In a festival by and for pirates, sea rogues and other scalawags, who gets to be the enemy?

At the Northern California Pirate Festival Saturday and Sunday at Vallejo Waterfront Park, that role is happily portrayed by Morgan’s Companie.

Members of Morgan’s Companie portray a group of British Royal Navy sailors from the HMS Siren who support the English governor Woodes Rodgers and his officers as they offer pardons to the cutthroats who promise to mend their ways and convicting those who can’t be swayed from plundering booty of the seven seas.

“Morgan’s Companie started up in Humboldt County, where most of the members still live, as a group doing historical costume events like Ren Faires, Pirate Festivals, SCA events and so forth,” said David Luckhardt, a member of the organization whose Companie identity is Bosun Thorne.

But that’s the origin of the real-life members. As for the story of the Companie’s characters, he said, “The beginnings of Morgan’s Companie are shrouded in mystery.”

He continued, “None of us play the role of officers, and the Captain is somehow always missing or gone when anyone cares to ask for him. Think ‘foredeck crew’ with an unsavory past, and you’ve got a good description of us.”

About a dozen of the “foredeck crew” will be making appearances at the pirate festival, where they’ll be seen on the event grounds or aboard the Nehamiah, firing the guns during “We have been with the Northern CA Pirate Festival since the beginning,” Luckhardt said. “The organizers wisely understand the need for a bit of dynamic tension at their event, hence the presence of Government House and the supporting Royal Navy and Redcoats.”

Government House, he explained, is operated by a separate group, Actions Past. But the two reenactment groups have a lot of crossover support during such events as the pirate festival.

Actions Past also conducts the School of the Renaissance Soldier, At the pirate festival, Actions Past will bring Governor Woodes Rodgers, the former pirate turned pirate hunter, to life, with the intent to end pirate rule of Nassau in the Bahamas while reintroducing civility to New Providence.

“The members have done a lot of research into their characters, methods of offering pardons and attempting to police pirates, costumes, phrasing of official documents and more,” Luckhardt said. “We work closely with Government House, providing guards, making arrests, helping at criminal trials, and marching in processions.”

So how does he and other members of the Companie feel as they parade the grounds in their bright red coats amid crowds of sea dogs?

“We revel in being the bad guys at the pirate festival,” Luckhardt said. “It is a lot of fun! The Royal Navy gets to exchange everything from good-natured banter to artillery fire with the pirates at the Festival, and everyone has a great time.”

But don’t think the Navy had a spotless reputation among the populace, and the Companie will portray that aspect, too.
“We often do a ‘press gang’ routine, where we wander about the festival trying to convince — or abduct — likely lads and lasses to join the King’s Navy,” he said.

The Companie will be bringing its exhibits again to the festival, too, he said.

“We have a 16 foot sailing vessel on display in our camp, built from solid wood at the San Francisco Maritime Museum and ready to sail,” he said.

At one time, the boat participated in the festival’s cannon battles, only its sailors attacked the pirate ship, he said.
But the vessels had to stay so far from shore, for safety reasons, that festival-goers had trouble seeing the smaller boat from the shoreline, and complained they were missing the action.

“So now our boats stay on shore, and we shoot the largest cannons at the event during the ship-to-shore battles twice daily,” Luckhardt said.

The Northern California Pirate Festival has an array of activities for all ages, including musical groups singing shanties, nautical ballads and pirate rock.

Visitors also will see mermaids, from the Dive Bar in Sacramento and part of the bellydance troupe Serpent Sirens. French Quarter residents of the New Orleans House of the Rising Sun will offer to teach games of chance and provide other amusements, and visitors will be entertained by music and puppetry in Nymbol’s Secret Garden.

Children can perfect their skills at the Jack Rackham and Anne Bonney School of Piracy for the Young and Impressionable; pirates can receive pardons at the Government House, and everyone can watch the swashbuckling comedy of the Court of the Pirate Lords.

Vendors will be selling a wide array of items, from clothing to accessories and nautical equipment to catch a sea rogue’s eye, and others selling food and beverage sellers will sate the sailors’ hunger and thirst.

The Northern California Pirate Festival is 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Vallejo Waterfront Park, 289 Mare Island Way, Vallejo. Admission is $10 at the gate for adults, and free to children 11 and younger. In addition, the festival has a separate Buccaneer’s Bash for those 18 and older, with entertainment by pirate rock musicians and burlesque from the Barbary Coast. Admission to the Buccaneer’s Bash is $15. Weekend packages also will be sold at the gate or through Eventbrite.com.

Those interested may visit the Northern California Pirate Festival website, norcalpiratefestival.com, or call 866-921-YARR (9277.)