Capn_Enigma

There's a saying among Titanophiles about "Titanic": "You can leave her, but you cannot divorce her." I have a piece of her coal and a piece of her rust, and believe me, my hands trembled when I first touched either.

Hello, I wasn't aware that there were others on this pirate- oriented forum that are interested in "Titanic". This is a theme that has interested me for quite some time. I have been studying it since 1979, today I have an extensive collection and a library about it, met some folks involved in it (survivors, authors, scientists etc.), and I have even made a web page about it:

It is terrible bad luck to be superstitious!

With all due respect, this "correct" orientation thing is nothing but a ridiculous piece of superstition with no practical value whatsoever and should be dismissed as such.

Firstly, you don't see any needle at all. The only thing you'll see is a device looking a bit like an airbrush making a buzzing noise, like a toy electric motor. Secondly, the pain is much less than you'd expect. The initial sensation is less than that of a vaccination. Depending on the size (surface) of the tattoo, it may hurt a bit during the first minute or so of the tattooing process. Endorphines (the body's own pain drugs) are released, the skin is getting numb and you hardly feel anything, except if you concentrate on the spot. To avoid that, a good tattooer will chat with you during tattooing to distract you. Finally, cleanliness is mandatory. If the tattooing room does not look clean enough that one would like to have a minor surgery in it, you'd better forget it. You should not get a tattoo if you are not 100 per cent behind it. Anyone coerced into getting a tattoo against his/ her will or coerced into not getting one against his/ her will should seriously consider to reevaluate their partnership.

There is nothing like a "correct direction" for a tattoo. The direction is any way the owner likes to wear it. If it's upside down, mirror- reverse and oblique and you wanted it that way, it's just fine as any. It isn't "incorrect" just because it faces one way or the other. Nice work there, Ace!

AFAIK, the flag in question is attributed to Edward Teach aka Thatch aka Blackbeard.

In his excellent book "Batavia's Graveyard", Mike Dash writes what sorts of nautical instruments a mid- 17th century Dutch East- Indiaman would have on board: "A VOC [Verenigde Oost- indische Compagnie, the Dutch East- India Company] equipment list suggests that a wide variety of instruments would have been carried for the use of the skipper and the upper steersman. The manifest includes three round astrolabes, two semicircular astrolabes, a pair of astrolabe catholicum (the 'universal astrolabe', used for problems of spherical geometry), a dozen pair of compasses, four Jacob's Staffs, four Davis's Quadrants and many charts and manuals. The astrolabe, which was perfected by the Portuguese, was the most primitive of the three principal navigational tools. The Batavia carried at least four - the number that have been recovered from the wreck site. Almost certainly Ariaen Jacobsz [Batavia's skipper] would have taken another one with him in the longboat for his voyage to Java."

Nobody is into PBS yet, as it hasn't been released as of this date. It is scheduled to be released in Q4 of 2005, but the release date has already been postponed a few times. It will require state- of - the- art hardware and at least a DSL / cable modem connection. It will be a MMORPG that is set in 18th century Caribbean. You chose from a variety of careers (pirate, merchant etc.) and join any of the three main powers (Spain, Britain, France). Check out the PBS website.

I see. Thanks for the clarification.

Are you positive on the cross- staff? Not a backstaff? This is a misinterpretation, since a normal Mariner's astrolabe has no reverse scale, just an obverse one. What he means is to rotate the astrolabe 180 degrees and sight through the very same alidade, but the reading is done from a different sector on the same scale. But this is done only as a precaution to countercheck a possibly faulty astrolabe.

Aye, and here be it, chesthair included : Do ye know what it's made of? Pewter? Judged from the style, it looks like a remake of an early arabic astrolabe to me.

