Three Italian words tattooed to the wrist of a pirate
It’s rewarding to know this little blog is building momentum. I’ve received several messages of encouragement, including this missive from PJ:
Good job! Nice writing too. Chuck in some characters and you’re made.
Uh, yeah. Characters. That’s going to be tricky …
On April 4, 2014, my pirate friends invited me to join the crew of Rocinante. I have a record of this date, because I decided to document that moment with a photo on my Facebook timeline.
This photo reminds me that, from the beginning, I signed on to launch a crowdfunding campaign and to tell the story of Rocinante and her crew.
In carrying out my mission, however, I must also walk a tightrope between the crew’s conflicting desires for publicity and anonymity.
The only member of the crew I can name is our captain, Ulysses.
(Fortunately, he’s not camera shy either.)
As your embedded reporter onboard this pirate ship, I must respect the wishes of my fellow crew mates. I can show you their photos and videos, but I cannot name names. I can tell you their stories, but I must be careful not disclose any identifying details.
This is a tricky balance for a storyteller. If I screw this up, I just might have to swim to shore tonight. Am I up to the challenge?
Whatever my fate, this is the mission I signed up for. And even if I cannot join names to faces, I can tell you the story of the crew as a collective.
Our tale begins with three Italian words tattooed to the wrist of a pirate.
Dolce far niente
I noticed this phrase printed on a banner the pirates hung up above the bar at the Casa la Familia the night of their first party.
“Oh, I like this very much!” exclaimed an Italian friend, who told me what these three words mean in his language: Sweet doing nothing.
Later at the bar, as a pirate handed me my drink, I noticed that phrase tattooed to his wrist:
Dolce far niente
“It’s the name of our project,” he explained. He came across the phrase in a book, and he liked it so much he got the ink.
He leaned in to tell me a story.
Several years ago at a party, the pirate bartender related, an acquaintance spotted this tattoo and walked over to ask him about it.
Was it just a coincidence this other guy had read the same book?
A random conversation at a long-ago party grew into a friendship, which eventually inspired a group of friends from St Petersburg (not the one in Florida) to travel to Sweden to purchase an 18 meter custom-built ketch, in which they set off together on a three-year voyage that eventually carried them here to the Canary Islands.
Dolce far niente
What did these words mean to my pirate friends; What made them choose this name for their seafaring project?
To me, this phrase evokes the luxury of idleness — of finally having time.
Time to relax. Time to unwind.
Time to do absolutely nothing, without the guilty pressure of a ticking clock, without deadlines and responsibilities, without a care in world.
Time to ponder deeply on what truly matters.
How many of us long for an idle moment or two — without the guilt?
I decided then and there that I would read this book, if only to understand what had brought these friends together and inspired them to voyage by sea, through the frigid and hazardous waters of the Baltic and North Seas, enduring four days of rough waters in the Bay of Biscay to reach this tiny archipelago on the west coast of Africa, the Canary Islands.
Having told me his story, the pirate reached into his pocket and handed me a peculiar coin. I observed that it was stamped with the telltale phrase:
Dolce far niente
Whole worlds arise from so-called random meetings.
Oh yeah, about our captain …
Obviously you read this post to the very end, hoping to learn more about our captain. He’s a two-year-old tomcat named Ulysses (Улисс — Uliss in Russian).
As a rather small kitten, Ulysses found my friends and adopted them. At that time, Rocinante was docked at a French harbor undergoing repairs.
Ulysses recognized at once that our crew had need of a strong and capable leader. He has served us faithfully ever since, with the condition that we provide him with regular meals.
We know better than to disappoint our captain.
Would you help us keep the captain happy by sharing this post with a friend or three?
