Hampton Blackbeard Pirate Festival '08

[TheBlackFox]

[1stMate Matt]

HAHAHAHAHAHA good post Steve. That Slappy is the best.

I can't make it down during the day on friday but you can catch me at the ball. I will be there with Apple all day Sat and Sunday. Klaus will be there all day sat with his famous FEIGLING. Our period tent needs some patch work so we will not be set up in the cove this year. Make sure you stop by the magazine booth and let us know that you are from the PUB so we can get a good picture of you and chat it up.

Cheers,

Matt

P.S. I will have some cool new swords and what not there as well.

[the Royaliste]

Yarrr-beee-garr! We've made berth in Hampton, and things are looking good..Wasn't that way yesterday as we sailed thru one heckova gale in the North Landing River and Currituck Sound...We'll fix the damage as always, and be a plunderin' as planned.....bummer that the carousel is down for a remodel.....

[William Brand]

I hope that I don't have to remind people to take pictures.

[michaelsbagley]

I've got both our camcorder and digitalo camera charging up right now.

They should both have a good solid charge by the time we leave tomorrow.

Now if I only had a street address or a specific park name so I could mapquest exactly where we are supposed to be going rather than just the town of Hampton...

[crimson corsair]

The Pirate Jeep is packed. The rum is in my sea chest. Now all I need to do is take out a small loan to pay for the gas from Baltimore to Hampton and back . $4.00 a gallon...and they call us Pirates..

I will keep my eyes open for everyones "P" Pyracy button. I am in the encampment area and I wll be in my period kit so I would have a button. Stop by and say hi to us in the encampment..

[TheBlackFox]

The Pirate Jeep is packed. The rum is in my sea chest. Now all I need to do is take out a small loan to pay for the gas from Baltimore to Hampton and back . $4.00 a gallon...and they call us Pirates..

I will keep my eyes open for everyones "P" Pyracy button. I am in the encampment area and I wll be in my period kit so I would have a button. Stop by and say hi to us in the encampment..

Can you still sign "cheese" to deaf folk?

(ducking and running. . . .private joke)

[Jack Roberts]

whoo hoo! We're on our way. Its about 4 am on I-95 making our way into Virginia. We can't wait to see everyone and meet new peoples.

See you all in a few hours.

[1stMate Matt]

Just got to my shop. I am about to fire up the forge and make as much stuff as I can for the show. See you in a few hours.

[Misson]

It looks to be indifferent good weather this weekend. Michael, Kate Souris and I arrived at 2am and thank God they had Captain Sterling's phone number or we'd have never found the campsite. There's nothing like a 9 hour drive into the wee hours to turn your mind into mush. I believe the captain roused from his sleep and drug Mad Mary Diamond along to the street corner (insert witty, clever comment here) we needed to be at then guided us to the site. We were then given passes to the local Holiday Inn due to the logistic challenges of setting up camp with heads full of oatmeal in place of brains. (I'll be returning to the HI because your old surgeon Mission is as soft as a Hostess Ho Ho when it comes to luxuries.) I guess I've been shanghaid by the Archangel crew this weekend - oh the fortunes of the surgeon in the pirate world...

I'll try and report back later on tonight.

[1stMate Matt]

I wanted to send a thank you to all of the Blackbeard event crew and to all the Pracy Pub members that made the festival wurthwhile.

Special thanks to Pirate Pete and bbcddutchman for getting us into the show at such a late notice. We will make plans with you fellas alot sooner next year

Thanks to Capt Thighbiter for the purchase of a new cutlass from me. Of course he picked the pricest one. I hope it works out well for you.

Thanks to all the Pubbers that stopped by the Pirate Magazine booth to say hello.

Miss Cheeky Actress you were even more Lovely in person.

I will post a few pictures of the event shortly.

Cheers,

[Abbington M. Normal]

We are on are way home, and I thought I'd say I had a GREAT TIME at Blackbeard Fest!! Thank you all for making it happen!! Hope to see ya'll next year!

Next year I'm going to try to get pictures. But can't wait to see everyones!

It was nice to see everyone again and finally getting to meet Miss Cheeky.

All I have to say is "MY FEET!!!!"

