MarkG

Bosun Red, If you can give me a bit more information, model of your phone, specific error message, any error message number - I can then use that to figure out\try to track down the problem. It's either some offending bits of software or I may not have something set correctly. Mark, Just to confirm - the native Android tablet's browser doesn't like the Pub, but doesn't mind it so much if you use the Opera browser. . . . But doesn't Opera still have to make use the tablet's virtual keyboard? Or is it just application specific - works with Opera but not with it's native browser? (as it relates to navigating the Pub of course) For whatever reason, the virtual keyboard comes up with Opera but not the native (web kit) browser.

As I remember, they were showing the air rifle off in public and an old lady got shot.

A doglock is a type of lock. There were multiple types in use in the 17th century including doglocks, snaphaunse, miquelet, wheellocks, English locks, and French locks (what we think of as a flintlock). These locks were found on a variety of styles of pistol and musket. The doglock pistol you mentioned is specifically a cavalry pistol and would be carried in pairs in saddle holsters. The Queen Anne is a style of pistol with a short stock and a screw on barrel. This style developed after 1700 which is why it is not appropriate for a 1660s event. If you move up to the full musket then you get even more styles of locks. Matchlocks were still around and various snaplocks. Check out the Rifle Shop's selection of locks. Just be warned that they can take a year to process an order.

I tried an Android tablet. The native browser had problems responding. It has a virtual keyboard and it did not recognize the text area as being editable so it did not bring up the keyboard. I did get it to work with the Opera browser.

I think that a shoulder sling would be the best solution.

Check Google Images for Baker tents. This is more stable than most pavilions so you should be able to rig it to work on cement. It also has room enough inside to work. It is also simple geometric shapes for people who don't want to do a lot of sewing. There is a lot of controversy about how early these go. Some people insist that they are a 19th century invention. I have seen versions in 30 Years War woodcuts (1630s) so I would have no compunction about using one for GAoP.

I don't think I have seen any period representations of guns strapped to someone's thigh. That is more of a mid-to-late 19th century thing. In the GAoP people tended to stick their pistols into their belt or to wear a baldric to hold them. I have seen one period woodcut of a pirate with several holsters fastened to a baldric. The alternative is to use belt hooks.

Those indentations looks like priming pans. There is no sign of where the frizzen went. The one pictured with it is built differently with a frame above the cylinder to mount the frizzen. The most common multi-shot guns at the time were over and under pieces. There were usually two locks and barrels joined together. After you fired the first one you would turn the pistol over, bringing up the second lock. There is a battle axe/gun in the Tower of London that is the strangest multi-shot piece I ever heard of. It has a wheel-lock that fires a pistol through the handle. When this is fired it lights a slow match. You then mount the match in a matchlock which fires out of the rear end of the axe head (the pick end). The blade of the axe has hinges on the side and you can open it to reveal four more barrels. You fire each of these by hand using the match. There is no way that you could ever hit anything with the pistols and it was too big and heavy to use as an axe. The whole thing is made from silver and highly engraved. I'm sure that some smith told a rich wife, "It's the ultimate weapon. You get six shots then you can use it like an axe."

Maybe the thing to do is to put the boat in front of the camp instead of behind. If I'm lucky I will have enough time and good weather to make a proper mast for the boat. Plus something to keep it straight on the trailer.

Just introducing yourself can turn into a five minute presentation. I'm glad to hear that you are coming. We should coordinate displays. Between us, we brought enough more display stuff than we had room for.

Barrels or kegs. A parrot.

Around 20 years ago a friend of mine became interested in pottery and learned to make these. His teacher made one as a demonstration piece then cut it in half vertically with a wire to show the cross-section. The entire jug should have an even thickness. I'm sure that a thrown pot is stronger than a molded one.

The Spanish considered him a pirate and would have hung him as such. That has to count for something.

It's not midnight so I'm still getting my birthday wishes in on time. Happy Birthday.

I was thinking of something like they do at Ren Faires where people put together a particular 15 minute show that takes place at a scheduled time. (Not like what I do, but maybe like a sword-fighting display with commentary for 10-15 minutes or a cannon-firing display with an explanation of the cannon, its parts and procedure and a sample firing or such-like. (Or a surgical repair if you can find someone else to do it. ) If scripted with humor and kept light, it would be a nice draw to the stage. Of course, it would be better if the stage was closer to the displays so people could wander off and have the less-staged, more educational displays (like mine) to wander through. Michael and I checked out the first PIB Pirate Festival to years ago. They had some fencers dressed like characters from PoTC who did a complicated 4-way choreographed duel. I'm sure that the organizers would love something like us but I don't see than happening. It takes too much rehearsal time to do it safely. Maybe a quick demonstration on how to load and fire a musket would work. I've done this many times at Jamestown. We would have to get permission to fire. Last year they restricted where and when guns could be fired.

Westmoore does good work. I have a Bellarmine or two from them. You are probably safer with their pottery than a repro glass bottle.

Don't forget the number of drunks wandering through the park at night and the possibility that the automatic sprinkler system would come on. The place we camp is only a block or so from the display area but it is behind the bars where the drunks don't wander. In the absence of the Niagara, we could attack the island from the boats and storm the park. We could have up to three boats if Jay brings his (we would have to carry it in one of the larger ones on the ferry). It is up to him if he wants to take his little boat out on Lake Erie.

I'm not camping.

We could take the boats out and exchange fire with the Niagara.

Well met. Those of us who live inland can still use lakes and rivers for our boating fix.

And some coffee to go with the pancake.

I'm planning on coming.

It took three years to build the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides). It also took three years to build the original Constellation between when it was ordered and launched. Those were large frigates built in the 1790s. The HMS Victory is a ship of the line. It was begun in 1759 and launched in 1765. On the low end, the Sea Venture, one of the supply ships for Jamestown, was wrecked in Bermuda in July, 1609. The survivors stripped it and used the salvage to build two new, smaller ships - the Deliverance and the Patience. That took ten months working without a shipyard.

A couple of friends of mine who do early 17th century have instruments lie this. The one end is an oval and it is used for clearing the bowels. These were based on one found at Henricus Colony, a satellite colony of Jamestown in the Richmond area.