MarkG

Check out John Buck's website. I own several of his pieces and they have never failed to impress me with their durability. http://www.musketmart.com/index.html I had the good fortune of meeting Mr.Buck and having a look at his selection, i was very pleased with what i saw(though unhappy about my lack of funds). The most common thing iv heard, is that his arms are quite good. Speaking of good and not, with the india imports, about how much do people generally do to make them better? Im pretty sure my first gun will be an import, and im wondering quite a bit about what ill need to do with it.... I have a couple of John Buck guns. Very well made. He does a lot of work for historic sites and movies, also. Mark

The term can be documented to ECW and to the colonial period. http://www.crookedtr...k/snapsack.html Hawkyns The term is early 17th century (1633 according to the OED) but it was used interchangeably with knapsack which predates it (the OED says 16th C). I remember one of the Saint Mary's newsletters proposing using Snapsack to distinguish between the long bag worn across the back and what would later be known as a haversack. Mark

They had to have caches somewhere. Not only did they have powder and ball to worry about, they also had all of that dried beef and hides waiting for buyers. I have heard that the cloth that they carried was more like cheesecloth than linen since it mainly served as mosquito netting. They probably wrapped what few things they carried in this and used it as a snapsack. BTW, the use of the term snapsack to mean a long bag worn across the back is modern. I think that was begun by the Saint Mary's City Militia in the 1980s. "Haversack" is actually the older word and "snapsack" was a synonym. Mark

The barrel I'm talking about was left in our camp. I think that it was the one you used to hold up the cooler. We figured it was Rats'. It might not be the same one from the picture but both are black. Mark

Sure. I'll need a picture of one already made for the auction and an idea of how long between the end of the auction and when it can be shipped (we do the auction on EBay because it reaches a much wider audience). I'd suggest waiting until after the auction before making the shirt to maximise the number of buyers. Clothing at Paynetown never brings in as much as it should because it is already made up so it only fits part of the bidders. Mark

Never trust a Canadian with your rum barrel. The one that Michael is carrying ended up abandoned in camp. We rescued it. If the owner will contact me we can discuss ransom. Mark

I think this was either year 4 or 5 Silkie. Our photos may not make it up until tomorrow as we are so busy with the cleaning up of crud... It was the 4th year. Jen was telling me that they are going to make a big deal out of next year being the 5th year to try to get more press coverage. Mark

It was a "Pirate Pitch-in". Mark

Don't forget the nice fleet of boats and the pot-luck. Mark

The cap in the original picture (cap with the top pulled forward and snapped to the brim) was very popular in the early 20th century. I don't think that this specific style goes back much further than that. I've never seen anything 18th century or earlier that looks remotely like it. Mark

I've been thinking about the question of seabags. I can offer some indirect information. For those who don't know me, I am the researcher for a copy of the Santa Maria. On Spanish ships around 1500, the crew stored their possessions in chests. These were part of the ship's furniture and would stay with the ship. Officers got a chest to themselves but everyone else had to share. Two able seamen shared a single chest. Apprentice seamen were three to a chest and pages (ship's boys) were four to a chest. Chests were typically 1'deep, 2' high, and 3' wide. This is the indirect part. Sailors had to have a way of transporting their possessions and keeping them separate. Bags have been the most common way of doing this since pre-history. I suspect but can't prove that sailors used their seabags for this and that they would be the proper size to fit into their portion of a seachest. Mark

I would prefer that the shipping either be included in the price or really obvious about how much it will be. More important to me is the time lag. How long until you put the order in? Are you waiting until you have enough pre-orders? How long will it take from when you place your order in India before you expect to get it fulfilled? And I assume that you will forward the pieces without delay. This delay make a big difference in how we should regard any orders. Can we expect to order something for the current season? Is this something to suggest to the significant other for Christmas? Or is would this be an order for next year's campaign season? Mark

I'm interested, especially in building the dory. What is the colonial maritime festival going to consist of? Mark

