It is not the ship so much as the skillful
sailing that assures the prosperous voyage.
George William Curtis
Recently, I was approached and
friended by a resident of Second Life (SL) who has discovered his Real Life
(RL) passion inworld. His name is BrendonPatrick
MacRory and his passion is the Age of Sail.
After our first contact, we schedule
an interview and at the appointed time we meet.
I appear at Milliways, the restaurant at the end of the Galaxy, famous
from Douglas Adam's
book, Hitchhikers
Guide to the Galaxy at the appointed time. (As a
writer I love how genres cross and recross inworld!)
BrendonPatrick is an auburn haired man
of mid-height (at least compared to me and I still don’t know how tall I am
inworld) with a tanned complexion from years spent at sea. He is well attired in the costume of his
period and greets me warmly as we begin our session.
I begin with what brought
BrendonPatrick to this time and place.
In RL, he does reenacting, and Regency and Late Georgian being his
favorites. While at a Green Living
conference in RL, he attended a session about the use of SL in education. Returning home, he got on and played. Initially,
he found nothing worth coming back to until late in the day he found Caledon
University, a Victorian/Steam Punk Sim, part of over fifty which comprise Caledon.
In Caledon he started to hear about
Antiquity and sea battles and then he finally found them. All being beautiful builds. While there one day, he heard of and was invited
to a new sim, Dublin
Harbor, at the time in Antiquity and set in 1712, and he was hooked.
Let me return to BrendonPatrick’s
roots in period sailing for he is no amateur here. He is a member of Historical Maritime Society
in the United Kingdom, and the Brigade
Napoleon, and the Leader of HMS
Pacific Station, a Royal Navy and Royal Marine Group. I think we can say he knows his way about a
sailing ship circa eighteenth century.
In Dublin Harbor which is part of the
Ocean Realms sim, BrendonPatrick found his passions writ large. He has pirates, privateers, the Royal Navy
and the East India Company. We're talking
Royal Navy life and battles here with all the guns and sailing tactics. BrendonPatrick explains that sometimes battles
are ship on ships, as on Thursday afternoons.
At other times, it’s cruising, and at still other times, there are scenarios,
such as the Payroll, where one ship has it, and others are trying to find it,
and capture it. Large scale actions are
not played. (I wonder if that has
anything to do with SL lag issues.) In addition,
Ocean Realms lends itself to exploration.
Something not possible in all sims BrendonPatrick adds. All in all, sounds like a good night’s
fun!
BrendonPatrick describes how SL can be
used for such nautical maneuvers as tacking,
how close one can sail to the wind, how different boats handle and the skills
to handle them. However, he doesn’t
believe that he can use the sim for historical research or education, but, it does
allow him to live in the style of the time.
In addition to sea battles, there are dances and live concerts in the
tavern and the fiddler is purported to be delightful.
After thanking BrendonPatrick for his
time, I take my leave. Later, I visit
Dublin myself, to see this world from a time gone by. I wander about for a bit
when BrendonPatrick IM’s me and invites me to join his partner, Siobbhan Sands, and him in
their nearby home. I TP over and am
impressed by the beautiful home they have built together overlooking the sea. The period furnishings and artwork add a
certain atmosphere which can only be created with great care and thought in
SL. (Yes, there are a few anachronisms,
but who among us can resist doing that inworld?)
Once again I take my leave of
BrendonPatrick as well as his lovely partner.
Thanks to both of them, I’ve had a chance to glimpse into a world that I
hadn’t seen before in SL. My previous exposure
to period sailing had been Avalon
Hill’s Wooden Ships and Iron Men. (I know it’s not a computer game but, find a
copy on eBay and try it. You won’t regret
it.) The real time appeal of shipboard
action is there for me.
I know that I have only scratched the
surface here and the prospect of doing battle with pirates for treasure and to
rescue damsels in distress is too hard for me to resist. I will return to
Dublin for some adventure and I’ll bring the stories back for everyone.
I would like to thank BrendonPatrick MacRory for
his time and openness with me. I would
also like to thank him and Siobbhan Sands for their hospitality in receiving me
into their home.
As always, I’m grateful to all for their
kindness and time in stopping to talk with a stranger who was passing through
their lives.
I welcome feedback from readers, please
either comment on my blog or e-mail me at webspelunker@gmail.com .
If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.
If you would like to read about my other adventures in Second Life please click here.
Photo
No. 1 BrendonPatrick
MacRory
Photo
No. 2 Siobbhan
Sands
Photo
No. 3 Dublin
Arrival Area
Photo
No. 4 Dublin
Street Scene
Photo
No. 5 Dublin
Church
Photo
No. 6 Overlooking
the Waterfront
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