Meet Samuel Siegel

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Samuel Siegel a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Samuel, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

I sort of stumbled into it.

I was following a dream, after a lengthy challenging string of relationships, poor choices, and things that got in the way. It was after a forklift accident I had at my then-day job in 2011 before the band I was in at the time was scheduled to go on the road—Mother’s Day (May 8th, 2011). I ended up being crushed from the chest up and the tour was for us, cancelled, which put an end to the band, especially with the physical damage done to me.

So, sitting on my couch, chatting with an old friend from the USAF he said to me “You should become a Pirate…” That was the moment I started looking for pirate ships (real ones) for sale, looking into the business of entertaining, legalities of “booze cruises,” Coast Guard regulations, basically all of it. Found a vessel in St. Augustine, FL, found backers, and even talked it over with my Significant Other.

June 11th, 2016. After going to St. Augustine, FL to look at a vessel I initially saw on Craigslist, we decided that vessel was not for us as it needed her Keel replaced and had way too much that needed to be done to turn her into what we wanted. The vessel that was 2 slips next to her, however, we had heard was looking for new owners, so that’s when I pulled the trigger and $45K later was the proud owner of the S/V Pursuit. A 110′ Long twin mast schooner.

After finding out she needed a bit more work than what made the backers comfortable, I was stuck with a 65-tonne paperweight and a new dream. So I had to shift gears entirely and go back to my roots (educationally) of history. That was when I found my purpose…

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

My story began in a small town 2 miles south of Rochester, NY called Henrietta.
I wasn’t the most popular kid in school, but I kinda knew everyone so socially I worked my way in between all the social cliques. I think I was more infamous than popular. Most of the class knew who I was, and they either liked, tolerated, or picked on me in various ways. I definitely went against the grain as far as geeking out and finding out who I was, same as any other kind growing up in the 80s and 90s. I was really into music and wanted to be a musician, so that’s where my focus was. At first, I was a radio DJ on the high school station (90.5fm WBER – “The only station that matters”). While being a DJ I think we as adolescents all have some craving to become famous at some point, or at least the center of attention. I knew even then I wouldn’t necessarily be the popular kid, but I wanted to at least try to shine as brightly as I could as the outcast misfit kid. So I, like my father, picked up a guitar and learned to play. I was stuck in a world of folk rock and ballads because they spoke to me. Then the Goth scene I discovered previously got intertwined with my personality and love of history and all things macabre. After that, I was off to the races so to speak.

In college, I ended up forming a band called “DemontiA” (A play on words with Dementia and Demon) which was a feeble attempt at crossing a Metallica cover band with the sound of NiN, the Cure, Depeche Mode, Dream Theater, and whatever else we could butcher. But we had fun. Then the fun ended and I decided to join the USAF. So off I went halfway around the country. After that, I stayed in North Dakota where I was very VERY unhappy. Went to UND for psychology with an emphasis on forensics (at that time there was no Forensic Psychology degree program). Moved to Fargo after 1997, and eventually got back into music.

Moved to Pennsylvania in 2004, after a whirlwind of various challenges and happenings I’m not yet willing to get into. Some of it I’m proud of, some of it not, all intertwined. But that’s my own cross to bear. Moved into the music scene, and gained a bit of a smaller following at that time, none of it really amounted to much till I got sick of auditioning for bands that didn’t really fit my style, so I started a solo project. That had a small amount of success, and I ended up booking a gig at a place called “Crocodile Rock” in Allentown, PA. The place has been closed and demolished for years at this point, but back then it seemed like the place to get things going. So, my solo booking went from that to a band in about 4 months. I ended up using the name of my album project as the band’s name, and “Forgotten Solace” was created. We went pretty far till the accident in 2011, which changed everything.

That’s when my love of history, passion for teaching history, and wanting to be an entertainer combined into the museum.
My focus now is mainly on education and the building up of the museum. We did have to rebrand a few years ago due to some clarification in our name. At this point, we are currently searching for a way to get our 501c3 status so we can achieve more with grants, charitable donations, and help further the goals we have in mind for the museum.

While we are looking for another tall ship to replace the Pursuit, we are also in the process of attempting to recover and restore a 28′ whaleboat to use as a smaller example in our region. We would love to find a property and break ground near the Delaware River (or adjoining tributary) to build a facility that would offer living history lessons, host events, serve as a research library on the subject of Privateering, as well as many other charitable and community-based functions, workshops, and other events.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

If I had to limit it to just three… I would have to say my first would be the knowledge of history to be able to pull from, the second would be my skillset I learned in the USAF as far as being able to adapt, set goals, find the common ground to build upon, and the third would be my personal quality to see something through till the very end, no matter what it was. I can thank my family for that last one, and the USAF for refining it.

The best advice I can give to someone is to learn all that you can, don’t stop asking the questions (especially the important ones), even if the answer is difficult to swallow. Truth is truth. Definitely take some classes on interpersonal relationships, learn how to do independent unbiased research, and learn all about whatever it is you are setting out to do. Things that will help immensely are things such as leadership courses, knowing the difference between a boss and a leader, basic economics, and definitely how to navigate marketing and business aspects.

What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?

Currently, the biggest challenge I’m facing is finding people who have a passion for this type of history and want to get involved in a unique way to teach history. This challenge is something that normally happens with any volunteer group and even some of the museums that have paid historical interpreters on staff.

So, we are resorting to social media accounts to spread awareness of our brand and what we’re looking for. We’re doing as many events and appearances as we can to make more people aware of our existence, we’re even doing more lectures and interviews with various publications, podcasts, and television programs. We’re having a small amount of measured success with this plan, so we will continue to do this, and search out new ways to get the word out about the AWI Privateer Museum.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Samuel Siegel, A. R.M., Al Pocheck

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