Fox

Nice threads guys. Hah, costumes I want to make (or am half way through making): US Navy lieutenant uniform 1812 Victorian merchant seaman Victorian/Edwardian gamekeeper 15thC seaman GAoP Marine officer and the one I'm currently working on: Barbary pirate (17thC) Don't even start me on the non-reenactment costumes I'm working on! (though funnily enough, one of them is that of a Victorian big game hunter for a Murder Mystery evening I'm writing)

Don't know of any classic fictional pirates with wooden legs... There's a passage in the Edward England chapter of Johnson's General History about "a fellow with a terrible pair of whiskers, and a wooden leg, being stuck round with pistols, like the man in the almanac with darts"... There's also a bit in the Thomas Tew chapter (volume II) where the crew all cry out "A gold chain or a wooden leg, we'll stand by you". That whole chapter (and indeed at least half of that volume) is bollocks, so take it with a pinch of salt. It doesn't necessarily show an association between pirates and wooden legs, but it does show an association between dangerous living and prosthetic limbs.

Is it the Spanish dubbed version of From Hell? (or did I miss the Miguel the Cockney character?) Don Juan De Marco? Blow? Dunno. And FWIW... dogs really can't look up.

I LOVE Shrek!... but you're right, it's probably not a movie I'd quote from.

We'll just imagine it instead... I know what you mean about history in England, I have a lot of difficulty restricting myself. I've now got half-decent kit for most periods between about 150BC and 1945, but I hardly ever use it except for the odd event. Take my 1066 gear: helmet, seax, daneaxe, shield, spear, tunic decorated with hand made inkle braid, hand made shoes... and I last used it in 2000 for...the Battle of Hastings! My trouble is that someone says "Hey Ed, there's a great event coming up at..." and I'm too weak to resist!

Assuming you're talking about golden age of piracy: Trumpeters seem to have been pretty standard on many English vessels and had been for centuries. Drake had a trumpeter (who was also a watch-keeping officer) on the Golden Hind, Monson considered trumpeters (and their mates) to be essential officers on 17thC privateers and Trumpeters were on the pay lists for Royal Navy ships of all sizes until 1797. In battle the trumpeters' purpose was the transmission of orders, but their is no doubt that they played for the entertainment of their friends when off-duty. Just the other day I was reading about a pirate ship with two fiddlers aboard, but I'm jiggered if I can think where! If I can find the reference I'll post it. I know that various flutes and whistles have turned up at shipwreck excavations, but the tin whistle probably didn't come in much before the end of the 18th century. Prior to that wooden whistles would have been the norm. Drums are mentioned in a million and one sources about music at sea, but one has to wonder about the drum-heads in such a damp environment. One other instrument that I have seen evidence for from excavations is the Jew harp, though earlier ones tended to have a straight tang rather than the bent tang common on today's instruments. By Nelson's time fifers were included in most larger marine contingents, and Admiral Collingwood was always accompanied at sea by Northumbrian pipers. FWIW, squeezeboxes weren't invented until well into the 19th century, they belong firmly in the age of steam rather than sail.

Inconceivably easy! Princess Bride. How bout this one? In the forest, the wolf lives for three years and the donkey for nine. That must be a proverb from the Urals, it makes no sense to me. The donkey lives longer because he's more useful. There aren't any donkeys in the forest, you made it up.

Badger, join the UKPirateBrotherhood yahoo group, you'd find a lot of support from people I'm sure. Paul, are you sure it wasn't Sea Thieves who did the Bristol gig? I don't know about big pirate events: Some mebers of ECWS had something going in Poole for a while I believe but it was fairly small. I know that the Northern Historical Re-enactment Soc. has a large SK contingent (it's basically SK and Sea thieves plus a couple of other groups they hire in from time to time I think). They do some pirate events, including an annual one at Hartlepool - perhaps its them you're thinking of?

Hawkyns, you'll be pleased to know that in the West Country the accent is very much alive. I've got friends who even other Englishmen have difficulty understanding. Genuinely! The thing with Robert Newton's LJS portrayal is that LJS was a Bristol man so would have had that accent, and Newton was from Dorset so would have been very familiar with it. When he played the role he just hammed up his own native accent. A few years later he also played Blackbeard as a Bristol born pirate and the accent kinda stuck. Jack, Charleton Heston played LJS in the Olly Reed version of Treasure Island.

Ah, Forbidden Planet... Couldn't decide between two quotes from this film so I'll put 'em both down. -Hancock. I've got lunatics laughing at me from the woods. My original plan has been scuppered now that the jeeps haven't arrived. My communications are completely broken down. Do you really believe any of that can be helped by a cup of tea? -Couldn't hurt, sir. and I've selected you to lead us, not only because of your extraordinary fighting ability, but also because, in the unlikely event the Germans ever get you, they will assume from your attire that they've captured a wreched peasant and immediately send you on your way.

When, where, why haven't I had an invitation, and why don't Lace Wars pirates contact me about coming to SWPF?

Hey John, I bet the Indian (oops, Native American) was wishing she hadn't taken that bet on in the first place wasn't she? Battle of Hastings next year, woohoo! Senlac Hill here we come... best get the rust off me daneaxe, wouldn't want any Normans to get tetanus...

In my 16th century landsknecht gear (in English service) - the photo doesn't do the codpiece justice, I can balance a pint on it. In my morning suit The rejected cover of my CD, "The Sick World of..."