Thanks again.

[Misson]

I think the pub was down this weekend, so I couldn't post the Surgeon's Tale of Hampton. However, lucky you, I typed them up in Word and saved them as the event unfolded. So I will post them now as I would have posted them had I been able.

________________________

Saturday Day

Michael, Kate Souris and I began the morning trying to find a Burger King using their GPS (which they've named Susan – or maybe Kate's father has named it Susan – or maybe her father's sister is named Susan and this somehow relates to the GPS…maybe all three…maybe I'm off track.) Of course, this meant it took about a half hour to find - with several scoldings being delivered by Susan to me since I was driving - for not following her apparently random directions. She eventually did lead us to a BK where we met one of the nicest BK window workers I've ever met, whom I will declare was named Michelle since no one else could see her name tag and can't contradict me on that point.

We then went to the camp where we found free parking for event workers (huzzah!) and proceeded to unload Michael and Kate's stuff. There we met Captain Sterling, Joshua, Silkie, Mary Diamond, Abbigail Normal, Lily and Edward O'Keefe – all from PiP '07 fame (see The Surgeon's Tale of PiP '07 for more on that). I did not meet Amanjiria, who was still sleeping it off- er, who was not awake yet. I did meet Cheeky Actress, who was very friendly and hugged me. Actually, so did Mary, Silkie and Lily and I think I've filled Mission's required annual hug quota at this one event.

I started the morning by being on the cannon crew again (it's becoming a habit of mine). I was in charge of the little pin used for pricking the powder once it was rammed into the cannon. There were seven cannon (I believe) including one with a hole too small for my prick. (,,, Nah…too obvious.) So they went in search of someone with a smaller prick (…still to obvious) and then the cannon were fired using a slow match. They didn't use the same sort of fuse that we used as PiP. Instead they rammed the load home, pricked it and then used this little tool to insert some sort of fuse powder in the touch hole. This was then touched with the slow match. I am now versed in firing two kinds of cannon. If ever I decide the surgery is too much for me, I can enlist in the hot, noisy, dangerous gunnery crew. (Nah, it doesn't sound like a very good idea to me either.)

We then proceeded to head for the waterfront where Captain Sterling was assigned the job of Harbor Master for the event, which meant we had to keep an eye on things there for the duration. I was assigned to carry a barrel which established what would be a recurring theme for the weekend.

The harbor is a nice area and there were several period boats and loads of non-period boats festooned with all manner of pirate decorations from mechanical treasure chests to pirate flags to costume bejeweled chests to an apparently disco-themed pirate boat (seriously) to inflatable skeletons. No, I don't want to know anything more about the inflatable skeletons, even though I am usually a fan of such. It was very festive and the many of the small craft owners seemed to be having a jolly (by which I mean rum-sotted) good time. We were not to accept any offerings from boat owners, so I can report that the harbor master job is truly hell.

A re-enactment with Blackbeard on one ship and (I think) a target merchant on another ship ensued ensued in the morning. Alas, it was very windy and the period-correct mikes picked up the wind something fierce which made the dialog difficult to follow. However, I also met withoutaname and Justin and we had a jolly time discussing costuming, re-enacting and things that happened at PiP after hours which they seemed recall much better than I for some reason. I suggested that if she needed a name as her name implied, she take the name Mouse, but she demurred and so I tossed that idea aside.

I also ran into a skeleton crew (hah) from the Bone Island Buccaneers who are out of Key West. I was able to chat with Spike, Scarlett Jai, Nigel and Dead Eye quite a bit more than I could at PiP since they weren't running the event. The most salient thing I learned for pub consumption was that they have a position on their crew one normally doesn't hear about – the crew tattoo artist. Apparently he uses the old fashioned method for tattooing. It was news to me that there was a new-fashioned method (involving some sort of gun, natch), so we all learned something Important today.

