Our Custom House made quite a splash at its debut in Hampton at this years Hunt for Hampton History and Blackbeard Festival. Local photographer Anthony Prater captured this picture at the Blackbeard Festival and did a little photo-shop magic to turn it into a painting. Anthony is a freelance photographer and has been working on a few photo projects in the downtown area focusing on the city's architecture. Thanks for allowing us to use the picture Anthony! In the background is the Kalmar Nykel, Delawares state ship.

Last Friday, several Foundation, Blackbeard's Crew and Hysterically Correct Production members were hosted by the Newport News Elks Lodge at the Local Boys and Girls Club for a day of pirate and maritime history activities. This is the second year we have been invited and we could not ask for more delightful hosts. The only request they could not fill was turning the heat and humidity down a little bit. There was a large gathering of visitors were treated to music, cannon fire, and a bit of living history. Thanks to Stan for coordinating the event for us.





On the Luna front, John Glass reported for duty and continued working in the bilge on the keelson and began work on the area of the new mast step, we need to move the mast back about two feet. we had more activity on board this Sunday as the shipwright, Ben, Reggie, Mat and I spend the day continuing last weeks work. Ben completed the frame from last week and has now moved onto another. How he manages to squeeze himself into those tight spots I have no idea. The shipwright and Reggie spent part of the day finishing installing screens and fastening planks- the much anticipated final assembly has begun! HUZZAH!! Mat learned about West System Epoxy and treated a few preexisting boards to help stabilize them so we can add new planks around them and complete the starboard side of the hull. Just four more planks and that will be done.




I spent some time working on the bow. As you can see, we had to do a bit of a temporary patch job to hold her together. Being out of the water and facing the summer sun does Luna no favors. As she dried out, the screws holding the planks onto the frames started working loose. To prevent her from peeling apart like a banana (wooden boats will really do that!) we bolted her together. They are visible on the right side of the bow of Luna. While certainly not attractive, it served its purpose and its now time to move work to that section. Several pieces of rotten wood need to be replaced and a complete refastening will be in order, which we expected when we received her. Once that is done, we will begin to reshape her from a sharp "cutter" style of bow, or front end of the ship, to a wider bulb. This will create a bit more buoyancy and provide a new look as we create an 18th century ship.

Behind the scenes, our grants and marketing folks are hard at work. We should have new CSF merchandise arriving shortly. It will be available at Hampton Bay Days, Sept 10-12. We will get pictures up when it arrives- good looking stuff though! Our grants folks are working to identify opportunities and we expect to see applications going out shortly. If you know of any resources that may be able to help us on our journey, please let us know.

As mentioned, we will again be at Hampton Bay Days, Sept 10-12. While the exact location has not been determined yet, we will be in two places. The Custom House will be returning for an encore performance and we will be in the education section, which we understand is being moved this year.

We will also be at the Mariners Museum located in Newport News, Virginia on September 19th. This will be our first visit there and we are quite excited by this opportunity to work with the museum. To enlighten out gentle readers, September 19th is National Talk Like a Pirate Day!

More information on our upcoming events will be posted in the next couple of weeks as it becomes available. Next week will find many of us in Beaufort at their Pirate Invasion supporting our sister organization, Blackbeard's Crew and our friend Horatio Sinbad (yes, that's his name) on board the Meka II. Of course, the shipwright and maybe one or two folks will be on board Luna quietly and diligently working away. Thanks gang!

If you are interested in becoming a member of the Foundation, please visit our website and join or contact our membership director via e-mail at info@colonialseaport.org.