Resident Evil To a New Yorker like you a hero is some kind of wierd sandwich

Who was executed at Execution Dock on Wednesday, the 25th of November, 1696, being of Every’s crew; together with their Free Confession of their most Horrid Crimes. Well may the world against us cry; for these our deeds most base, For which alas! We now must die, death looks us in the face, Which is no more than what’s our due, since we so wicked were, As here shall be declar’d to you. Let pirates then take care. We with our comrades, not yet ta’en, together did agree, And stole a ship out of the Groyne, to roam upon the sea; With which we robb’d and plundered too, no ship that we did spare. Thus many a one we did undo. Let pirates then take care. Our ship being well stored then for this enterprise, One hundred and men there was in her likewise: We pillag’d all we could come nigh, no nation did we spare, For which a shameful death we die. Let pirates then take care. We robb’d a ship upon the seas, the Gunsway call’d by name, Which we met near the East Indies, and rifled the same; In it was gold and silver store, of which all had a share; Each man 600 pounds and more. Let pirates then take care. Thus for some time we liv’d and reign’d as master of the sea; Every merchant we detained and us’d most cruelly. The treasures took, we sunk the ship, and those that in it were That would not unto us submit. Let pirates then take care. Thus wickedly we every day liv’d upon others’ good, The which, alas! we must repay now with our dearest blood; For we on no one mercy took, nor any did we spare. How can we then for mercy look? Let pirates then take care. We thus did live most cruelly, and of no danger thought, But we at last, as you may see, are unto justice brought For outrages of villainy, of which we guilty are, And now this very day must die. Let pirates then take care. Now farewell to this wicked world, and our companions too; From hence we quickly shall be hurl’d to clear the way for you; For certainly if e’re you come to justice, as we are, Deserved death will be your doom. Then pirates all take care.

Nice one Mike, thanks for pointing that out. Now, anyone got an advance on 1976 for the flags?

Correctomundo! Now how about a quote for us?

GoF, the South West Pirate Festival has been going for four years now, and there were at least four groups at the first one - you must have just missed us all. Having said that, Paul is absolutely right about pirate reenactment really taking off in the UK after POTC came out. For the record, Bonaventure were also doing pirates and GAoP period Navy long before the release of POTC. Paul, you might want to have a look at this thread here Oh, and you'll always be a bilge rat to your crew... And in answer to your question: Yes, I am a member of Bonaventure, a living history group dedication to... oh, look at the website That reminds me... I must beat the webmaster into doing an update.

Don't be daft, they're clearly Templar crosses...

Foxe (or Fox) was the name I was born into. With a real name like mine I'm not gonna start calling myself "Sparrow" am I? Plus, when I was at school I was "Foxe", and when I left school my best friend and I shared the same forename (he had it Monday to Wednesday, I had it Thursday to Saturday, and we took it in turns on Sundays), so we were both known by our surnames. So, I've always been "Foxe".

Since Diego's taken so long I'm gonna nick his turn to keep it going. This is all my fault. I was overzealous in Cairo. I let racism cloud my judgment. I was so sure the ultimate terrorist was Middle Eastern, but I didn't realize he was a goddamn Gook. I'll never be a racist again.

The four flags I posted first belonged to (in order) Bart Roberts Jean Martel/Captain Kennedy Captain Nicholls Thomas Cocklyn

No idea about the name Black Bart, add it to the list! I think the "French flag book" of 1721 may be a mistake on Cordingly's part (good though he is there are some mistakes in UTBF). The pictures he describes match exactly to a drawing of pirate flags, labelled the same and dating to sometime after 1729. The depiction is a later drawing of the flags of Captain Dulaien based on a written description of them by the Mayor of Nantes in a letter of 1729. Cordingly may be confusing it with a 1721 edition of "Nieuwe Hollandse Scheeps Borou", or "La Connaissance des Pavillons" (the later more or less a reprint of the former) which show a flag marked "Pavillon des Corsairs) (flag of the pirates) - essentially the flag which has come to be associated with Moody.

In "The origin of the Jolly Roger" Master Studley wrote Anyone who's been following the recent threads on pirate flags will know that most of the commonly depicted ones are modern inventions, and I recently stated that I didn't think the forgery was any earlier than the 1930s. However, it would be nice to track down exactly when they all started to appear, so I'm enlisting the pub's help. Can you post details of the oldest book in your possession which has pictures or descriptions of the following flags attributed to the following pirates. Henry Avery Blackbeard Stede Bonnet Christopher Condent (usually shown as a long pennant)* Christopher Moody* John Rackham (while we're at it, what's the earliest anyone has got for hi nickname - Calico Jack?) Thomas Tew To start us off, the earliest I've got for the complete set immediately to hand is a pamphlet called "Pirates and Hidden Treasure" published 1986. Interestingly it shows Avery's flag without the bandanna and earring - can anyone confirm when they appeared? David Mitchell's "Pirates" (Thames and Hudson, 1976) shows Rackham's supposed flag attributed to him, and also shows Condent's pennant, but without actually attributing it to him. *I'm pretty sure that the supposed Condent and Moody flags predate the others. The Moody flag dates to at least 1716. What is a modern error is their attribution to those particular pirates.

I have a handful of contemporary or near-contemporary pictures of pirate flags which I'll try to get round to scanning and posting. Some of them are quite simplistic like you describe, but some of them are more or less the same shapes as modern renditions (with perhaps less detail). You have reminded me of another project that I was thikning of enlisting the pub's help on - I'll start a new thread for it though.