If central casting had been looking for someone to play the role of a captain of a 1600s Swedish sailing ship, they couldn’t have passed up David W. Hiott IV for the part.
But Hiott wasn’t an actor. He lived the role of Captain of Delaware’s Tall Ship Kalmar Nyckel since its launching in 1997.
Hiott, 47, of New Castle died Friday morning, Nov. 10, at Christina Hospital in Newark. His illness was short and was a recurrence of melanoma.
Hiott was born in Greenville, S.C. and attended Furman University.
Locally, Hiott will be remembered as an ambassador of goodwill who commanded a piece of living history recreated in the Kalmar Nyckel. Under Hiott’s command, the ship provided the experience of a lifetime for hundreds who sailed aboard her as tourists or as volunteer working crew.
Even for those who never set foot aboard the Kalmar Nyckel when under Hiott’s command – or perhaps had never even met Hiott – the presence of his skills could nonetheless be felt.
Standing at the ship’s rail Hiott barely said anything to the crew, many of whom he had trained, whenever they docked the 93-foot long, nearly 170-ton, triple-masted ship in Lewes at the Cape-May Lewes Ferry finger pier.
“Ease off a bit, ease off,” he could be heard saying calmly, not barking, destroying the image of captains made mad by the sea and their crews.
Once when leaving the city docks and turning the big ship around in the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal heading it for the Roosevelt Inlet, the vessel snapped a wooden piling.
“The ship is responsible for anything she does, i.e., me,” Hiott told the Lewes Mayor and Council in March 2005.
Hiott, who was at least 6 feet tall with a full black beard, was always in character as the Kalmar Nyckel’s commander – even at city council meetings.
“When I broke it I was unaware that I had done so. It was a rather odd occurrence. It’s the second piling I have bought,” he told the council, creating a stir of laughter.
Mayor Jim Ford said Hiott was an asset to the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation and to the vessel he skippered.
“I don’t think you could have had a better person there with both his knowledge of the sea, his operation of the boat and his personality. Even in his physical demeanor, he was the character,” said Ford.
Ford said Hiott’s loss is one keenly felt by the ship’s foundation and the Lewes community. Ford had sailed aboard the vessel on one of its Delaware Bay tours.
“They put you to work. You’re not allowed to stand around or goof off. You’ve got to pull some rigging up and sing sea songs. It was fun. It felt like you were stepping back in time,” said Ford.
He said Hiott and the Kalmar Nyckel were always welcomed in Lewes. “It lends so many attributes to those the city has,” he said.
Ford said his sympathies are with Hiott’s wife, family and colleagues.
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