Dan Kellogg, 53, acquired his 65-foot wooden vessel about five years ago and started renting it out a couple years later for $300 per night. He describes the $90,000 purchase matter-of-factly.
"I punched in 'pirate ship' on Craigslist," he says, describing the seller as "a funky guy – an artist, a shipbuilder." The ship was originally commissioned by Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort in South Carolina, but when that deal fell through, Kellogg swooped in.
Docked at a Mississippi River marina near downtown St. Paul, the fully functional ship now transports guests into a pirate world, complete with "authentic pirate paraphernalia" from the Bahamas, where Kellogg has split his time since childhood. We're talking coins, swords, and cannon balls, plus collections of pirate-themed books and DVDs. Bottles of rum are even stashed around the two-bedroom, two-bathroom vacation rental. The motorized ship stays docked while guests are aboard -- limit four overnight, up to 20 for parties -- but Capt. Dan takes it out as his personal pleasure craft when it's not booked.
To see the full listing and to reserve your night on a Pirate Ship, click here
"It’s really fun to be able to share it with all these pirate enthusiasts," says Kellogg, a father of three who works in carpentry. "[My family] grew up going to the islands in the Bahamas, and there’s a real pirate history down here, so I wanted to bring some of that to Minnesota."