Joe Pyrat

On the town

Mad L, that's the conclusion I came to regarding the leather soles. I wore a pare on the Adventure and wound up going barefoot. I was slipping all over the deck. Guess they would be handy for climbing the ratlins but that's about it. I'm planning on getting a pair of these from Loyalist but I contacted them to see if we could put boat shoe soles on them. It is not period, but it is much safer. Nice lookin pair of shoes, by the way.

been

I only have pictures of two of them The Bloody Doubloon Buccaneer's Revenge One of my prizes. Resistance is futile...

Nice antiquing job Capt. Bo, looks like it's seen some action. Capn Bob, I've seen Tortuga Rum Cake and want to try one one of these days, looks great. Mr. Hand, you ask if I had the brass barrel. I do have the brass barrel. I'm going to take it out to Charles Towne Landing on Saturday when we get qualified with flintlocks and matchlocks so the black powder guys can have a look. It is time period correct for 1670 so, although we won't be using it in the demo, it will fit in with the site. Might be fun to have it on the Adventure since she has nary a gun with which to defend herself.

I would think Anne Bonny unlikely and William Kidd even less likely, Teach, is more of a possibility. If there were no settlements in the area where records were kept until 1740 I would think you are going to find it difficult to substantiate any pirate activity other than to say we know pirates were in the area on both sides of you and we know they would use areas like yours to careen in. So in general it is possible, but unless you can find some documentation that would place a pirate in the area I believe conjecture is all you will be left with. That said, they have pirate festivals in Arizona and you are in a much more pirate-likely location so depending on what you want to accomplish with a pirate link you may not need anything more than that.

Ah! Cask 23 Um Um Good!!!

crapper

Based on your location it is highly probable that you had pirate activity. We know that Teach, Vane, Bonnet, Moody and Worley were in the area. What was Little River known as between 1713 and 1718? When was Little River (or the original settlement in the area) settled? Charles Towne (Charleston, SC) dates to 1670 so if you have a township at your location prior to 1720 you will have someplace to start. Keep in mind that the Golden Age of Piracy arguably ends in or near 1722 and the big explosion in piracy in the area occurs following the end of Queen Anne's War (known in Europe as the War of Spanish Succession) so if I were you I'd being concentrating on 1713 - 1718 if you are looking for associations with well known pirates. You may also find this of value on good research techniques. Hope this helps.

Fortune with you and yours mate, Happy Birthday!

Think that brings us back to rum again, does it not? Pyrat XO

seed

It's a government agency. What were you expecting, logic? TSA has got a lot better than it was initially but they still don't seem to be able to think for themselves, as your gun case problem demonstrates. Here's a thought Mr. Hand, Take your gun case down to the airport when you have plenty of time and get with the TSA people, an officer or supervisor preferably. Take along the regulation regarding transporting firearms and try and get them to certify your gun case meets the specifications in writing. If they will, put the certification inside the case or laminate a copy to the outside. You might also try contacting them through their website and describing your problem and seeing what they say. You could always print this out and take it along. Usually the Feds are impressed with paperwork. Reminds me of an article years ago describing how to get into the paddocks at La Mans. It was something like pull up to the French police guard. Start hollering in English and waving a bunch of papers in the air, they will usually let you in. The bureaucratic mind at work...

Happy birthday mate, luck and may the wind always be in your favor.

cost

Aye, a happy natal day to ye and a fair wind and luck be with ye.

Aye, more rum!!! And welcome aboard lass, good to have ye join in us.

last

Aye, Happy Birthday mate!

pyracy

best

Black John, Roberts Articles were the first thing that came to mind, but I wonder if what they considered serviceable was what we think of as serviceable. As an armorer I had people cleaning weapons sometimes to just keep them busy, not that the weapon actually needed to be "that" clean to be serviceable. But then these are the same people who would spend hours encasing a bottle in some of the finest line work imaginable so it may be that they did go to extremes in cleaning their weapons. Mr. Hand, very nice antiquing job. I like the shoulder strap it would make toting the weapon a lot easier. Something to think about on a more Buccaneer period rig where you were going to be marching through the jungle to get to Panama, and something to consider if you are hauling it around a reenactment site all day. QM James, this is how I've treated all my rifles in the past and I'm tempted to do it with the blunderbuss, but part of me thinks that for reenactment purposes a more tool like appearance might be preferable, but then I come back to Roberts Articles again and wonder. One can make the point these were pirates, more interested in drinking rum than cleaning weapons, but then you can also make the point that these men lived and died by these weapons so lavisning a lot of attention on them would be a logical reaction. It seems there are no absolutes here as with most things related to history. Thanks for all the assistance.

Cap'n Hawkyns, that be exactly what I was wondering and thinking about going for. Althugh I'm not too sure how stealthy I'll be with a blunderbuss at night, especially once I tough her off. A fellow I know here in Charleston who does weapons inspections at events says he won't pass a piece if it isn't all cleaned up, although he has relented on that a bit after I explained what I was getting at. Have any of you had a problem with this when using an "aged" looking piece at a reenactment or other event? Also, kind of a related question. The so called "Sea Service" weapons with painted stocks. When exactly does this date from?

Capt. Bo, I was originally planning on using Nev-R-Dull, used it back in my Navy days. Never liked Brasso much as you had to clean up the buildup around edges, etc. after applying. Brass will naturally turn green in a saltwater environment, or a very nice dark, copper brown if you can keep it away from salt spray, I was thinking this might give it a more authentic look. This is not to say dirty or corroded mind you. I use to clean my old Barlow winches (bronze) all the time but they retained their brown patina. However, if I have a nice clean stock that might seem kind of strange. Sounds like most of ye keep things polished though so I'll probably go that route. Still I wonder what the drill was back in the day though. Anyone been aboard a ship with brass guns? Were they polished?

Tried some Piraat the other day. Most places seem to rate it fairly high, but I didn't care for it much. Tried a brew called Scottish White Ale (on tap) at the Blind Tiger about a month ago and I did like it quite a bit. Need to go back and find out where I can get some.