blackjohn

Thanks for the link Sophia. Glad you are feeling better. I hate it when I cold gets into my lungs! So who is still here? Myself (I took two days off to rest my arms) and Asukaru and Sophia and Tom. And... everyone else is taking the weekend off to rest, right?!?! :) I'm going to guess I've lost some weight. Next week I'm going to be "reenacting" in a history display at work, and I can fit into some of my old revwar clothes. huzzah!

I was going to remain quiet on this, and I will remain so on this particular incident, not having been there, other than to say I am very happy everyone is safe as well as the ship. However, on the general subject of nautical charts, I would add the following. As I like to remind every nautical cartographer, the chart is just a model of reality. As a model, it is limited in many respects. Things such as scale, quality of data, and age of data all combine to make a chart either a useful tool or a dangerous one. Every good mariner knows that. And every good cartographer keeps that in mind while updating a chart. My own personal standard was this - update the chart with the thought that a friend or a loved one might be sailing those very waters someday. Coastie is right, with respect to age of survey data. I've investigated chart inquiries where the most recent survey was from the 1870s.

Having thought on this some more, I am mistaken. It's all about time and place. Twenty years ago, if I was in Germany, I'd be doing Roman. Ten years ago, I'd be doing Total Death Hussars. Today, given the amount of time and effort I'd put into the study of the early 18thC, I would be doing my best to get some sort of War of the Spanish Succession Association running. In fact, I would've started on it a couple of years ago. Did anyone reenact the 300th of the Battle of the Schellenburg? I doubt it. Blenheim? Not that I know of. Ramillies? I think maybe a couple. Do you know what is left? A few small battles celebrating their 300th, and two of the largest battles fought in Europe - Oudenarde and Malplaquet. You have one year and a half to plan Oudenarde, annd get the 200,000 reenactors needed. You have until September '09 to gather the 200,000+ needed for Malplaquet, one of the bloodiest battles of the era. Seriously. If I was in Germany, or anywhere in Western Europe, instead of spending the last bunch of years doing pirates, I'd be all over this.

Your attire looks picture perfect from here. I would be honored to have you dressed thus in my camp. :)

Isn't there something about excercise being beneficial to cold relief??? Anyway... much to my chagrin, I discovered whatever microbes are floating around inside of me are still lingering. I think I'm going to pass on food for the day. But like a trooper, I did my 20 minutes while watching Dangerous Liaisons.

You didn't sound as red as I expected... ps - anyone calls me during dinner, or when I'm trying to get the kids to sleep, or myself to sleep, well... I gotta blunderbuss... now during office hours... contact me at... what the hell is that number again...??? I'll have to check!

I was just telling Jim Hawk(in)s this has to be one of the most bizarre threads I have seen on a forum... you zany pyrates you!!!

Mine is easy enough to find, not that I ever answer the phone. C'mon, we all know phones lines are meant for one thing, to allow us access to the net where we type messages to each other behind that veil of semi-anonymity.

I began my reenacting adventures as a viking and still know some folks doing that who will be there at MTA. If you need a contact, send me an email or pm.

Gorramit Patrick, there ain't no such thing as too much Firefly!

Ok, honestly, if I was in your shoes, I'd stop doing pirate. Why? Because, as they say, it's all about "location, location, location." You are stuck in Germany with just about zero pirate action, either historically or by way of reenactment. If I was stuck in Germany, I'd have no problem switching to my first love - ROMAN! Or my second love - Seven Years War! Or to my third love - War of the Spanish Succession!!! Those all rock, every bit as much as pirate. With Roman, you have the whole brilliant world of Roman academia! It's freakin' huge! You have fun researching pirate? Try researching Roman! People actually write stuff about Romans! You can't walk down the street without tripping over a Roman textbook! (well, compared to the number of scholarly books about pirates, this is true) And there is a whole whopping great Roman reenacting world out there, so groups exist in your (general) area! SYW... hey, I don't know if anyone or how many reenact it over there, but it is a viable alternative here to Rev and Civil war. The kit is every bit as cool as pirates... and you get to use that 1742 model hanger and not get called on it! WotSS... the best unknown "cool" (not that I advocate war) war around! Better than SYW because this is GAOP! Next to no groups out there doing it. You can lead the way! AND still help out the pirate types because it is the same era! Best of both worlds! Just thoughts my friend, worth what you paid for 'em... :)

I believe my flu-based diet worked very well! Like bulimia only nature takes care of the dirty work for you... after 10 hours of... Sunday night into Monday morning I could barely walk... Got back into the swing of it this morning! Keep up the good work folks! Glad to see we are still hanging in there!

