Red John

Ahoy Mates, if one were to travel to the UK for whatever reason, and found one's self with some time to explore, what do ye recommend as must-sees / must dos pirate-wise in the UK? Starting in London and able to go most places in England proper as well as Scotland or Wales, but of course with only a few days to do it all in. Anyone with information on visiting the Execution Dock area of London much appreciated, as well as any other piratical places anywhere abouts - Bristol? The Jamaica Inn, Cornwall? Mousehole? Landsend? John O' Groats? Greatly appreciate any information ye can share. Many Thanks, aye!

Interesting flag - Well past the GAoP (well, defining GAoP is another subject, but at 1790 I don't think there's much argument it's a late-period flag, post GAoP) but still a nice flag and one of the few almost-GAoP flags other than the one Pat Croce has, and a nice contrast to the black and white ones we almost always see. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2074868/Rare-red-Jolly-Roger-pirate-flag-captured-battle-north-Africa-230-years-ago-goes-display-time.html The article repeats certain inaccuracies we often hear, but it does show the flag and gives a couple notes on where it came from. Aye, John

Ahoay Crew of the Mercury! I saw this on ebay that might interest ye . . . I make no affirmations of any kind, just saw it had yer vessel's name and thought ye might find it worth taking a look-see, aye . . . http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Style-Folk-Art-Sail-Ship-Faux-Whale-Tooth-Scrimshaw-2-Side-Decoration-/381357915334?hash=item58cab3fcc6

Aye, Rob Roy . . .LAND PIRATES! Aye!

Aye, a hearty "Aye!" on all the good recommendations above, but would also add that if yer lucky, "El Galleon" might be in port and you can see a full size real Spanish galleon. http://staugustine-450.com/galeon/ And the Spanish Taverna of course! There's an English one as well just down the street, and the Colonial Quarter right by the Pirate Museum (these good folks run both the Spanish tavern and the English pub, in a real historical manner too). The food at both is great! And you want to check out the Colonial Quarter too. http://colonialquarter.com/ Around the corner from them, near St Augustine Textiles, is the Prince of Wales pub, a real British pub (run by real Brits), there on Cuna Street (turn right if you are walking away from the fort and the Colonial Quarter, turn left if you are walking up George Street towards the fort. Or if you're at John's place (St A's Textiles), well it's right across the sand parking lot! And I'd think about staying on the beach over on Anastasia Island and that way you'd have the best of both worlds - relaxing beach and historical old town too. Beachers Lodge is a good place pretty economical beach front but a little bit of a drive to town (its closer to Matanzas) and there's places closer to town up in St Augustine Beach proper like La Fiesta (good place, economical for the neighborhood, and the trolley will take you to town and back) and so on. And you've got to try the Minorcan Clam Chowder at Osteen's over on the Island, just a block or two on the right after you go across the Bridge of Lions. Made with real Minorcan datil peppers - awesome. Same for the rest of the menu - real simple family kind of place but incredibly good food at a good price. And they are cool with pirates showing up unannounced! Have a great trip and who knows, might see ye there!

Umm, very good point about "Turn" and I'm not sure why they do that with the accents, although I have enjoyed the show very much otherwise. But as a general truth at least we do know that all Vikings speak with Scottish accents. That we know thanks to the "How to Train your Dragon" movies, that is except the lead character and a few of his teenage friends (another quality series that we love, odd accents noted). And, as everyone knows, of course all pirates have Scottish accents, except for that one guy that speaks with a drunk accent . . .

Jamaica, which also became the Columbus' family private island as granted by the Crown of Spain, in part reward for his services in exploring and early settlement of what became the Spanish Empire in the New World. Thus it was an area outside the law of any established government from nearly its very beginning . . . although the Spanish eventually asserted some minor control, not thinking the place very valuable compared to the rest of the Spanish Main and West Indies . . . that is, until the English took it by force, and defended it for many years with private men and ships, privateers as it were, better known as "Buccaneers" . . . Granted, these two are secondary sources, but highly recommend the very enjoyable read "Empire of Blue Water" about Morgan and his Buccaneers, and "Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean" about the Island of Jamaica in particular and its fascinating history - and in large part the history of the region - from the earliest Spanish times until the end of the GAoP.

We could storm the Fort de Chartres Rendezvous coming up June 6 and 7, aye saavy?!? . . . they are 18th Century French Marine and similar folks there . . . and maybe rum and plunder too! I hope to be there in me 18th Century Spanish gear . . . but I'd rather be a Pyrate! Aye!

That's what was great about the old days, the way they always kept things simple, straight, and to-the-point . . . especially book titles and such . . .

We'll be seeing ye there Mate!

