Scallywag school

Children embrace rough-and-tumble ways of pirates at Maritime Festival

He wore a white linen shirt and a black hat and spoke with a pirate's tongue.

"Aaarrrgh!" he shouted to the cluster of "scallywags" seated before him at the Charleston Maritime Festival. They had come for Pirate 101, and hung on his every word.

"Aaargh means everything but 'no,' " said Quartermaster William Howard, also known as John Glass. "It can mean, 'Yes, I agree,' or 'I don't like that.' "

Glass explained that to be a good pirate, one must first learn to talk like one. Then comes the singing, the hauling and the sword-fighting.

Within minutes, 10 children decked out in eye patches, earrings, scarves and hooks were charging the pirate trainers with wooden cutlasses and singing "way haul away" as they heaved on a rope.

Behind the pirate camp, Constable Heartless, aka Randy Gnatowsky, explained to visitors why he left the Navy for the pirate ships.

"Piracy pays better," he said.

The pirate camp helped kick off the weekend festival, with about 50 pirates from throughout the Southeast passing on the traditions and history of the pirates who stormed Charleston about 300 years ago. Pirates taught their audiences how to build fires aboard a ship and how to fire their elegant weaponry. Swag and booty were on display and pirate paraphernalia was up for sale. Tents representing a typical pirate camp at shore were scattered throughout Ansonborough Field, with signs in front. One read, "Wench wanted for kleening kookin and other womanly duties."

Several of the scallywags had been looking forward to pirate camp all week, parents said.

"Being a pirate is not just like it is in the movies," said Jeffrey Madere, 8, who showed up in a homemade pirate outfit made of a tattered T-shirt, a red scarf on his head, a pouch of gold and a big belt with a mug for rum attached. "They fight differently. A real pirate would ..." and he whacked the air with a plastic sword.

In another corner of the field, pirate "Don Juan Cortez," or Ben Cortez, was chased by 4-year-old Cameron Hall, who fired from a plastic pistol. Cortez fell accordingly each time, making the thrill of pirate combat come alive for all those around.

"I got him!" Cameron shouted, firing again, adjusting his eye patch and three-cornered hat. "I'm a good pirate. I scared him."

Cortez, who drove from Virginia Beach, said he was probably having as much fun as Cameron.

"It's what I live for," he said. "The kids make it worth it."

Reach Jamie McGee at 745-5856 or at jmcgee@postandcourier.com.