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Coastie04

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  1. One thing I remember in a bonus feature on the Deadwood series, is their explanation of 'redefining western language'. Many curses that were used during that time would not have been understood by the majority of today's audiences, as many people there had classic educations that included greek literature. Referencing Zeus' son might seem like a compliment, but as Zeus was a notorious womanizer, it would be akin to calling someone a bastard. So, they dumbed down the language and inserted modern words (often the F-bomb and C-sucker) instead. They also explained that cursing was a way to have a conversation without actually saying much, as if you bragged about finding a large gold vein, or even disagreed on politics, technology, someone's reputation, etc., it might get you killed in a drunken brawl. Been a while since I saw that bit, so I might not be explaining it very well, but that was the gist of it.
  2. OK, I'm not a shipwright, but I do know a thing or two about boat building and how to at least do google image searches. Yes, I'm going to harp on the scarf joints a bit here. However, I'm also going to possibly defend them a bit as well. For being 'hooked scarf' joints, they are backwards, as noted earlier. However, simple scarfs may have been in a main beam there. Not every boat was built to Lloyd's A-1 standard, and even those that were could take damage that was fixed to the best of their ability in order to survive. Didn't the Mayflower have to use a screw jack to support its main beam when it cracked (or something similar...I'm a couple drinks in and relying on memory here)? Now for the photographic evidence from Wasa and Charles W. Morgan (Yes, the Morgan is much later, and what I'm posting is actually a current restoration, but it shows continuity of wooden shipbuilding technique)... Wasa's starboard side planking and wales. Lots of scarf joints right around an important structural component of Wasa's rigging (I think these are the starboard mizzen chains, but I'm not an expert on this particular ship) Not 100% sure, but is that a scarf on a main beam under the grating on the right? Hard to tell in this picture, but just maybe... Now for the Morgan: This is a beam being scarfed to a new section (presumably due to decay in the original). Behind it you can see another scarf joint in a main beam. The scarfs themselves look nearly identical to the Wasa's from 250 years earlier. Yes, there are more intricate scarfs that you can do, but it seems like in the working days of sail, these simple scarfs were fairly common. So, I'd say that from the pictures posted, Black Sails over complicated the scarf joints if anything, and got the more complicated kind wrong.
  3. Ahh, passed over that bit. Still would love to see her on youtube!
  4. I hadn't heard caught, but rumors do about that ye be hung! Welcome back, shipmate!
  5. No kick with 7 .50 caliber barrels? Was it firing blanks? Certainly the lead would have left a little divot in your shoulder! Also, I second all the calls for a youtube video!!!
  6. First off, those first two photos are the same picture. The second one was altered to have a pirate flag and zoomed to just a portion of the original painting. I'll chime in again about one vs. multiple boarding points. If, as Foxe mentioned, there was a moored boat at night and you could use multiple boats, that would be good. However, in realistic terms, you'd board wherever you were able to. There are some benefits to boarding in one location. Coordination of the attack is much easier, once a few boarders make it to the deck, they can set up a defensive area for the rest of the boarders to swarm on with a bit more safety. Communication is easier, and it gives you a stronger force to push through lines of defenders instead of potentially being spread out too thin. Obviously, there are also some drawbacks, as swivel guns that can point inboard might be more effective to one mass group of invaders, but if it's your only or best option, then that's a risk of being a pirate. Yes, spars, rigging, and just about anything else that is available can be used for boarding. As for the boat hooks, they were a common tool of the time and would likely be used to board from a small boat. grappling hooks would possibly be used too, if available.
  7. I'm not convinced that the sailor on the far right has a fur cap, as there are hints of sideburns. I think it's just a lot of really curly hair. Also, it looks a lot like the hair of the sailor in the foreground (what you can see of it).
