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The Mercury Flag


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If a flag is made would it cost much more to have several made so that some of us might be able to have our own?

Much depends on how it is made.

If by hand, each should cost roughly the same. (At least from what I've seen.)

If created my someone like Atlas Flags in Atlanta (well, the Tucker suburb) makes embroidered, appliqued, or printed ones, the cost is cheaper with volume. (Though, that route is less authentic than handsewn.)

-John "Tartan Jack" Wages, of South Carolina

 

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  • 4 months later...

Despite the obvious setbacks of not attending PIP this year, I will be fulfilling the promise of making the Mercury flag, or more to the point, Tracy has agreed to make it by hand. All praise Tracy. I also spoke with Fayma earlier today and made the necessary plans to ship the flag and other things to her. She'll see that it gets to the right people, so prepare to serve under the dark jack of the Mercury.

 

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Despite the obvious setbacks of not attending PIP this year, I will be fulfilling the promise of making the Mercury flag, or more to the point, Tracy has agreed to make it by hand. All praise Tracy. I also spoke with Fayma earlier today and made the necessary plans to ship the flag and other things to her. She'll see that it gets to the right people, so prepare to serve under the dark jack of the Mercury.

We'll be a proud band serving under that flag William...

I was looking forw'd to meetin ya Scallywag. Thanks to you and Tracy for the hard work, even though ya have no obligation. We'll set aside a share of the booty fer ya!

madPete

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Aye... Plunder Awaits!

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Whoo Tracy ...Flag goddess!!!

Some days even my lucky rocketship underpants won't help....

Her reputation was her livelihood.

I'm a pirate, love. By nature and by choice!

My inner voice sometimes has an accent!

My wont? A delicious rip in time...

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Despite the obvious setbacks of not attending PIP this year, I will be fulfilling the promise of making the Mercury flag, or more to the point, Tracy has agreed to make it by hand. All praise Tracy. I also spoke with Fayma earlier today and made the necessary plans to ship the flag and other things to her. She'll see that it gets to the right people, so prepare to serve under the dark jack of the Mercury.

This is a little off-topic but this flag reminds me of New England tombstones. Many of these featured a flying deaths-head. The book In Small Things Forgotten has great chapter on the evolution of these death's heads through multiple generations of headstone carvers.

Here's a typical tombstone from 1680.

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Mark

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With QM Red Wake's permission, I will be showing the Mercury colors on my iphone. I just orderd a custom "skin" for the back...

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Fair Winds,

j8ksdad (Jake's dad)

I'll eat when I'm hungry. I'll drink when I'm dry. If the hard times don't kill me I'll lay down and die.

Rye whiskey! Rye whiskey! Rye whiskey I cry. If you don't give me rye whiskey, I surely will die.

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All of the material for the flag arrived and Tracy has begun to sew the flag. To prepare for the individual pieces of the flag I had to create a pattern using 19 sheets of 11 x 17 and then tape them together. I could have used the overhead projector, but using a pattern seemed more appropriate. I photographed it using Liam for scale.

MercuryFlagScale.jpg

 

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Right then, forget about the flag for just one minute... is that Liam? He's gotten so big and what a fine, good looking fellow indeed....ahem.. must take after his mother... :lol:


"I being shot through the left cheek, the bullet striking away great part of my upper jaw, and several teeth which dropt down the deck where I fell... I was forced to write what I would say to prevent the loss of blood, and because of the pain I suffered by speaking."~ Woodes Rogers

Crewe of the Archangel

http://jcsterlingcptarchang.wix.com/creweofthearchangel#

http://creweofthearchangel.wordpress.com/

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Yes he does take after Tracy and I don't mind saying so. Liam was sitting in her lap just yesterday and I noted to myself how much he looks like her in profile, not to mention that his eyes are more like hers. You have to have seen her eyes up close to know just how lucky Liam will be as he grows up. Girls are going to love his eyes.

He looks good in my hat and he has my smile.

 

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Next Tracy will come home and find William tied to a tree...

no, no, no... then Liam would have to be a pyrate hunter...and if he takes after his father, that will never happen...

right then back on track...


"I being shot through the left cheek, the bullet striking away great part of my upper jaw, and several teeth which dropt down the deck where I fell... I was forced to write what I would say to prevent the loss of blood, and because of the pain I suffered by speaking."~ Woodes Rogers

Crewe of the Archangel

http://jcsterlingcptarchang.wix.com/creweofthearchangel#

http://creweofthearchangel.wordpress.com/

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  • 6 months later...

Eye will be proud to stand under this flag!

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http://www.myspace.com/oderlesseye
http://www.facebook....esseye?ref=name
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Hangin at Execution dock awaits. May yer Life be a long and joyous adventure in gettin there!
As he was about to face the gallows there, the pirate is said to have tossed a sheaf of papers into the crowd, taunting his audience with these final words:

"My treasure to he who can understand."

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Beautiful! So as far as construction, did you trace the pattern onto pieces of fabric, then sew around it, and cut off the excess when they've been sewn down?

Captain Jack McCool, landlocked pirate extraordinaire, Captain of the dreaded prairie schooner Ill Repute, etc. etc.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"That’s what a ship is, you know. It’s not just a keel, and a hull, and a deck, and sails. That’s what a ship needs. But what a ship is… what the Black Pearl really is… is freedom."

-Captain Jack Sparrow

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The black background is all wool in two pieces sewn together. Tracy combined the two widths with a French seam down the middle. It all but disappears even under the best of lighting. The natural linen that makes up the bones and wings was traced using the huge printed paper pattern. The pattern was pinned to the linen and Tracy cut out each piece with a 1/4 inch boarder. This border is tucked under and stitched down. No rough finished edges at all. The left edge of the flag has a piece of inch wide webbing sewn inside the wool to add strength to the grommets to be sewn in at the last.

 

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Shrek... "Do you think he's maybe compensating for something?" :rolleyes:

Seriously, that is one monstrous flag - Fantastic job!

Hope to see it flying at PIP this year as well ... (er, the flag that is)

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Aye... Plunder Awaits!

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For those who don't know . . .

Flags of the period were HUGE. For an ships ensign, that would actually be quite small. Most were more like 20-30 feet long. For larger ships, even bigger.

In the film Master and Commmander, look at the size of the flag on the French ship. That is pretty typical of the period, not as over-sized as many think. In reality, 3x5 is tiny for a ship flag and wouldn't hardly be visible at any distance. Signal flags were about 9x9 and they were supposed to be strung up in "chains" (several at a time on one length) to convey a message. The Nationals were much, much larger.

Take a look at this thread on ensign (main national flag on a ship) size: https://pyracy.com/index.php?showtopic=10853

William,

It looks good! I like.

How big did it end up?

2 double widths would make it about 10' at the hoist and how long?

-John "Tartan Jack" Wages, of South Carolina

 

178804A2-CB54-4706-8CD9-7B8196F1CBD4.jpeg

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