The Majestic “Krewe of the Jose Gasparilla” Conquers Tampa... Again!

A fleet of rowdy pirates armed only with mock canons and pistols and arms full of beads invades Tampa Bay and conquers the city. This scene plays itself out every year, and on this day, Tampa’s most respected citizens become marauding pirates–if just for a day.

The event is the annual “Gasparilla Pirate Invasion and Boat Parade.”  This year, on January 30, under a cold, gray sky that threatened rain and small craft advisories, the boat parade went on as scheduled.  Fortunately, despite the combination of poor weather conditions, (non-Auxiliary) vessels too close for comfort and a high rate of alcohol consumption, no serious mishaps were reported.

Planning for this event begins nearly a year ahead of the date between a number of agencies including the Coast Guard, the City of Tampa, the Coast Guard Auxiliary, and law enforcement and other agencies from throughout Florida.  The “Gasparilla Pirate Festival” is an annual celebration held each year in Tampa beginning in late January.  It celebrates the legend of José Gaspar (Gasparilla), allegedly a Spanish pirate captain who operated in Southwest Florida.

The most celebrated event during the festival is the "invasion" of the city by Gasparilla and his “Krewe” who arrive on a 165' long pirate ship, the “Jose Gaspar,” which travels up Tampa Bay and lands near downtown Tampa.  The mayor of Tampa then hands the key of the city to the pirate captain signaling the city’s surrender, and a parade ensues down Bayshore Boulevard ending in Ybor City.

The “krewes” throw beads, coins and other items while shooting blank pistols from floats during both the boat parade and the victory parade through the city.  While the pirate invasion is the festival’s most celebrated affair, the “Gasparilla Pirate Festival” does not begin or end with this event.  The festival includes a number of private and public events. 

The private events include social events and parties throughout the year for members and philanthropic events for favored causes, formal balls, brunches and an annual beauty pageant.  The public events include no less than three parades.  A week before the "invasion" and the main parade, “Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla” sponsors a family-oriented children’s parade and "Piratechnic Extravaganza” with fireworks over Tampa Bay.

Beginning in January 2008, an old tradition which ended in 1964 was revived.  "The Gasparilla March Triumphant:
The Return to the Sea" gives the event a sense of closure.  During this ceremony, usually held a few weeks after the invasion, the “Krewe's pirates” return the key to the mayor and board the “Jose Gasparilla” to return to sea.  This tradition was revived as a way to officially end Gasparilla season and is called the Sant’Yago Illuminated Knight Parade.

Until the attacks on September 11, 2001, the US Navy participated in the pirate invasion.  The Navy ship would be attacked by small boats throwing Cuban bread and black bean soup.  The Navy would respond with fire hoses but would succumb to the Ybor City Navy, and then surrender to the “Alcalde of Ybor City.”  The sailors would be treated to an evening on the town.

The Tampa Marine Fire Department took over the role of “defender of the city”, but rather than wait at the top of the channel to “mount the city’s defense”, the firefighting vessels join the parade and use their hoses to keep small craft from getting dangerously close to the “Jose Gaspar” as she makes her way up the channel.

Gasparilla Facts and Figures:
• The average attendance for the event is over 400,000 people.
• According to Coast Guard estimates, in past years as many as 3,500 boats participated in the Gasparilla Boat Parade making it the largest boat parade in the nation.
• The Gasparilla parade contributes 20 to 25 million dollars annually to the economy of Tampa.
• Gasparilla was first held in May 1904 in Tampa Bay.  The first invasions were on horseback instead of in boats.
• Historically, Gasparilla was held on the second Monday of February until 1988, when it was moved to a Saturday festival in February.  This change allowed more local communities to take part in the celebration.  In 2001, the event was moved to the last Saturday of January to coincide with Super Bowl XXXV weekend because Tampa's Raymond James Stadium was hosting the game that year.
• Vessels and crew from at least four USCG Auxiliary Divisions (often more) participate in the event every year.
• Law Enforcement vessels from nearly two dozen Florida counties assist in maintaining safety on the water as well as numerous vessels from the US Coast Guard, Sector St. Petersburg.

In addition to keeping recreational boaters from blocking the parade route, Auxiliarists play host to dozens of members from Tampa Bay’s Manatee Watch.

Every year as the Gasparilla Boat Parade makes its way towards the Tampa Convention Center, Auxiliarists are assigned duties that often station them far from the madness and the fray.  Why, many Auxiliarists ask, are our valuable resources diverted away from the festivities?  

