Captain Twill
Academic Fight Circle, Research, Share, Discuss & Debate Maritime History.
1,566 topics in this forum
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i have made a traverse board and explained it use and also researched the different boards displayed on the internet. about a year ago i had someone tell me that on the speed grid (ship knots across the top and half hours down the side) there should be an extra set of speed holes to the left on each knot grid and it would be pegged if the ship was becalmed. the "Mariners Museum" it Newport va. has a traverse board similar but with only one extra speed holes located to the far left on the first grid. so it look like this: 0 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 …
Last reply by Silver, -
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I am pleased to be able to announce that the University of Exeter's distance-learning course, 'The Real and Imagined World of Pirates' will be running again beginning April 25th 2016. http://education.exeter.ac.uk/dll/details.php?code=DLH20
Last reply by Three sheets, -
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hi folks I need some 17th Century help for my Pirate/Privateer character based on Henry Morgan, I need to know 17th Century Criminal terms and Criminal types. The type of ships that were used and what type of steering as well. LW
Last reply by modernknight1, -
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I decided to make a Black Sails editorial for my website to replace my old review I wrote a couple of years ago. I condensed my critique of the accuracy and created a whole new section explaining the significance of Black Sails in the realm of the pirate genre in Hollywood and why it took so long to get a show like Black Sails. http://csphistorical.com/2016/02/07/editorial-black-sails-historical-accuracy-and-the-pirate-genre-in-hollywood/
Last reply by Jib, -
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Ahoy, mates! I have written an article describing the complex political and historical context of what it meant to be a Jacobite. Please enjoy and parley on the points! http://bcbrooks.blogspot.com/2016/02/are-jacobites-criminals-or-just-loud.html Note the article from my book on Richard Tookerman of South Carolina that I referred to in the blog article: http://bcbrooks.blogspot.com/2015/12/south-carolinas-gentleman-pirate.html Baylus C. Brooks Candidate in Maritime Studies Program East Carolina University Professional Research Historian at Brooks Historical Amazon Author Page LinkedIn Profile
Last reply by Coastie04, -
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A new book dealing with Blackbeard the pirate has apparently been published. http://nc-historical-publications.stores.yahoo.net/4793.html Here is an article, while rather superficial, that it seems based on the writer's central arguments. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3373461/Was-Blackbeard-GENTLEMAN-Historical-records-feared-pirate-actually-aristocratic-family-man-gave-wealth-help-brother-sister.html Interesting. I wonder if its ideas will be accepted. I have not read the book or anything so I don't know too much about that. Still I found a link to the article and there to the book. Based on the short article it I am a little wary of some of the ar…
Last reply by LookingGlass, -
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I've written another article for my site, this time on period correct food for Anglo-American sailors and pirates from 1680-1740. This is only the first part, there will be a second since the subject is way too big for one article. Hope you all enjoy: http://csphistorical.com/2016/01/24/salt-pork-ships-biscuit-and-burgoo-sea-provisions-for-common-sailors-and-pirates-part-1/
Last reply by William Brand, -
Agreed. Come to this side of the pond Hurricane, I'll see your Old Maui and raise you Hanging Johnny... While this is getting way off topic, I'd like to add a thought or two about shanties. Firstly, there are some jolly good shanties that aren't necessarily whaling songs, but I certainly agree that most of them, and all of the better known ones, date from the 19th century, or, at best, possibly the very late 18th. Either way, they're out of period. Now, I wonder about the reason for the lack of earlier shanties. It has been suggested that earlier sailors didn't really sing them, but it seems unlikely that one day in 1785 a sailor said "gee, I know we've been at t…
Last reply by William Brand, -
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In our modern world today, we can have light whenever we want, in just about any amount we want, and we don't have to set fire to anything to get it. Just throw a switch, push a button, turn a knob and the ceiling lamp, flashlight, or portable lantern is ready to help us keep from crashing into, tripping over, or falling off of our environment. What were one's options with regard to lighting in the 17th and 18th centuries (apart, of course, from doing without)? What did the lamps use, oil? What did they look like? Were torches just sticks with one end afire or was there more to it than that? Did the guys in the magazine work in the dark or was there some sort of safety l…