I was going to play surgeon at a battle that followed, but everyone forgot to fall down during the melee so there was no one to doctor. (It's amazing how we fire weapons at each other standing twenty feet apart and yet no one ever gets wounded.) I suppose I could have tripped someone, but I might have actually hurt them and then we would have to find a real surgeon…either that or rely on my first aid skills. Trust me, no one wants that. The Archangel crew all fired their guns, including Edward's new gun and Aminjiria's whacking great blunderbuss that reverberated all over under the bridge where the battle was taking place. Unfortunately your humble surgeon knows little about ear damage, so I prescribe a dose of externally applied mercury paste and a good bleeding or two.

We went back to the dock where there was another exchange between Blackbeard on one ship and Lieutenant Maynard on the other. This was much easier to follow on the docks as the wind had died down. Of course, Blackbeard got his head handed to him (heh) after which we harbor-tenders were responsible for herding people toward the parade that followed.

I happened to be standing near the front of the procession herders which meant that when the guys who were carrying a treasure chest from BB's ship got tired, I was shanghai'd into being a chest carrier (…still too easy to be worth it.) Alas, the chest was top heavy (…nope) and started to tip, so two more people volunteered and we got the thing from the dock to the stage where the trial of BB's crew was to take place. My fellow carrier and I (for the other two assistants disappeared) set it up on a barrel and arranged the trinkets inside for best viewing. It turns out that much of BBs treasure was made in China. He was a well-traveled man, that Blackbeard.

A bunch of pirates were seated in a semi-circle around the stage with the crowd seated behind them in a semi-circle on benches. I didn't quite know what to do as the trial began, having finished my (top) heavy lifting, so I plopped on the ground next to a girl I had seen several times who was seated with several other girls. Seemed like a good idea at the time. However, it turns out I was sitting with the wives or wenches or some such of Blackbeard's crew. So I inadvertently became part of BBs crew's wives or wenches. (Let's just leave that one right there, eh?) It was a good seat, but I wasn't good at yelling about how unfair the trial was on me husband. At the end of the trial, all but Israel Hands was sentenced and the people on the stage started throwing the Chinese booty into the crowd. In fear of being trampled by hundreds of booty-seeking children, I went back to the campsite.

The campsites are pretty cool – they are all roped off so that the public can watch, but not walk through. From the outside, it's a nice view of pirates doing everyday things in an encampment – eating, talking, smoking pipes and so forth. While the public is not really obnoxious, but it's nice to have your little space.

I was then asked to carry a gun in another enactment on the docks. (There was a lot of walking back and forth between the docks and the encampment/stage.) I was to be a militiaman who breaks up a fight between a bunch of women attacking a guy who appears to have been too free with his amour. We finally arrested him for causing the spillage of rum. (Insert tired 'Alcohol abuse!' comment here.) Amanjiria was in charge of our militia, Keith and Michael Bagley were the other two members of the team. Cheeky played MC and, although I couldn't really hear her that well because the docks are at a different level than the crowd and the speakers, I understand she was quite good.

From there we went back to camp and I got a chance to check out the vendors. There were several period correct vendors and I ran into the Official PiP Period Correct Vendor - 2007 – Greg from the Weeping Heart Trading company. We chatted for quite awhile, I bought far too many things from him and I learned something tragic: the guy who makes the green onion bottles that are so popular at PiP committed suicide and Greg didn't have another source lined up. So I immediately bought one before I missed another chance to do so like I did at PiP. The rest of you can fend for yourselves.

After all this, I learned dinner wasn't for several hours and returned to the hotel to shower. This even is far more event-packed than PiP. Being in the middle of Hampton, it is also a very different environment and it attracted hundreds of people throughout the day that I saw.

[Misson]

Saturday Evening

Returning freshly showered proved a pointless venture as I was indifferent sweaty within 25 minutes of leaving the vehicle. Fortunately, dinner was just getting underway and I didn’t care. Dinner was apparently period correct, to be eaten on period correct dishes (of which I have none), but Abbigail supplied me and I was able to partake. Being vegetarian, I was concerned, which was all but ill-founded. They had corn chowder not made of a chicken base (huzzah!), corn-on-the-cob, various breads and something that reminded me remarkably of Irish stew without meat (which I love).

