That’s actually a screen grab from a video clip that we considered too short to use but the scene was irresistible — After the Seafair Pirates came ashore (first round of photos in our first report here), we wandered up to the street-side spot where their land vessel Moby Duck was parked east of Alki Bathhouse, and watched (and videotaped) as they mingled with fans and even brought a lucky few onboard their “ship.” More pirate pix ahead, including video of the scalawags hoisting a young fan onto Moby Duck (which is a modified DUKW amphibious craft), but first, we have video of the actual landing, as the everpopular U.S. Army Mechanized Landing Craft came ashore, preceded by cannon fire, of course (and a bit of a jolt as the vessel hits the beach):
More ahead, including the Moby Duck scene at streetside, the seawall crowd, pix of Pirates and fans, and the fireboat putting on a show:
Watching the crowd and the Pirates interact around Moby Duck put the event in a different perspective. First, looking out onto the bay and watching for sights — and sounds — of impending pirate arrival; then, the mock-fierce storming ashore — then the almost-fuzzy friendliness of posing for photos and even hoisting one young fan aboard:
While we were stationed by Moby Duck, we watched supplies – and swords! – get loaded up into the “vessel” too, along with repeated cries (you may hear them in that previous video clip) of MAKE A HOLE! MAKE A HOLE! to get the crowd to let Pirates and others through. All around, though, many smiles. The next four photos are courtesy of “alkiguy”:
Once again this year, by the way, those pirate hats were provided to the first 500 kids by the West Seattle Kiwanis Club. Back to the video — a short clip of one of the most popular boats in Seattle — one of the Fire Department’s fireboats, as it put on a show before the Pirates sailed into the scene:
Also before the landing, we scanned the crowd on the seawall for this next video clip; the beach held hundreds, too, since the tide was fairly low:
Here’s a still pic with a slice of the crowd that awaited the Pirates on the beach:
As mentioned in our previous report, the Seafair Pirates will return to West Seattle in two weeks for the Grand Parade down California SW.
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