Hey, I've been lookin' for this thread for over a month now, but think I got it figured out now.

I'm a definite for Saturday, May 26 3pm (I'll be one of the early birds to help with the rearrangin'. I'd flood the ground beneath me with tears if I couldn't be there! Wish I could come durin' the summer too, but have my doubts about makin' the trip from Cleveland with gas price predictions as they are ($2.50 a gallon!).

As far as privateers go, one of my ancestors relatives, Isreal Thorndike from Maine, was a privateer, but I believe that was the Revolution, not in The War of 1812.

I was readin' in the Cleveland newpaper today that the 2001 Great Lakes Tall Ships Challenge includes a dozen or so sailing vessels that will dock in Cleveland (July 11-16) as well as in 6 other ports. Thus Cleveland will hold the first annual Cleveland Harborfest. Among the family entertainment we've got chantey singers, a steel drum band, jugglers and the like. Know anyone who's comin' to fill the spot of (Crankey Yankee, please don't cringe) "chantey singers"? If the accounts are right, we're expecting Canada's brigs Fair Jeanne & St. Lawrence II, schooners True North & Bluenose II, Playfair and Pathfinder, Ukraine's Bat Kivschyna, and the US's schooners Grand Nellie, Pride of Baltimore II, Red Witch & Highlander, plus the HMS Tecumseh (a modern replica of the 19th century British war schooner) and the US Brig Niagara, a reconstruction of Perry's ship measuring 198'.

If anyone's interested, let me know and I'll help find places to put you up!