MarkG

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

Oh and where could I get powder in Alabama? And does anyone know weather i should use 3f or 4f ?

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.

anyone play the jaw harp?

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.

"The National Parks Service's position on battle reenactments is based on an ethical position that it is fundamentally disrespectful to those who actually fought and died on a particular piece of ground to pretend to accurately portray their deaths, sacrifices and suffering."

'fundamentally disrespectful'. Ouch. Backhanded slap from the park service about ethics and an implication that we don't take the deaths, sacrifices and suffering of our forebears seriously.

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.

The term "squib" meaning a firecracker, goes back 400 years or so. Theaters in Shakespeare's day used squibs for sound effects. William Bradford's Of Plimoth Plantation describes the Billington boys finding an open barrel of gunpowder on the Mayflower and making some squibs. They started setting them off without covering the barrel!

I have found from experience that a loose ball can develop a spin going down the barrel. This will make it veer to one side. I use a patched ball, even with a smoothbore to prevent this.

As for shooting stance, pistols were short-range weapons. Barrel length has a major effect on ball speed with black powder. The muzzle velocity of a pistol ball is less than half that for a musket. Pistols typically shoot smaller balls which means lower mass to surface which also affects the range.

Bottom line - if you have time to assume a Weaver stance then your target is too far away.

Will we be able to swim in the creek? Spitfire is a water baby.

Nathan, consider us for your helpers. I will bring my spinning wheel and demonstrate for the public as last year.

Mike and Diana Stevens

Apparently the operative word is "wade" instead of "swim".

There is still talk of using small boats. Mine are too big.

the frog lantern- found a site where miner's lamps are shown this lamp is like what we call the tea pot lamp which is a oil burning lamp made in the 1860's for mining, the tea pot had a hook that allowed the lamp to be fastened on the front of the hat. as far a using oil and open flame for lighting aboard wooden sailing ships "fire hazzard" comes to mind. anyone got any doc. on prefered 17th century shipboard lighting? i vote for candles.

Candles were expensive in the 17th century and they take up a lot of space. Ships usually used oil lamps. As far as I can tell, these were short with a wide base and a wick on the top.

Very few lights were allowed on a ship. Typically the only lights would be a running light in a lantern hung from the stern, a light for the captain and/or navigator to use, a light in the binnacle, and, possibly, a single light below decks. Even four lights constituted a fire hazard and many ships burned.

Tobacco was actually thought to have some healthful effects. I haven't found any references to this during period in the medical books, but I have found some equipment for that purpose from just after period. See the wiki on tobacco enemas. (It's curious that they quote Sydenham having written about this in 1809 when he died in 1689. I suspect Rush (the editor?) inserted that comment and it is mis-attributed. I am reading his book now, if I find that quote, I'll cite it for you. Yhey also claim he used the word 'glysters' when he has so far written it 'clysters' based on my reading. Good ol' wiki...) Although these may have been in limited use or have been peddled by quack practitioners. (I don't really know as the latest medical book I've read is 1742 and it mostly refers to the early 18th century.)

As for the prevalence of cigars and cigs during period, we've had a couple discussion on that. By and large the trend seems to have been to pipes as even my references indicate. However, you can see some of the discussions on cigarettes here and here.

At Plimoth Plantation, if someone asks about herbal remedies for a cold they advise smoking tobacco. It is hot and warm so it dries the lungs.

The way that tobacco was used changed over the 17th century. Early in the century pipes had small bowls and a large hole through the stem. The tobacco was consumed in just a few deep puffs. The referred to it as "Drinking tobacco". The tobacco at the time was very strong. A friend who tried smoking an early strain said that it had him talking to spirits.

As tobacco became more common, smokers took more time. The bowls became larger and the hole in the stems became smaller. When dating an archeological site, archeologists will base the age on the size and shape of the bowls (preferred) or of the stem holes (they tend to survive).

Knife throwing is not really suitable for combat. Normally you throw from a fixed location, trying to time the rotations of the knife to the time it takes to reach the target. In combat your target would not be a fixed distance and probably would not be still. That makes it very undependable. There is at least a 75% chance that the knife will hit at the wrong point of its rotation and bounce off harmlessly. The same thing is true for tomahawks. You can throw them at a fixed target at a fixed distance but you are better off keeping a hold of them in a fight.

Yes, there is running water in some areas, water buffaloes and porta-johns in other areas. (Don't worry, I take good care of reenactors!!)

The showers will probably not be available by this year unless we get really busy between now and then... I wouldn't count on showers for 2011, but there will DEFINATELY be showers by 2012!

Nathan

If Silas comes, he can bring his portable shower.

This is an IMPORTANT Announcement concerning this event, please ensure this news is passed on to whomever you know it may concern.

First the bad news (there is good news).

The Indiana State DNR/Paynetown SRA have canceled the event. Basically after five years of treating the event organizers like crap, despite this event creating quantifiable extra revenue for the site, they gave the event the boot. So the event is canceled.

Now the good news.

Anyone and everyone who paid their registration will be refunded in full. Please give Nate a couple of weeks to get this done. This cancellation, did come as a bit of a shock, so please be patient.

Now the better news.

