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Calico Jack

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About Calico Jack

  • Birthday 03/16/1972

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    http://maritime.museum.gov.ns.ca/
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    Port o' Halifax, New Scotland...
  1. Ross Farm in Nova Scotia sell barrels in assorted sizes, built with wooden hoops. http://www.lanephotography.com/ross_farm/making_wooden_barrels/making_wooden_barrels.htm http://museum.gov.ns.ca/rfm/en/home/visitus/museumshop.aspx
  2. The smoking of tobacco is known [in the 16th century in Ottoman Europe] to cause dizziness, fatigue, and queasiness, yet tobacco is at the same time considered a useful medicinal for a variety of ailments, sometimes inhaled and most times chewed or used as a plaster. Smoking could be considered [by James the 1st in 1604] a "custome lothsome to the eye, hatefull to the Nose, harmefull to the braine, dangerous to the Lungs, and in the blacke stinking fume thereof, neerest resembling the horrible Stigian smoke of the pit that is bottomelesse." Even so, as mentioned by folks above there is distinct documentary evidence demonstrating that the smoking of it was a social feature throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Useful medicinal you say? Well! Of the Tabaco and of His Greate Vertues, from Joyfull Newes our of the Newe Founde Worlde by Nicholas Monardes, 1577. THIS herb, which commonly is called tobacco, is an herbe of much antiquity, and known amongst the Indians, and in especially among them of the new Spain, and after that those countries were gotten by our Spaniards, being taught of the Indians, they did profit themselves of those things, in the Wounds which they received in their Wars, healing themselves therewith, to the great benefit of them. Within this few years there has been brought to Spain of it, more to adorn Gardens with the fairness thereof, and to give a pleasant sight, rather then that it was thought it had the marvelous Medicinal virtues which it hash, now we do use of it more for his virtues then for his fairness. It is growing in many parts of the Indies, but ordinarily in moist places, and shadow places, and it is needful that the ground where it is sown, be well tilled, all that it be fruitful ground in all times it is sown, in the hot countries. But in the collide countries it must be sown in the month of March, for that it may defend it self from the frost. The proper name of it amongst the Indians is Pecielt, for the name of Tobacco is given to it of our Spaniards, by reason of an land that is named Tobacco. It is an Herb that does grow and come to be very great: many times to be greater then a Lemon tree, it does cast out one stem from the Root which grows up right, without declining, to any parts, he does cast out many Bowes, straight that well new they be equal with the principal stem of the tree, his Leaf is well nere like to the Leaf of a Sydron tree, they come to be very great, and be of color green, the Plant is heavy, they be in the Garden as Sidrons and Oranges are. For that all the year they are green, and have leaves, and if any wither, they be those that are lowest, in the highest parts of all the Plants, there does grow out the flower, the which is after the manner of white Campanillia, and in the middest of Carnation color, it has a good show when it is dry, it is like to black Poppy seed, and is it is shut up the seed which is very small, and of the color of a dark Tauny. The Root is great, conformable to the greatness of the Plants, divided into many parts, and it is like to wood in substance, the which being parted, it has the heart within, like unto the color of Saffron, and being tossed, it has some bitterness with it. The Rind comes away easily, we know not that the root has any virtue at all. Of only the Leaves we know the virtues, I which we will speak of, although that I do believe that the root has Medicinal virtues enough, the which the time shall discover. And some will say that it has the virtue of Rhubarb, but I have not experimented it as yet, they do keep the leaves after they be dry in the shadow for the effects that we will speak of, and they be made powder, for to use of them in place of the Leaves, for it is not in all parts, the one and the other, is to be kept a great time, without corruption, his complexion is hot and dry in the second degree, it has virtue to heat and to dissolve, with some binding and comforting it gleweth together, and does soder the fresh wounds, and does heal them, the filthy wounds and sores it does cleanse and reduce them to a perfect health, as it shall he spoken of foreword, and so we will speak of the virtues of these Herbs, and of the things that it does profit, every one particularly. This Herb Tobacco has particular virtue to heal griefs of the head, and in especially coming of cold causes, and so it cures the