Last reply by sea haugh, -
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Hi there team Pyracy Pub, I've been stalking this forum for years, chiming in when I joined and only recently again. I am trying to wade through the multitude of 'facts' about Anne Bonny's life. I'd love to have a discussion on what can be true (in our opinions!) and what can't be - especially when it comes to dates! BORN: 8th March 1702? 1698? 1700? In Bullens Cove? Cork? ALIAS: Bonn? Fulforn? MARRIED JAMES BONNY: 1718 (which would make her either 16, 20 or 18)? MET RACKHAM: 1720 (Rackham arriving in 1719)? CAPTURED: ?? 1720: Governer Woodes Rodgers issues notice in Boston Gazette about Rackham and 12 others (incl. Mary and Anne) stealing a 12 ton sloop and en…
Last reply by Mission, -
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Hello, everyone! So after much research and looking over this forum, I have been unable to find an example of a complete period manifest, circa 1720. Everything I try to pursue ends up being a list of names but what I am searching for is an accurate account of what cargo a ship of the period might have on board. Both for goods of business and crew rations [apologies if the latter is called something different]. I am writing about multiple types of vessels; a royal navy 6th rate frigate with a complement of 149 and equipped in a warlike fashion, an English sugar merchant sloop with a compliment of 80, a pirate brig with a complement of 163, and a pirate sloop-of-war with …
Last reply by Mission, -
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So as I am preparing for my personal first attempt at being PC at a Pirate event, I'm wondering if there is an acceptable way to tote around my pewter tankard. I'm reasonably certain that my Renfair belt attachment with resplendent skull and crossed sword concho is going to cut it. Is there a way to carry this around other than in a haversack or carrying it in hand all day or hiring someone to impersonate a cabin boy/servant for me?
Last reply by William Brand, -
If it's ok with everyone I'd like to get the ball rolling on this with two books which should be easily available (if they're not on your shelves already). My suggestion is that anyone who fancies gets hold of a copy of each of these books then in a month or so we discuss and compare the two. Shall we say around the 15th of October? Hopefully we'll all learn stuff and we'll be able (as time goes on) to weed out books which turn out to be rubbish. I suggest breaking in gently with: Under the Black Flag, by David Cordingly. And Pirates: Blood and Thunder on the High Seas, by Nigel Cawthorne. Anyone up for this?
Last reply by PhilJohnson, -
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The mermaid craze at pirate events continues to grow to such a degree that I feel it's time that we discuss the mythology in historic context. Too often I hear pirate event organizers tout the idea of adding mermaids to one event or another using the reasoning that 'pirates and mermaids go together', so let's discuss that. First, this isn't an attempt to prove that mermaids exist with historic conjecture. No. This is to discuss the historic believe and also fears of mermaids from the point of view of sailors in the Golden Age of Pyracy. Second, if you love dressing up as a mermaid, don't take this personally. This is just a candid discussion about mermaid …
Last reply by Swashbuckler 1700, -
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In this documentary there is a some interesting info about pirate William Condon http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2118705/ (yes documentaries are rarely 100% accurate and this doesn't seem to be an exception) It can be, it seems at least for the time being found on YouTube when you search "pirate Island documentary" I am merely interested about one thing First of all Wiki (yes it is wiki but...) knows the man William Condon alias "Billy One Hand" who seems to be the very same man as Christoper Condent http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Condon and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Condent (neither of the articles are good unfortunately. Not many sour…
Last reply by sea haugh, -
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I’ve written another article for my site, CSP Historical, this time about Blackbeard. It’s called “The Firsts of Blackbeard: Exploring Edward Thatch’s Early Days as a Pirate.” By examining Thatch’s early career up to about November of 1717, through the lens of when particular firsts occurred, I help clear away the myths and clutter surrounding Thatch’s early history. In the process, I also end up examining some of Hornigold’s history and the seldom-mentioned Captain Napping. I suspect there’s a little bit of something for everyone in this article. In my previous article review, I mentioned delaying an article because I wanted to obtain some documents. This is that a…
Last reply by Brit.Privateer, -
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Hi I was wondering why the British East India Company as bin shown as Bad Guys in Movies, in the Pirate of Caribbean series and Behind the Mask movie. In the 18th Century there shown as greedy Corp like in Wall Street. LW
