fbhjr

As I was asked about the story I mentioned on the Wales trip of my being
shot by pirates into the Atlantic, I’ll take a break from photos of Wales
to tell it.

Back in 2007 we were hired to do a show at a pirate festival in Maine. It
was our first show in Maine and in a little town right on the ocean.
Not very many people from our troupe went. Me,

perrin_o_ravnos,

morgan_lafaye &

blue_micha, Tom and Carol were the only folks there.

It was a very small faire held in a parking lot on the harbor. Although
small there were a lot of good people there. It was a fund raiser for the
Make a Wish foundation that helps dying children get something they’ve
always wanted. So, lots of people were willing to help out a lot with the
show and had a really good attitude. (We did it for gas money and a place
to sleep, not for our usual fee.)

Early in the afternoon

perrin_o_ravnos and I were standing by
the ocean saying what a good time we were having at the show.
As we said it, a sailing ship came around the edge of the harbor. As it
sailed towards us, it raised a pirate flag. As it came through the harbor,
it began firing its cannons at the shore. (Without actual shells.) Some
folks along the sea wall manned the cannons there and began shooting back.
The ship reached the dock. A bunch of pirates climbed off, ran up to the
main stage. Fought some people there for some treasure and then ran back
to the ship. Treasure in hand, the ship sailed back out of the harbor.
“OK, now it is the coolest pirate show we’ve ever done,” the two of us said.

We went up to the show organizer and told him how very cool we thought it
was for a pirate faire to actually have a pirate attack.
“But,” I said. “There is one thing missing.”
“What’s that?”
“No one got shot and fell dead into the water.”
“Yeah,” he said. “We really wanted that. But, none of my people were
stupid enough to take the fall into the north Atlantic.”
“The reason I bring this up is I am a certified scuba diver, very
experienced swimmer and totally willing to do this in the show tomorrow.”

So, he had me talk with the crew of the pirate ship. We worked out that
I’d be on the dock when they arrived and they’d shoot me and I’d take the
fall into the Atlantic.

Now, September 2007 was a very bad time for me. Maybe not the worst point
of my life, but a close second. And, I started to worry about what I had
gotten myself into.

I went over to

perrin_o_ravnos.
“I’m worried that maybe I’ve gone from being depressed to being outright
suicidal,” I told him. “Do you think I’m going too far by offering to do
this?”
“Frank, you are a gigantic ham. You have found a way to steal the show
during a pirate attack. Depressed or not, I think that is totally the
normal kind of thing you would do.”
“You’re right,” I said on reflection. “This is totally about stealing the
show. OK. I’m in.”

The next day at the appointed time the pirate ship came around the end of
the harbor, fired its cannons and made for the dock.
I was standing there in a set of backup costuming I had so not to ruin my
good stuff. I had a staff so I wouldn’t get my sword in the salt water.

The ship came up to the dock, and all the pirates got off and ran past me.
None of them shot me.

I looked up at the captain still up on the ship.
“I thought you were going to shoot me,” I said.
“Don’t worry, I will,” he said.
He pulled out a blunderbuss that looked about the same size as the cannon
did. He was only about 10 feet/3 meters away from me and I realized that I
was going to be well within the blast coming out of that muzzle.
I started to turn towards the water, and he fired.
I felt the blast wave, still with little bits of power and wadding in it
roll across my cheek as I spun towards the water on the other side of the
dock.
It was low tide. The water was about 5 feet/1.5 meters down. So, I made a
pretty good splash when I hit.
I continued my roll in the water so I surfaced face up.
I floated there.
I’m a fat guy. I can float a long time without moving.
I did.

After what seemed a very long time, the folks in the troupe came to fish me
out. It was a bit of a problem as it was a long climb back up to the dock.
But, I was finally hauled out of the water and onto the dock.

I was very soggy.
As I dripped back along the dock to the shore a little kid came up and
started poking me.
I looked at his mother.
“He thinks you really died and are now a ghost,” she said. “I told him you
weren’t really dead and he wants to make sure.”
“I’m not dead,” I told the kid.
“OK,” he said, and poked me some more.

From what I was told I did convince a bunch of folks I was dead in the
water. So, I guess I did well at the stealing the show thing.
The icon used here is of my splash. I still use it for things when I
think, or hope, I am making a splash.

The blunderbuss shown to me in Wales is probably about the same size as the
one fired at me that day 7 years ago. But, it looked a whole lot bigger
pointed at my face.

Here are some photos from that show:
http://phoenixswords.atthefaire.com/galleries/2007/2007_Downeast/index.html