headache when it comes of a cold humor, or of a windy cause, the Leaves must be put hot to it upon the grief, and multiplying them the time that is needful, until the grief be taken away. Some there be that do anoint them with the Oil of Oranges, and it does a very good work. In any manner of grief that is in the body or any part thereof it helps, being of a cold cause, and applied hereunto it takes it away, not without great admiration. In griefs of the breast it does make a marvelous effect, and in especially in those that do cast out matter and rottenness at the mouth, and in them that are short breathed. And any other old evils making of the herb a seething and with Sugar made a Syrup, and being taken in little quantity, it does cause to expel the Matters, and rottenness of the breast marvelously, and the smoke being taken at the mouth, does cause that the matter be put out of the breast, of them that do. In the grief of the stomach, caused of cold causes, or wince, the leaves being put very hot, it does take it away, and dissolves it by multiplying of them, until it be taken away. And it is to be noted, that the leaves are to be warmed better then any other, amongst Ashes or Embers very hot, thrusting the herbs into them, and so to warm them well, and although they be put to with some Ashes, it makes the work better, and of more strong effects. In Opilations of the stomach, and of the inner parts principally, this herb is a great remedy; for that it does dissolve them, and consumes them, and this same it does in any other manner of Opilations or hardness, that is in the belly, the cause being of a cold humor, or of windiness. They must take the herb green, and stamp it, and with those stamped leaves rub the hardness a good while, and at the time as the Herb is in the Mortar a stamping, let there be put to it a few drops of Vinegar, that his work may be made the better, and after the place is rubbed where the pain is, then put upon it one leaf or leaves of the Tobacco being hot, and so let it alone till the next day, and then do the like again, or in place of the leaves put a Linen clothe wet, in the hot Juice. Some there be, that after they have rubbed it with the stamped leaves, they do anoint it with ointments, made for the like evils, and upon it they put the leaves or the juice of the Tobacco. And surely with this cure they have dissolved great and hard opilations, and very old swellings. In the grief of the stone, of the Kidneys and Raines, this Herb does great effects, by putting the leaves into Ashes, or Embers, hot, that they may warm well, and then being put upon the grief, multiplying it as often as it is needful. It is necessary in the Seethinges that is used to be made for Glisters to put into them with the other hinges, the Leaves of this Herb: for that they shall profit much, and likewise for Fomentations and Plasters, that they shall make. In griefs of winces they make the like effect, taking away the pains that does come of the windiness, applying the Leaves after the same sort as it is stated. In the grief of women, which is called the evil of the Mother, putting one leaf of this herb Tobacco very hot, in the manner as it is stated, it does manifest profit: it must be put upon the Navel. And under it some does use to put first of all, things of good smell upon the Navel, and then upon that they put the leaf, in that they do find most profit, is to put the Tacamahaca, or the oil of liquid Amber, and Balsam, and Carana, any thing of these put to the Navel, and kept to it continually, that it may cleave unto it, does manifest profit in griefs of the Mother. In Worms, and in all kind of them, it kills them, and does expel them marvelously, the seething of the herb made a syrup delicately, taken in very little quantity, and the juice thereof put on the navel, it is needful after this be done to give a Glister, that may void them out, and expel them out of the guts. In griefs of the Joints being of a cold cause it makes a marvelous work, the Leaves of this Tobacco being put hot upon the grief, the like does the Juice put upon a little clothe hot. For that it does dissolve the humor, and takes away the pains thereof, if it be a hot cause it does hurt, saving when the humour has been hot, and the subtle is dissolved, and the gross remains. that then it does profit as if the cause were cold, and it is to be understood, that the leaves being put, where as is grief of the said cause, in any part of the body, that it will profit much. In swellings or in cold Impostumes, it does dissolve and undo them, washing them with the hot Juice, and putting the beaten leaves, after they be stamped, or the leaves being whole of the stated Tobacco upon it. In the Tooth ache when the grief is of a cold cause, or of cold Rumes, putting to it a little Ball made of the leaf of the Tobacco, washing first the soothe with a small clothe wet in the Juice, it takes away the pain, and does stay it, that