Last year got pretty warm sitting in a boat, waiting for the raid to start, but it was cooler than normal. This year looks even cooler. I was just at the Dayton Celtic Festival. Usually it is outright hot but this year was pleasant. Columbus is on track for the coolest July on record. If this pattern holds for another two weeks we will have great weather. Mark

My boat is a 19th century design with a custom sail and mast so I can only give general advice. On mine, the traveler is a line attached to either side of the transom and going over the tiller. A line goes from the end of the boom to the traveler, back to the boom and along it to the half-way point. It then goes to the top of the centerboard truck and is controlled from there. When I was researching how to set this up I found that some boats simplify this setup and just run the line from the midpoint of the boom to the centerboard trunk. Mark

You and whomever it is you're traveling with would be more than welcome to stay with us. We have a guest room. I am uncertain as of now how many people will be staying with us, but there is plenty of floor space to spread out on, and we have at least one guest bed and an air mattress (or more accessible to us). So As long as you do not require 5 star accommodations, consider yourself accommodated. We have a guest room, also, although it only has a twin bed. On the other hand, the bed does look like a ship! Mark

Those A-frame buildings in the link you sent are interesting. These might be examples of an "English Wigwam". This was a house that was dug into the ground, lined with wood, and roofed over. There have been several interpretations of this. Pioneer Village in Salem, Mass dug their reproductions into a bank that was over five feet high and put a shallow roof over it. Plimoth Plantation did a different interpretation with a shallow pit and a thatched A-frame over it. They called theirs a "hovel". Unfortunately, they put the door in the side using a form of thatching that was invented by a particular thatcher in the 19th century. I think that this house has been replaced. A friend and I tried constructing one of these around 20 years ago but we didn't have any proper thatch so we didn't get it finished. Along the way the friend corresponded with Sir Ivor Noel Hume (prestigious archeologist at Williamsburg) who agreed that this form is a leading candidate among archeologists for the English Wigwam. I believe that he sent the linked picture and said that he suspected that these were pit dwellings. Anyway - the progression seems to be that canvas shelters were the first thing built but anytime someone was going to stay for a while they would throw up something more substantial. This might be a pit house with a roof over it or just a shack made from some planks, thatching, or anything else handy. If you were a colonist then you would live in this temporary structure while you built a house. This picture seems to have a mix of all three. It would be interesting to see someone represent some semi-permanent buildings in a camp sometime. I've never had the extra room to transport extra lumber. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f2/JohnLawCamp-Biloxi-1720.jpg

Something I've noticed in 17th century woodcuts of military camps - tents often had planks resting on them. I assume that the canvas that they had leaked so they would scrounge whatever planks they could find to try to keep water out. This shows up in several woodcuts so it must have been standard, especially on the Continent. To me, that justifies using other items to help waterproof tents. Since no one was doing woodcuts of buccaneer camps, military camps are probably the best documentation available. Now, if you want to be really authentic, leave the ends open. Mark

Are you planning on camping with us/Micky? I'll be there Thursday evening and I need to know how much space to reserve. Anyone else - Rats? Mark

The last couple of years have been hot and humid. The camp has lots of shade and a breeze comes off of the lake so it isn't too bad. Mark

Some of these definitions were written by the CANOE (Committee to Ascribe a Naval Origin to Everything). Beating a Dead Horse doesn't need a nautical explanation. It means what it says literally. Once your horse is dead, beating it will not get any further work out of it. The Devil to Pay is an interesting one. An alternate but related explanation is that the devil is the lowest seam exposed when careening a ship so you have to get it caulked fast. But the case is not closed on this. The earliest nautical use of this is mid 19th century but the term was used meaning Satan several times in the 18th century. See http://www.phrases.o...vil-to-pay.html Mark

Toe the Line comes from foot racing where the racers line up on a line or mark before starting. See http://grammartips.h...toetheline.html Square Meal came from early 20th century rhyming slang for "fair" as is FDR's Square Deal. Mark

I think that Micky is going to do his red coat routine at least once so I can use extra crew. Nathan said something about a naval battle on Friday so we might get there Thursday in order to have time to have everything set up and the boat launched. Mark

There is an existing one from the Vasa. http://blog.woodwork...ners+Bench.aspx