While "Pirates Of Paynetown" is canceled, Nate along with some of the other organizers and supporters of the "Pirates Of Paynetown" event are putting together an alternative event at another location. Because the event will be no where near Paynetown, and considering how poorly Paynetown handled this parting of paths, the new event will have a very different name.

The new event will also vary in concept some. Because a new site at a lake was not readily available, the nautical angle will be lessened. Pirates will still be welcomed at the new event, but the new event will be all about all the "bad boys" (and "bad girls") of history. Pirates, bandits, rebels, highwaymen, etc. The proposed name for the event is "Brigands Grove". The event will still be a historic event, so a good effort on historical authenticity is still mandatory (as in the source for your portrayal needs to be better than a film, any film), but this isn't a strictly juried event.

One downside, is the new site only has a stream. While the stream is big enough to handle smaller boats, some of the mid-size or larger boats, or boats with deeper draughts will not be able to navigate the stream.

On the plus side, the new site is dramatically larger than the Paynetown SRA, and has a great deal more room, trees for shade.... And most importantly.... WILL BE FREE TO ATTEND !!!

We are still working out some of the details of the new event, but it will be the same dates as Paynetown (this year), and still in the state of Indiana (just not on Indiana DNR land). The new location is about an hour south of Paynetown SRA, so it may be a bit of a longer drive for some (sorry about that), but it will be a shorter drive for most.

More posts will be forthcoming as details are worked out. Please feel free to offer suggestions, as the new event will be for historical re-enactors, by historical re-enactors, on land and at a location that is both supportive and friendly to re-enactors!!! All feedback and suggestions are welcome, and if you feel you could contribute to help run this new event (although we have a pretty good size group helping already) please contact Nathanael (HistoryFanatic on this forum).

Sorry about the bad news, but I hope you find the good news part as exciting as I do!

Do you have any specifics? Will the event be open to the public? What are the amenities? Is there running water? Showers?

I agree that hot coals would not work (per the previous dust factor mentioned), but if they did a hot shot I do not see why they couldn't do a "raisin" shot (heated grape shot) as this would have been easier to heat than the Hot shot I would expect.

Did anyone see the Myth Busters' Pirate special in whch they tried different ammunition in the cannons?

If it heats up fast, it cools down fast. Also the loading process is critical to your own ship. Mythbuster's treatment of the splinter effect of ships guns is deeply flawed and ,unfortunately , is one of their less thought out episodes. Land gunners don't always know what they are talking about when it comes to the tall ships.

I like the MythBusters and agree that sometimes their testing and research is not enough. The episode in which they tested a sword breaking and called it Busted was greatly inaccurate. I have been recreating Medieval times for 17 years and have seen my fair share of blades breaking on each other, shields, armor, etc.

I need to take a road trip to these maritime museums to see all this cool stuff I read about on these boards. I think I will try to hit the San Diego Maritime Musem within the year.

The Mythbusters sword-breaking episode was one of their worst. They were using the strict definition that one sword had to cut another. Just breaking it wasn't enough. They also propagated the idea that you only parry with the flat of the blade. You have to go back to 15th century two-handed swords before you find anyone doing that. The later parries just don't work unless you use the edge.

Watching Captain Blood I thought about that scene as well and have a different thought on it. The coals would provide almost no back pressure and would be next to impossible to ram due to the charge behind. However, have we been neglect in thinking that perhaps they were just put into the end of the muzzle of an already loaded cannon? With a ball between the charge and coals I doubt there would be nearly as much of a chance of an accidental discharge. Of course I believe there would be little to no effect.

You could get them to go out of the barrel but you would be hard-pressed to hit anything with them. The coals would scatter every which way. You might even set your own ship on fire.

Ive been BANNED from the contest...so it seems...to allow others to be the PRETTY ONE this year....but be forwarned....I'd be let back into the fray 2012....MUhahahahah

You're back in the contest for next year.

What Lob really needs is a spatula.

Michael and Jessica know why.

Whenever I'm doing pirate I'm wearing a rigging knife and marlin spike with a hemp lanyard I braided connecting them. But, I wear them on my belt under my waistcoat so they are not obvious.

A ton of fun...and so much to do! This year should be better than ever!

Last year was a good start. This one should be better since the organizers show every sign of learning from the first one.

We thought that Teslacon was more interesting that standard cons. It is an immersion event with a story line - almost like a murder mystery. We were at World Steam Expo and very few people tried to stay in character. At Teslacon several people are in character all weekend.

Well there is some hope... Mark G has expressed interest in going with us... with his wanting to come, it MIGHT change things for us, which means we MIGHT be able to make it after all. I'll let everyone know when we have things figured out.

Setting us up to break our hearts...........again.....anyway i need a fiddle player....im bringing the guitar and printed out numerous sea shanties......

I'll bring my Pirate song book (from No Quarter Given).

When I was in college I remember reading a book called The Columbian Exchange. It spent a chapter tracing Syphilis through the centuries. One thing I remember from it was that the sores were visible for the first century or so after it appeared in Europe. There are lines in Shakespeare referring to someone with a bad acne being unable to get women to kiss him for fear of catching the pox.