Assuming there is a variety of instruments aboard (as a matter of fact, on wreck sites, harldy ever more than two or three Mariner's astrolabes were found in one ship's remains): In windy or stormy weather, a navigator would take his metal Mariner's astrolabe. In a calm, and I mean a really dead calm, a metal or wooden quadrant may be used. The main advantage of a quadrant, its greater limb, is also its major disadvantage in bad weather: Quadrants have a plumb line which is prone to swinging in everything but the slightest breeze. However, when the weather is fine, a quadrant is to be preferred, due to the greater accuracy of reading because of the greater radius. The material of the quadrant doesn't really matter because it is held in the hand and does not need to be heavy. In all other cases, astrolabes are to be preferred. A planispheric astrolabes may be used in a period "between" a weather when the quadrant cannot be used and a weather where a Mariner's astrolabe is not yet necessary. As a navigator, I myself would never average readings. As the saying goes "averages are for average people". I would take my sighting as carefully as possible and then stick to it, but never relying on it alone, if at all possible. E.g. if you are near land, you could use a pelorus to take a cross- bearing to verify your position. Now there's an instrument I haven't built yet... the Universal Cock Ring!

Very nice items that you got there, Foxe! And while we're showing off , here's one of my most beautiful astrolabes in assembled state. The tablets, rete and rule are gilt, the star pointers are silvered. And here's another popular instrument, the horometer. Amongst other things, it has a dial with which to tell the current phase of the moon: EDIT: Though it has nothing to do with astrolabes, my last project was a telescope built to Galileo Galilei's exact optical specifications and in the style of an early 17th century telescope (unfortunately, also with such an instrument's deficiencies , but that's another story!).

Gentleman Of Fortune, when constructing a planispherical (astronomical) astrolabe, you first have to determine the latitude area where it will most likely be used (for the Caribbean that would be between 8°N (Panama) and 30°N (St Augustine)). Then you calculate and manufacture the tablets in 2° to 3° latitude increments. A bigger increment would result in the astrolabe outputting incorrect data. Again, for the Caribbean that would be (in 2° increments): 8°N (1st tablet obverse), 10°N (1st tablet reverse), 12°N (2nd tablet obverse), .... , 28°N (6th tablet obverse), 30 °N (6th tablet reverse). The number of tablets is, of course, limited by the thickness of the mater (a mater can only hold a limited amount of tablets). To ensure that my astrolabes can be used on the entire world, I have come to use the so- called "Saphea Arzachelis", which is a projection of the globe onto a flat surface (, i.e. the surface of the astrolabe). With it, you can use the astrolabe at all latitudes from North to South Pole. There are other tablets aside from the "normal" latitude tablets. The "Horizon Tablet" is used to determine the time of the sun or stars rising and setting ("We will attack Panama on sunrise. What hour will that be?"), while the so- called "Geographical Tablet" is used for determining the culmination of heavenly bodies above a geographical point ("At which time tonight will Altair reach its highest point here at Port Royale?"). Other scales on the astrolabe include the so- called Shadow Square, which could be used for a wild variety of trigonometric uses ("We need to build ladders to scale this fortress, but we don't know the height of the walls, and the walls are defended by musketeers. Find it out from the distance, so that our ladders won't be too short." or "How wide is this river?"). That depends on the diameter of the wooden or brass astrolabe and of the specific weight of the wood. If you made it from balsa wood, the diameter would be very large, thus giving the wind a large surface to attack. If made out of exotic wood, with the specific weight larger, the diameter would be less, but still much larger than that of a metal one. Thus, it would yield more easily to the wind than a metal astrolabe would. Metal (i.e. mostly brass) Mariner's Astrolabes on average had a diameter of 7 inches and they were extremely thick. Unfortunately, the smaller the diameter, the more inaccurate the finding will be. But ancient mariner's were obviously willing to run that risk in order to get a decent reading at all (Any reading is better that no reading at all).

Capt. DaggezEber: Ouch! I would greatly appreciate it if you could show me a photo of your astrolabe. You could put it on the Gallery here at pyracy.com, for instance. The code for posting pix is: <img>http://whatever_your_image_address_may_be.com/image.gif</img> (but replace all the "<" with "[" and the ">" with "]" (no quotation marks, of course.))

Mr Straw: Well, I guess you caught me there! To answer your questions in order: Yes - definitely yes -15 - 0 - 10 to 15 books, several thousand copied pages, printouts, treatises etc, a dozen computer programs that I have written for calculating astrolabe construction - 0 - Thank you, but limited? I don't think so - about 20 - Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe (Hamburg), Stadtmuseum Frankfurt, Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg, Deutsches Museum (München), Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers (Paris). You?

