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Unfortunately, Mythbusters is no better than any other documentary and in this case 'proved' something completely wrong. The mythbusters experiment was seriously flawed in that the "ship" they used was so light that it wobbled when hit bit a cannon ball, dissipating the force of the impact. Several period sources (including one of Nelson's surgeons IIRC) mention the deadly effect of splinters flying through the crowded area below decks, so it was never actually a myth worth "busting". The splinters don't need to fly straight, if they fly in any direction they'll hit something or someone.

Of course there were Dutch pirates in the GAoP, but only a tiny tiny number. Charles Johnson was more or less convinced that there were none at all and ascribed it to the Dutch herring fishery soaking up the unemployed seamen. The same theory might also hold true for other nations such as the Spanish - any Spaniard who wanted to plunder at sea was welcome to do so in the Guarda Costa, in peace as well as war.

The Bonny and Read quote is in GoF's post here: http://pyracy.com/index.php/topic/4205-dissecting-gaop-costume-part-1-reade-and-bonny/page__hl__%2Bdorothy+%2Bthomas__fromsearch__1

The difficulty is twofold. Firstly, the idea of a strict definable nomenclature for vessels was barely though about in the early 18th century, and even when people thought they were being precise, they didn't necessarily mean the same thing as somebody else being precise. Vessels were sometimes described by their rig - if a period source talks about a "ship", for example, it's a safe bet that it had three masts, even if the number and arrangement of sails is in doubt - but more often than not the description was based on the use the vessel was being put to. Secondly, vessels had their rigs altered. HMS Ferret, the first "sloop" in the Royal Navy had, at different times, either one or two masts, and Thomas Tew's "sloop" Amity had two masts on one voyage to Madagascar, and one mast on its other voyage there (I forget which came first). Thus, since I can't think offhand of any source detailing the number of masts on Condent's ship, we don't know... Tonnage and number of guns are, IMO, the best guide to understanding what a period vessel was like. Crew size is an inherently unreliable indicator, and really even the number of guns can be misleading. The best approach is "best guessing", based on as much information as can be found about a vessel, including tonnage, armament, geographical location, former and current use, and description as a "sloop", "brigantine" (almost always two masted), "ship", or whatever. This approach leaves a great deal of room for interpretation, but you're unlikely to get a definitive answer anyway.

[moderator] I think earrings (and bucket boots, headscarves, parrots, and the like) are pretty well covered on multiple pre-existing threads which you are, of course, free to resurrect and contribute to if you have anything new to add [/moderator].

I was just looking through some photos on farcebook, very impressive and an award richly deserved. (Mind you, I'm not surprised you beat the "Celticke" Braveheart group! What exactly were they meant to be? )

Whilst perusing some documents this evening I've come across two points relevant to this thread: a correction and an addition. Firstly, James Bradshaw was brought to trial, convicted and sentenced to death, but was pardoned. Secondly, in his cell awaiting execution Walter Kennedy admitted that Bart Roberts had "murdered the French Governor of an American Island". No real progress, might (or might not) still have been a lesser official whom the pirates confused with the governor, and no place is mentioned.

Yep, Drake would have had access to an astrolabe. I can't think of any instruments that were available to GAoP pirates but not available to 17thC buccaneers, and only the Davis quadrant would have been available to buccaneers and not to Elizabethan seamen.

Quite likely something as prosaic as there not being enough water or food for all of the slaves to last the voyage, so they got rid of the least valuable ones.

David Cordingly found a case in a newspaper from 1829, and there is another case mentioned in a Jamaican newspaper from 1822. Francis Grose, in his Dictionary of Vulgar Tongue (1785), described walking the plank as "a mode of destroying devoted persons or officers in a mutiny on ship-board, by blindfolding them and obliging them to walk on a plank laid over the ship’s side; by this means, as the mutineers suppose, avoiding the penalty of murder". In my notes I have a reference to this actually occurring during a mutiny of 1769, but I can't at present find details.

That's why I asked. You seemed to imply that pirates of the GAoP had navigational instruments not available to 17th century buccaneers. Mission, I think he does mean bicorn - think "Duke of Wellington".

Chole Black will tell you of the hilarity that ensued on Jersey when we made several punch-bowls full of Sir Cloudsley and decreed that nobody was allowed to go to bed until we'd finished all the booze...

Define "classical navigation instruments"?

