Fox

Define cutlasses. "Cutlass" is really just a familiar name for a type of sword which might equally be called a falchion, hanger, or one of many other names. People in the 16-18th centuries weren't so hung up on definitions as we are. If we take a cutlass to be a short, relatively heavy, single edged cutting sword then it has its origins in the medieval falchion of the 13th century, and remained in use until the dcline of swords.

Folks like Mission will tell you that I've always had a hard time swallowing the "life was terrible in the Navy, pirates were just trying to escape an unjust system" bollocks. They would be entirely correct, I do have a hard time swallowing it. It is certainly possible, even likely, that some pirates took to piracy for politically motivated reasons (including the whole unjust society/brutal navy malarky), but the evidence for any kind of mass motivation of that nature is entirely absent - despite what Rediker likes to have us believe. On the subject of the "brutal navy", does anyone know of any actual period source supporting the idea that the RN was considered brutal by contemporaries? OK, one might find odd examples of brutality, but they would be just that - odd examples. Somewhere I've got figures of volunteers and pressed men in the RN for the late 17th-mid 18th centuries and I'm sure that in all cases the number of volunteers each year was higher than the number of pressed men, though I can't find my notes at the moment so I might be wrong*. However the noted diarist, artist and merchant seaman Edward Barlow wrote: As Barlow noted, there was a pension for injured seamen. The Chatham Chest had been founded a century before Morgan's men received compensation for their injuries on the Panama expedition. A succession of hospitals were run for the benefit of men who had suffered injury or illness in the Navy, culminating with the Greenwich Hospital which was partly built with the funds captured from Kidd. Similarly, at least as early as the Commonwealth of 1649-60 the seamen on Navy ships had the right to protest their officers (provided that protests were made at the appropriate time and did not involve actually disobeying orders), and if their protests were considered just then the Admiralty might well take action against officers who were unfair to their men - even going so far as removing them from their posts. OK, so it was a slower system than the pirate way, but that's bureaucracy for you. The point is though that pirates were not "the first true democracy", they didn't work out "the world's first compensation system" (giving today's litigious society, is that necessarily a good thing anyway?), and it's really unlikely that they were fleeing from a brutal and oppressive Royal Navy. Far more likely is that they were fleeing unemployment, seeking riches, or at least a living, and they stole most of their ideas of democracy from ideals already familiar in the Navy and aboard privateers. They might have improved some, but that's not the same as inventing them. * Appendix III of NAM Rodger's excellent "The Wooden World" gives numbers of men of 5 ships between 1755 and 1761. 15% of the men were press-ganged, 25.9% were turned over from other ships, and 55.6% were volunteers. In each of the five ships the number of volunteers was at least nearly twice the number of pressed men, in some cases much higher: HMS Ambuscade for example had, between 1755 and 1761, 4.1% pressed men and 60.1% volunteers.

Traditionally the RN has a different toast for each day of the week. Friday's is curiously fitting. "A willing foe and sea-room"

I have made several RN officers' coats of that period (including a captain's undress coat). There was no set pattern for officers coats so they followed the civilian fashions of the time, with specific braid and buttons depending on rank. So, if you can get hold of a pattern for any coats of the right period it would do. The only things actually specified by Admiralty orders were whether the coat was single or double breasted (Captains' were double breasted),whether the collar was falling or standing, the colours and the braid and buttons. I believe I took a pattern from Norah Waugh's excellent "The Cut of Men's Clothes". An undress Captain's uniform, modelled on Sir Sidney Smith's at the siege of Acre RN Lieutenant's dress coat I also have in my possession an original pre-1812 Read-Admiral's coat so if you're planning to go for ultra-authenticity I'd be happy help with construction details.

