BUCKEYE LAKE Shiver me timbers! It's a pirate ship in the middle of Ohio

The 26-foot replica ship is the latest acquisition of a woman who loves pirates.
THORNVILLE, Ohio (AP) -- If ye spy a tall-masted pirate ship bearing down on your vessel on Buckeye Lake, do not be afear'd.
'Tis only Carolyn and Tom Aucreman, cruising in their replica pirate ship. You might hail them, and even request permission to come aboard.
Their 26-foot wooden vessel stands out among the pontoons, canoes, fishing boats and other pleasure craft that ply the waters of Buckeye Lake in the summer.
It made its maiden voyage late last summer. Intrigued boaters and landlubbers in this popular lake region about 40 miles east of Columbus greeted it with smiles and thumbs up.
Some asked to climb aboard for pictures. Others begged to be pelted with water balloons that the Aucremans' grandson catapulted from the port and the starboard.
Everyone loves a pirate ship -- especially Carolyn Aucreman.
The replica, which she found on eBay, is just the latest -- and the largest -- indulgence of her passion for pirates.
Collector
She has been collecting pirate-themed items for more than 30 years, amassing more than 1,000 of them.
Pirate figurines fill display cases, shelves and tabletops throughout the couple's waterfront home. Pirate coffee mugs, teapots, beer steins and shot glasses occupy the kitchen, whose walls are decorated with pirate calendars and vintage menus from pirate-themed restaurants.
Outside the house, a collection of life-size pirate figures looms menacingly.
Clearly, Carolyn Aucreman, 64, fancies these bad boys of the high seas.
She was intrigued as a girl by the story of Peter Pan and Captain Hook and grew up to enjoy prowling stores and antique malls for collectibles.
"I'm kind of a theme person," she said. "I started out with a nautical theme and it grew into pirates."
Tom Aucreman, 66, retired first from Anchor Hocking in Lancaster and then from a bait shop that he and his wife operated at Buckeye Lake. He enjoys fishing and keeps a pontoon and a bass boat docked outside their home.
And now there's the twin-masted pirate ship.
Modernized ship
The ship, which the couple bought from a Georgia man who built it to entertain children at a summer camp, has working sails. But the Aucremans prefer to use a 25-horsepower motor to power the ship.
The pirate boat also carries the gear of modern, safe boating required by state law, including life jackets, a fire extinguisher and a ship's bell.
Some novel boats cruise central Ohio waterways, said Sherrie Hustead, an officer with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Division of Watercraft. An all-aluminum, 65-foot houseboat handmade by a welder is among the more unusual she has seen.
A pirate ship? That's a first, she said, laughing.
"That is really neat," she said. "My son would like to see it. He loves pirates."
The Aucremans repainted their ship last week and just now are getting it in the water. This season's launch was delayed.
Tom Aucreman had to repair a steering glitch, and his wife had to gently relocate a mother duck and eight ducklings from a downy, feathered nest that the couple found tucked in the anchor rope in the bow of the ship this spring.
Other lake patrons hope they hurry up.
"It really is a conversation piece," Tom Aucreman said. "The other day someone came by and said, 'When are you going to put your pirate boat in?"'