Elena

We don;'t use the period spelling anyway, because we have almost a half of the writers not native english speakers, and it would get confusing to use an alternate spelling. This is why we generally discourage portraying the accents in phonetical writing, preferring to say: "He stated, with his Irish (or french, or whatever) accent" instead. It is true, I would have preferred to see more samples as models, but... one has to be contented with what she finds...

I found a sort of model how to write them here http://en.wikipedia....Capture_of_Guam I guess they might have had them in Hornblowers' or Aubrey-Maturin's series too, but there I can't search, and wht I found with the Capture of Guam is enough in order to help me write my own.

Thank you very much! Actually yes, the idea of a mission and a destination make sense.... Why? It is secret until they are opened, but when they are opened, the readers learn about them... And a pre-existing example from somewhere might help with the wording (language). You know, I have researched (for other documents' purposes) letters of marque, manumission certificates, marriage certificates, pardon letters, then i wrote my own.

I know that Navy captains received from Admirals sealed orders, to be opened at sea at a certain latitude... What would the orders say? I would like to know several possibilities... and yes, I tried to google it but I think knowing what exactly to ask from google would have helped me more . If you have links, I can take and adapt to our story what I see somewhere too, I mean I won't copy it as such... But when I googled, it brought me to something totally different... and contemporary. That the sentinel cannot leave his duty and things Thank you in advance...

I love them all! I got inspired by some in order to write some documents for my site!

Thank you very much - I forwarded your answer to the pirate doctor (who is a Danish girl IRL)

I bookmarked it too for sea battles... thank you very much!

Do you have any links to posts here or outside the board, how a bullet was taken out in those times (by a doctor- because a pirate would try with a knife. It seems as far as I remember that doctors had special tools). Thank you very much!

Thank you very much, the photo is fine

...But I am not so sure what kind of ship she is. "Drake left Plymouth on May 24, 1572, with a crew of 73 men in two small vessels, the Pascha (70 tons) and the Swan (25 tons), to capture Nombre de Dios." Any idea how "The Swan" might have looked like? I need a photo of a similar ship. Herebelow I found it referenced as "pinnelle" but the google doesn;t show me any ship type with this name. http://memory.loc.go...7.db&recNum=611 Any opinions? I need the photo for an avatar and eventually a signature, so any ship which possibly could have been it does the part... What other avatars others have used: Mist of Avalon Flying Dutchman The Pelican (Golden Hind) The Falcon

I will do it too.

Michael, this was what I was saying too in my first post, that " Cayonne there were planters too, and they might have built one and brought a priest". And this was exactly why I was of two opinions, conflicted.

Thank you very much. So at least in Fort Rocher, but possible in Cayonne and Basse Terre, there were churches. And do you know how much I was searching for this map of a proper dimension? Thank you! I had seen it, but as small as... an avatar, maybe.

My logic half says yes, half says no. Half no that in a pirate paradise and perdition athmosphere.. well... a church... Half yes because in Cayonne there were planters too, and they might have built one and brought a priest. But I honestly have no idea... Looking for opinions

I think, Lady Barbossa, that you hit the nail exactly how I needed it. Every group out there right now is starved for good members, let alone active members. I've been in a great deal of RPGs over the past decade - from forums, chat rooms, lists, etc - and female characters taking on uncharacteristic roles, or the commonly known Mary-Sue roles, is far too common. Whereas, the characteristic female roles and male roles are generally uncommon or worse, rare. Yes, and I am trying to weed out the Mary Sues and also to get more male CHARACTERS aboard the ships. Time is a factor, too, when it comes to members, including male members. Most no longer have a lot of spare time, especially spare time online. Well, I would say that normally women have less spare time, given that they juggle work and household management too... But it doesn't matter. Women are more into writing, while men are more into playing video games for leisure, this is true. And I don't care that I have only two males aboard my game, I care that I have 17 male characters and I need more, because there are 4 ships of four allegiances to be crewed. And I hate when pirate girls apply thinking themselves Xena reincarnation... So beautiful, so skilled in combat, so powerful... Hello, it is supposed to be historical fiction, not historical fantasy! So how to get more MALE CHARACTERS (not players) has started to be my main problem... And with getting more female characters than we actually need, we are aso confronted with two other aspects here: 1. Receiving mostly rebellious women, unconventional and wild, defying all historical norms of the period and setting – if you adamantly want to write a female character, then write her properly! There were society rules at that time, and they were even more binding than now. A few of our writers do have well rounded female characters appropriate for their times, but while understanding that they were an exception, most members having women want to be that exceptional Xena princess… or variants. Having both the cake (writing a woman in a male-centered world) and eating it too (getting the action usually a male gets.) 2. When being told that a male aboard a ship would get more action and more interaction possibilities, we usually get the answer: “Thern let’s make her disguised as a male and aboard a ship!”, which a) is against the rules for a first character and still doesn’t solve the problem of historical representativity: there were women disguised as males who went as sailors, but more than one aboard each ship (the maximum) would be unrealistic. Exactly like with the unconventional women above: if they are the exception, then they can’t be the majority, how it started looking… We have aboard a few "regular" women too. And some of my writers are playing exactly this kind of women and they are doing a good job and having fun with it too. Others are rebellious, but in a subtle way, finding their ways in a male dominated world. One is a widow in Tortuga, having an inn hosting pirates, other two are coloured women trying to overcome their condition and make themselves a better life than the one of a placee... So it is both possible and fun, not needing upperclass ladies who are running out of home in disguise at night, when they would have been always with a chaperone, neither pirate princesses skilled in all weapons... For some people, as far as I understood, there are two different problems mostly, related to gender roles: 1) "I can't play a male, I can play only females" - which I think it is strange for a writer. Writers should write any characters, old or young, female and male alike... or 2) "For playing a male, I need to research what they do on ships and I don;t like researching, Writing a female is easier". - Well, if you don't like researching, why have you joined an Age of Sail site? Just simply have to work with what we got and hopefully, knock on wood, a member will come along, will be cultivated and grow, becoming a great Writer for the group. And by all means, try to cultivate the common female roles with other members. They are more extraordinary that most would think. I've done this and seems to work rather well as new members are becoming rather receptive to the idea of common female roles. I also encourage members to take on male roles, and generally multiple character roles of both genders considering that a thread/story may be slow. Just like in any movie, you have the main characters, your supporting roles, the minor characters and your extras. I am playing 4 males (3 ship-based) and 2 females. Other two staff members have one male each, ship-based, and the other staff member has 5 males, 4 ship-based. We have NPCs for the characters who are needed but not taken. We are trying our best. But "trying to work with what we have" is not always possible/ easy when we don;t have enough crews for the ships, given that we are an Age of Sail site. We are trying to play more the Navy and privateers side... but with limited crews. And even they... how much can be played without their enemy pirates, or without the Spanish enemies? (which are NPCs. Yes, the Spanish ship was initially partially crewed too, but following the disappearing of the captain and lieutenant, it ended being NPC-ed case by case).

