Joe Pyrat

Yes the uniform is based on the 1738 Spanish Marine uniform. There is a mural in a museum in Mexico City showing a scene from 1740 and there are numerous examples in it of this uniform. For the field, white gaiters were added.

There's always http://thepiratebay.org

Here's a better picture of my Triton which I live aboard.

I'll second these two. B.O.'s has my favorite conch fritters and Mama's has my fovorite cracked conch sandwich and an excellent key lime pie. And while I haven't made it yet I've heard El Siboney is the best Cuban food in town. EDIT: BTW if you like Mangrove Mama's you'll probably get a kick out of the song about the place by Howard Livingston and Mile Marker 24. (Click LISTEN/PLAY on the link)

1937 Talbot Lago T150-C-SS 1962-63 Ferrari 250 GTO 1953 C-Type Jaguar 1954 D-Type Jaguar 1966 Ford GT40 MkV 1964 Shelby Daytona Coupe 1963 Shelby Cobra 289 La Mans Ok, this could go on forever... Never ask this question to a car guy. Guess I'll just settle for the one I've got.

Olive Oyl

Glad to hear they will be doing Captain Blood. To bad about Bloom though, after watching him in PotC I immediately thought he'd be an excellent choice for any Errol Flynn type parts as he definitely has "the look", which I think Jackman and Crow lack (although Jackman would be a better fit then Crow).

Thanks mates, this was a great find. We have just got authorized to start cooking at Fort Matanzas and are planning on replacing the existing Dutch oven with a new one. The question is what size oven? I was planning on a 2-quart one but it sounds like that might be a bit small.

September 8th 1565 Pedro Menendez de Aviles came ashore and founded the oldest continually populated settlement in the continental United States. Hope I look so good when I hit 444. While doing some research at Fort Matanzas I came across this document which I later found online and thought those here might enjoy. From the journals of Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales... 8 September 1565 On Saturday, the 8th, the general landed with many banners spread, to the sound of trumpets and salutes of artillery. As I had gone ashore the evening before, I took a cross and went to meet him, singing the hymn Te Deum laudamus. The general marched up to the cross, followed by all who accompanied him, and there they kneeled and embraced the cross. A large number of Indians watched these proceedings and imitated all they saw done. The same day the general took formal possession of the country in the name of his Majesty, and all the captains took the oath of allegiance to him, as their general and governor of the country. When this ceremony was ended, he offered to do everything in his power for them, especially for Captain Patino, who during the whole voyage had ardently served the cause of God and of the King, and, I think, will be rewarded for his assiduity and talents in constructing a fort in which to defend ourselves until the arrival of help from Santo Domingo and Havana. The French number about as many as we do, and perhaps more. My advice to the general was not to attack the enemy, but to let the troops rest all winter and wait for the assistance daily expected; and then we may hope to make a successful attack. More

Caveman

Aye, Happy Birthday mate!

Addressing the original thesis of this thread, the destruction of the Spanish Armada can't really be attributed to the British as it was Mother Nature who really did them in, just like the French fleet which left Fort Caroline to attack the Spanish at Saint Augustine in September of 1565. Castillo de San Marcos, constructed between 1672 and 1695. When active it was white, covered with a lime mixture and the guard towers were red as was some of the trim. According to the NPS the Castillo de San Marcos was attacked 15 times but never defeated. The largest of these attacks were the 1702 and 1740 attacks by the British. Following the 1740 attack the Spanish Governor of Saint Augustine realizing his weak spot was an inability to protect the Matanzas Inlet (about 15 nautical miles south of Saint Augustine through which Saint Augustine was resupplied during attacks) authorized the construction of Fort Matanzas, known then as the Tower at Matanzas. Fort Matanzas was constructed in 18 months immediately following the 1740 attack and during its operational life was also never defeated, firing on British (1742 when they probed the inlet in preparation for a second attack which due to the then new fort was called off), French and US ships at various times all of whom departed rather than engage due to the forts positioning and the difficulty an attack would represent. A very interesting place, Saint Augustine... I was lucky enough to recently acquire an English translation of portions of Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales' (the chaplain on Menendez's expedition) journal describing the period between August 25th and September 29th 1565 a fascinating read. I've also recently acquired a copy of The Enterprise of Florida; Pedro Menendez de Aviles and the Spanish Conquest of 1565 - 1568 by Eugene Lyon. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in the early history of La Florida. Fort Matanzas as it appears today. Like the Castillo de San Marcos, Fort Matanzas was originally white with red guard tower and trim.

Still haven't found anything I like better than Pyrat XO Reserve. Cask 23 is as good, but ten times the price. I find Flor de Cana and El Dorado 15 to my liking as well.

Well said mate.

I would argue against the "better" but fully agree with the "different perspective". Everyone remembers history so it favors them. If you are trying to assign blame there is plenty to go around on all sides, but keep in mind that we need to step back and look at history as dispassionately as we can, keeping in mind that our views were not the views at the time. Is the Black Legend an attempt to make the Spanish look better, most certainly, just as the original concept was designed to make them look bad. One ting you do in war is try and dehumanize your enemy. Makes killing them acceptable. This is as true now as it was then.

A Seven Arts Hammer film.

Piracy and Saint Augustine represent an interesting question. There are those here who are very anti-pirate pointing out that Saint Augustine was a Spanish military town, a Presidio. On the otherhand it is true that illegal trade flourished and there were at best contrabandistas (smugglers) in Saint Augustine. Many of these contrabandistas were most lilely pirates, however, they were not running up and down St. George St. waving cutlasses and flying the Jolly Roger, business was conducted discretely. The unfortunate side effect of this is that the official line here in Saint Augustine is that we don't deal with the subject of piracy at all other than to say it is one of the reasons for the Spanish military presence. This is unfortunate since it means there is little chance we will be able to get a program off the ground that would discuss and depict piracy as it really impacted the area. Hopefully you can bring some of this to your Gathering and in some small way help turn this around.

The Spanish are the forgotten people in history as we teach it here in the US. Want an eyeopener; become a living-history volunteer at the Castillo de San Marcos or Fort Matanzas in Saint Augustine, it certainly was for me. Also you might research La Leyenda Negra (The Black Legend) which was described and the term coined by Julian Juderias in his 1914 book of that name. La Leyenda Negera may just be the most effective piece of disinformation ever concieved as it is still impacting how we view the Spanish some 300 years later. They really were/are much more than a convient victim for pirates/bucaneers/privateers/French/British/etc.

Aye, best wishes mate.

Fudgesicle

Hm... How about Master and Commander, the entire Hornblower series from A&E and as mentioned above, Rob Roy which takes place at the end of Queen Anne's reign and has a background based on the Jacobite leanings of the Sottish Highlanders.

Happy birthday young lady!

The 1990 TV Treasure Island is perhaps my favorite pirate movie of all time. The character actors who portray the pirates are wonderful, especially Oliver Reed as Billy Bones who is my favorite portrayal of a pirate in any movie. Of course playing this particular role wasn't much of a stretch for Reed as he was basically playing himself. Other things that make this movie work for me are the costuming which is more period correct than any other pirate movie I have seen, the accents of the actors, all of which except for Heston are not faking the accent, and the fact that they use proper nautical terms, such as guns instead of cannons. This is also the most true to the original book of any of the Treasure Island movies so if you are a fan of the book you should really enjoy it. You can VOTE at Turner Classic Movies to have this movie released on DVD, right column labeled "Home Video Vote". Can't believe someone at TCM did not have the brains to release this film on DVD during the height PotCs popularity.