  8. I can think of a great reason to choose a captain. The way boats are organized, there has to be one person in charge to prevent contradictory orders. Ships rely on crew working together, and if people aren't following one set of orders/commands, then very bad things can happen. The crew could easily vote on overarching plans, such as where to sail, but the Captain (or mate on watch, sailing master, other archaic title, etc.) is the one who gives the orders of how to get there. Look even at merchant or Naval captains of the day (and even today). They are told by owners/superiors where to go and what to do. However, they are still the Captain, even though they don't have absolute control. They can also be held accountable if a goal is not achieved. I'm not so sure how good of a mariner or navigator a Captain had to be. Of course, Foxe might prove me wrong here, but there is not much necessity for a Captain to be a good sailor. I believe that neither Nelson or Columbus were regarded as great mariners, but they are some of the names that come up first when talking about nautical history. A Captain does not actually need to involve himself with the sailing or navigating of the ship too much, if he has competent officers working under him. A good Captain is much more concerned with managing the crew, logistics, and supervising those officers beneath him than on the actual sailing of the ship. Of course, this is from my experience on somewhat larger vessels, both merchant and military. I do realize that as the boats and crews get smaller, the Captain does become more of a hands-on crew member than when it's a 120 gun ship of the line. I think I'd argue that in general, buggery was frowned upon. One thing that I noticed in the UCMJ (U.S. military rules, equivalent to what we're talking about here) is that they had some pretty outrageous articles and precedence for things that happened once upon a time, but were far from commonplace. On a pirate ship, I could easily see some of those things being overlooked as nearly impossible. So, if sodomy was rare (and here my argument might break down), then they might just assume that noone was going to do it, therefore why have a rule about it? They might as well make a rule saying that it's prohibited for someone to fly, make a pact with the Devil or masturbate on an officer's shoes. Of course, the other possibility is that they just didn't care.
  9. I've got a question to pose here that I feel directly relates to some of these myths (bear with me). I've read a lot about the 'Articles of War' onboard naval vessels and the strict rules/punishments that were outlined there. However, were the Articles of War applicable during times of peace? If not, what was discipline like on a Naval vessel during peace time? As many ships would have been paid off, I would assume (I know, dangerous!) that they could cherry pick the best and most professional Naval sailors for the remaining ships, and thus would have less problems with people who didn't want to be there, and troublemakers could be paid off at the next port and replaced without as much effort. It's my understanding that piracy usually rose during times of peace when privateer and naval sailors were suddenly out of a job and had to find some way of making a living and resorted to piracy out of desperation. Of course, that might just be another myth!
  10. I just about fell out of my chair laughing at that one! I wouldn't be overly surprised by a history channel show about 'possible' UFO evidence left buried by Blackbeard at Oak Island! Then again, that Oak Island thing is just starting, right? There's plenty of time in the season to come up with something...
  11. Although I've only done a couple of meads and therefore am far from an expert, I can tell you that I didn't boil them. I heated them up for a while (I can't remember specifics off the top of my head, but probably something like 150 degrees for 15 minutes or so) to essentially pasteurize the wort, then cooled and pitched yeast in the normal fashion. They cleared up nicely in a relatively short time and are still tasty to this day. Speaking of which, it's the season to make another mead!
  12. I have a brand new telescope on my shelf. When I'm not sailing, it will be great to use spotting avalanches on nearby Thunder Mountain from my back porch, as it does provide a rather nice image at that distance.
  13. Congrats on this latest circumnavigation of Sol!
  14. Sound like a basic gravy, but substituting stale bread for flour. It could be great for camping or reenactments, as it sounds tasty and versatile.
  15. Good enough for me. If I had the dough and didn't live in a rain forest, I'd want it!
  16. Historical precedence, or just fantasy reenactor compensation device?
  17. I'm not sure how it's taken me this long to find this thread, as I love to bake. Keep these recipes coming, and I'll start trying some and giving reviews. Now, anyone know where I can get one of those biscuit presses?
