The Reverend Captain is the titular position within the Pirate Church. Use of the term began many, many years ago by the founders. The position can only be held by one of the nine Appalachian Mountain Pirate Captains. The “R.C.” is then selected by the Collins Trust, the position is expected to last for life. The term ‘Reverend Captain’ originates from the Mountan Pirates and the right of orignation is recognized by the Trust. The additional requirment is that the R.C. must be a real Captain – either by military rank, Merchant Marine status or by actually having had to commanded a blue water vessel or river craft. The R.C. must exemplify the characteristics of Heinlein’s Competent Man and desmonstrate his or her ability to be well rounded in most common skills.
While the term existed in Pirate Lore well before it’s introduction into common usuage, it’s creative impact , as a term, can be witnessed in popular culture. Mountain Pirate Captains who choose to also join the Pirate Church are called Captain Ministers, all prefer the term Pirate Minister. Despite ‘rank’, ‘position’ or ‘title’, each Pirate is treated as an equal individual .
The current Reverend Captain is fairly reclusive, hower, using public sources, here is what we will share:
The Reverend Captain is a man shaped by his Scots-Irish and Cherokee heritage, military service, and technical career. Born to a Cherokee mother, he grew up with a deep connection to the Appalachian region, blending the independence of his Scots-Irish ancestry with the spiritual traditions of the Cherokee. He graduated from The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, with a degree in two technical fields, and served in the Army with MOS designations 11B (Infantryman), 11M (Mechanized Infantryman), and 12B (Combat Engineer). He holds several engineering degrees and one Ph.D. in Philosphy and Religion. His military experience honed his survival skills, tactical thinking, and leadership, which he later applied to the Pirate Church. The ‘R.C.’ was born with an dà shealladh – in Gaelic, it means the Second Sight or just ‘seight’ in Appalachian Scots-Irish. The best verification of this comes from his own critics, who begrudgingly had to admit this fact during religious debates in Asheville, NC.
By 2001, while working as a Lead IT Support person, he met Captain Ed through his son’s wife, sparking a friendship that led him to join the Appalachian Mountain Pirates and eventually lead the Pirate Church. His career took him to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center from 2017 to 2023, where he secured the Artemis I mission, before he returned to Appalachia to focus on the Pirate Church, taking a role as a Lead Linux/UNIX/AIX Security Analyst for a state government. The R.C. holds one NASA Honor Award for his service in securing the launch of Artemis I against several foriegn countries. His sailing expertise, developed on Merritt Island, complements the Pirate Church’s nautical identity, while his intuitive foresight—rooted in Cherokee spirituality and dream work—enabled him to predict the 2024 Hurricane Helene flood, a rare feat that underscores his unique leadership.
In Regards to the R.C., Praetor Jones of Knoxville TN stated – “His ability to ‘see’ future events is both spooky and scary. I’ve known him for years and can verify he has some measurable degree of accuracy when it comes to using his intuition to see into things. While this was only from a fictional narrative he wrote for a Pirate Minister training manual, he was able to correctly predict what Helene was going to destroy, the effects of the flooding and that it would displace many people. He did this within a years date of the actual event, back in 2021 when he was struggling to compose narratives to help illustrate the Code that Ed developed. I personally read the original copy of the Pirate Ministers Bodwitch when asked to edit the initial rought draft for the Pirate Church. [Redatcted] and I have been friends for years.”