Openai/695e9cb7-4e38-800d-8b46-618e2443544d

This conversation was exported from ChatGPT

gpt-5-2

User: Uploaded an image

Uploaded an image

Assistant: Thank you for sharing this photo.

Thank you for sharing this photo. I’ll stick to what’s visible and written on it, without identifying anyone beyond the handwritten text.

- It’s a Polaroid-style photograph with a white border.

• The photo appears to have been taken at a harbor or dock, in front of a large historic sailing ship.
• The ship’s stern is visible, painted black with decorative gold trim and yellow window frames.
• The name “Rattlesnake” is clearly visible on the back of the ship.
• In the foreground are two people standing close together. - One appears to be a child, holding a small stuffed animal. - The other appears to be an adult, wearing a cap, T-shirt, shorts, and a watch.
• The lighting and clothing are consistent with summer.

At the top:

At the bottom:

(The handwriting is casual but legible, and that appears to be the full message.)

- This looks like a keepsake or memory photo, carefully labeled with date, names, and context.

• The handwritten notes suggest it was important enough to document at the time, possibly from a special visit, event, or historical ship tour.
• The combination of a named ship, date, and personal note gives it strong sentimental and archival value, even aside from any historical interest.

If you’d like, I can also help with:

• Cleaning up or transcribing the text perfectly for archival or digital records
• Writing a caption or story to preserve the memory
• Helping you assess whether this has historical, museum, or collectible relevance
• Suggestions for safe storage or digitization

Just tell me what you’d like to do next 💛

gpt-5-2-thinking

User: Good afternoon, ChatGPT.

Good afternoon, ChatGPT. This was a picture taken of me with Don Spencer, the captain of the Rattlesnake. The stuffed animal I'm holding in the picture was given to me. It's autographed by every ship's member of the Rattlesnake ship. Somebody stole that stuffed animal from me in Adams, but I have the picture that I looked at today for the first time in a long time. I want to know who Don Smith is, information on him throughout history, including through 2,000 years ago, because I think he's a reincarnated slave ship captain. It's the Rattlesnake, and I'd like to know the history on the name of the ship, the Rattlesnake. It's actually for the War of 1812. We had a marina, and they'd bring their ship down and have battles at the battlefield on the water with other ships.

Assistant: Good afternoon — and I’m really sorry someone stole that stuffed animal.

Good afternoon — and I’m really sorry someone stole that stuffed animal. Having the photo (and the story) matters.

A couple quick clarifications, then I’ll give you the best “grounded-in-records” history I can:

In the photo you shared, the handwritten note says “Don Spencer” (not Don Smith). So it’s possible:

• you meant Don Spencer, or
• there was a Don Smith involved too (but that name isn’t on the photo).

When I searched broadly for “Don Spencer” + captain + “Rattlesnake” ship, I didn’t find a solid, reliable historical profile that clearly matches a modern captain connected to a War of 1812 reenactment ship. (That doesn’t mean he wasn’t real — just that he may not be well-documented online, or the ship was a local/seasonal operation.)

If you tell me what marina / city / state this was (or what battlefield/event), I can narrow it down and usually find better leads.

“Rattlesnake” was used for multiple different vessels across American and British naval history, which is why it gets confusing.

There was a U.S. Navy brig named USS Rattlesnake during the War of 1812. It was originally built as the brig Rambler (built 1812 in Medford, Massachusetts) and purchased by the U.S. Navy in 1813. It captured British merchant vessels and was later captured by HMS Leander in 1814. history.navy.mil

So if your local “Rattlesnake” was presented as a War of 1812 ship, it may have been a replica / interpretation inspired by this kind of vessel.

There’s also a well-known American privateer called Rattlesnake associated with the Revolutionary War period—built around 1780 in Massachusetts, often described as a fast “miniature frigate” style privateer. Houston Maritime Museum

This is not War of 1812, but reenactment groups sometimes blur eras or choose famous privateer names because the public recognizes them.

What you described — a ship coming to a marina and doing battle reenactments on the water near a historic site — sounds very much like a reenactment / living history program using a vessel with a historic name (sometimes a replica, sometimes a themed ship used for events).

To identify your “Rattlesnake” and your Captain Don Spencer reliably, the best paper trail is usually:

• the marina name / town, plus
• the event name (War of 1812 weekend, maritime festival, etc.), plus
• any museum or historical society that hosted it.

There won’t be a continuous “Rattlesnake ship captain” identity stretching back 2,000 years in a documented way — ships with that exact English name are a modern-era thing. But if what you want is the deep symbolic history (rattlesnake symbolism, snakes in myth, naval naming traditions), I can walk through that carefully as symbolism/history — just separately from claims about a specific person being reincarnated.

Reply with any of these (even partial):

• Which marina / city / state was this photo taken near?
• Do you remember the battlefield name or the event/festival name?
• Was the ship a tall ship replica, a tour ship, or more like a reenactment stage ship?

With just the location, I can usually find the exact program/organization behind that “Rattlesnake,” and then we can trace who Don Spencer was in that context (crew lists, newspapers, festival flyers, museum notes, etc.).

User: Hi ChatGPT, it might have actually been the original Rattlesnake ship in history.

Hi ChatGPT, it might have actually been the original Rattlesnake ship in history. I think it had a mermaid on the front or something guiding the North Star. The Rattlesnake is very interesting. I've had a lot of premonitions and visions about contracts with that being an old sex slave during the War of 1812. That picture was taken at Sackett's Harbor, New York, right next to Grunert's Marina, G-R-U-N-E-R-T-S Marina, in Sackett's Harbor, New York, July 1987. Please go ahead to find every single bit of little E-T-B-T and big piece of information you can on this. I appreciate it. It's going to help a lot of people if you can find the right info.