I loved it, and I think it is interesting. Thank you!

GET WELL SOON! Both of you - my prayers are with you....

It was on a pyracy webring I had joined for advertising my Age of Sail RPG. And even if I didn;t find more members for my game, I found good friends from whom I have what to learn. And this definitely counts as much... if not more!

Thank you very much, I think I got enough answers to clarify my curiosity - and no, i wasn;t asking about women dressed as men in reenacting, because it made sense to me, I was asking about the women dressed as women. I was hoping to hear especially from those pirate captains who are women - Charity Ann Rackham for example,because lady captains were only in China, but your point that reenacting ladies are not always reenacting pirates is good too.

...coming from a discussion I had with somebody who wanted to join my site and gave up. And she said she was a reenactor too (not sure if in present or only in the past). But my question is ...general: It is a matter of fact already, ie of general knowledge, that women pirates or sailors had been few in history. The most of them were disguised as boys, and sooner or later discovered (see Lovely Polly's ballad, "The handsome cabin boy", "The ballad of Willie Taylor", etc.). But even so they weren't many. How then are so many women sailors reenactors? Because they want to keep historical accuracy, usually... And how then I get so many requests for female pirates for my RPG? (Well, for the second question I sort of have an answer... and it is in the young adult historical fantasy labelled as historical fiction - Pyratica, Jacky Faber and the others which get strange ideas in the teens' heads).

Thank you very much! I bookmarked it, and I'll have time to explore it (and join it) in a few days.

Of course I want. Writing for publication vs being published on the net, in a forum... it is still writing and I guess I might find somebody interested in our stories. Besides, I guess I can find there also creative writing tips I am interested in, so... please, do tell!

This is my way to thank you all for your friendship - I think it is about one year, if not more, since I am here and I have learnt a lot of things from you. I have contributed too little, but I have read a lot, you have been here to answer my questions... and yes, of course I'm staying, this is NOT a good bye, only... another honest question, which I hope I am allowed to ask. And if it is longer, like everything I am writing... please, bear with me. You might again know something I don't, your answers have always been helpful. Besides learning lots of things about the period and setting my Age of Sail RPGs are in, because I like having my stories as period correctly as possible, I admit that I hoped to get some more people interested in the period to write the stories together with us "Before the Mast". I had been told that being active on "fandom discussion sites" helped lots of RPG administrators gain new members, and if this is obviously true for Star Trek, Harry Potter or other fandoms of this kind, I found out that being active here didn't help with this (but it helped a lot with some concrete elements for my stories - thank you a lot! I have never regretted joining this friendly pub and I have lots of you on my Facebook too - some gave a "like" to my page). That the Piracy Pub is a pirate fandom site, indeed, but here people are more into acting than writing, they dress up and play pirates lots of week-ends, and they have not so much time or interest for writing. But you might know other websites too, other forum discussion sites focused on the Age of Sail and pirates... and with this I am needing your help/ recommendations. In a world where many such places have a lifespan of a handful of months, "Before the Mast" has survived one year already, and six full months in our story (January - June 1719). It means dedication, and we have it. We have now 13 active members, with 34 characters, but we'd like more. And I am asking you - which other forums open for registration - because I have seen enough who can be read and I can find some answers, but which aren;t open for registration anymore - might qualify as pirate fandom? Where from could I attract more people interested in the Age of Sail and in writing pirate stories? Yes, I say Age of Sail, not PoTC, because we are no Jack Sparrow and co, only original characters, and we don't have fantasy elements. I thank you for your support, not only here but also to those who liked my Facebook page and who retwittered my twitters about the site...

Our pirate adventure site is one year old already! In a world where many such places have a lifespan of a handful of months, we have survived one year already, and six full months in our story (January - June 1719). We have now 13 active members, with 34 characters (the most members in our history being 19 members with 31 characters in January 2011), and we have passed the count of 6,000 posts. Up to now, we have written 169 threads, out of which 129 are already completed and 19 are ongoing. It is remarkable that we have only 12.5% unfinished (abandoned) threads in one year of activity. We have 13 threads with over 500 views, out of which 6 threads with 1000 to 1950 views. My husband has made this anniversary youtube movie, based on graphics submitted by the members at a graphic contest.

camphor balls were used (yes, it is a resine and it can be got in balls which are worn at the neck... as a sort of charm protecting against epidemies. Other charm I heard about was a rabbit leg, for example...