There was also hard tack, which I finally decided must be a souvenir of some form as there could be no reason for a human to ingest it. I had read in Thrower's book that you had to soak h.t. in the soups or stews that were frequently served on Naval vessels. This was apparently some form of 18th century prank played on newby pirates, because 10 mins. of soaking produced precious little softening results. Personally, I saved my piece of hard tack which I plan to shellac and use to kill cockroaches with. Following dinner, I was once again pressed into carrying something – this time a huge basin of water which we filled at a generous condo-dwelling family that lived on the border of the park.

I then repaired to the grassy knoll where the Bone Island Buccaneers were hanging out, eating a late edition of dinner (they weren’t period correctly dressed and thus couldn’t enter the campsite where dinner was served, but Cookie, the chief cook who worked with Aminjiria’s parents, gave them a fine repast there on the g.n., which they enjoyed immensely from all reports. (As proof that the universe is completely unfair, Scarlet Jai, who is nice and slim ate three times as much as Nigel, who is robust.)

They disappeared to visit a rum distributer (which I will relate later) and I was joined by withoutaname, her significant other and Kate Souris. Kate insisted I hear all about the proposed slogan for PiP 2008 directly from the source – who was none other than Cheeky Actress. I can’t possibly recite the tale in all its glory here (ask Cheeky), but suffice it to say that their proposed slogan for PiP ’08 is “Reach for a Leech.” They seemed to feel that I had some responsibility for this although I wasn’t anywhere near them when they came up with this thing. (Leaches are NOT PERIOD for surgeons as near as I can tell, dammit. They were definitely around after and may have been around before, but I've found no reference to them in period material. So there.)

Shortly after that happened they were joined by Captain Sterling and Aminjiria who began to discuss things that seemed to involve your humble surgeon in some way and this whole NON-PERIOD leach thing behind my back (they having formed some sort of mutant circle behind the original circle formed by me, Kate, withoutaname and Justin.) Finally, I was forced to find a space so I could at least face these incorrect surgical procedures head one with my own self. Finding this to be an utter failure, I wandered off to the boat dock to see the disco ship at night (which I had heard was quite the spectacle).

Of course, once on the boat docks, I quickly found the disco ship (which was indeed quite the spectacle) along with the cool haunted ship with blacklights and many other oddments. There was quite a party going on among the boat people. Among the many other oddments were none other than the Bone Island Buccaneers, Mad Mary Diamond and Lily. They were all hauling around cases and bottles of Pirate’s Choice Rum so I darted off to find the on-ramp to the docks where all the fun was.

The case of rum included some molasses flavored- and a really fascinating Key Lime flavored-Rum, of which I wound up carrying a bottle, much to the detriment of the bottle. Before I could carry it, however, Nigel proved that full bottles are less likely to break by bouncing it off the concrete dock. The Pirates C. rum distributor was leading the parade, so I handed out samples from my bouncing Key Lime bottle with the best of them and bonded with the Bone Island Buccaneers. Very yummy, although not exactly like traditional rum.

Somewhere along the way we lost the majority of the Bone Island Crew and I wound up being escorted, arm in arm, by Scarlett Jai and Mad Mary (which is a picture I badly wanted to have for my surgeon’s journal - alas.) Scarlett pulled out a bullwhip (OF COURSE she had a bullwhip) and tried cracking it. Failing that, your humble surgeon tried. Failing that, Mad Mary tried and succeeded, a fine bit of irony that resulted in more celebratory rum drinking and the further escorting of the ship’s surgeon (why not?)

We eventually wound up back at camp and shared rum with everyone we met along the way. (Drinks all around!) We wandered over to the campfire that was formally the cooking fire where some truly astounding shanties were being sung. Being somewhat drunk at this point, I joined in without really knowing the words. After several songs, I was extremely tired, having gotten only three hours of sleep last night…this morning….whenever I wrote this, so I went back to the fine Holiday Inn.

All I can say is that I wish I had a picture of me with Mad Mary and Scarlett Jai…

[Misson]

Sunday

I was bound and determined to sleep in, which I had to keep telling myself when I woke up every fifteen minutes (you probably know what I mean). I finally gave in and got up. Heading to the site, I stopped at Micky Ds to grab something quick. The car had become filled with junk from the trip, so I stopped at the trash can and got out to clean things up. (This will eventually become relevant, I swear.) Arriving at the parking deck, I was heading down the ramp when another group of re-enactors said, “We have to find Mission.” Now, I did not know these folks, but my curiosity was peaked. “I’m Mission,” I volunteered. “Oh! We have your wallet.” “You couldn’t have, I just used it at McDonalds.” “Yes and you dropped it when you got out of your car to throw out trash.” It seems they were right behind me and stopped to pick it up! What are the odds?