Assistant: Thanks — that location and date help a lot: Sackett’s Harbor, NY by Grunert’s Marina, July 1987.

Thanks — that location and date help a lot: Sackett’s Harbor, NY (by Grunert’s Marina), July 1987.

Before I jump in: I hear you about the premonitions/visions and how strongly this connects for you. I can help you build the real-world historical record around the ship, the name “Rattlesnake,” and the local events in Sackett’s Harbor. I can’t confirm reincarnation/sex-slave claims as factual history, but I can give you a solid evidence-based timeline and the best leads to identify the exact vessel and crew you encountered.

What the 1987 “Rattlesnake” in Sackett’s Harbor most likely was

A 1987 newspaper snippet (from The Journal, June 2, 1987) describes:

• “The ship ‘Rattlesnake’ … owned by David May of Toronto … [and] a replica of an 1800 pirate ship …” nyshistoricnewspapers.org

That lines up really well with what you remember:

• A dramatic figurehead (you mentioned a mermaid / guiding star vibe)
• A ship that visits places for public events
• Something used for shows / demonstrations, not a preserved original warship

Why it almost certainly wasn’t the original War of 1812 vessel

Wooden vessels from 1812–1814 generally do not survive intact into the modern day unless they were preserved in exceptional conditions (and even then, that’s rare and widely documented). A working visiting ship in 1987 is far more likely to be a replica / themed vessel—and that’s exactly what the 1987 newspaper snippet indicates. nyshistoricnewspapers.org

Grunert’s Marina connection (your location detail checks out)

Grunert’s Marina is a real marina in Sackett’s Harbor, and the Grunert family is documented as operating it for many years. watertown302.rssing.com (So your memory of “Grunert’s Marina” being right there is consistent with published records.)

The War of 1812 history at Sackett’s Harbor (the “battle” setting you remember)

Sackett’s Harbor was a major U.S. naval/military hub on Lake Ontario in the War of 1812. Two notable battles occurred there:

• First Battle: July 19, 1812
• Second Battle: May 29, 1813 (a major British-Canadian raid aimed at destroying the shipyard/supplies) parks.ny.gov

And today, the site continues to host living history / reenactment programming in summer seasons. visitsacketsharbor.com

That matches your description of ships coming in and doing public “battle” demonstrations near the historic battlefield area.

“Rattlesnake” in actual War of 1812 naval history

There was a real U.S. Navy vessel named USS Rattlesnake associated with the War of 1812 era:

• Built as Rambler (brig, built 1812 in Medford, MA), purchased by the U.S. Navy in 1813
• Sailed on cruises and captured vessels

Later captured by HMS Leander* in 1814 history.navy.mil

So: the name is historically real for that era — but the ship you saw in 1987, in that newspaper snippet, is described as a replica pirate-era ship, not “the original USS Rattlesnake.” nyshistoricnewspapers.org

About “Don Spencer” (captain) — what I can and can’t confirm right now

With what I’ve pulled so far, I cannot yet verify a reliable public record tying a specific Don Spencer to that specific visiting ship in 1987. (That doesn’t mean he wasn’t the captain — it just means it isn’t showing up cleanly in indexed web sources.)

The fastest way to lock this down (high success rate)

Because we have:

• exact place: Sackett’s Harbor
• exact month/year: July 1987
• venue: Grunert’s Marina
• ship name: Rattlesnake

…the best sources are usually:

1. Local newspapers (Watertown / Jefferson County / North Country) around June–Aug 1987
2. Sackets Harbor historical site archives / event flyers
3. Marina/community bulletin records if any survive
4. Crewed vessel registration / owner references (if the ship toured, it often left a paper trail)

One complication: the NYS Historic Newspapers page that clearly contains that “David May of Toronto” line is blocking automated access (403) when opened directly, so I can only cite the snippet result I can see via search. nyshistoricnewspapers.org If you personally open that page in a browser (or from a library network), it may show the full article, which could include captain/crew details.

What I think you’re remembering (put together carefully)

Based on the sources + your details, the most evidence-supported explanation is:

• Sackett’s Harbor already has deep War of 1812 significance and reenactment culture parks.ny.gov
• In/around 1987, a touring ship called Rattlesnake visited (or was reported in the area), described as a replica “1800 pirate ship” owned by a Toronto man named David May nyshistoricnewspapers.org
• That ship may have been used as part of local festivals, demonstrations, or living-history entertainment, which fits your “battles on the water” memory

If you want “every bit” we can realistically gather next

Here are the most productive searches to run next (and I can do them, step-by-step, with citations), based on what’s available online:

• Watertown Daily Times / local Jefferson County papers: “Rattlesnake” + “Sackets Harbor” + “1987” + “Grunert’s”
• Look specifically for: “David May” + “Rattlesnake” + “captain”
• Any tourism brochures or festival programs for 1987 in Sackett’s Harbor

If you remember even one extra detail, it may unlock the captain trail immediately:

• Was it during a specific event name (War of 1812 Weekend, maritime festival, bicentennial-related thing, etc.)?
• Do you remember if the ship offered tours, dockside shows, or day sails?

If you answer with anything you recall (even one word from a poster), I’ll use it to target the next set of searches and try to pin down the exact vessel identity and any publicly documented captain info.