Arrrr… the water’s fine Landlubber’s self-built pirate ship pool ready for cannonballs By: David Sanderson Posted: 3:00 AM CDT Saturday, Jul. 15, 2023

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/07/2023 (1095 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Build it and they will come; freebooters, buccaneers and picaroons included.

Doug Cook was busy in the kitchen two summers ago when he heard a knock on the door of his Wilkes Avenue residence.

Upon reaching the entranceway, he discovered a person dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow, the fictional character portrayed by Johnny Depp in the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise, standing on the stoop outside.

It turned out Cook’s visitor had been driving east on Wilkes earlier that week when he spotted what appeared to be a full-scale wooden pirate ship to his right. He did some digging and learned that Cook was the owner of the land-locked frigate, which measures an impressive 23 metres long from stem to stern.

He was now back to say “arrr,” he explained, and to hopefully get a few pictures of himself taken aboard the ship, wearing a colourful getup he slips into from time to time, for a party-planning business he operates.

Not only did Cook comply with the fellow’s request, he told him he was free to take a dip in an oblong-shaped above-ground pool that rests in the centre of the ship’s main deck. (Aye, aye mate; while most ships are meant to be put in water, the purpose of Cook’s is to have water put in it.)

“He thought the ship was novel in and of itself, but the fact it doubles as a swimming pool really blew him away,” Cook says, seated on an elevated deck — “the captain’s bridge” he calls it — overlooking the 450-square-foot swimming area.

“People have posted videos of (the ship) online but almost everybody who sees it in person says the same thing — how it’s a lot cooler than they imagined.”

“People have posted videos of (the ship) online but almost everybody who sees it in person says the same thing — how it’s a lot cooler than they imagined.”–Doug Cook

OK, so what is a vessel that looks like it was plucked straight out of an Errol Flynn movie doing in a field, five minutes west of Outlet Collection Winnipeg? The answer to that query begins in Yorkshire, England, where James Cook was born the second of eight children in November 1728.

Cook isn’t related to the legendary explorer and naval officer as far as he knows. But since he shares his surname, he’d always been fascinated by Captain Cook, who died at age 50 in the Hawaiian Islands.

In 2018 Cook joined the Captain Cook Society, an international organization wholly devoted to Cook’s life and voyages. That same year, he and his son Travis attended a Cook society convention held in Parksville, B.C. When he returned home, Cook, the former general manager of a mud-jacking company, started thinking how much fun it would be to recreate one of Captain Cook’s ships by using his 14-acre property as a backdrop.

Secondly, because his seven grandchildren had been telling him for years his sprawling backyard was perfectly suited to a swimming pool, he decided to incorporate the two projects into one.

Despite having zero shipbuilding experience, Cook, a former chartered accountant, reached for a pencil and paper to scribble out preliminary designs. It was at that point when he determined he preferred the style of a pirate ship over, say, the HMS Endeavour or the HMS Adventure, two of the ships Cook commanded during his naval career.

He smiles, crediting his wife Phyllis, to whom he was married for 53 years before her death in April, for preventing him from getting too carried away, after he ran the idea past her one evening over dinner.

“She was a good moderating influence. My original concept included in-floor heat and an enclosed studio apartment but this is the best I could get by her,” he says.

(So what if the end-result doesn’t have a retractable roof like he’d hoped? It still boasts a fully functional loo — a poop deck, if you will — on the lower level.)

Cook, who describes himself as a hobby woodworker at best, started building what came to be known as the HMS Reconciliation (more on that in a sec) out of pressure-treated pine in June 2018. Its official launch came a year later, in time for his granddaughter’s “sweet 16” birthday party.

He’s added a fair amount since then, he says, nodding toward a pair of 20-metre-tall metal mast poles (both of which were street-lamp posts in a former life) he had cemented into the ground two years ago. Look up, he adds, and you’ll notice a crow’s nest near the top of each pole, which brave souls can access with the assistance of a safety line and harness.

Another recent upgrade is an antique steering wheel that is connected to a movable rudder attached to the rear of the ship. And while there isn’t a plank anywhere in sight, there is a wooden walkway that leads to the ship from an outdoor space behind the house, for easy access.

As for the most arduous task he’s faced to date, it wasn’t deciding which way to aim a cannon but rather, securing a permit from the City of Winnipeg. Apparently, the powers-that-be couldn’t settle on whether the installation qualified as a pool, a deck or something else entirely.

“Let’s just say there’s no marine department at city hall,” he says with a laugh.

Back to the name; before getting into the mud-jacking biz, Cook served as an administrator for the Grant Memorial Baptist Church for 20 years. Being a Christian, he is well-familiar with the ministry of reconciliation, as described in the Bible, he points out.

“Of course, reconciliation is a term that is also commonly used nowadays in terms of First Nations, and that catches my interest as well,” he continues.

For those two reasons, he decided HMS Reconciliation was an apt tag. He’s followed that up by working extensively with organizations such as Inner City Youth Alive, Siloam Mission and Athletes in Action, to make the structure available to those who might not always get the opportunity to go swimming at a public pool or beach.

“I’m sure when I started, some of my neighbours were probably wondering ‘What’s that crazy Doug up to this time?’ but to me, it’s a hobby like anybody else’s,” he says, getting out of his chair to check the water temperature, which he tries to maintain at a toasty 28 C.

“The beauty of it is that all my grandkids live in the city and since I don’t own a cabin, this has become their place to enjoy themselves in the summer. About the only downside I can think of, really, is how I used to have trouble falling asleep at night, from wondering what to do next.”

david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca