THe HMS Falcon reenactment group was formed in 1976, for the Bicentennial celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. We took our name from a British sloop of war which participated in a number of actions during the Revolutionary War, including the bombardment and burning of Charles Town during the Battle of Bunker Hill.
We portray common sailors; though we might occasionally have a young Midshipman present to give us orders, there are no officers amongst us. Membership is by invitation only, and landmen (provisional members) join only under the direct sponsorship of a seaman (full member). We're a deliberately small group, as that helps us maintain high standards of historical accuracy — and, along with the absence of officer positions, it keeps ego-based politics at bay.
Most of our members, if not all, are active participants in various other historical reenactment groups, variously portraying numerous different time periods. This fact prompted our one deliberate break with historical accuracy: members of the Falcon are permitted to wear facial hair, which would not have been the case in the Royal Navy during the late eighteenth century.