Jamaica Rose

A GLORIOUS Rolicking Birthday to the Pyracy Pub! I was here from the start, and though I may not be around much nowadays, I'm delighted to see how it has survived and grown after all these years.

ime: noon - 6:00 p.m. Location: Point Fermin Park, Gaffey and Shepard Streets Music festival with a focus on TRADITIONAL music, particularly chanties and other music with nautical and maritime themes. Pirates might invade. FREE. Info: SeaShanty@aol.com

http://fortmacarthur.tripod.com/ TIme: 10 am - 4 pm, flag raising 10:10 am First Multicultural & Living History Event presented west of the Mississippi River and in the State of California. Annual artillery show and fundraiser that supports the Fort MacArthur Museum. The event is held on the weekend following the Fourth of July holiday. Various military organizations and groups (from ancient Roman Legionnaires to the Modern era) support the event. All group encampments are focused on accurately presenting life as it was in the past. The museum is located in Angels Gate Park, 3601 South Gaffey Street, in the historic harbor city of San Pedro, California. Old Fort MacArthur Days is a blank fire event. Many historical reenactment groups will be firing various weapons during the course of the event, and there will be a massed fire by cannons at the end of the day. Two groups of privateers will be on hand, the Rogue Privateers, and the Port Royal Privateers. The Rogue Privateers will raid for items and then auction them off to benefit the museum.

TIme: Saturday, 6:00 PM - 12:00 AM Location: The Corona Depot, 150 Depot Drive Corona, CA 92880 Grab your Pirate Gear & Come Party with Us at The Corona Depot on July 3rd.... Music, Dancing, Merchants, Raffles, Sword Fighting and Amazing Props. Full Bar and Pirate themed Menu~ The Pirates of the Black Swan & Pirate Adventure Fight Team Featuring Robin & Jimmy.......Additional Band to be Announced!!! Only $10 cover Charge with Plenty of Free Parking. ** A Portion of the Proceeds will go to The Riverside Animal Dept. **

http://www.seafairpirates.org/PiratesLanding/default.htm http://www.seafair.com/ Alki Beach West, Seattle, WASHINGTON. 1702 Alki Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98116 Time: 9:30 am to 6:30 pm, with Pirate Invasion: 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Avast ye scurvy dogs! This be yer warnin’ shot! The cutthroat Seafair Pirates crew has made a deal and are comin to collect the bounty left behind last year! They be landin on Alki Beach in West Seattle on July 10 around 11:30. The merchants will be puttin out their finest wares and tha day long festival will be startin at around 9:30 am. Ye can shop, eat and dance along with the Pirates throughout the day until 6:30 pm! Have your little pirates come dressed fer the occasion and be part of a Pirate look-a-like contest to win some booty. Come get yer treasure while ya still can. Admission: Free Contact: SeafairPiratesPR@aol.com.

http://www.coloradorenaissance.com Larkspur, COLORADO Special activities for the young ones; Prince, Princess and Pirate Costume Contest at the Puke & Snot pirate ship stage. Participate in the Royal Quest; be rewarded by King Henry at the Knighting Ceremonies, daily at the Rose Stage. Enjoy the Free Children’s Realm and Petting Zoo. FOR THIS WEEKEND ONLY, CHILDREN TWELVE AND UNDER EXPERIENCE THE FESTIVAL FOR FREE WITH A PAYING ADULT. HUZZAH!!! (303) 688-6010 / Toll Free (877) 259-3328 or 409-F South Wilcox Street, Castle Rock, CO 80104, pjfrank@coloradorenaissance.com

Commodore Norrington (aka Tom) is just back from the Philippines & NEEDS a ride from L.A. area for him and his lady to NorCal Pirate Fest. Can anyone from SoCal help? Email him at: teacher_tom516@yahoo.com If you don't know/remember who Tom is, here is his MySpace profile: http://www.myspace.com/norrington516 Tom had planned to go to the Long Beach Pirate Invasion and just found out it was canceled, so he contacted me to find out what other pirate things were going on in the next few weekends so he could meet his pirate mates. (He is in S. Calif. for just a month or so). When he heard about NorCal Pirate Fest, he was eager to go. Can anyone help? We have no room in our truck to help them. --Jamaica Rose

The 2010 event has been cancelled. Will not be at Rainbow Lagoon or Belmont Shore this year. --Jamaica Rose

Cap'n Michael and I had a grand time at the pyrate rendezvous in Fells Point. And we've mostly recovered by now. It was great to meet up with a lot of old friends, and to make a lot of new friends. I've finished posting most of my photos from the Fells Point Privateer Day and Order of the Leviathan festivities. They can be found at the No Quarter Given facebook page in several batches (Facebooks only allows 200 photos per album), and at the No Quarter Given MySpace page (in two albums - one each for Friday and Saturday). Tagging and comments are welcomed. My photos are copyrighted, but if you'd like to use some of yourselves for your personal pages, you may do so. I'd appreciate if you let me know about it though. For those of you desirin' a higher rez version, contact me privately. facebook.com/noquartergiven http://www.myspace.com/no_quartergiven Yrs in the sweet trade, --Jamaica Rose

Today my husband Michael connected with one of the Texas Riviera Pistolers, who gave him a couple pounds of powder. That will be enough for his needs. It's nice to know that a bunch of cowboys would be so helpful to some strange pirates. Greydog - thank you for your very helpful suggestion. --Jamaica Rose

Thanks Greydog - I'll try contacting some of them when the hour is a little more decent.