Wow . . . finally saw the first episode last night . . . glad the boys were in already in bed, just saying! Thanks to this forum for the warning on that account. I have to figure the gratuitous sex scenes would add up to the normal amount of time for commercials in a regular tv broadcast? . . . seriously, you could cut those out completely and arguably have a better show - or at least one where the story could be more noticeable than the distractions! But aye, the story we found interesting and the characters as well, their interactions and all that good, good action scenes, intriguing plot, all good. The mullet hair, mutton chops, goatees, and crumpled cowboy hats almost as distracting as that "other stuff", but on the whole, a good watch and good story . . . if only I could edit up a PG version so we wouldn't have to hide the discs!

Aye Mate, thank ye for yer review. I'm in the same boat - er, situation - having never seen anything but a trailer or two in passing. I don't expect a lot on the historical accuracy side from most productions, so no issues there - I keep true to historically accurate portrayals for me own adventures, but I don't let that get in the way of a good story told by someone else! Thanks again, Aye-

I thought it meant "rum" ...

I'm not a true expert, but other than the price, and maybe the buttons (size - maybe a little large - and number - maybe too few), I don't see much wrong with it. Those don't have to be show-stoppers depending on your event/group/preference and available funds, of course. But I haven't seen one of these in person. Fabric choice would be important of course, but the basic cut looks ok to me. I have seen their other civilian frocks in person (Rev War era ones) and they look to be fine enough except for those huge paisley metal buttons they put on them - used to put on them anyway, not sure if they still do. yours, aye, John

Aye Brother, 'simple common style' is exactly what we need more of! Way too many of us go around like grand captains or what have you, when the truth is most everyone, except maybe after a lucky prize or maybe celebrating in port somewhere, would be very very plainly attired. Just like us today don't 'dress up' for hard manual work - or to go to WalMart - they didn't back then either. And unless you were in a friendly port, you wouldn't dress up then either unless you wanted to alert authorities that you somehow had access to things way beyond a normal seaman's ability. Now granted, it is fun to dress up a bit, especially for a party or ball, but for day-to-day, how-it-really-was, simple and plain is much appreciated! Thank ye for yer work to 'keep it real', aye! yr mst hum and obt svt-

Ahoy! Just got me own copy, fresh off the presses at it were, of Foxe's new book "Pirates In Their Own Words"!!! Most pleased. An excellent hardback copy, nicely bound, neat printing, all together an exceptionally quality production. Now to dive into the reading! I know a very thorough review has already been posted, so I'll leave off further critique unless I see something additional to mention. That said, it looks to be all the good things the earlier review pointed out, and I will enjoy getting underway with me reading soon. At this point I mainly just wanted to let folks know that the ordering, production, and delivery all went exceptionally well, at least as good and better than most other online booksellers. Aye, John

Ahoy All! Foxe's new book, "Pirates In Their Own Words", is ON SALE! I recently received an electronic message as follows: "It's a Friday Flash Sale! We all love Fridays and we thought we'd get the weekend off to a great start with a 13% off flash sale. Why 13%? We just love the number 13. Through July 21, save 13% on all Standard and Premium books with code FLASHY13. Shop now. Your friends at Lulu.com" yours, aye- John (Not sure if this is the proper thread for this posting, but I wanted to get the word out! Please move to wherever it best fits)

Ahoy All! Foxe's new book, "Pirates In Their Own Words", is ON SALE! I recently received an electronic message as follows: "It's a Friday Flash Sale! We all love Fridays and we thought we'd get the weekend off to a great start with a 13% off flash sale. Why 13%? We just love the number 13. Through July 21, save 13% on all Standard and Premium books with code FLASHY13. Shop now. Your friends at Lulu.com" yours, aye- John (Not sure if this is the proper thread for this posting, but I wanted to get the word out! Please move to wherever it best fits)

Aye, I'm not aware of any GAOP pirates wearing a feliadh beag ("little kilt", more or less what we wear today) or a felaidh mor ("great kilt", the big over-the-shoulder, nine-yard blanket types). I can't imagine many if any - as practical a garment it is on land, it would be anything but up in the rigging I'd think. A period-based argument against wearing them would be the fact that, even back then, most on horseback wore trews (tartan pants/trousers) if they had them (gentlemen sorts usually) because kilts are not very practical for riding. So with that example, if the kilts were not practical aboard ship, I am sure you'd rarely if ever see them. But then again, some slops you see around are more billowy than your average kilt, so maybe some did. Now, delving with some hesitation into a more contemporary venue, I believe we've all seen kilted persons at various reenactments, pirate festivals, what-have-you. Some do actual historical characters (British infantry, etc.) and some do the fantasy pirate thing. Among the latter, a number I see wear the black and grey tartan currently marketed as the "Jolly Roger" tartan, which, with some digging (no pun intended) was originally the MacLeod Mourning Tartan dating from Victorian times. Evidently it was thought (rather appropriately) that the bright yellow MacLeod tartan (now called "Lewis" or "Dress" MacLeod) was just too much for funerals, where black was/is the custom. So, "they" took the pattern of the yellow tartan and substituted grey for yellow, took the wee red stripe out, and left the black as-is, creating The MacLeod Mourning tartan. And, with black being the by-far dominant colour, more current tartan folks evidently thought the pattern ideal for piracy and hence, the "Jolly Roger" tartan you now see. Yours, Aye- John

