Watch the Lady Washington, the Lynx and Hawaiian Chieftain shoot it out nightly in cannon battles off Brotchie Ledge along Dallas Road at the Tall Ships Festival later this month.

But don’t go expecting to see a live version of what Hollywood puts on the big screen, Lady Washington’s captain Les Bolton says.

There’ll be no gaping holes in the hulls from cannon balls, downed masts, flaming decks and crew swinging aboard the losing ship. That’s strictly Hollywood and far removed from early sea battles.

“You wouldn’t do that. You’d lose a ship that way,” Bolton says.

“You’re endangering what you’re after.”

Historically, the goal was to capture the other ship with the least amount of damage to it and the victor’s ship.

“As much as I’d like to capture a couple of vessels [at the festival], I don’t have a letter of marque,” Bolton jokes, referring to the approval once given private citizens to seize another nation’s ships.

It might not be Hollywood, but there’s still lots of action at the festival’s cannon battles. Tickets went on sale last week for the battles, which take place June 27-29.

“What you’ll see is the dance of these ships as they try to outmanoeuvre each other,” Bolton says. The battles are more spontaneous than choreographed.

Depending on your vantage point, there’ll be flashes of fire and smoke visible, plus the sound of cannon fire.

For safety’s sake, the ships fire blanks, Bolton says.

Still, it will be noisy for those buying space ($95 per person) aboard the warring ships. Slightly less so for those on the three observer vessels ($80). And even less noisy for those watching for free from ashore.

Those aboard the cannon-firing vessels should bring ear plugs, Bolton says.

“It’s hard to take a good picture with your fingers in your ears,” he adds.

Don’t expect to help the crew in their naval battle. Nobody but certified technicians in the crew are allowed near the cannon.

Bolton says there’ll be playby-play aboard the warring vessels, not that passengers will need to be told when the crew out-manoeuvres the enemy.

“If you’re aboard, you’ll know when we scored — we’ll celebrate,” Bolton says.

Landlubbers should remember that the proximity of cannon battles to shore depends on that night’s tides, currents and winds, Bolton says.

Again depending on conditions, the noisy fun should start at 7 p.m. Both the fighting and observer ships leave the Inner Harbour at 6:30. Tickets, if available, can be purchased until 6 p.m. on site at Prince of Whales offices on the Lower Causeway.

Bounty, replica of Nina joining fleet of big boats coming to Inner Harbour.

It will be Hollywood-on-the-highseas at June’s four-day Tall Ships Festival in the Inner Harbour. The Bounty — nautical star of two blockbusters — is coming, festival president Bob Cross announced yesterday at a Maritime Museum reception.

Victoria is the only major Canadian stop — some ships later visit Port Alberni — in this year’s tall ship race series held every three years on the Pacific coast.

The festival has been designated the premier marine event of B.C.’s 150th anniversary celebrations, cabinet minister and Oak Bay-Gordon Head MLA Ida Chong announced. Chong arrived at the reception bearing gifts for the festival — $50,000 from the provincial government.

The Bounty was built in Lunenberg for the 1962 movie Mutiny on the Bounty, which starred Marlon Brando and Trevor Howard and earned multiple Oscar nominations. The ship also took Johnny Depp aboard for his second Pirates of the Caribbean instalment, Dead Man’s Chest (2006).

The Bounty is the third vessel with a Hollywood past confirmed for the festival June 26-29. The Lady Washington was used in the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, The Curse of the Black Pearl.

Last month, the festival announced a replica of Christopher Columbus’s favourite ship, Nina, was coming. The caravel redonda was seen in the Gerard Depardieu and Sigourney Weaver movie, 1492 — Conquest of Paradise (1992).

The Bounty is a class A vessel (ships more than 133 feet in length), as is the second ship confirmed yesterday, the Kaisei, which features a multicultural crew.

The Sausalito-based training vessel has been known to fly under the United Nations flag. The previously confirmed U.S. Coast Guard’s 295-foot Eagle is also class A.

This festival has one more class A vessel than the inaugural one here in 2005.

Currently there are 23 ships confirmed for the $1.2-million festival, according to executive director Geoff Corbett.

By festival time, Corbett expects about 28 ships available for visitors to tour. Previous commitments have kept Asian and European tall ships away this festival, he said.

The Long Island-based Bounty became available as it was already scheduled to be in Tahiti in October to commemorate the 220th anniversary of the arrival there of its namesake.

Also announced were two new additions to festival dockside events. The Maritime Mosaic is a collection of ethnic kiosks emphasizing their contributions to B.C. marine history. Also new at Ship Point is History Bites, a tent featuring tapas-style foods inspired by recipes and ingredients from 1830 to 1940 and prepared by local restaurateurs. Back again are both the maritime market with juried crafts and the live entertainment stage.

Festival passes are $25 until April 30, when they jump to $35.

For ticket information call 1-800-663-3883

• www.tallshipbounty.org

The 2005 Victoria Tall Ships Festival finished $50,000 in the black last June, attracting nearly 40,000 paid visitors and sinking $5.2 million into the local economy.

The positive results were announced Wednesday as part of a long-awaited economic analysis completed by the University of Victoria’s Faculty of Business.

"I think this was probably the largest family event of the year in Victoria. Every sector of the industry benefited," said Lorne Whyte, chief executive officer of Tourism Victoria.

"Hotels were full and WestJet was booked solid. You couldn’t even get into the city that weekend."

But the strong numbers may not be enough to bring the tall ships back in 2008, when Victoria has first right of refusal to host the four-day maritime celebration again. A return engagement will depend on continued community support, and funding commitments from all three levels of government, say festival organizers.

"We’ve been clear about that policy from the start. It takes more than us to make an event like this work," said Bernard Brown, executive director of the Victoria Tall Ships Society.

"But if we do go ahead in three years, this study gives us a barometer for gauging our performance."

Data for the UVic analysis is based on 550 random surveys of paid festival goers leaving the Inner Harbour, as well as Tourism Victoria questionnaires and feedback from the tall ships society.

The numbers were then run through a nationally-adopted formula specially designed to measure the economic impact of cultural events.

Of paid festival goers, 52 per cent were from Victoria and 48 per cent were out-of-towners. Most (51 per cent) came from Greater Vancouver and elsewhere on the Island, but 23 per cent visited from Alberta.

"We marketed there three to four months before the festival. Those were are strongest numbers from Alberta since Eternal Egypt," said Whyte.

American tourists were likely no shows at the Inner Harbour since Tacoma was hosting its own tall ships extravaganza in July.

"We didn’t do much advertising there for that reason," added Whyte.

Tickets sales for the local festival came in at nearly $470,000 and concession revenue topped $100,000.

The $5.2 million in net income impact (GDP) is based on $2.4 million in direct spending, combined with subsequent spin-offs. On average, out-of-town visitors spent $158 a day between June 23 and 26.

"Our members felt their sails were full as well," said Downtown Victoria Business Association president Matt McNeil. "The feedback they got was fabulous from tourists and locals alike. I hope you proceed with that option to get it (the festival) back for 2008."

Initially, the tall ships society forecast there’d be 250,000 visitors during the maritime celebration, contributing $25 million in economic benefits.

Brown said the gap was due to using a model based on sporting, not cultural events.

The UVic formula puts Victoria on comparative ground with the 2001 Kingston Tall Ships Challenge, which brought in $7.4 million.

Local organizers donated $5,000 of their $50,000 surplus to the Maritime Museum Wednesday, as part of its educational mandate.

It cost about $1.1 million to host the four-day festival.