon, where's your sense of philanthropy! Help poor pirates...it's a worthy cause!

:wacko:b

In the meantime, this RossBrough ketch is about $189,000,

Rossbrough ketch

SHIP2-1.jpg
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Which is why i suggested that the Fort, or Key West foot the bill....

GoF, You have the right idea. However, I think trying to get the State of Florida (tourism board) to buy the Royalists (if it up for sale) is the appropriate channel. maybe we all can round up enough folks to petition the state to have such a thing. i think it would be the most appropriate attraction for KW, period.

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The idea is great on peper, but two points...

One - The fort is currently wrestling to get every dime that it can to preserve the fort itself, first and foremost. The barracks are in a poor state and could fall down before all of the red tape is cut, so I imagine the Royalist would be pretty far down their list of considerations, though I'll wait for Harry to have the final say on that.

Second - The Pirates in Paradise Festival is co-hosted by the owners of The Wolf, a schooner at Key West which already serves as the flag ship of the Conch Republic, so they might not wish to be one-upped by the addition of another ship, though who knows...they might be encouraged to start a whole navy.

I for one would like to see a whole navy.

Third...The Royalist is a 71' LOA gaff-rigged, square-tops'l ketch refitted to the specifications of an 18th-century dispatch gunboat/bomb ketch. The Mercury is a brig-sloop. That said, the Mercury crew will gladly except cash in lieu of the Royalist to build the Mercury, while still strongly encouraging Key West to buy the Royalist.

See Item Number Two.

 

 

 

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Unfortunately, Key West has tons of sail ships in port and the Western Union is facing the same plight. She is in sad shape there and needs a total overhaul. If they were interested in getting into the ship business, I think The Union would be their first choice since it has a local connection already.

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Honestly, after listening to Foxe's logic at RF2, regarding having a ship to play with...and I hope I recall this correctly, it is all well and good for crews to have them, if they can afford them, but if you are driving at educating the public and helping run events to say provide income for a museum, fort, what have you... a ship actually becomes a bit of a problem....

1. You can only fit so many paying spectators on the ship.

2. The ship sails out to sea and very few spectators can truly enjoy what is happening because they cannot see it from land

Yes you can have her docked and bring tours through....

He recommened, when trying to reach large crowds, in port scenarios are really the best way to go.... or small boats that do not take the action too far from land so that the crowds can see what is happening.


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The Boy Scout ship the Argus, here in S. Calif. (last seen docked in Newport Beach) has been up for sale forever.

It's in dire need of total refurbishing.

It takes a ton of money to not only purchase a ship, but you have to have a crew to maintain the ship.

Unless you get sponsorship from some major company, it's a lost cause.

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Honestly, after listening to Foxe's logic at RF2, regarding having a ship to play with...and I hope I recall this correctly, it is all well and good for crews to have them, if they can afford them, but if you are driving at educating the public and helping run events to say provide income for a museum, fort, what have you... a ship actually becomes a bit of a problem....

1. You can only fit so many paying spectators on the ship.

2. The ship sails out to sea and very few spectators can truly enjoy what is happening because they cannot see it from land

Yes you can have her docked and bring tours through....

He recommened, when trying to reach large crowds, in port scenarios are really the best way to go.... or small boats that do not take the action too far from land so that the crowds can see what is happening.

Foxe and I are on the same page on this one.

I am of a mind that if you want to expose the public to a sailing ship, do it in "parts" on the shore by reconstructing sections of the ship there. I have long wanted to do a two-deck gun deck section (weather deck above with rail guns). In this way a large crowd can see how a gun is run and the cramped quarters in which it was done.

The same could be done for a mainmast deck section (rail to rail, with lots of guylines bracing it all about) with harnesses so that the lubbers could go aloft without dying. Cheaper than a ship and they can be taken apart and stowed in a garage or storage unit.

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dutch sits back and scratches his head wondering how he missed this post-

he then sits back and enjoys his rum as he knows being a pyrate is grand, but being a pyrate with a grand secret is even better :lol: specially knowin what just left florida and knowin where its headed.

back to reality-

two books to read. tall ships down and confessions of a boat builder by rossbrough. Now, combine that and you see a problem. Large open hatches doomed a lot of the ships on tall ships down and lots o freeboard and top heavy sailplans on rossbrough designs.

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