The only difference between a wolf and a foxe is that we're better looking... :) What would I do with you and Rummy in a hole? What wouldn't I do?! OK, if you wan't specifics... let's start with lip-licking (the better to eat you with hehe) and then <CENSORED: on grounds of decency. You'll have to PM me if you really want to know >

So, the other day Vixen says to me "Can I throw out some of your old paperwork?", pointing at the 2ft stack of notes and photocopies that sat by my desk. About six months ago I promised to tidy them, skimmed about 5 folders' worth off the top then gave up. Long story short, I've been spending the last couple of days (and the next week at least) sorting through my notes and trying to put them into some sort of order. I've come across all sorts of exciting things, including this: A broken grenade recovered from the wreck of HMS Dartmouth which sank off Scotland in 1690. I thought it might be of interest to you guys. I'm pretty sure the scale is in half inches (possibly centimetres), and it appears to have broken down the casting line, giving us a nice "cutaway" view. Bloody good job she hasn't looked in the drawers yet...

As long as Rummy and Scarlet are in it with me I'm happy...

I suspect Mr Moon would prefer Christine to do the fanning (who wouldn't?) Oh the temptation is so great to post a pic of my broad shoulders, broad chest and muscle bound arms... but... well... (help me out here guys...)

High Fidelity. Try this one: "And that, my liege, is how we know the world to be banana shaped"

Plans, I don't make plans! Go with the flow - if it feels good, do it! So ladies, if you'd like to follow me...

Try killing it with rum, that way if it doesn't die at least it will taste good. <note to assassins - if any of you have been hired to "whack" me, I am violently allergic to rum and would definitely die if you made me drink, say, a bottle or two of it.>

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I'm afraid I have no idea. I know the theory of horn, and I've seen it demonstrated with a bent horn spoon, but I've never really worked horn so I couldn't tell you. Onion bottles - been looking for decent ones at a decent price myself for ages...

I'm not convinced I ever knew!

Boiled horn becomes quite supple so it can be used to make all sorts of things. If you wanted something very authentic and very maritimey to keep your rum in, how about having your wife make you a ceramic case bottle? Case bottles were most frequently made of glass, but I have seen ceramic examples, including some blue and white painted chinese porcelain ones from the early 18thC. Case bottles come in various sizes, but the important thing is that they're square (so they fit nicely in a case), and most commonly they have similar proportions to a wine bottle, but with a much shorter neck.

I don't mind people not agreeing with me . I offer my opinions and research freely, ignore them or accept them as you will. There were some really nice horn beakers in that link Deadeye, but you notice they all had flat bottoms.

I got a difficulty believing in post Viking-era drinking horns. Horn cups with flat bottoms I've certainly come across, but with the point still on? I dunno, it's not like they couldn't afford/didn't have anything more sensible.

Never come across 3/4 length sleeves in the 17th or 18th century. Bear in mind that, as Kass says, the cuffs were narrow, we're not talking Errol Flynn style baggy "pirate" shirts, and if the cuffs really were in the way any time you'd just roll them up.

I've not seen any evidence that either the glass time or the knot distance was standardised before the 19th century. The important thing is that the line and the glass match each other.

Sound plan GoF!

Carry On films do get shown occasionally on the BBC, but the BBC isn't exactly a film-heavy channel so it's not surprising if you haven't caught one. They really aren't obscure, they just haven't made it to the States obviously. Which really surprises me. No idea about Rummy's quote, but I know exactly the feeling...

Are you colonials really telling me that the "Carry On" films never made it to America? Blimey! The longest running film series ever? Began with Carry On Sergeant in the 50s and ended with Carry On Columbus in the 90s. I'm amazed! Obscure? I think not! Since it's clear you're not going to get it though I'll give it to you - the line came from Carry On England. I'll hand the baton to whoever wants it since it wasn't really my turn anyway...

I have pockets in all my gear, but I still get food in my hair. I don't see the connection... There's no question in my mind about the superiority of cats as a species. They have reached a transcendental state of non-reliance on pockets.

Why are pockets a no-no? The engravings of seaman by Theodore de Bry of about 1600 clearly show pockets in breeches and smocks. The 1706 Admiralty Slop Contracts call for three pockets in pairs of breeches. Pockets, says I, they were invented by seamen for the very good reason that having bags and purses dangling about the body when trying to work a ship is dangerous and daft.

In the series of films: Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Sid James, Barbara Windsor, Joan Sims, Jim Dale... In this particular film: Kenneth Connor, Windsor Davies, Jack Douglas, Patrick Mower, Judy Geeson...