By LESLIE KELLY
and TERRY ASLA
For Kitsap Week

If you’ve ever watched “Master and Commander,” “Pirates of the Caribbean” or “Once Upon a Time,” you’ll think the man in charge of safety for the Kitsap Water Trails Festival Paddles looks familiar.

His name is Captain John Morrison — “JB” to his friends — and he is the safety captain for the Brownsville Brownie Challenge Paddle on June 27 and the Keys to Keyport Fun Paddle and Raffle on June 28. The two events are part of the Kitsap Water Trails Festival that will take place at the ports of Brownsville, Keyport and Silverdale.

Affable and outgoing, Morrison makes light of his movie-making experiences and how he wound up in front of the cameras.

“I was cast as a background actor in ‘Master and Commander’ and wound up taking on extra duties I was qualified for because of my nautical and safety background,” said Morrison, who once captained for Vessel Assist Tacoma.

Morrison, a professional sailor with a 100-ton masters ticket (license), takes safety on the water very seriously. “While personal safety is each paddler’s responsibility, we will have safety boats laid on for the two paddles,” he said, “including a ‘Tail End Charlie’ that can give anyone who gets tired or cold a tow or ride.”

Captain Morrison has more than a decade of experience restoring tall ships and is presently in charge of rebuilding the tall ship Fiddler’s Dream at the Port of Brownsville. Tours of the schooner and a kids’ toy wooden boat build will be offered from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 28.

A native of eastern Washington who ran away to sea for a life of adventure, his advice to beginning boaters is “Be prepared. Take a class, file a float plan and have the right equipment and clothing.”

Morrison grew up in a family that moved around a lot.

“My father was in management and he kept getting promoted,” said Morrison. “As a kid, I moved 16 times.”

But his years spent near water made a lasting impression on him, and when it came time for him to be on his own, he chose the Pacific Coast. Through a series of adventures and “pure luck,” he was able to train to sail tall ships.

“I did a very intensive two-week program on the Lady Washington,” he said. “And because of that, I was able to get work sailing with a number of tall ships. I loved it and I knew I wanted to stick with it and stay on the water.”

He has sea time aboard a dozen vessels including the HMS Surprise, Lady Washington, Hawaiian Chieftain, HMS Bounty — a square top-sail ketch — Argus, a schooner, and Mary Day, with Vessel Assist Tacoma.

That experience led him to be asked to work on the sets of television shows and movies that included tall ships.

“Working as crew for TV and movies was an experience,” he said. “But I would rather have been on the water for real.”

As Morrison explained, much of the filming was done in studio with prop ships that were actually on barges. It was take after take of the same thing over and over.

“I kept thinking, ‘Let’s do this for real and get out to sea,’ ” he said. “But Hollywood, they like a controlled environment.”

He did work with Johnny Depp on the first “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie and more recently, he worked with Macklemore in his music video “Can’t Hold Us.”

“That was more of a real thing,” he said. “We were out on the water by Channel Islands near Ventura, California, and in Oakland Bay.”

As for the future, he’s not seeking out movies and TV anymore. He’s thrilled to be hired to rebuild the Fiddler’s Dream and be a part of bringing a tall ship to the Port of Brownsville. He loves living onboard a Canary 33 sailing suite at the port and being near family. His mother and sister live in Seattle and he has a brother in Pullman.

Morrison thinks sailing got in his blood when he was young and lived near Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where he saw all kinds of boats on the water.

“I watched boats all day long when I could,” he said. “I was just intrigued by sailboats, mostly because they weren’t loud or noisy and stinky. They were just beautiful and majestic.”

For more event information, go to www.watertrailsfestival.com. For more about Captain Morrison and the tall ship Fiddler’s Dream, go to www.kitsapmaritime.org.