Last reply by Mission, -
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I looked for a generic topic on battle prep and couldn't find one, so I thought I'd just create a catch all topic. At present, I am reading Abraham Crowley's journal Crowley's Voyage Round the Globe as included in William Hacke's A collection of original voyages (1699). Crowley served with Dampier and Lionel Wafer under Bartholomew Sharp. Here, he is talking about a Dutch East Indiaman preparing for battle when the spot the ship Crowley is on. I thought the description was sort of neat. "Most of the Men were got on shoar, but seeing a strong Ship standing in toward the Road, they instantly repaired all on board, clapping a pring upon the Cable, heaved her broad-side to…
Last reply by Mission, -
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Hello all! So I am quite new to this site and am very excited to pick the brains of such passionate people. Why I'm here... I have started writing a fictional, pirate novel series based in the Caribbean during the period of 1701-1725 [because of character backstories and whatnot] and keep hitting historical snags. My want is to write a book for people like us. Those of us who live and breathe history and laugh absurdly at Pirates of the Caribbean and its inability to choose a period. And although no body of writing is ever perfect, I want to be as authentic as possible. In today's society, even in books, I feel pirate related fights and personalities are not fairly pro…
Last reply by Fox, -
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The pirates’ view of slaves has been debated before and the answer is probably as usual, that it differed from person to person and time to time. We know that some ships had free Africans among their crew and we also know that some pirates had slaves when they settled down / retired at land. But what about slaves in the crew? Do we know if any commercial ships had slave crews? My thought goes like this: if the commercial ships didn’t have slaves, the pirates probably didn’t either. Perhaps it was a too big risk to use slaves for such jobs? Sailors weren’t paid very much anyway, but still had some sort of motivation of the payment. And pirate ships easily found new recru…
Last reply by Mission, -
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An internet search and a library search have yielded little for me regarding when bottles and corks, etc. were manufactured and used. The Restoration London book says at that time liquor was not stored in bottles because there was no way to seal the bottles. I'm wondering in particular about the late 1600's for what I'm writing. Anyone know of any good resources?
Last reply by Mission, -
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As I was building some hand grenade dummies the question arose, how I am supposed to light them up period correct. As there are no pirate lighter shops around the corner in my part of the globe, I wonder if there are some lighters for the early 1700s to buy somewhere else? Or is there an easier way to light up things?
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I'm reading Colin Woodard's Republic of Pirates (good stuff, that) and came to thinking: Olivier La Buse* was cruising in 1716 with Hornigold, and was later with John Taylor at the capture of the Nossa Senhora do Cabo in 1721. That's a piratical career of five years as captain. Bartholomew Roberts, often cited as one of the longest serving Golden Age captains, lasted less than half that long. Of course, the fact that La Buse was a captain in 1716 and was one in 1721 doesn't mean he spent the whole intervening time as a captain; he could have been deposed and re-elected several times. Foxe mentioned in another thread that La Buse at one point replaced Jasper Seagar as …
Last reply by RoyalJames, -
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Hello pyracy! This being my first post, i would like to start off with possibly the most underrated pirate captain: John Taylor. If your a big pirate afficianado, you may recall Taylor as the man who sacked England from his position after one of the largest pirate prizes being taken from the ship Cassandra; a booty worth tens of millions of dollars in modern currency. However, his story does not end there, and from the accounts of his deeds it is a shame he is known as a mere footnote in the shadow of E. England. Captain Taylor, although not the flashiest, most bloodthirsty, or richest pirate, is probably the most efficient pirate to ever sail. Taylor, unlike the…
Last reply by sea haugh, -
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Well, we know which kind of competitions are now at public fairs of all kind. But which kind of competitions were spicing a harbour town's holidays? I know there were cockfights, dog fights someplaces, there were men brawling and the winner took a part of the bets (ancestor of nowadays boxing)... I had heard that in Scotland there were big logs to be lifted and thrown away by strong men. Which kind of sport competitions (ie showing the men's strength) were in the 1700s? Perhaps archery, I guess, but what more?
Last reply by Capt. Bo of the WTF co.,
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