Coming up this Friday at the Michigan Maritime Museum in South Haven will be a performance exploring the life and legacy of perhaps the most famous pirate ever to sail the Great Lakes.
“Dan Seavey: Confessions of a Great Lakes Pirate” is a one-man show starring Tom Kastle, who has worked on Great Lakes tall ships for years, including as the captain of the museum’s Friend’s Good Will from 2006 to 2007. He tells us during his travels around the lakes, he’s been asked many times if pirates ever plied their waters. That gave him the idea to tell the story of Dan Seavey, who was known as a sailor, fisherman, farmer, saloon keeper, prospector, U.S. marshal, and yes, pirate.
“From time to time, if there was, you know, something on a deck or dock that nobody would miss, maybe he’d pick that up,” Kastle said.
Kastle says Seavey was also accused of a practice called “mooncussing.”
“Mooncussing is what they called it in the Great Lakes. It was putting lights up on shore where there really shouldn’t be any lights, and that would make a ship go aground and they’d somehow lose their cargo.”
Kastle says Seavey also ran a floating brothel and transported liquor around the Great Lakes. He was active between the 1880s and 1940s before going legitimate in retirement.
Kastle will play Seavey in Friday’s show, sharing stories of his exploits from Lake Michigan, in particular. The presentation starts at 6 p.m. and tickets will be $10 for the public and $5 for museum members.