Breathing life into maritime history

Alicia Robinson

Sea farers and landlubbers alike got the chance to talk to pirates,

learn to tie knots and ride boats at the Newport Harbor Nautical

Museum’s seaport festival Saturday.

The event also offered demonstrations of woodcarving, model boat

displays, boat races and rides, and milk-carton boat making and

painting for children.

As the only nautical museum in Orange County, the Newport Beach

museum tries to not only preserve the area’s maritime history but

also tries to share it with people, said Marshall Steele, the

museum’s facilities manager.

Museums are becoming more hands-on these days, and having the

outdoor festival with exhibits and activities generates more interest

than static displays inside, he said.

“They want to let people know it’s not just old stuff hanging

around,” Steele said. “There’s a reason why we keep all these old

objects and artifacts.”

Wendy Kovaletz and her daughter, Kristen, 11, appreciated the

chance to learn a new skill. After watching members of the

International Knot Tying Guild, Kristen was able to demonstrate a

bowline knot, and Wendy Kovaletz said she’ll teach her Girl Scout

troop to tie friendship knots.

The mother and daughter, of Anaheim Hills, also enjoyed the

Riverside Chip Chuckers, who were carving various objects from wood.

“I like the boot. It looks like it’s really a boot but it’s only

wood,” Kristen said.

“This woodcarving is awesome,” her mother agreed.

Woodcarver Marvin Lowe was probably pleased to hear that. He was

working on an 18-inch figure of a bearded mariner in an overcoat that

he said is the first “serious” carving he’d tried. Most of his work

was similar to the clasp of his bolo tie, a comical, winking man with

a big mustache.

Lowe has been carving for 45 years. Rather than requiring

patience, he said, the hobby requires that the carver enjoy what he’s

doing.

“If it’s nice and quiet you can hear the cut and you can see the

change in the shape and the change in color,” he said. “Every cut,

you can see the progress.”

The festival drew people who came either by land or water. Tim

Factor brought his grandchildren from the Lido Peninsula in his boat.

“We just boated over and made an afternoon out of it,” he said.

“It’s a fun event. It’s low key, it’s interesting, things you

wouldn’t see normally.”

One of those things you wouldn’t see normally was the Port Royal

Privateers, whose full pirate costumes -- complete with a green

parrot -- gave the event the air of old sea lore.

The bird, a Green Cheeked Conure, belonged to Philistina d’Morte

of Placentia. He sat on her finger or shoulder and let curious

children pet his feathers.

The Privateers dress as pirates who might have lived in the

Caribbean in the 17th and 18th centuries, and they attend festivals

and reenact sea battles around Southern California.

D’Morte said she’s been a pirate enthusiast for about 14 years,

and was drawn to them because they rebelled against the life of

hardship that was usually a sailor’s lot.

“Piracy, although very dangerous and against the law, offered a

real chance of escape if they hit it big,” she said.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

[email protected].