the putrefaction go not forward: in hot causes it does not profit, and this remedy is so common that every one heals. This Herb does marvelously heal the Chilblaines, rubbing them with the stamped leaves, and after putting hands and Feet in hot water, with Salt, and keeping them warm, this is done with great experience in many. [...] In wounds newly hurt and cuttings, strokes, pricks, or any other manner of wound, our Tobacco does marvelous effects. For that it does heal them and makes them sound, the wound must be washed with wine, and procure to anoint the sides of it, taking away that which is superfluous, and then to put the Juice of this herb, and upon it the stamped leaves, and being well bound it shall stand until the next day that they shall return to dress it, after the same fashion they shall keep good order in their meat, using the diet necessary, and if it be needful of any evacuation by stool, the cause being great, let it be done what shall be convenient. And with this order they will heal, without any need of any more Surgery then this herb. Here in this Country, and in this City they know not what to do, having cut or hurt themselves, but to run to the Tobacco, as a most ready remedy, it does marvelous works, without any need of other Surgery, but this only herb. In restraining the flux of blood of the wounds it does most marvelous works, for that the Juice and the Leaves being stamped, is sufficient to restrain any flux of blood. In old Sores it is marvelous the works and the effects that this Herb does, for it heals them wonderfully, making clean and mundifiyng them of all that is superfluous, and of the rottenness, that it hash, and does bring up the flesh, reducing them to perfect health, the which is so common in this City that every man does know it, and I having ministered it to many people as well men as women, in great number, and being grieved of ten, and of twenty years they have healed old rotten sores in legs, and other parts of the body, with only this remedy to the great admiration of all men. The order of the Cure that is to be healed with this herb is this following. The old rotten sores although t they be cankered, let the sick man be purged with the counsel of a Physician, and let him blood if it be needful, and then take this Herb and pound it in a Mortar, and take out the Juice and put it into the Sore, and then after the manner of a Plaster put the stamped leaves upon it which are the Leaves that the Juice is taken out of, and this do once every day eating good Meats, and not exceeding in any disorder, for otherwise it will not profit. And doing this it will make clean the evil flesh being totter, and superfluous, until it come to the whole flesh, and is not to be marveled if that the wound be made very great. For the evil must be eaten up, until it come to the good, and with the same cure putting less quantity of juice it will incarnate, and reduce it to perfect health, in such sort that it does all the works of Surgery, that all the Medicines of the world may do, without having need of any other manner of medicine. The English Physitian, or, Culpeper's Complete Herbal, by Nicholas Culpeper, 1653 Tobacco, English and Indian. It is a martial plant. It is found by good experience to be available to expectorate tough phlegm from the stomach, chest, and lungs; the juice thereof being made into a syrup, or the distilled water of the herb drunk; or the smoke taken by a pipe as is usual [i.e., Culpeper recommends principally that an essence be drunk, but for lungs it can also be smoked if on an empty stomach], but fasting. The same helps to expel worms in the stomach and belly, and to ease the pains in the head, and the griping pains in the bowels ; it is profitable to those that are troubled with the stone in the kidneys, to ease pains, and, by provoking urine, to expel the gravel and the stone ; and has been found very effectual to expel wind. The seed hereof is very effectual to help the tooth-ache, and the ashes of the burnt herb to cleanse the gums and make the teeth white. The herb bruised, and applied to the place grieved with the king's evil [scrofula, or Tuberculous cervical lymphadenitis] helps it in nie or ten days effectually. Monardus [see above] says it is a counter-poison for the biting of any venomous creature, the herb [as a plaister] also being outwardly applied to the hurt place. The distilled water is often given with some sugar before the fit of an ague [non-fluxatious fever], to lessen it, and takes it away in three or four times using. If the distilled faeces of the herb, having been bruised before the distillation, and not distilled dry, be set in warm dung for fourteen days and afterward hung up in a bag in a wine cellar, the liquor that distils therefrom is singularly good for cramps, aches, the gout and sciatica, and to heal itches, scabs, and running ulcers. The juice is also good for all said griefs, and likewise to kill lice.
