Morgan Hill – Earlier this month landlubbers saw something sure to shiver their timbers: a flying ship.
Like something straight out of the children’s story of Peter Pan, using a crane and an entire crew, the newly dubbed, three-ton Lady Morgan was airlifted Dec. 10 to her permanent home in Morgan’s Cove, the Firato household located on Morgan Avenue in northwest Morgan Hill.
Rich Firato, 51, who is CEO of his company Firato Janitorial by day, took his love for all things pirate to a whole new level when he made contact a month ago to buy the replica of a buccaneer ship from its maker, Terry Renner.
The process took three hours before Lady Morgan was laid to rest in her “permanently ship-wrecked” spot in the ground. Cheers and claps were heard from the crowd of friends, family, neighbors and passersby that had gathered since 8:30 that morning to witness the epic event. Rich’s wife, Julie watched her husband make his vision come true.
“Everything he’s ever done, he’s put his heart and soul in,” she said, mentioning the many fundraisers the couple has hosted for the community, including one on Halloween this year for Sobrato High School athletics, where their daughter Alyssa, 16, attends.
Son, Nick 25, was part of the crew that helped out his father Saturday.
“Once he puts his mind to something, he doesn’t quit,” said Nick.
With her mast down and rigging off, Lady Morgan traveled from British Columbia, Canada on a truck for two days. Renner from Nanaimo, British Columbia built her by hand from mostly recycled wood.
“Just to show that it could be done, I did absolutely everything by myself,” said Renner, who came all the way from Canada this weekend to help put Lady Morgan in place.
Renner’s inspiration to build the ship came from a magazine story he read about Haitians using 30-feet long driftwood to make their own fishing boats, and his love with working with his hands.
“All they had is driftwood that came into the beach, a hand saw and a carpenters hammer. And that’s how they built their boats,” he said. “And I thought, if they could do it, so can I.”
He got the recycled wood from up and down Vancouver Island and began building her with no blueprints or any past history of making ships – it took him three years to complete. Now, she is sea-worthy, but will probably never feel what it’s like to sail as the Firato family has no plans to move her again.
Lady Morgan was sold for $10,000, plus the cost to ship her from Canada. Jon Mockabee, who met Rich through Leadership Morgan Hill and who invested in the ship said the total cost came out to about $16,000. Similarly, a ship called The Black Pearl that the two also found online is selling for $750,000.
Yet for Renner, it wasn’t about how many coins were in the buyer’s treasure chest.
“It hasn’t been about the money. As I told Rich, if I needed money, I would become someone’s employee. This is about the exploring, trying, experimenting, just really indulging,” Renner said.
The Firato’s hired a pool installation company to dig the hole in the front yard large enough to fit the ship. Eventually, Firato plans to add drain rock to fill the space and keep the wood from rotting. An official “christening” of the ship will include a traditional rum bottle breaking over the ship.
The pirate’s life for the Firato family doesn’t begin with just this ship. It began nearly 12 years ago, said “First Mate” Jon Mockabee.
What started as a hobby, the Firato backyard is a treasure chest. As Mockabee calls it, “It’s Morgan Hill’s best-kept secret.”
Visitors are transported to a living pirate’s island with items such as cannon balls, sharks teeth, yellowed maps, skulls, ship rigging, row boats and even a built-in mining shaft filled with Morgan Hill’s own treasure poppy jasper. With wooden walkways connecting one area to another over a koi pond, this island-look alike and is no longer a backyard but a fantasyland.
Every ship captain needs a Captains Quarters so Rich transformed what used to be the yard’s hot tub gazebo into one. Complete with two maroon chairs labeled “First Mate” and “Captain”, the quarters overlook the entire island, a perfect place to sit and plan ahead. Mockabee sat down in this spot with a glass of wine after Rich found Renner’s hand-made ship on Youtube.com.
“He typed in on YouTube ‘pirate ship for sale’ and this video came out,” Mockabee said.Firato said his new goal for Morgan’s Cove is to make it a Morgan Hill attraction and a site for fundraisers for nonprofit organizations.
“It’s not about me, it’s about giving to the community,” he said. “If we can bring people here, to come to our wineries, eat at our restaurants and then come take a picture with the pirate ship, it would be great for Morgan Hill.”