My husband and a few other erstwhile pirates are entertaining at the Buccaneer Days in Corpus Christi, TX. They are running out of blackpowder, and have tried to buy blackpowder locally, and cannot find it. Does anyone have any suggestions for a place to buy blackpowder that is somewhat close to Corpus Christi? Apparently Texas recently passed some law that blackpowder has to be kept in a certain kind of container, and a lot of the stores that previously carried it, decided not to get the container and just stopped carrying blackpowder. Thank you, --Jamaica Rose

As stated above, in Paul's cannons the barrel is lined with a 3/16" steel sleeve. In his flyer it states the breech or powder chamber area is machined from a solid steel block which is attached to and surrounds the breech portion of the sleeve to handle the pressures generated by firing. All cannon have been proof tested with a charge three times the recommended charge (750 grains for the 1 1/4" cannon - while the instructions say to use a charge of 250 grains). Paul's flyer also states these are salute cannon, designed mainly for blank firing, though they can also handle a wooden shot of the correct size as given in the instructions. The flyer emphatically states that metal projectiles should never be fired out of one of Paul's cannons. Losing the instructions for a cannon is a poor argument not to use an ultralight cannon. People might loose the instructions for a real metal cannon as well, and overload it with too much powder. It would be hard to confuse one of Paul's cannons with a real cannon. The 1 1/4" bore cannon only weighs 24 lbs! Face it, black powder cannons can be extremely dangerous in the hands of a stupid person, no matter what the cannon is made out of. Back about 16 years ago, when I knew relatively little about cannons and black powder, my 14 year old son and I were at a pirate festival (names have been changed to protect the guilty). I was tending sales at my booth, when my son came running up to me breathlessly and very excited. He told me about how Bart (one of the pirate officers I knew) had drafted my son to be the new cannoneer for the afternoon's pirate battle. This sounded rather dangerous to me (in my ignorance, I had NO IDEA how dangerous it was). I had previously seen the cannon in question, so I knew it was one of the smaller kind. The barrel was about 2 feet long (but all iron). I got someone to watch my booth, so I could investigate further. Finding Bart, he assured me it was true he had recruited my son to fire his cannon, because his crew of pirates were all too drunk to be relied upon. He had already trained my son to fire the cannon. Meaning, he had let my FOURTEEN YEAR OLD son fire his cannon WITHOUT asking my permission. Bart was not drunk, but needed to command the battle, so he couldn't fire the cannon. He assured me firing the cannon was PERFECTLY SAFE if properly done!!!!!! So I let my son show me the procedure, and watched him actually fire the cannon. He had fired black powder pistols a couple of times before, so in my ignorance, I thought it would be okay this once. I cringe now realizing I let my son fire the cannon during the battle. When we got back from the event, I checked with some people who knew cannons well, and learned to my horror what all could have gone wrong. I learned that a lot of the procedure Bart had taught my son was incorrect. That was also the same event, when a rather famous pirate captain who shall not be named had carpooled to the event with me, and on the way home, brought a loaded flintlock into my car. I later realized the flintlock had been loaded when, at the next event, this captain had to ask another pirate to clean out the gun because it had mis-fired at the previous event (the one to which he rode with me], and he didn't have a worm or some tool to get the charge out! It's impossible to protect people from their own stupidity. The trick is to get them to sign waivers first. --Jamaica Rose

The cannons that Paul Zaras makes are made of wood, PVC, and the barrels are lined with a 3/16" steel sleeve. Paul's cannons are not meant to be replicas of "quaker" cannons (fake wooden cannons that were not meant to fire, just look like a ship had more cannon than it really did). Paul's cannons are ultra-light versions of real firing cannons. --Jamaica Rose

Ships, especially merchant ships, sometimes used wooden fake cannons just to make it look like they had more cannons aboard than they really did, to look more formidable. --Jamaica Rose

