Voo Doo Tom, known in his civilian life as Thomas Wilson, spent 45 years in Chattanooga driving tractor-trailers for Simmons Fred Trucking, Watkins and Sons Inc. and other entities in the city.
Now retired, he spends his time steadying a pirate ship on wheels — retrofitted from an old school bus — for a unit of the Alhambra Shrine Center, an organization that supports pediatric hospitals serving Southeast Tennessee and Northwest Georgia.
“It goes 45 miles per hour uphill, but 85 miles per hour downhill,” Wilson said about the 42-foot pirate ship on wheels they call Macushla.
Wilson is one of around 20 crew mates who make up the Alhambra Pirates, a unit stationed just east of the Chattanooga Airport at the Alhambra Shrine. The shrine is one of 196 around the world that raise money and garner support for a network of 22 specialized pediatric care hospitals, 20 of which are in the United States.
The two nearest Shriners Hospital for Children locations are both about four hours away, in Lexington, Kentucky, and Greenville, South Carolina.
“Basically, we have fun, fellowship, and raise money,” Swashbuckle Joe said. Joe Nichols, as he is known in daily life, is a supervisor at the Tennessee Valley Authority during the day, and captain of the pirate unit by evening. As captain, his main responsibilities include keeping watch over the ship, organizing meetings and curating a playlist of pirate-themed music for their rides.
“What’s funnier than a pirate ship going down the road?” he said. “I’m sorry. It is what it is.”
Chattanooga Pirates
The network of shrine centers and hospitals is owned by Tampa-based Shriners International, an American branch of the Freemasonry fraternity organization. It is one of the largest and oldest fraternity organizations in the world and bases itself on the Masonic principles of “brotherly love, relief and truth,” according to the Alhambra Shrine website.
“I moved out here from West Tennessee, and I wanted to get involved with the shrine out here, so I petitioned to join the shrine,” crew member Jim Norton said. “They said, ‘We have a ship.’ I said, ‘I have the time.'”
Norton, who goes by Shakin’ Jim while on the ship due to his nerve damage, was a cop in West Tennessee for 35 years. He spent 25 years with the Memphis Police Department and 10 years with the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department before moving to Chattanooga in retirement and joining the pirate unit.
“Every one of these guys are family to me, and I’m family to them,” Norton said. “We socialize together. We go out and have dinner together. We go to each other’s homes.”
The crew gathers weekly to hang out around the Alhambra Shrine. The unit is working on the insurance requirements to start taking Scenic City residents on rides on the pirate ship. Currently, the ship is used for parades and can be rented to be parked and used for photo opportunities. At least once a month, they take the ship out on the roads for crew-only dinner cruises.
“He loves it, and it’s all he talks about because they are like a little family,” Laura Wilson, Voo Doo Tom’s daughter, said in an interview on the ship. Her videos of the pirate have gone viral on social media in recent weeks.
According to the Tennessee Department of Health, 27% of Tennesseeans over the age of 65 live alone. The department cites social isolation as a major risk factor of premature death, dementia and heart disease. The majority of the Alhambra Pirates are older than 65 and are in retirement, including retired Army veteran Charlie Crowe, who spent 28 years in active duty.
“Chattanooga is home,” Crowe said, who is first mate on the ship and goes by Charlie Ironhook. “I’ve always done everything I could to support my community and friends. This, supporting the shrine in this endeavor with the pirate unit, is another way of doing it.”
Contact digital producer Sam Kohn at skohn@timesfreepress.com.