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The Boots We Wear (On Bucket Boots)


Pirate Petee

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Haven't been to some of the more central areas of PA, have ya, bro?

Oh yeah I sure have...all too familar with that phenomenon. :P

I like how here in the States whenever some shuckster has something to sell on an informercial they get a British gal or guy to do the talking. Because they know that us dumb Yanks assume that anyone with a British accent is an intellectual who knows what they are talking about. :lol:

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Yup! Back when the Victoria's Secret catalog first came out -- before they used supermodels and had stores everywhere -- they had "Victoria's Secret, London" as the return address on their catalogs (they were in Ohio) and had a good but fake British woman's voice on their phone line. :lol:

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He does!

But he's still a damned, dirty foreigner... :P

Of course I'm only saying that because he's making me buy my own drinks next month! :lol:

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Kass, if you leave Bob at home I might buy the drinks and treat you to one of the finest English accents there is...

Foxe

"With this Fore-Staff he fansies he does Wonders, when, God knows, it amounts to no more but only to solve that simple Question, Where are we? Which every chi'd in London can tell you." - Ned Ward The Wooden World Dissected, 1707


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Hee hee hee! You weren't trying to follow my train of thought, were you Petee? Should have warned you: that way lies madness! :lol:

The quick story: I'm going to England next month to the Reenactors' Market. My husband does ECW and wants a pair of Bucket Boots made by this amazing historical shoemaker, Sarah Juniper. If he's talking to her, he'll be so entranced that Ed could probably buy me drinks for three days before he'd notice I was gone. Of course this means I'd have to let him buy Bucket Boots! :P

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Not a problem, Josh. You know me! If he even thinks about wearing his Bucket Boots instead of his poncy, high-heeled 1690s shoes to a GAoP event, I'll kick him in the knees! Or at the very least, refuse to make him any more bobbin lace... :lol:

If you did, so did I, Josh!

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THREE DAYS! I don't know about that... oh, hang on... three days in a bar with such wonderful company... :lol:

Foxe

"With this Fore-Staff he fansies he does Wonders, when, God knows, it amounts to no more but only to solve that simple Question, Where are we? Which every chi'd in London can tell you." - Ned Ward The Wooden World Dissected, 1707


ETFox.co.uk

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. I don’t think Hollywood came up with the idea that they wore boots, there are a lot of early 19th century images of seamen wearing boots, that’s in the 1800’s, a lot closer to the GAoP than we are :lol: , with so many depictions of them wearing boots it had to have come from some where.

Early 19th century was still some 75 - 100 years AFTER the GAOP. Look at the fashion changes that have occurred between 1905-1930 to the present day; a comparable period of time.

Boots seem to have been "in" during the buccaneering era, "out" during the Golden Age, and "in" again during the early 1800's.

I recall reading in a book about Admiral Nelson, c. 1805, one officer advising a younger colleague to change from boots into shoes before battle: the high boots would afford nil protection but would make it that much harder for the surgeon to remove musket ball, splinters, etc. from his legs.

Capt. William

"The fight's not over while there's a shot in the locker!"

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A man might not have a horse, but he'd have bucket boots and "pretend".   :lol:

OOOOHHHHHH!!!!!! I get it now!!!! Kinda like how men today drive really BIG trucks, even though they don't have big... :P ...uh, nevermind....

And thanks fer the hanky!!

Foxe, et al: As far as 'stealing' boots - well, I guess I'm thinking more along the lines of the filibusters, who spent a bit of time ashore raiding and pillaging...but that's before the GAoP. And there was always the odd merchant ship or two, with goods for the colonies and islands. But no worries...I don't for a moment think that pirates EVER sacked a Boot Barn or anything... :P

So, no, they probably didn't go ashore in slops and shirt, but they probably didn't wear that at sea much either. There's a bit in Henry Teonge's diary where his ship is sailing off the North African coast in the middle of summer - one of the hottest and most oppresive atmospheres in the world - and one day he notes that the seamen "put off" their jackets. Even in that climate it was news that the men were in their shirt sleeves. What differentiated them from the landsmen was that they wore wide open slops instead of breeches and short jackets instead of long coats, floppy hats or thrum caps instead of large tricorns etc.

