BARNEGAT – In a daring and hasty retreat befitting any swashbuckling tale, authorities ordered pirates and their enthusiastic followers to abandon ship as thunder and lightning swept over the Brackman School area which hosted Pirates Day.
The day began with the promise of jolly merrymaking with Bill Clanton, Jr. of WBNJ radio providing a musical backdrop and overseeing a program laced with infectious pirate spirit.
It was a tale of high seas and stormy skies as the Pirates Day festivities were scuttled around 1 p.m. And, while the Pirates at Large, Sea Dogs, Pirates of Fortune Folly, and Ye Pyrate Brotherhood set sail at the Pirates Cove at Collins School, two buccaneering crews became castaways.
See, kids? Pirates aren’t that scary. (Photo by Stephanie Faughnan)
Both the Pirates at Large and Pirates Finally found themselves stranded in the doldrums, their performances left to the whims of the stormy weather.
The entertainment ranged from singing bands with musical shipmates to cunningly devised skits that’d even make Davy Jones himself crack a smile.
The crew of Fortune’s Folly considers itself a dangerous lot that has cursed the shores of Barnegat’s Pirate Days for many years. They are led by Handsome Devlin O’Driscoll, who serves as the group’s captain and goes by Colin Gordon in ordinary landlubber situations.
Gordon said his crew is based in Philadelphia and has twenty members who hopped on board from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. When asked how he turned pirate, Gordon’s laugh was hearty as a sea shanty:
“My favorite answer is that I failed at everything else in life,” he chuckled.
However, it turns out the pirate captain had more tricks up his sleeve than an old sea dog. He rattled off a list of his acting endeavors, including shows at the Bucks County Playhouse and Sight and Sound, not to mention a grand tour across the land. Seems this pirate tends to be more than just bluster and bravado.
The Sea Dogs belt out a shanty. (Photo by Stephanie Faughnan)
“I actually got hired as a gunslinger out in Colorado and had a great deal of fun doing that,” Gordon shared. “I looked to see if there was anything like that here, and that’s how I found the pirate crew and have been doing it ever since.”
Barnegat’s fascination with pirates can be traced back to the legend of a lovely farmgirl who brought Captain Kidd to Barnegat. Some claim the illustrious pirate left behind hidden treasure that still awaits discovery. The Pirates Day tradition began more than two decades ago in the downtown area.
As the festivities grew in size, local officials cited safety concerns as a reason to relocate from the more heavily trafficked area with limited parking. Some residents continue to express their dissatisfaction with the move, saying the new venue lacks charm.
Amidst the pirate-themed revelry, the event featured a bustling marketplace with 75 vendors and even emergency vehicles open for exploration. While these didn’t exactly offer a glimpse into the world of daring rescues on the high seas, they provided young buccaneers with some interesting insight.
Pirates take in the show as another crew performs. (Photo by Stephanie Faughnan)
Local police officers were present, diligently creating identification cards for young attendees. In moments of dire emergency, these cards may prove to be an invaluable asset in the event that a child is ever abducted or goes missing.
For the little scallywags, there was a special section filled with inflatable slides and ships, offering them their own taste of adventure.
Though this year’s Barnegat’s Pirates Day had to set sail prematurely, the memory of their daring escape will surely be etched into the annals of pirate lore for years to come.
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