I will pass on all these great ideas to our officers. Thank you. --Jamaica Rose

At PiP, Fayma was thrilled to buy one of Paul's cutlasses, the one with the simulated ivory hilt. Then later in the weekend, when she heard that Cap'n Pernell's kit had been stolen, she gave her new beloved cutlass to him. Such a good heart! Paul sold all the cutlasses he had on hand at Pirates in Paradise (we've got two of them - one is MINE). He does not have any cutlasses on hand. He started into production mode, making a dozen. It will take 1-2 months for delivery. They are $75 each, plus shipping (in the U.S., between $7 - $15 depending on your location). We are taking orders, and making a list, so those who order first will get the first cutlasses. The hilts on the cutlasses can be stained wood, or simulated ivory. They can be octagonally-faceted (as seen in Boarders Away), or rounded. As for cannons - he has two of the 1" bore on hand, and four of the 1 1/4 " bore on hand, plus about 10 more in progress. He also has 10 mortars nearly completed (barrels are done, just needs to make the beds). Those are $300 (plus shipping). Until I get a website built, if anyone is interested in Paul's cannons, cutlasses, etc, send me a PM with your mailing address, and I can send you a flyer and order form. --Jamaica Rose

I don't believe he's got any medical equipment, but I will ask next time I call him. Who knows what he's got stuffed into that barn of his? --Jamaica Rose

Oh, definitely. We had plans to put the name on the sides, like the previous trailer. It just hadn't happened yet ... and then the trailer was stolen. I think everyone in the PRP agrees it is urgent we get the name put on the side of the trailer right away now. But the roof idea was very clever - then police can spot it from the air very easily. --Jamaica Rose

Cannons, cutlasses & more for sale - by Paul Zaras If you were at the recent Pirates in Paradise, you might have met Paul ... "Powder Keg Paul", as he was quickly dubbed by some of the pirates ... due to his hearing problems. Been around his cannons too much! Here's a link to photos of his ultralight replica cannons, cutlasses, and more he has for sale: http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=329306395&albumId=1426033 Paul lives in Vero Beach, FL (north of Palm Beach). He is quite a wonderful old character, and knows a LOT. He's a bachelor, in his 70s, and living on pennies. His car has died, so over the past years, he's slowly lost touch with all old friends and reenactor buddies. It had been several years since he'd been to any living history events. He's been a subscriber to No Quarter Given since about day one, and had written to us many times, often inviting us to visit and see his "museum". So we took an extra day on our way to Pirates in Paradise to drive up and see him. We were very glad we did. His barn is FULL to the rafters with things he has made. He has several cannons, mortars, Browning machine guns, bazookas, and lots of other weapons he makes, mostly of wood, PVC, etc. But they LOOK real! The cannons really fire black powder (and can fire wooden shot if desired)and make a LOUD boom! They are a LOT easier to haul around than standard cannons of the same size. The one inch bore cannon with the naval carriage is only 35 lbs (we know because we shipped one home in our airline luggage). Paul also makes fiddles, banjos, dulcimers, and his own invention the banjo-dulcimer. He makes CARS, really running cars. He has some 3/4 scale jeeps, an Excalibur roadster (full scale), and a Bugatti (not sure if 3/4 or full scale), and some other roadster that was buried in the corner under stuff (so I didn't get a photo of it). The smaller scale vehicles run using lawn mower engines or outboard motors. They would make great parade vehicles. Paul just loves to tinker. He used to be a machinist in the Air Force, then worked several years for Piper Aircraft. He kept making things, until he filled his barn, and now has no more room to work! Behind his barn, he has a 27' brig - all hand made of wood. He made it back in the 70s, and sailed it a few times. But due to lack of a vehicle to pull the trailer, and lack of a crew to help him, he wrapped her up, and she's been languishing in the back of his barn. The wood is good, and all that's really needed to get she sailing again is new sails and rigging, and re-painting. We were determined to put Paul in touch with the local pirate community, who we were sure would "love" to help him with his brig, and would be interested in his cannons and other creations. We asked him to come with us to Key West. So he grabbed some garb, and we stuffed him and one of his cannons into our already stuffed rental car. He had a blast (literally) in Key West. We fired his cannon several times from the decks of the Schooner Wolf. Capt. Finbar and Julie loved the cannon, and have arranged to buy two of them from Paul right away. Paul is also making them a custom carriage to retrofit their existing cannons to match the 2 new ones. Paul had brought along a teeny tiny flintlock that he made - about an inch big, that really fires! All the pirates were fascinated by his little pistol, and he had to fire it several times for people who couldn't believe it really worked. Klaus from Pirates Magazine bought it from him. Paul is a true gem of a man, a wonderful craftsman, who knows a lot about pirates, colonial history, civil war, WWI, WWII, etc. You should see his library! I'm very envious. Because Paul has no computer, and has difficulty talking on the phone due to his hearing problems, we are helping him sell his cannons, swords, and other things. If you want more details, or want to know how to get one of Paul's creations, send me a PM. --Jamaica Rose

I LOVE the roof top idea. VERY CLEVER. I'll pass on the idea to the new officers of our crew. --Jamaica Rose

I gather the police found the trailer left unattended on the street. No one has been caught that I know of. A pox on the scummy thieves. Thanks for yer concern, --Jamaica Rose