On a mission: TALL SHIPS.

Byline: Winston Ross The Register-Guard

COOS BAY - If Michael Kellick hears one more "Aaarrr!" he's liable to keelhaul somebody.

He's a patient man, but there's only so much pirate lingo a deckhand can stomach - even on a tall ship like the Lady Washington, which can't help but conjure images of swashbuckling and looting.

The Lady Washington's mission is to dispel myths and tell the true story about what life was like on the high seas during the era of sailing ships. But the 112-foot brig, which sailed into Coos Bay this week, will probably be forever associated with skulls and crossbones: It played a starring role in Disney's 2003 epic "Pirates of the Caribbean." So Kellick, who appeared in the flick as Orlando Bloom's stunt double, knows he hasn't answered his last "salty dog" inquiry - though he does wince visibly at that one particular phrase.

` `Aarr' is just such a cliche,' he says. `We say `If you want to meet a pirate, go to law school.' '

If Kellick sounds a little bitter, he's not, really. There's no real harm in people thinking he sails aboard a pirate ship, he says, and he knows that novels and movies have, by now, indelibly linked ships such as his with "Blackbeard" and his kin in the popular imagination.

But the recent focus on tall ships in movies such as "Pirates" and "Master and Commander" gives the crews of these vessels a unique opportunity to capitalize on the public's renewed fascination with these craft and set the record straight, he says. Which is partly why the 90-foot tall Lady Washington and another ship, the faster Lynx, are in town.

"There are a lot of lessons from that time period," says Les Bolton, executive director of the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport, the Washington state nonprofit organization that owns the Lady Washington. "In 1788, these explorers could come here and trade three buttons off your jacket for one sea otter pelt you could take to China and trade for a year-and-a-half's wages, then sail back to Boston and double that by selling tea and spices. At a point in time when we had become a newly independent nation, these little colonies decided `We have independence, but we don't have squat. We need to do something.' "

So they set off in tall ships, in search of wealth and adventure.

The $2.4 million Lady Washington is a replica of a real ship, a 90-ton trading vessel built in 1750 in Massachusetts. In October of 1787, Capt. Robert Gray sailed her around Cape Horn and up the West Coast, to trade metal and glass goods for sea otter pelts with coastal Native Americans. The replica was built in 1980, by a group of Aberdeen, Wash., residents inspired by stories of the original ship.

The 122-foot-long square topsail schooner Lynx is an interpretation - meaning it varies from the original - of a privateer or naval schooner from the War of 1812. The original was built in Maryland and commissioned during the first days of the war, one of the first ships to defend America's freedom. The Lynx was launched in Maine and is owned by the Lynx Educational Foundation, of Newport Beach, Calif.

"She's like a knife through the water," says Kellick. "We're like a fist. The Lynx is a Corvette and we're a pickup truck. We can stop, and sail backwards. They can't."

Nowadays, the crews on these vessels trade more stories than otter pelts, mostly, their youthful deckhands putting in long hours during sails up and down the West Coast, conducting educational programs, tours, adventure and battle sails - the latter being the most exciting part of the job.

Today, Sunday and on three other occasions before they leave port, the ships will simulate "battle sails," taking to the bay with blank-loaded cannons blazing, to give tourists who reserved spots on deck a first-hand glimpse of what a real struggle at sea was like.

Contrary to Hollywood's version of battles at sea, for example, two ships don't line up next to each other and fire every cannon they have on board, Bolton says. That would defeat the battle's purpose - to capture the opponents' ship and seize it for bounty.

"You don't go out and hammer away at it," Bolton says.

Instead, the goal was to leave their enemies "Three sheets to the wind," a reference to the line that connects to the bottom corner of a ship's sail, or "clew," as in "I haven't a clew." Both terms are used to describe boats with enough lines cut away that they're unable to sail: the desired outcome of a battle.

Once disabled, the victorious ship would cross the stern of its opponent and the captain would call out "Do you surrender?" If the other captain refused, saying "We asked for no quarter," the first captain would retort "Very well. Mr. Gunner, fire as she bears." This meant continuing to cut away at the other ship: the railings, so there would be fewer places for deckhands to hide, and one by one, killing the crew until there was no choice but to surrender.

"It was extremely rare that there was a fight to the death," Bolton says. But on the rough and salty seas, he knows, just about anything can happen.

Winston Ross can be reached at [phone] or rgcoast@ oregonfast.net.

TALL SHIPS IN TOWN

Two tall ships, the Lady Washington and the Lynx, will be in Coos Bay until May 8 for tours, educational activities, adventure and battle sails. All are open to the public, but many of the tickets to participate in the adventure and battle sails are sold out.

Information online: www.ladywashington.org or www.privateerlynx.org.

Battle sails: 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. today, Sunday and May 7 and 8. For information on other events, call [phone] or the Coos Bay Chamber of Commerce, [phone].

CAPTION(S):

Lady Washington crew members chat as a history of the Pacific Northwest class from North Bend High School listens to an educational presentation on the bow. The Lynx (front) and the Lady Washington tall ships moor at the Coos Bay boardwalk along Highway 101. The tall ships will be in Coos Bay until May 8 for tours, education and adventure. Thomas Boyd / The Register-Guard Rishia Mitchell (left), Amy Kronspeiner and Aaron Krenz hoist a sail on the tall ship Lady Washington during a tour with their Pacific Northwest history class from North Bend High School. The tall ship crews put in long hours during sails up and down the West Coast conducting educational programs. TALL SHIPS IN TOWN Two tall ships, the Lady Washington and the Lynx, will be in Coos Bay until May 8 for tours, educational activities, adventure and battle sails. All are open to the public, but many of the tickets to participate in the adventure and battle sails are sold out. Information online: www.ladywashington .org or www.privateerlynx.org. Battle sails: 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. today, Sunday and May 7 and 8. For information on other events, call [phone] or the Coos Bay Chamber of Commerce, [phone].