I have to admit that I envy you. I have been looking for a keychain (it is a keychain, right?) of this kind for quite some time but I found most to be too expensive. But I keep looking... Planispheric astrolabes are usually meant to be dis- and reassembled according to the latitude the user is on. There are usually several so- called tablets within the round outer thing (which is called the mater). The astrolabe is usually disassembled by unscrewing / undoing the axis and removing the star overlay (called the rete, Latin for "net" because of its cobweb - like appearance). After that, the tablets can be taken out of the mater, and the appropriate tablet reinserted on top. To clarify this, here's a disassembled astrolabe that I have built: Upper left: Rete Below left: Assorted tablets Upper right: Mater Middle right: Rule and alidade Below right: Axis pin, washer and wedge (equuleus)

Always! But, of course, dressed in style! Down the hatch!

Please re- read my first post in this thread: Now: Which one of these words do you not understand? I do not suffer fools lightly. My time is much too valuable to waste it on fools. While I do not think that you are a liar - because that would call for consciuosly telling a falsehood - you are perpetrating a corruption of historic facts when you state that wooden Mariner's Astrolabes were used on ships in the 16th to 18th century period. Neither you nor that other guy were able to prove conclusively that they were used. I asked you to show me examples of wooden Mariner's Astrolabes and you were unable to comply. I will not elaborate why I set this time frame which marks the period during which astrolabes were used on ships. This subject is too well documented in standard books like Stimson, Gunther, Fisher, Webster et al. Just repeating that wooden Mariner's Astrolabes were used aboard ships does not make it a fact. It merely represents your opinion, nothing more.

Foxe: I said that wooden Mariner's Astrolabes were never used on board a ship. If you feel the need to quote me, please be so kind as to quote me properly. Also, I made 3 wooden astrolabes in all (2 planispheric and 1 Mariner's), using them onboard my various ships. Thereafter, I decided to abandon wood since it has no practical value aside from being cheap and easy to machine. My astrolabes / other instruments after that are brass, also used aboard my ships. How many did you make and on what ships did you use them? Capt Straw: You, Sir, are obviously even too ignorant to realize that there two very different types of astrolabes (Planispheric and Mariner's) and I shall not waste my time again to teach the difference to the likes of you. Your continuous efforts to ridicule me are thwarted by the fact that you are not even familiar with the most basic of knowledge in this area and trying to lecture others while being unladen with any knowlwdge yourself is ... foolhardy. Forgive me, but unless you display that you do have command of at least that certain basic level of expertise in this field, you, Sir, are not a conversational partner for me. I challenged you to show me any 16th, 17th and 18th century wooden Mariner's Astrolabes, because before that time, Mariner's Astrolabes were not "invented", and after that period, they were obsolete due to the backstaff and octant.

These astronomical (or planispheric) astrolabes are especially beautiful. Can you take it apart and change the tablet within to another latitude or is it fixed to one latitude?

My dear Sir, as far as I am concerned, you can use wooden astrolabes until you turn blue in your face. Use an aluminum or a plastic one if you please, I really could not care less. But make no mistake, they are not authentic. I challenge you to show me a single 16th, 17th or 18th century wooden Mariner's Astrolabe. And, as you are obviously as of yet still ignorant of the shape of a Mariner's Astrolabe, this be it: Always your obedient &c &c.

First off, wise choice! Does it roughly look like this? Then it's an astronomical astrolabe, extremely useful as an astronomical computer. If it looks like this Congratulations! You have a Mariner's Astrolabe, used by discriminating navigators worldwide!

Once or twice, in pondlike conditions and still in sight of land? Or over months, in bad weather in the middle of the North and South Atlantic, Mediterranean or Caribbean, where I have used my metal astrolabes? Be it the former, I am sorry to say that your comprehensive experiences bear little to no value for me. Are you at all aware of the fact that a planispheric astrolabe has lots of other uses apart from sighting? It was most frequently used as an analog astronomical computer to determine sunrise, -set, culmination of stars etc. Magellan may have used it for those purposes and those purposes only.