Many Auxiliarists escort members of Tampa Bay’s Manatee Watch, an organization which helps to protect the manatee’s from accidental injuries by recreational boaters and conducts an annual count to track the animal’s dwindling numbers.  While keeping a watchful eye over Florida’s manatees may not offer the same thrill and excitement as being in the midst of the boat parade, it is not by any means a less valuable service.

Florida’s manatees are an endangered species protected by both state and federal laws.  The sheer number of boaters during the Gasparilla Boat Parade combined with the high rate of alcohol consumption during these festivities increases the threat to these gentle creatures ten fold.

To all of our members who participated in the annual manatee watch—thank you!  If you were fortunate enough to catch one of their snouts breaching the water’s surface that is a thrill you will never forget!  Here is some information about our manatees, one of Florida’s greatest treasures.

Manatees are large mammals of the order Sirenia, named after the Greek mythological sirens thought to lure sailors to their graves.  There is, however, nothing sinister about these slow-moving, gentle giants more closely related to elephants than to any other Mammalian order.  They are very tactile creatures and are known to deliberately touch swimmers as well as inanimate objects in the water and are never aggressive.

The West Indian (Florida) manatee was once abundant throughout the tropic and subtropical western North and South Atlantic and Caribbean waters.  The manatee's numbers, however, have been greatly reduced.  Today, the West Indian manatee is listed as an endangered species throughout its range.

The range of the Florida manatee is primarily peninsular Florida but extends as far north as Rhode Island.  Manatees have been rescued near Houston, Texas and Mississippi.  Adult West Indian manatees average about ten feet in length but large individuals may reach lengths of up to thirteen feet.  Average adult weights are approximately 800 to 1,200 pounds.  One particularly large Florida manatee weighed 3,650 pounds.  Females are generally larger than males.

Despite their large size, when a boater spots a manatee, it is often no more than its snout breaking the water’s surface for air.  A manatee’s body is streamlined but thick in the middle and ends in a paddle-like tail.  They are gray and their bodies are often scarred from brushes with propellers, sharp protrusions on boat docks and piers or fishing hooks and lines.

All manatees live in warm, tropic or sub-tropic waters in temperatures above 64 degrees.  They prefer shallow waters near shores, inlets and mangroves where vegetation is plentiful.  Manatees feed on more than 60 species of plants including turtle grass, manatee grass, shoal grass, mangrove leaves, various algae, water hyacinth, acorns, and hydrilla.

The shallow shorelines preferred by manatees are also filled with docks and boat ramps.  This places manatees in grave danger from recreational boaters and accounts for many of their injuries and accidental deaths.

Florida’s manatees breed year round. Their gestational period is twelve months and they live to be fifty to sixty years old.  They communicate with chirps, trills and other sounds, keep their young calves close, and are semi-social creatures.

The Florida manatee is one of the most endangered marine mammals in the United States.  Federal and state laws have been passed that protect Florida manatees.  Federal laws prohibit hunting, capturing, killing, or harassing these animals.  These laws include the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973.  Penalties can include a year in prison and a fine up to $20,000.

Injured manatees should be reported as soon as possible to Florida Fish and Wildlife or the Coast Guard.

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Photo and article contributed by Brad Ware, Flotilla 79, D7

Picture this: Gasparilla Boat Parade 2010.  It is 20 minutes after the start of the boat parade with choppy to rough seas.  An eight foot skiff powered by a 3.5 horsepower motor is operated by a young man who appears to be no more than fifteen years old- and who is not wearing his life jacket! He is struggling in the seas running just ahead of the boat parade with 25-30 foot vessels bearing down on him- and losing ground!

The crew of the Auxiliary vessel Lucky Dog from Flotilla 79 immediately recognized the danger.  Mike Shea, coxswain, crew members Brad Ware, Cliff Martin and Tim Teahan from Flotilla 79, David Perillo from Flotilla 72 and Brian Garry, Trainee from Flotilla 79, came alongside the hapless boater and directed the young man to put on his life jacket and move out of the immediate parade route.

At that precise instant, the skiff ran out of gas.  Without power, the skiff began to toss in the wake and rough seas.  There was no time to lose; within five minutes this kid could be lost to the Jose Gasparilla and its armada of ‘pirate’ ships.
The Lucky Dog circled the skiff three times attempting to get a line on it. This was complicated by the wakes of boaters whizzing by.  Finally, they managed to secure a line on his port cleat, and with the vessel now under control, they proceeded to the nearest dock, a sheriff station located on the west side of the channel.  The young man was safe.

~HRW 03-08-10