  18. Congrats on another successful circumnavigation of Sol!
  19. Those speeds are often the maximum speeds in good, fair wind with following seas. These are ideal circumstances, which come about rarely in long distance voyaging. While some boats truly can achieve impressive speeds under sail (I believe Sovereign of the Seas had a maximum recorded speed of 22 kts!), the vast majority could not, or did not for one reason or another. Additionally, many of those boats that today can get 10-12 kts are of a more modern design than those in the GAoP. One other general rule is that the longer a boat's waterline length is, the higher speeds she can reach. Often the boats that pirates were using were smaller vessels. Below, I've included a few links of interest: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_large_sailing_vessels The paragraph about these speeds should be well noted: "The speeds of big sailing ships vary greatly depending on circumstances. The speeds mentioned here are often the fastest recorded speeds and not representative of the general speed of the vessel. As ideal circumstances may not arise during the lifetime of a vessel, they are not comparable either. The cargo ships in the list usually sailed undermanned, with cargo, the training ships sail with apprentices and cruising ships with customers; economy, safety and comfort may be more important than aiming for maximum speed." Additionally, look at the dates of these vessels and note that the vast majority are from the height of sail technology and many are steel/iron hulls. Older hull forms would be generally slower, regardless of the length. These are also primarily boats longer than 200 feet, so quite a bit of difference here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Constitution#cite_ref-101 USS Constitution reports a top speed of 13 kts. This is a well manned, known to be fast sailing frigate from a much later period than GAoP. Her average speeds were nowhere near 13 kts, but we're at least getting closer to the period that we're interested in. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duyfken A bit more representative of the era that we're looking at. They list her top speed as 7 kts. Of course, this would be with a nice, clean bottom. We've discussed weed buildup earlier, I believe. I'm also not sure whether that top speed is under sail or motor, as this is a reproduction vessel. Lastly, a gem: http://www.oldsaltblog.com/2012/09/are-modern-ships-slower-than-sailing-ships-probably-not/ Remember that this is talking about the pinnacle of speed under sail for commercial vessels. Clippers were built for speed and small cargoes. Later sailing vessels became larger and built more for larger bulk cargoes than speed. "What is true is that the clipper ships, and even the more full-bodied windjammers that came after them, could make some very impressive passages in fair winds. The extreme clipper Sovereign of the Seas designed and built by Donald McKay was indeed recorded sailing at 22 knots, which given the length of the ship translates into a Speed/Length ratio (knots divided by the square root of the waterline length in feet) of around 1.5, which is very fast indeed. The Cutty Sark was also a very fast ship. She once sailed 2,163 nautical miles in six days, for an average speed of just over 15 knots. Nevertheless, the Sovereign of the Seas, the Cutty Sark and other fast sailing ships did not average such speeds. The Cutty Sark set a record for a passage from Plymouth to Sydney of 72 days, when a fast passage was considered to be anything around 100 days. Even on the record setting voyage, however, the Cutty Sark actually only averaged around 8 knots. The ships which made “fast passages” of 100 days averaged around 5 knots. The Flying Cloud on her record setting voyage between New York and San Francisco ol 89 days, likewise averaged around 7.5 knots. The reason that average speeds of so many clipper ships were often low had to do with the doldrums, the regions of light air just South of the Equator. Even the fastest sailing ships are slow when the wind is light or non-existent. But what of ships that did not have to traverse the light air of the doldrums? The fastest passage ever recorded by a sailing ship between New York and Liverpool was made by the clipper Red Jacket in 13 days, 1 hour and 25 minutes. During the voyage she reached speeds of over 17 knots. Nevertheless her average speed was around 10.5 knots." I hope this helps clear up the discussion about passage speeds. Sure, a boat in good repair with a good, healthy crew, all sails set, and in ideal conditions could reach her maximum hull speed, but this didn't always happen. Additionally, unless you're in a chase (either away from a larger enemy or toward prey), there's no real reason to sail fast. Sailing fast just risks damaging the ship and might reduce your speed when you need it most. As long as you had enough provisions, sailing slower was often good seamanship. There were no modern schedules to keep, and repairing/replacing sails and spars cut in to your profits.