In Francis Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1785), Flip is defined as "small beer, brandy and sugar". Add lemon juice and you've got "Sir Cloudsley", a favourite drink of sailors. I've drunk both on regular occasions - Sir Cloudsley (not best on the rocks) is delicious, though I substitute beer for small beer. No proportions are suggested by Grose, so I usually use roughly 1 gallon beer (good British brown beer that is, not the passed-water you colonials call beer), 1 bottle brandy, 1lb brown sugar, and about a pint of lemon juice.

Sable is the heraldic term for black.

Captain St. John Cranby of HMS Poole described the Wynne's flag as "a sable ensigne with Cross bones, a Death's head, and an hour glase".

Several of the Lowther/Low gang used the flag with the skeleton piercing a heart which is usually ascribed to John Quelch. Yes, Bellamy had at least two, both described as black. I thought we'd established that black flags were around before 1718. Yes, that comes from the trial of the survivors from Bellamy's crew, except that in the original it's "under the said colours"

To the average chap on the street a "pirate flag" is black with a white skull and crossed bones. Only someone who'd actually looked into pirate history is likely to be aware of different designs and colours. To the average George Shelvocke on the street a "pirate flag" was yellow with a black skeleton... "John Quelch's" flag wasn't John Quelch's flag. The only flag he's actually recorded as flying is the St. George's cross of England. Well, he captured the ship... False colours were a common and accepted ruse de guerre. Also, Shelvocke wasn't noted for following the rules anyway. Drake definitely used black flags and pennants at Cartagena in 1585. I can't think of any 17th century buccaneers with black flags. I've got quite a lot of them! A search on the forums should find you quite a few Wynne's flag and both of Bellamy's were black. Bellamy is also described flying a Union flag. Not that I know of. No.

Prove it. You have presented one instance, the highlighting of which sort of suggests that this procedure might be out of the ordinary. Found while looking for something else: "V. to keep their Piece, Pistols, and Cutlash clean, and fit for Service: In this they were extravagantly nice, endeavouring to outdo one another, in the Beauty and Richness of their Arms, giving sometimes at an Auction (at the Mast) 30 or 40 l. a Pair, for Pistols..." (Roberts' articles with note by Charles Johnson).

The phrasing of the quote makes it clear, I think, that Shelvocke thought that yellow was a common colour for pirate flags: 'of the pirates', when no specific pirate crew is mentioned, suggests that it's talking about pirates generally. Clearly Shelvocke thought that a yellow and black flag would be recognisable to others as a pirate flag. This is not to say that Shelvocke was right, but there's no reason to suppose that he wasn't. Neither does it mean that every flag was yellow. We know that after 1720 or so, although black was the predominant colour, there were pirate flags of other colours in use, so even if yellow was the predominant colour before 1718 that doesn't mean there weren't other colours in use to. What I will say is that for flags of an unspecified colour, yellow is as likely as any other colour, and possibly more so.

Captain Gordon reported a rumour that he'd heard that Blackbeard was married at Bath, the same rumour that Johnson repeated. No evidence that the rumour was true has yet surfaced (to my knowledge), nor is it known how old the wife might have been. I'm saying that it's not true, it very well may be, but it's still only rumour.

On June 5 1719, according to William Betagh's account, George Shelvocke "ordered the Emperor's colours to be hoisted, which, without any reflection look the most thief-like of any worn by honest men; those of his Imperial Majesty are a black double headed eagle upon a yellow field, and those of the pirates a yellow field and black human skeleton; which at a small distance are not easily distinguished." I haven't counted recently, but thos statistics are still broadly accurate. I think I've found about half a dozen more flag descriptions since then, probably evenly divided between black and no colour specified, and all from after 1718

Has it?

I reckon the chapter on Roberts is one of the most reliable parts of the book, partly because of Atkins, partly because of the availability of material (the printed account of the trial of Roberts' men is one of the fullest, and Roberts made regular appearances in newspapers), and possibly partly because of Johnson's use of several other witnesses. No governor of Martinique is reported as having been killed during the time of Roberts' career, so we can be fairly certain that he didn't really do it. It is possible though that the rumour got mangled and that actually it was some other government official belonging to Martinique or a different foreign colony who might be harder to track.

The slop clothing detailed on GoF's site was intended for use at sea. Bear in mind that not everybody would be furling sails along a yard, and also that buttons were more or less the only type of fastening used in the GAoP.