  3. Now I have to rummage though my bookshelves to find it. [grins] MAY have been the Seaman's Vade Mecum or Defensive War By Sea. That seemed likely, but having glanced through it is more likely from fleet regulations of the period [my period that is - 1720s to 1790s] instructing the officers of the fleet on water use. Bearing in mind, of course, that if the source turns out to be the latter [regulations], then, as with the repeated issuance of special regulations threatening the continued presence of women aboard HM Ships, it would likely indicate that the sailors were shaving too frequently and using too much of the water, and thus NOT holding to that regulation. On a first glance through the Vade Mecum [1744 and 1783 editions] I don't see it, so t will take more searching up. The army regulation I admit to getting at second hand, and so don't have a primary source yet, but will start looking [since shaving in the army is not something I often get asked about]. http://www.modelshipwrightsdatabase.com/pdf/Mountaine1783-TheSeamansVadeMecumandDefensiveWarbySea.pdf There is a free, online edition of the Vade Mecum -- no immediate help here, but a potentially useful resource none-the-less. Edit: From Cook's "A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World Volume 2". Admittedly, bathing and washing and shaving are separate, and one does not necessitate another. Still, it relates to water use aboard ship, and Cook considered himself quite forward-thinking by allowing his men more than common water for his period for use of personal washing; enough to wash weekly: "Let us proceed to another article, one of the most material, the care to guard against putrefaction, by keeping clean the persons, the cloaths, bedding, and berths of the sailors. The Captain acquainted me, that regularly, one morning in the week, he passed his ship's company in review, and saw that every man had changed his linen, and was in other points as clean and neat as circumstances would permit. It is well known how much cleanliness is conducive to health, but it is not so obvious how much it also tends to good order and other virtues. That diligent officer was persuaded (nor was perhaps the observation new) that such men as he could induce to be more cleanly than they were disposed to be of themselves, became at the same time more sober, more orderly, and more attentive to their duty. It must be acknowledged that a seaman has but indifferent means to keep himself clean, had he the greatest inclination to do it; for I have not heard that commanders of ships have yet availed themselves of the _still_ for providing fresh water for washing; and it is well known that sea-water doth not mix with soap, and that linen wet with brine never thoroughly dries. But for Captain Cook, the frequent opportunities he had of taking in water among the islands of the South-Sea, enabled him in that tract to dispense to his ship's company some fresh water for every use; and when he navigated in the high latitudes of the Southern Oceans, he still more abundantly provided them with it, as you will find by the sequel of this discourse."
  4. Clean shaven seems to be the norm for men early in the eighteenth century, at least. That said, ashore in the army, "clean shaven" meant in fact shaving every three days [that's when water and time were provided for doing so]. Aboard English naval vessels, "clean shaven" meant shaving once every seven days, again based on that being when water and time were provided for doing so. As such, "clean shaven" appears to mean "beard-less, but scruffy." Still, whilst pirates who were NOT clean shaven were considered somewhat remarkable, such that their facial hair became a talking point of some note in their description [blackbeard being an extreme example], they do prove that SOME individuals did have facial hair, for what that is worth. Just no proof at all for "many" rather than "some."
  5. Actually, it sounds like Mary Tofts, perhaps the most famous case of birthing rabbits, but not the only. http://wellcomelibrary.blogspot.com/2009/03/extraordinary-delivery-of-rabbets-see.html The Mary Tofts case is quite well known even today, and in this case is most assuredly a hoax [at least in its later stages]. The -type- of case, 'though, was well known enough even at the time to help create some of that fame that surrounded her.
  6. "I merely object to the generalization that pirates in general didn't own slaves, and to the continuing efforts to excuse and ignore African kingdoms' role in cooperating with the white slave traders" Really, a great trouble amongst human beings, whether professional historians, amateur historians, or non-historians, is forgetting to use the word "some," or even the word "this." There is a vast world of difference between the statements "this pirate freed slaves," and "some pirates freed slaves," and of course "pirates freed slaves." Similarly the troubles between "this pirate ship had gear with masonic symbols," "some pirates might have been masons," and "pirates were masons." Usually it comes about because we have an idea seeking proof, rather than evidence seeking an idea. Want to prove that pirates were a political movement rebelling against the social institutions of the time? Find evidence that one was, and you're off and running. Want to prove that pirates were merely criminals solidly entrenched in the broader social structure of the day [albeit at the bottom]? Find evidence of one and.... Did some pirates free blacks from slave ships who were willing to sign articles? Yep. Did some pirates take slaves from slave ships as captured goods for use or sale? Yep. Did some pirates burn slavers with their "cargo" aboard as not monetarily worth the effort? Yep. What does that prove about "pirates?" Only that like any other criminal, their reasons and methods would vary. By time. By location. By origin. By person. Are there broad trends viewable across all of the pirates of the GAoP? Sure. They [almost] all used ships of some sort. Except them as used boats. And a few that were wreckers. And....
  7. Well, various accounts perhaps arbitrarily account him the most vicious of pirates, and he does seem to have been pretty abominable. We've a soft spot for Low up here in Nova Scotia being as he cruised about up here, pillaging for food and medicines. A horrible, horrible man. The MOST cruel of pirates during the GAoP? That's hard to identify. After all, what about all of the not-famous-and-lost-to-history pirates? How cruel were they? We'll never know. The French claim to have found him adrift in the ocean by chance [an unlikely chance, admittedly], and taken him away for hanging, but exposure and starvation are also likely candidates for his inevitable fate. Personally, considering what he did whilst alive, I find a dramatically appropriate fate would have been the death adrift on the open sea to exposure, hunger and thirst.
