Fox

A morion is an open faced helmet of one of a variety of designs (think classic Elizabethan helmet). A corselet is a back and breast plate.

A note of expenditure by Sir John Norris for the 1589 expedition to Spain with Drake, dated 30 January 1589, lists: "...disbursed for furniture of all sorts, viz. muskets, calivers, halbards, morions, corslets, pikes... For 600 muskets of a second sort (ie. inferior), provided in this town at 30s apiece furnished... For muskets, calivers, swords, partisans, and other munitions bought of Randall Symes... For muskets and calivers of the best sort..." In February Drake's expenditure included money spent on fire-arrows. Muskets supplied for the Anglo-Dutch expedition against Spain in 1596 cost 20s, calivers cost only 15s. Nathaniel Butler, writing a little later (1620s), is more explicit: "And in this gun room also are to be ordered and kept fixed all the small shot belonging unto the musketeers of the ship's company, together with their bandoleers and proportions of powder and shot..."

Coincidentally, just like the word "phlegm".

Yar, there are plenty of pictures of Elizabethan soldiers with musket rests. The tassle thing is a wrist loop which makes it easier to load.

A quick look at the Lant Roll of Sir Phillip Sydney's funeral procession (can't find a decent online image, but it's reproduced in loads of books) shows musketeers with bandoliers and rests, but calivermen with only powder flasks. The same distinction can be seen in de Gheyn's illustrations of drill from 1607

But in Drake's day the distinction between "land" weapons and "sea" weapons was minimal - if it existed at all. Also, "soldiers" were routinely taken on voyages, though often they were as much sailors as soldiers - they only became soldiers agian when their feet hit dry land. Paul Meekins (Google him) is your man for bandoliers - it's an unhealthy passion of his.

I suspect (but can't confirm) that the original drawing that 117 is based on was by Theodore de Bry, a Dutch artist working in the 1590s - it just looks like his style.

Like Michael said, there are no hard and fast rules, but generally the long S is used except when the S follows a tall letter such as f, h, d, l, b, or indeed a long S. Thus "mess" becomes "mefs", and "standards" becomes "ftandards". And yes, the long S and F are two distinct characters.

As the father of one daughter, I'm inclined to agree. As an historian, I'm also inclined to agree. It's important perhaps to define "history" though. For some "history" is a list of battles, dates, and great (wo)men. At its broadest definition though, "history" is everything that has happened up until the time of typing this. This should include battles, but also the stories of people just living their lives. The everyday experiences of our forbears have probably done more to shape us and the world we live in than battles or leaders. It is probably wrong, then, to concentrate too heavily on the famous one-off women who did unusual things - like turning pirate - to the exclusion of the rest of womenkind. Yep, Bonny and Read (et al) were exceptional, and are certainly interesting, but they were only two women. Shouldn't we be just as impressed by the workforce of women who (and let's arbitrarily define our focus to a maritime context) directly assisted in getting ships to sea, by working themselves around docks and harbours, and indirectly assisted by supporting their male consorts working in the maritime industried, and whose work in both senses was nothing less than vital?

True enough

True, the crossed bones are undeniably historical...

I am reliably informed that planning for next year's event is already in hand. Any of you colonials who wish to come and play would be most welcome to do so. Next year I want four boats attacking instead of one and a whole heap more people...

Not a bad conclusion, but possibly one problem: The red flag, signifying "no quarter" goes back further than the red ensign used by either the Royal Navy or English privateers. English ships fighting the Armada were supplied with a "bluddey flag", for example. Neither was it a specifically English practice: I think it's Ringrose's account which talks about Spanish ships hoisting their red flags to try and intimidate the buccaneers (who, undaunted, raised their as well).

I'm glad this topic has been bumped, because I can't resist posting this video of last weekend...

I have a sketchbook??

Monmouth or thrum hat, both of which I imagine you already have...

Yar, Bonny and Read wore men's clothes during battle, but not to try and kid anyone they were men. All of the witnesses at their trial knew them to be women, and most significantly, within a few days of them starting their piratical career a proclamation was issued naming both of them. We can say with some certainty therefore that no attempt was made to hide their gender. They fell pregnant either before they went to sea or very shortly afterwards, and were pregnant throughout their time as pirates - which wasn't very long. They turned pirate when they stole a sloop from Nassau towards the end of August 1720, and were brought to trial three months later. They were examined at their trial and found to be pregnant, which in the days before ultrasound suggests that they had completed their first trimester. They therefore fell pregnant no later than the beginning of September. Good point Daniel. I can't think of any specific instances, but it's possible.

You mean the "Colonial scuffle"? (And the Scots are British - "English and Scottish", or "British", but not "British and Scottish"). Seriously, and my usual nationalistic jingoism aside, one of the reasons that the USN, and so many other navies, adopted Royal Navy systems and traditions was simply that they worked, and worked very well. The Royal Navy was not universally victorious by any means, but by the end of the eighteenth century it was undoubtedly the best navy in the world - that in itself would have been a good enough reason for emulating it.

Can't speak for the American Navy, but in the Royal Navy it was decided (I forget when ) to pay men prize money for ships captured, sunk, or otherwise destroyed. The incentive of prize money was leading people to abandon their duty in pursuit of prizes during battle. Mayhap the USN had similar problems. Privateers, on the other hand, only got prize money for captured vessels. Prior to 1708 most privateer prizes (possibly all) were condemmned in a Vice-Admiralty court.

Golden Hind, Brixham, Devon: open every day until November Golden Hinde, London HMS Endeavour, Stockton on Tees HMS Victory (original), Portsmouth HMS Warrior (original), Portsmouth HMS Trincomalee (Original), Hartlepool SS Great Britain (original), Bristol Matthew, Bristol HMS Gannet (original), Chatham HMS Unicorn and Discovery (originals), somewhere in Scotland, forget where exactly.

Few points to consider: Anne Bonny and Mary Read were never disguised during their piratical career (provably, Johnson got it wrong, or deliberately fabricated). Whether either of them were disguised before that may depend on whether or not you think Johnson's version is trustworthy. Both were probably pregnant at the time of their becoming pirates. Grace O'Malley did indeed command ships herself. Lady Killigrew, the other famous female 'pirate' contemporary with O'Malley, did not ever, so far as the historical record shows, step foot on a ship, so probably ought not to be considered a pirate. The argument that there might have been disguised who never got discovered may hold true, but only up to a point. Consider, for example, that of the four women known to be pirates between 1720 and 1730, none of them was disguised. We cannot, therefore assume that it ever happened on the basis of precedent. In the maritime world in general, the records of women at sea in disguise are a minority compared to the records of women at sea openly. So, yes, there might have been some that slipped through the net. But the net's probably tighter than might be imagined. We know, or have ways of tracking, the ultimate fate of a large number of pirates, and many hundred of them ended up on trial, the records of which survive. A crowded prison cell would be an even harder place to conceal one's femininity, so we can safely assume that the number of disguised female pirate who made it to trial was nil - or very nearly nil - since none are recorded.

Bligh's launch was only 23-feet IIRC. Good luck to them.

Yup, that's a smallsword hilt if ever there was one.

You don't think I could spend this much time immersed in piracy without somebody else providing me with the necessities for maintaining life do you?

I'm definitely going to be refining my umbrella technique!