  20. http://www.thedearsurprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/2007-10_Reviving_Surprise.pdf The above link provides an outline of the original histories of HMS Rose and HMS Surprise, as well as the building, purpose, and changes of the replica Rose/Surprise throughout her lifetime. It's an extremely revealing insight to many of the replica sailing vessels and their organizations. I can think of very few tall ships that have not had a change of mission/purpose at some point in their careers. In short, the HMS Rose was built in 1970 to participate in the bicentennial celebrations in 1976, but was unable to participate the OpSail'76. She was a dockside attraction for many years. In the mid-late 80's she was upgraded to become a sail training ship, finally receiving her certification in 1991. In 2001, she was sold for the movie Master and Commander and converted to HMS Surprise. Many of the specific conversions are outlined in the above .pdf file, and I personally noted that there was increased weight aloft, increased windage (bulking up the wire rigging to look like natural rope) and added sails. I'm not sure if any ballast was added to counteract this weight/windage aloft. After the movie was made, she was permanently loaned to the San Diego Maritime Museum for display and use, in exchange for upkeep. In 2007, after a few more upgrades, she was again given a USCG certification as a sail training vessel and dockside attraction. One thing that I really liked them pointing out was the change of the boat's missions and certifications throughout the years. This is very similar to the HMS Bounty that we've discussed so much here since her sinking. For a more in depth analysis of the hazards to these changing missions, I'd recommend reading Tall Ships Down (Parrott) for anyone even contemplating building or adapting a boat for replica/reenacting purposes. Personally, I think it would be wonderful if Surprise were to increase their sailing range and perform a sail training circumnavigation over the course of a few years, but that might be asking quite a bit for an older wooden boat that seems to be paying her bills while primarily sitting dockside with Star of India. One can dream, though!
  21. Once you've got the year completed, you could make one of those peel-away daily calenders. I'd buy one for sure!
  22. I'll second the opinion of the others here; thank you for these posts. I look forward to them whenever I'm checking up on the pub!
  23. With regard to the Mayflower, they had bad weather and storms (large waves make it impossible to reach high speeds for a boat like her) and even had some damage to repair with a deck beam. Additionally, 5 kts for an extended voyage like that might be asking a lot out of a sailing vessel. Weed growth will hinder speed, as well as helmsman not always being able to steer a strait course. Most importantly, many vessels of that era were just not sailed fast when there was no need because of the wear and tear on the equipment and added risk to the ship. I was occasionally following the replica HMB Endeavour on her circumnavigation of Australia. They had a live feed of her whenever she was sailing, and often it was in the 3 kt range, and she's likely bigger (and theoretically faster) than most of the pirate ships would be. Many times I saw her going 1-2 kts. Her top sailing speed is obviously much faster, but there are many other considerations to take, like the amount of water a wooden hull will make when traveling faster or the health and experience of the crew if they're needed to furl a sail quickly during a squall. Then there are also just days with little wind. I seem to remember in a sail cruising forum a discussion about voyage planning speed that stated something like 50-65% of your maximum hull speed should be your planned speed. This is with the convenience of having an engine when the wind is light (and also the option of motor sailing), GPS giving you more accurate fix data and thus sailing a shorter course, and up to date weather information so you can leave port at the right time to hit favorable winds.
  24. I had another revelation about the frequency of 'John' on these muster roles. 1 in 5 does is a rather high proportion, but maybe not quite so high as it might seem. I was once serving on a CG cutter with a compliment of about 50. We had 4 Michaels (or some derivation) and one Michelle. That's a 1 in 10 ratio (if you count Michelle), and considering 25-35% of the crew was female and we had more than just English descendants on board, I wouldn't be too surprised at that 1 in 5 ratio. If it was the most common name overall, then it makes sense that the commonality transferred over to sailors as well. I'm not too well versed in names of that era, but I would assume (dangerous, I know) that they probably had a bit smaller pool of names, probably largely biblical-based ones, and thus a higher ratio of the most common name is not out of the question.
  25. Could John have also just been a slang name for any British sailor, in the same way that Joe was synonymous with U.S. soldier, Tommy was a British soldier, and Fritz or Jerry were German soldiers? I seem to remember (a long time ago, so this is very rusty trivia) that John was used to describe American sailors and Jack or Jack Tar was used for limejuicers. Of course, I believe that this was closer to the packet days of the mid 1800's-1900's. I wouldn't be too surprised, either, if John was taken on as a name when going to sea or turning to piracy, if it were a common one, much like 'John Doe' in order to maintain some anonymity in the event of trying to evade authorities. Of course, this is mostly just speculation on my part.
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