Thinking I would be late for I know not what, I hurried to the campsite where the daily meeting had just begun. Apparently I was not late for a I know not what. Today was to be living history day which meant I would have an opportunity to play doctor. (...nah, still too easy.) When this was brought up, it turned out that Cutter, the Blackbeard crew surgeon would be doing an amputation and another woman was outfitted to be an Apothecary. So we agreed to join forces...the period surgeon superheros.

Cutter is a really cool guy with a bushy white beard and spectacles who used to do Civil War surgery and had all the gear for that. We had chatted yesterday for quite awhile which is something I did not report on because you haven’t truly experienced Annoyance Level Ten until you’ve been between two geeks discussing their pet hobby. Cutter recently got into pirate era surgery and has been slowly acquiring surgical gear and is (like every new pirate, Tudor seaman, English revolution navy or otherwise sea-oriented surgeon) looking for Woodall’s book, The Surgeon’s Mate which I explained to him how to get.

Since Cutter was outfitted to do a complete amputation re-enactment, I loaned him my amputation knife and saw for his demonstration. I talked about various aspects of surgery other than amputation leaving that to Cutter. He generously corrected me in the aspects I was explaining incorrectly, which he only had to do two or twenty times. The Apothecary had a beautiful set-up with all authentic herbs and she completed our display. Quite a full line-up of surgeons and gear for the attendees. This turned out to be to the good, because there must have have been one or two hundred of them, most of whom listened quite attentively.

I got so into my litany of gross stories and descriptions that I had to be stopped by one woman because the three five year old girls were getting a bit green. Other people could only listen for long and then turned sort of pale and ducked behind everyone else. One very serious young lad come up, looked at my bloody clouts (linen rags) and said very matter-of-factly, "That's fake." Figuring him to be about six or so, I said (against my tendencies) "Yes." Then he pointed at my paint/blood spattered apron and said with great gravity, "That's fake too." "Yes." Then he pointed at Cutter, who was standing a few feet away wearing his bloody apron and said the same thing. I admitted it was. Then he looked quite satisfied and left.

I happily stayed in my spot, explaining all my grotesque tools and procedures, picking up tips and ideas from patrons and their re-actions for three hours before it was time to leave. In doing so, I missed an opportunity to row the Expedition which was like a longboat having five or six banks of oars, a steersman and room for a couple of passengers. I heard from Michael that he and Mary Diamond rowed under the tutelage of bcddutchman while Kate and Cheeky rode as passengers.

I had really hoped to chat with bcddutchman more, but he was heavily involved in organizing the festivities. He has wonderfully filthy togs that remind you of what the clothes probably were actually like on the typical sailor. I think he rolled around in every mud puddle he could find. He showed me a bit of the seine he was making (a sort of fishing net, see our discussion about seines in Twill if you're curious). This astounded me; one chance citation from a book on the forum and he had started creating a period correct seine!

At 1:30, we living historical surgeons working the campsite also heard a great deal of noise as the pirates on shore attacked three ships who were sailing through the harbor and returning tit for tat with cannon fire. It sounded quite exciting, but I was enjoying explaining my surgical tools so much that I missed it as well. Too bad, because the Royaliste was one of the ships involved.

Michael and I had gone over to the Royaliste yesterday, but we missed the ship's captain. She’s a beautiful ship. It was docked near the children’s area, so we checked that out as well. The festival was spread out throughout several blocks of Hampton and the children’s area was the furthest from our campsite. (My feeeeet!) There were several other events including something called Scallywag’s School which was apparently very popular. But none of this was nearly as important as rattling on for the stream of people filing through living history display about how to use the giant syringe for enemas, removing a bullet, the lack of hygiene and anesthesia &c. (I could go on, in literally nauseating detail, if anyone would like.)

