Gasp! Watch out for the pirates, matey

The dreaded pirate Jose Gaspar has loomed over Gasparilla festivities for more than a century. But this weekend, for the first time, people will be able to see the ruffian and hear his dastardly words.

Land lubbers who stick around Bayshore Boulevard after Saturday's Children's Gasparilla Parade will be witness to Gaspar – aboard his pirate ship – commanding fellow pirates to prepare for the siege of Tampa on Jan. 28.

"As the sky turns to dusk, the warship will transform, and many forgotten secrets will be revealed to those brave enough to stand their ground along the shore," a release from Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla states. "As the evening progresses, a pyrotechnic display will be unleashed as a precursor to the looming invasion."

According to legend, Gaspar was a swashbuckling thief who pillaged the state's west coast in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In 1904, Louise Frances Dodge, society editor of The Tampa Tribune, used the legend as inspiration for the first Gasparilla.

Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla formed and invaded, in full costume, with a parade downtown. The tradition has commenced nearly every year since.

Gasparilla festivities start at 11 a.m. Saturday with the very popular Gasparilla Children's Extravaganza, which includes a bike safety rodeo, an air invasion by the U.S. Special Ops parachute jump team and the Children's Parade (3:30 p.m.), where thousands of children will clamor for beads and trinkets along Bayshore Boulevard.

The new event aboard the Jose Gasparilla fills a 45-minute gap between the end of the children's parade and the fireworks show (7 p.m.).

Gaspar's ship will be moored several hundred feet out in Hillsborough Bay near Bayshore Boulevard and Howard Avenue. At roughly 6:30 p.m., the ship for the first time will participate in the high-tech, multimedia presentation, which will be broadcast from the sails and rigging of the pirate barge.

Gaspar's speech will be broadcast over speakers set up along Bayshore.

The hope is that the new event will teach spectators about Gasparilla and its history, said Don Barnes, executive officer of Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla.

The Jose Gasparilla's adventures won't end Saturday.

At 7 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, those venturing near the ship along Bayshore can expect to hear "Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla's invasion countdown, as the pirates on board remind the city of their impending fate," the release states.

The Seminole Hard Rock Gasparilla Pirate Fest and Parade of Pirates will be Jan. 28.