hampton blackbeard festival 2012, june 1-3

[GentlemenScotty]

Dutch ~Grace~ Pern ~ Everybody involved with Festival ----> THANK YOU!!!

you worked tirelessly for our enjoyment Before AND After that twister and made

Blackbeards 2012 an Awesome memory

[Daniel]

So I arrived at Hampton at noon Saturday with absolutely no clue about the tornado, and by that time there were surprisingly few signs of the destruction left. I actually didn't learn what happened until some of the performers explained why some of the presentations weren't happening on schedule.

I brought my six-year-old son Brandon with me (I was so proud of him for how well he tolerated the three-hour drive). He had a blast; the festival was well provided with inflatables for him to jump around in, a merry-go-round, and he loved playing with the sand that the engineers dumped to cover the ponds in the Pirate Cove, and roughhousing with the other children in front of the Bunch of Grapes. Once Brandon found the play area in front of the Bunch of Grapes, that took up most of the rest of the evening, with me sitting and singing along with the Brigands and Clan MacCool while I watched him. And, of course, Brandon loved the fireworks.

I wore my home-made pirate shirt, and a pair of khaki shorts that might have looked like slops in a dim light. Since I don't have anything remotely resembling period shoes, I just walked the whole festival barefoot (and let me tell you, those pebblestone sidewalks hurt after a while!).

I was sorry to miss several of the people I saw last year: Calico Jenny had the misfortune to be scheduled at the same time as the Battle of Ocracoke re-enactment; Callenish Gunner couldn't make it; Jolly Jack Tar has moved across the country, and I only got to see Bos'n Cross and Cap'n Sterling for a couple of minutes. But I did meet several Pub members for the first time; most of all, Rory Scott and his lovely wife Kate, who were most friendly and helpful. Scott and Kate showed me where I could by slops at the Black Bear, and I splurged on a $35 pair in plain linen (yes, sad to say, that's splurging by my standards). I put them on and felt a little silly, but a lot more piratical. I also got to meet Diosa de Cancion fo the first time, and she taught my son and some other younkers how to haul on a rope and sing Haul Away Joe, a shanty I had never heard before and which I have now been singing nonstop for days. Then I met Josephine Lamaze (sp?), who told me all about doing marine archaeology on the wreck of the Quedah Merchant - yes, that Quedah Merchant - off Catalina near the Dominican Republic.

Getting to see the Pride of Baltimore was a treat too, although I was sorry that the Meka II could not take part in the battle re-enactment this year; the river was too full of storm debris for her to risk setting sail. I wish I'd had the chance to go on board, but they had it roped off during the battle re-enactment.

Everybody did a super job bearing up and making Hampton a real success in spite of the storm. I look forward to going again next year. Also, I hope to make it to a few other East Coast pirate events this year; at least Rockall, but perhaps Lockhouse also.

[Capt. Sterling]

ahoy all.... checking in, finally! SOOOOO, if your story of Blackbeard 2012 doesn't start with "no kidding- there we were.........." you weren't there!

"No kidding- there we were....." Oi, ye weren't there... sniggering... ye were safely tucked away at the ball! ...

As the only captain actually in the camp that evening, I just want to say a huge thank ye and a well earned Huzzah to Dutch, Constable and the other captains, that, in spite of further threats of additional tornados, one actually tried to form right behind the stage not long after the first one passed through camp, and the hotel staff trying to lock them in, they made a beeline to the camp to check on those who had not attended the ball. Well done and very much appreciated....

And Daniel, my apologies for not having more time to spend, unfortunately repairs were still being made on crewe items and they needed to be finished for folks to be able to sleep safely that evening.

[Daniel]

No worries, Cap'n. I only wish I could have given you some help, but my six-year-old younker would have got foul of the cable.

BTW, I misspelled Josephine's name above: it's Legard, not Lamaze; and I can't seem to find the edit function.