Okay - now yer gonna make my head explode again! Did you not say in the beginning that they didn't wear slops much, and then that they wore slops instead of breeches? Is there a time-frame diff here, or do I have Peteeitis and I'm just reading something wrong?

So - GAoP attire consisted of: a hat, shirt, jacket (with or without waistcoat), neck-cloth, breeches or trousers, stockings, and shoes. Is that 'jacket' short, or more like a justaucorps?

And Buccaneer era attire consisted of: a hat and doublet (instead of waistcoat?) and breeches (loose or tight legged?) and boots - or another type of shoe (WHAT kind of shoe if not boots?) No coat for this period???

Slowly, but surely, things ARE starting to sink in... :P

das

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Boots seem to have been "in" during the buccaneering era, "out" during the Golden Age, and "in" again during the early 1800's.

I recall reading in a book about Admiral Nelson, c. 1805, one officer advising a younger colleague to change from boots into shoes before battle: the high boots would afford nil protection but would make it that much harder for the surgeon to remove musket ball, splinters, etc. from his legs.

I'd be bit cautious about describing boots as "in" for the buccaneering era, but they were certainly less "out" than in the GAoP.

I think I must have read about that Nelsonian incident too.

Okay - now yer gonna make my head explode again! Did you not say in the beginning that they didn't wear slops much, and then that they wore slops instead of breeches? Is there a time-frame diff here, or do I have Peteeitis and I'm just reading something wrong?

So - GAoP attire consisted of: a hat, shirt, jacket (with or without waistcoat), neck-cloth, breeches or trousers, stockings, and shoes. Is that 'jacket' short, or more like a justaucorps?

What I meant was that the sailor's outfit didn't just consist of slops and shirt. I think you have a mild case of Peteeitis, which you possibly caught from my writing in a confusing manner...

I was using "breeches" figuratively to mean anything which covered the top half of the legs - breeches proper, slops, petticoat breeches etc. Jackets were, for the most part, short amongst seamen.

And Buccaneer era attire consisted of: a hat and doublet (instead of waistcoat?) and breeches (loose or tight legged?) and boots - or another type of shoe (WHAT kind of shoe if not boots?) No coat for this period???

It rather depends what sort of person and what specific time frame we're talking about here. Typical landsmen's clothes of the buccaneer period would have been a doublet in the early period, and either a doublet or a long coat/waistcoat in the later part. Soldier's uniforms tended to be short jackets in the early part and long coats in the later part. Seamen generally wore either jackets or short smocks (though sometimes doublets) throughout. The style of breeches which was popular changed dramatically during the period. Many of the buccaneers proper wore a very distinctive outfit consisting of a long shirt (possibly with a normal shirt beneath it), sometimes a short jacket over the top, and bound leggings, with or without breeches. Bear in mind that the larger buccaneer bands were made up of all sorts - soldiers, sailors, pig-hunters etc. Shoes for all the above were what is generally referred to as latchet shoes - quite plain with one lacing hole. Lemme find some pictures...

english_civil_war.jpg

1630s-50s. Soldiers. Breeches, short jackets etc

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Statue of a typical 17thC seaman. Doublet, slops etc. (I need to run down the original statue and get a good look at it, but if you look at his left leg he appears to have a row of buttons up it - quite possibly this is a short legged boot. Woohoo! back on topic!)

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Seamen 1640s. Note a mix of jackets and doublets. One guy has a doublet on its own, another has one under his jacket.

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1660s-90s. This guy is actually a sea-gunner, but it gives a good impression of post-Restoration military and civilian dress.

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Typical "pig-hunter" buccaneers. Long shirts, leggings, short jackets, no breeches.

The "buccaneer" period really lasted something like 80 years (though there was a 20 year high point between about 1670 and 90) so fashions changed quite a bit, and different parts of society had their own fashions.

Despite the radical differences, all of the above oufits would be suitable for buccaneering.

Foxe

"With this Fore-Staff he fansies he does Wonders, when, God knows, it amounts to no more but only to solve that simple Question, Where are we? Which every chi'd in London can tell you." - Ned Ward The Wooden World Dissected, 1707


ETFox.co.uk

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