MarkG

Hawkins - I've been seeing things like this for years but always with tiny guns that would be inferior to a musket. I wondered where they came from.

A pox on thee autocorrect.

See "X Marks the Spot, the Archeology of Piracy" chapter 13 "Pirate Imagery", page 274 for a discussion on the evolution of Blackbeard's image. This is what I was referring to. I would have copied the relevent text but after Swachbuckler 1700's post I'm finished with this thread. This is why I went from checing the Pub daily to once every few weeks.

The artist never saw Blackbeard so don't over analze this. A couple of decades later the woodcut washer reworked and Blackbeard was given a thrum cap.

Some captains refuse to sail a ship with just a whipstaff. In the1980s, Jamestown sailed a ship over. It's captain insisted that it have a wheel.

I have a one plunder. Would that be welcome (assuming Mickey has room for it)?

I can't find any references to Newport using a hook. He did have the nickname "Captain One-Hand". Hooks have been used as artificial hands through the present. Barrow's captain was not the first to wear a hook but I don't know how common they were in the GAoP. My impression was that most pirates and sailors who lost a limb retired. According to "Under the Black Flag", they were often employed as a ship's cook. That is why Long John Silver was a cook.

Popular Mechanics has a very short piece on an archeologist working on the Queen Anne's Revenge.

My wife and I plan on attending.

I'll take the carbine. My wife would like to see a picture of the robe. She is a bit smaller than you and wants to see if it matters.

what is left? I am interested in a few items.

I make sure to wear heavy wool when I shoot matchlocks. I still have numerous small burns on my sleeve. I burned a good sized hole in the shoulder of a linen doublet (and burned my shoulder). Flintlocks are nowhere near as hard on clothing.

After a few decades of experience using bandoleers, I would say that the lining was thinner leather instead of cloth. When a matchlock goes off, hot embers are blown off of the end of the match. This will make holes in fabric. If you are going to go to all of the trouble of lining a bandoleer then you would use leather. Otherwise it would look bad quickly. Also, cloth would wear through at the shoulder.

Damn you Mythbusters!!!

Christopher Lee also wore an eyepatch in the Three/Four Musketeers.

I have no trouble logging in except it does not remember my password. I am using Firefox.

Use 3f for the main charge. You can use 3f or 4f for priming. For a long arm like a musket you can use 3f for blanks but you should use 2f for live fire.

I've fooled around with them since they were used as trade goods for centuries but I can't say that I am any good. BTW, they were called "Jew's harp" in period. The term "jaw harp" didn't originate until the 19th century.

Those who are thinking of skipping the event and coming next Spring should know that the mayor is thinking about closing the ship. This may be its last season. We are trying to get enough good press from the pirate event and the haunted ship in October to convince the City to keep the ship open.

They are period. One was found in the Thames that was dated to the 17th or 18th century. It is believed to have been locked on a prisoner who tried to escape. See here.

I keep seeing rendezvouser with small cannons on folding, portable mounts. I have never seen a period illustration of anything like these. Does anyone know if they are period (and period)? Here is one example. It can be fired flat against the ground or raised up.

I'm not sure how it is respectful to have small numbers of people doing firing demonstrations but not larger numbers. Either way you are putting people in uniform who are not suffering the same privations as the original. I have noticed this attitude at Jamestown. You have the state park which brings in reenactors as volunteers. We do various military demonstrations. Over at the national park they have the Saint Mary's Militia. They march in, fire by drill, fire by mode of battle, and march out. Yawn.

We used to have enough biscuit on the Santa Maria to nibble on it occasionally. Even the hard stuff softens up after you gnaw on it. The salt in it tastes good on a hot day.

Let me be more specific, a loose ball can roll down the barrel giving it a spin along an axis at a right angle to its direction. The spin changes the aerodynamics a bit making the ball curve in the direction of the spin. A tight ball doesn't develop the spin so it goes straighter. This never approaches the accuracy of a rifled barrel but it does make the gun more predictable.