The Port of Everett Marina hosts its first Puget Sound Pirate Festival on Saturday on the South Marina.
The Seattle Swashbucklers, part of the Seattle Knights organization, will put on the event in conjunction with the visit of the Lady Washington, a replica of an 18th-century vessel, which visitors will be able to tour at the marina. The Swashbucklers, known for their exciting and interactive theater, will have 45 members of their “Jack Pack” (pirates all named some variation of Jack) dressed in authentic pirate garb.
The pirates will perform choreographed battles with steel swords every half hour, and all pirates will stroll the marina causing good-natured mayhem. Pirates of all shapes and sizes may heckle passersby as they pursue their activities and walk to the Lady Washington.
Younger festival-goers may want to participate in treasure hunts that will challenge their pirate skills and let them meet the pirates. One treasure hunt will require them to get the signatures of the many Jack-named pirates on their Pirate Wanted Posters as they roam the marina. Older children may want to participate in a treasure hunt in which they’ll fulfill pirate duties such as loading the cannon, bat the rat and sink the ships.
At 3 p.m. and 5:15 p.m., the Broadside performers will be at the marina to sing sea shanties along the esplanade.
Vendors will sell pirate trinkets, toys, books and all kinds of pirate swag. A face-painter also will be there.
Although the Lady Washington was not a pirate ship, it did appear in a pirate movie.
The ship was seen in the 2003 Hollywood blockbuster “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl” as the ship HMS Interceptor.
The vessel, a replica of the original Lady Washington that sailed between 1750 and 1798, is 112 feet long and 89 feet tall. When the original ship left Boston in 1787 and came to the Pacific Northwest, it became the first American vessel to enter Pacific Northwest waters.
The Lady Washington was built and is operated by the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Authority, launched in 1989 as a Washington State Centennial Project, and is the Honorary Tall Ship ambassador for Washington state. The ship sails up and down the West Coast from Panama to Alaska, but could easily sail around the world.
Bob Esposito photo
The Lady Washington is a replica of the first American ship that sailed into Pacific Northwest waters.
Seattle Swashbucklers photo
Seattle pirates cross swords in mock combat last year in Port Angeles.
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