[Dutchman]

just for clarification, constable, matty and i got out of the ball just before it hit. I was delayed getting into the parking deck due to a tent that landed in my flight path. of course if cross hadn't been protecting the mighty sterling by sacrificing himself as a shield in the basement of the parking deck, he may have seen it. *snickering* good stories all around. in the end we were all safe and accounted for- thats all that mattered at the time!

[Diosa De Cancion]

Ahoy all!

Thankfully all my wonderful pirate family is safe!!!

My first blog from Blackbeard Fest is up here

[Capt. Sterling]

just for clarification, constable, matty and i got out of the ball just before it hit. I was delayed getting into the parking deck due to a tent that landed in my flight path. of course if cross hadn't been protecting the mighty sterling by sacrificing himself as a shield in the basement of the parking deck, he may have seen it. *snickering* good stories all around. in the end we were all safe and accounted for- thats all that mattered at the time!

Duncan told me, he went running down the wind tunnel, under the bridge and cut through the garage. As we came up from the lowest deck, I just caught Duncan streaking across the garage and was wondering how folks from the ball got in the garage in the first place.... I am just glad ye all made it over so quickly and safely. It made getting a head count so much easier when we were all together.... and some one had to rescue me from smothering when the damn crewe jumped on top of me.... sniggering.... honestly we were one secure little group...I was like who the hell, when one of the poor guys we told to get out of the cars came running around the corner after us, and then crawled into the circle and under my arm....I could feel his heart beating a mile a minute. I had Josh under the other arm, holding on as tight as he could. Silkie was in the pile with Josephine and Dorian on top of his side of things. We were just holding on to one another as tightly as we could, even where we were, ye could feel the wind pulling on ye. Poor Susan hit one of the damn concrete rises which was impossible to see in the dark and fell hard and got scratched up. So by the time we felt safe to move again, it was just nice to see ye all there especially when we had to move quickly into the camp to see what was up and then make another dash for the garage.

[sutlerjon]

So glad to see everyone is safe ..... we saw on the news about the weather in Hampton ..... no mention about the encampment ..... my 1st thought was about y'all.

I can relate to the experience as a multi-year campaigner meself.

You are all so fortunate.

[Diosa De Cancion]

Part 2 of the blog... more pics and a little video....

[jendobyns]

Thanks for that, Diosa. Watching the video of the tornado coming in had my inner child heading for the tornado shelter in the back yard (and wishing we did that on the east coast as well as out west). It is wonderful to see how everyone pulled together with such a great sense of humor, and how the community pitched in to help. Reenactors are such a supportive and resilient bunch of folks! That goes double for Pirates

I have to say that I have never seen so much extreme reenacting in all my years of living history as the last two. Really starting to prefer solid walls

[Hawkyns]

Did anybody get any pictures of the 3 guns firing from the pier on Sunday afternoon? I haven't seen any yet.

Hawkyns,

Master Gunner

[Diosa De Cancion]

Part 3 of the blog

Its mostly pictures.... and the final piece will be up tomorrow....

[Capt Thighbiter]

Just wanted to say what a priviledge it always is to perform at the Blackbeard Festival. It was our first gig 11 years ago, when Butch Cannon was only 11 years, and we consider it to be our home festival. It is always the high point of our concert season and we get to see so many old friends! THis year was doubly special because we got to see the amazing comraderie among the various crews as the festival was literaly put back together in half a day after the effects of the tornadoes were realized.

THanks to everyone involved !

PS - we ran out of CDs early Sunday, so if you are owed a copy of "Ship Happens", let me know. Yes, Pern I got you on the list already !

We hope the crews that got a free copy, to lift their spirits, share the music - no hoarding please!

[Diosa De Cancion]

Here's the final blog installment. Don't want to read the whole thing, no prob - skip down to the After(math) report and heroes sections though. They let you know who lost what and how to help and give you a look at a couple pirate heroes :)