  8. For actual torture, there is of course that "fine" example of the most terrible of men, Edward Low. R. Scoggins has a brief bit of research at http://portfolio.agnesscott.edu/rscoggins/freshman/fall/fys/piratesresearch.doc which samples the "techniques" reported of Low and others, which should be useful for a quick browse.
  9. Well, to begin with, here in Halifax, the Maritime Museum [or, rather, th' Mar'time Moooooseum] will be dressing up, Arring, and hosting a themed fund-raiser event for Feed the Mind: http://live.haligonia.ca/halifax-ns/haligoniakids/2687-talk-like-a-pirate-to-help-charity-and-whats-your-pirate-name.html More as more becomes public.
  10. Possible? That's akin to reading this forum too much. Ah, well. I also support the idea of tailoring - if your britches are too broad, shift your buttons until the gusseting in the rear can be tightened to your best fit. If you then put on some small weight, you can loosen, re-tightening when you lose it again. Bear in mind that any button shifting needs to include the buttons on the fly as well - whether drop-front or French.
  11. Lovely read, and per the dogs; according to most of the variations on Philip Ashton's account, he nearly escaped from Ned Low's men at one point when Low forced the ship to go back for the dog which had been left ashore. Perhaps a small dog kept for ratting? In any case, it was deemed important enough to turn about and go back when it was discovered the ship's dog was missing.... In case that is of any use. "History of the Strange Adventures and Signal Deliverances of Mr. Philip Ashton", Boston, 1725 - amongst other publications. The variations are slim, and mostly a matter of wording, but all accounts seem to purport to be ghost written under exclusive contract with the "unlettered" sailor.
  12. "During the period of the Napoleonic wars, the naval cat's handle was made of rope about two feet (60 cm) long and about an inch (25 mm) in diameter, and was traditionally covered with red baize cloth. The "tails" were made of cord about a quarter inch (6 mm) in diameter and typically two feet long. A new cat was made for each flogging by a bosun's mate and kept in a red baize bag until use. In Trafalgar time, it was made by the condemned sailor during 24 hours in leg irons" Hmm... Any source? The implication here is that the earlier cat was made of separate cords bound with a rope handle, and that the "make your own punishment out of a rope" cat was later in the wars. A quick glance at French & Indian war cats seem to imply [for example, in the Encyclopedia of the French & Indian War in North America, 1754-1763 by Donald I. Stoetzel] that during F&I, the cat may even have been made of leather strips by those ashore. Crime and punishment in the Royal Navy of the Seven Years' War, 1755-1763 by Markus Eder repeatedly discusses the number of lashes under the cat, but does not seem to give any indication of its construction - seemingly assuming that the reader already knows everything necessary. The Anatomy Department of the Edinburgh University Medical School owns one cat that is supposedly from the late eighteenth century, and is described by them as follows: http://www.hms.org.uk/nelsonsnavycat.htm The NMM also have one, which they date to the early nineteenth century, but that gets WELL past the GAoP era desired. Their server also appears to be off-line at the moment. The only reference to the cat in the 1757 Regulations and instructions relating to His Majesty's service at sea By Great Britain's Privy Council, Admiralty, simply mentions restricting the number of lashes with the cat to 12, "according to the ancient Practice of the sea," unless you get a proper Court-Martial for a greater number of lashes. No description of the cat itself, or how to make one.
  13. Just noticed this thread in an unrelated search, but can also recommend [should folks still be looking] the book: Ashton's Memorial, or, an authentick account of the strange adventures and signal deliverances of Mr. Philip Ashton; who, after he had made his escape from the pirates, liv'd alone on a desolate island for about 16 months, &c.... / J. Barnard, London, printed for Richard Ford and Samuel Chandler, both in the Poultry. 1726. It details the accounts [ghost-written] of Philip Ashton and Nicholas Merrir, both of Marblehead, who were "forced men" on Ned Low's ship in 1722.
  14. Yeah... and I've seen those syringes that (reenactor) surgeons like to show off so much..... Those syringes always make one half of the audience wince, and the other half snicker. That makes it a goodprop to have [grins].
  15. Calico Jack

    Louisbourg

    Images from various 1745-1748 encampments at Louisbourg, NS.
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