Aye! Most Excellent attire my friend! I do the same from time to time, as when I'm fully in character my persona is of Scots origin, like me own forebears at the time. I'm traveling and w/o my usual sources, but I recall from some source a write up about a Scots pirate captain that wore a bonnet instead of the "obligatory" tricorn. I done that a few times too with a period-correct (and thankfully light-weight) one I have, but very rarely. Then folks don't even think you're a pirate! Defoe also commented on the huge popularity of mustard-y yellow waistcoats (short, in keeping with the Scottish style - and maritime style I note) with red wool binding/trim (1/4 to 1/2 inch wide or so) North of the Border and among travelling Scots. The design was apparently a subtle way of mimicking the yellow and red-bordered Scots/Stewart Royal Standard (Rampant Lion flag) and an understated expression of patriotism and protest of the Hanoverian Succession, etc. Thanks for the great photo and post! Aye, John

Thanks to ye Capn Jim for the commentary . . . I held off and just posted the story verbatim . . . because I probably couldn't have gone into the points you did without some four-lettered adjectives as to the folks responsible. Your words are appreciated. Aye- John

(CNN) -- What was supposed to be a celebratory lesson in American history has sent three children to the hospital. They were a part of a Civil War re-enactment group watching a parade in Orem, Utah, when a cannon set off an explosion Saturday. Witnesses said two of the three children injured were initially engulfed in flames, according to CNN affiliate KUTV. "When the flames went up in the air these three children started crying. One little girl's clothes were on fire, we're told," witness Brittany Tait told KUTV. "People were running with water to douse her." The blast happened at the start of the parade, the city's Department of Public Safety said. The cannon was fired, and a spark landed on a pouch containing additional charges for the cannon. The smoldering ember set off the contents of the pouch, blowing it up and injuring all three children, the press release explained. The extent of the children's injuries was not immediately known Sunday, but authorities said they were in stable condition when they were transported to a nearby hospital.

"Small Arms of the Spanish Treasure Fleets" and "The Spanish in the American War of Independence".

Aye, it is. There are similar 'hooks' on Scottish baskethilt swords (most of them) of the period and on many other styles. The extra 'forward curl' feature was present on many military swords through the 19th century as well, in some cases more pronounced than others. See the US Field Officers Sword (1850 model) for an actual separate forward curl and the forward-curling guard of US Cavalry Sabre (1863 through Indian Wars models) for a more integrated way of providing the same function. The British models of the period were similarly equipped. The current US Army Sabre still features a separate forward curl, more a curved spur than a pure curl, that is similar to the ones from the 1700-1800s. The current US Navy Officers sword (and US Marine NCO Sword) feature similar devices, more akin to the US 1850 Field Officers Sword and US Naval Officers Sword of the same vintage, in keeping with the original design of both the Navy and Marine weapons when created in the mid-1800's. Note: US Marine Officers carry a "Mameluke" style sword, much the same as British General Officers do, although for different reasons. The British General Officers preserve a tradition started by the Duke of Wellington, although there were some units in the British Army such as Hussars and the like) that used mamelukes prior to formal adoption as a General Officer sword in 1831. The US Marines continue a tradition that began with Lt. O'Bannon and some of their earliest operations against the Barbary Pirates in 1805. For me, the important part is to have enough of a 'spur' to protect your arm, but not so much of a curl to actually catch and bind your two swords together - some prefer the 'catch and hold' method and certain designs reflect this, but most appear to go with a more open, 'protect and deflect' design that allows you to direct the opposing blade away from yourself and recover quickly so you can continue to engage, ideally before your opponent can.

Agree on the RenFaire Pirates being a big market, and good on vendors for taking care of them as well. As long as they take care of us historical types too! I don't see any decrease in the historical Pirates around here (SE US), even an uptick I think over the last year. Not sure if it's because the economy has gotten better for some folks, or that there's more exposure with more events going on now, or (more likely) some combination of both. I gotta say it was a little heartbreaking that an otherwise awesome video I filmed this past weekend of real sailing ships firing broadsides was overcome with a soundtrack of two "dockside dollies" next to me talking all about what they were wearing. The actual cannon reports drowned out everything, but everything else that you heard was them . . . while watching beautiful sails pass by only a few yards off the dock! Och well! All the Best Mates- Aye! -John