Damn. I wish Sherman and Mr Peabody could set the Wayback Machine for a few days ago... I know you can right her. And everyone here is pulling with you in spirit. I've sent the paypal link to my group and will try rounding up some support! Good luck!

"These aren't the droids you are looking for." (handwave makes everything better) (Thanks Greg! You see, even I got confused! And now I better so get some coffee.)

Thanks for detailing your thought processes on the subject Captain Midnight. I appreciate that. I've always assumed the notched on the extra slats were dovetails. But I see your line of reasoning. And hey, right or wrong, it doesn't matter. Why? Because overall, this box of yours is 90th percentile stuff, a level that isn't often achieved in this line of work. michaelsbagley wrote: I'm working on a series of articles. The first, completed last week, was about belts and holsters. The second, somewhat finished but available right now anyway, is a list of Whydah artifacts that I know of, with some pics and commentary. Hopefully I'll be able to finish that one next week.

Why did God invent buccaneers? So we have something to study when we get burned out on pirates. :)

Now there's a loaded question... first some clarification is in order. I believe you are confusing two similar events. Military through the Ages, the event you provide the link for, is in Virigina near Williamsburg. Marching through Time is another timeline event, held in Maryland, at Marietta Mansion, not too far from DC, on the weekend of April 14 & 15. As for the attendance of pirate groups at MTA, I quote the intro to my website. "The Pirate Brethren, as a reenacting group, was formed in the mid-1990s, originally going by the name Brethren of the Bay. We share a common ancestry with Merrick's Privateers, both units springing from an ill-fated attempt to have a Pirate Camp at Jamestown's Marching Through Time event, an idea which was in itself born of the annual Adelphi Mill Pyrate Feast." Why ill-fated? Well, once there, we discovered the organizers would not let us set up camp, because, get this, "pirates aren't military." Oh, and vikings are military?!?!? Sheesh. That's how Merrick's Privateers became privateers. Whereas my group held fast and remained on the wrong side of the law, his people went legit so they could get a berth at MTA. That's cool. They do their thing, we do ours, sometimes we meet in the middle and have fun together. To answer your question regarding pirate camps at MTA. No, as far as I know there won't be any. Reenactors that I know have become disillusioned with the event organizers and I only know a small handful of people doing other time periods who plan to attend. As for MTT, the answer is yes. Merrick's Privateers will be there. The Pirate Brethren received an invite in the mail just this week. However, I promised Kass I would help fill out the coffeehouse impression. I'm going to be a used suit seller! How fun! If you are interested, we've been having a running discussion here. The most recent posts have drifted toward the methods of preparation for period cocoa.

Yesterday got away from me too. I gave it a break. Then I dropped by just to read some stuff, and wouldn't you know it, found two messages that were just begging me for answers... sooooo... now I can to answer 'em!

Interesting... you interpreted the extra wooden slats as being part of the box's flap. I'm not sure I agree, but that is an interesting idea. I have always assumed the four extras formed some sort of internal partition. Did you base this on some new information retrieved from Ken?

A quote, from one pyrate to another... Happy Birthday!

Foxe has written a book on the subject of pirate flags. Check out his website: http://www.bonaventure.org.uk/ed/flags.htm And while looking for his, I found this. Can't say that I recall ever seeing it before, and haven't had a chance to look it over yet, but it might prove interesting or helpful. http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/xf-.html

If it's anything like the Star Wars exhibit that rolled through the Air & Space Museum 5 (10?) years ago, it's a must see. That exhibit had soooooo much stuff. Way cool!

Works for me! Uhhhh... maybe I should rephrase that... I have tai chi chuan dvds, and I gotta say they don't really accomplish what goes on in a real life class. My arms hurt... funny thing is, they don't hurt in the biceps. I think lifting a 35lb kid and a 45lb kid day after day has built my biceps up, but has done nothing for my triceps. Ouwww. Unlike Silkie, I work days, but I get up VERY early. Once the weather improves and there is sunlight, I may start doing early morning brisk walks. I like early morning... things seem much more peaceful when everyone is asleep. Tom, books on tape! Great idea! I have an unabridged Lord of the Rings on cd. Maybe I'll give that a spin after I've watched some of the movies I want to see.

I just remembered, last year when I was working with the marine archaeologist, we got to talking about this galleon that they think they know the whereabouts of. During this, I was surprised to find the typical Spanish galleon is, you guessed it, pretty much a Hollywood stereotype, according to my friend/boss the trained professional.

Which makes me wonder, during that time I was a student of Roman history, I don't recall ever wondering if any of the translations I read had made the conversation from Roman to Enlish feet. When I'm at work and need to make a conversion, I always plug into: http://www.onlineconversion.com/ Did my 20 with the extra 20 pounds. My arms are sore.