June 2010

June 11th, 12th and 13th: Pirate Rendevous, Damariscotta Maine
As you all know over the weekend we had the pleasure of working with the pirates of the dark rose and the ancient ones at the Pirate rendezvous.

On Friday night most of the demo crew had a pirate dinner at the church that consisted of chicken legs and homemade corn beef. We spent most of the time getting reaquainted with Captain Tom, Bloodthirsty and many more of the Pirates of the Dark Rose. Our crew was greeted by them with open arms and open hearts. Being a fellow cannoneer we gave Captain Tom the blessing of St. Barbara in a pendent a gift from our crew.

On Saturday was the fun. We did the bulk of the demo explaining the history of some of the firearms used on board ship. The crowd was pretty interested. Some of the crew then left Battery Point to join the defenders on the other side of the bridge. When the Pirate ships came in the fiing commenced. Firstmate, Captain and Master gunner got off four shoots in arround a ten minute span with our cannon. We were keeping up with Captain Toms big guns. He had three. Let me tell you ever though we were the smallest we were just as impressive. Our smaller arms were pretty impressive also. Quartermaster got of 21 rounds in a little under 15 min of firing. Quite impressive I must say. Everyone else was averaging six to ten shoots. I must say I was quite proud of their preformance. After the live firing finished the Pirate crew invaded the shore. Then the sword fighting began. Of course the defenders lost. The Pirates then went on to convince the town folk to help them find their treasure. Clues were passed out to the wee ones to help them find the treasure.

They also had a costume contest and a crew muster for the kids. A wonderful group of teens known as the Sea Scouts did sea chanities. They were excelent. Your Captain was quite speachless (yes folks it is true) when the town and their ships Scribe awarded our crew the cane with the silver skull - the reenactors of the year award. I was quite proud of the crew and had to hold back tears of joy. But we do have the best crew arround and you guys keep proving that.

At the final part of the day all the long arms proceeded to board the two ships to do a salute to a fallen sailor that lost his life not to far off shore. Some of us hung arround for a while back at Battery Point to chill. Then we went over to Schooner Landing to have dinner with the crew of the Mus Roos. We shared stories and made plans for next year.

In the evening those of the crew that camped sat arround talking both evenings and just being the family we are.
I am proud to have the best crew. We could not have accomplished any of this with out their hard work and dedication. Weather it comes to Guild Hall, NHRF stuff and now our new adventures, I know they will always be there to stand behind their captain and their fellow crew mates. So pour yourself a big glass of rum, you all deserve it

I want to thank Greg (their ships Scribe) , Captain Tom CrudBeard, Bloodthirsty Barbarba and The Pirates of the Dark rose for their wonderful hospitality. They made us feel at home. We are looking forward to more adventures with them.