I should also mention that withoutaname and I sort of determined that we must have been separated at birth and we were fast friends, although she rejects my new name of Mouse (I was sorta' thinking of Mouse from the Cartoon "Reboot" - the character is about 2/3 of the way down that page - however, she was thinking of Minny so it just didn't work for her). Plus she and Justin were generous with their Goslings rum which is a good way to warm the good old ship’s surgeon heart to you after hours.

Then I drove back home with Michael, Kate and Cheeky (we picked up an extra hand - well, we took an extra hand to the airport.) Cheeky kept us entertained with a bright discussion of the weekend for the hour drive to Richmond or something like that airport and I got hugged again, causing me to vastly exceed my annual quota. Ok, I was a willing participant as Cheeky will tell you. After we bid her adieu, Kate nodded off for awhile leaving Michael and I to have several very philosophical discussions about religion, politics, Myers-Briggs, the brain and whatnot. It was fun traveling with them. I arrived home at 5am and promptly went to bed for a few hours.

I woke to discover that (in what was apparently another minor theme for me this weekend) I left my phone at the hotel - along with some shoes. Actually, I didn't leave the shoes because I never owned any shoes like the woman at the hotel described to me, so that was just odd. I told her to send me the phone, but not the shoes. Come to think of it, I should have asked her what size they were first. Oh well. Definitely an action-packed weekend.

[Abbington M. Normal]

Very cool Mission. Everyone in the car enjoyed your post. Hope to see you at PIP.

[withoutaname]

It was great meeting many of you! Here's a link to some photos. I am sad to say I didn't take as many as I would have liked- but I hope you enjoy what I posted.

Pics

[1stMate Matt]

Thanks for sharing your pictures. Love the group shots.

[Misson]

Pics

That syringe is my best period surgical investment yet. You should see the looks it gets when you explain it. Thanks for posting those!

[Cheeky Actress]

It was great meeting many of you! Here's a link to some photos. I am sad to say I didn't take as many as I would have liked- but I hope you enjoy what I posted.

Pics

My word! That lovely dark haired creature was you, withoutaname?! I feel awful not asking or introducing myself to you and your 'friend'. I didn't realize until after I saw your wonderful photos on your board who you were. (Bad, Cheeky...Bad!)

Thank you for the lovely shots. You took some great ones of Micky and Kate...oh, and really wonderful shots of Mission doing the living history demo.

I, too, am trying to pick through my shots and will post them in a day or two. Promise! I do hope to see you again withoutaname and make sure that I am not lacking in manners next time!

(still feeling a bit sluggish...I need some of that lovely Key Lime Rum!!!!)

[Cheeky Actress]

To Captain Thighbiter and his muscial crew....

I truly enjoyed your music throughout the fest and at the Ball. Several of our crewe were able to gather some of the public to dance about in the afternoon while you all played.

It was a pleasure meeting you and the band....

You guys SAIL!

[Cheeky Actress]

All I have to say is "MY FEET!!!!"

Hmm...Captain Brand's t-shirt tag-line rang true that weekend....

With all the walking about, I know I began to feel my 'dog's barking' about 7 pm the first night.

I'll be soaking them tonight when I get home!

[Kate Souris]

REACH FOR A LEECH!

Ahem....anywho....

Obviously, we made it home mostly safe, and not so sound (of mind, of course!) .

It was great hanging out and driving down with Mission, as he and Michael geeked out the entire way and left me to be nauseous in the backseat (thanks again for searching half of Virginia for dramamine, guys...I appreciated it once we found it!).

Mission- I still have a blister on my toe...

Lily- thanks for the hat! My cats promptly started to gnaw on it the second we got home till I put it out of reach...

I might think of more later....hurm....

[michaelsbagley]

There is just too much to say about this event...

Here are some more pics which will hopefully speak to some of what I am thinking...

Photos of the 08 Hampton Blackbeard Festival on Photobucket

Or for those who prefer the Photobucket slideshow style view

[Cheeky Actress]

There is just too much to say about this event...

Here are some more pics which will hopefully speak to some of what I am thinking...

michaelsbagley & Kate....

Thank you again for the picture of this past weekend! They're great!