Capn_Enigma

For completeness' sake, I'd add the following to the Esquemelin text: ".., and of them they make a banquet among themselves. The Hollanders likewise baptize such as never passed that way before. And not only at the passage abovementioned, but also at the rocks called Berlingues, near the coast of Portugal, in the latitude of thirty-nine degrees and forty minutes, being a passage very dangerous, especially by night, when through the obscurity thereof the rocks are not distinguish able. But their manner of baptizing is quite distinct from that which we have described above as performed by the French. He, therefore, that is to be baptized is fastened, and hoisted up three times at the main-yard's end, as if he were a criminal. If he be hoisted the fourth time, in the name of the Prince of Orange or of the Captain of the vessel, his honour is more than ordinary. Thus they are dipped, every one, several times into the main ocean. But he that is the first dipped has the honour of being saluted with a gun. Such as are not willing to fall are bound tp pay twelve pence for their ransom; if he be an officer in the ship two shillings; and if he be a passenger, according to his pleasure. In case the ship never passed this way before, the captain is bound to give a small runlet of wine, which, if he does not perform, the mariners may cut off the stem of the vessel. All the profit which accrues by this ceremony is kept by the Master's Mate, who after reaching their port usually lays it out in wine, which is drunk amongst the ancient seamen. Some say this ceremony was instituted by the Emperor Charles the Fifth; howsoever, it is not found amongst his Laws. But here I leave these customs of the sea, and shall return to our voyage."

The reason for this is that a description has not been passed down upon us. Any description would be pure speculation.

That would be to the port and stbd of the poop deck, wouldn't it? I seem to have read it somewhere. But I'll have to think if it was contemporary or by a historian.

Seriously, they used an unraveled rope for wiping. As the little boys room was at the bowsprit, the rope was hung in the water for cleaning (yuck!) and pulled up again by the next one to use it. Of course, this was able seamen only. Officers had those nice little pots under their beds for.. ye know. Plus they had the ship's boy for flushing those overboard.

I am the Great Cornholio! I need TP for my bunghole!!

Windows

I don't want to rain in on the parade, but "scale" models are notoriously inaccurate, especially so the Italian/ Spanish kits. I can recommend a book by the noted German naval historian Wolfram zu Mondfeld, a luminary in the field of accurate ship models. The book is called "Historische Schiffsmodelle", ISBN 3-572-00847-6 . On the pages 192 f there are detailed descriptions of the anatomy of gun ports between 1550 and 1890, with numerous drawings. The book is a most comprehensive compilation on virtually all aspects of historic naval modelmaking.

The Royal Society has digitized part of their archives. Of special interest may be the GAoP contemporary science editions of the "Philosophical Transactions", their regular publication, beginning in the year 1683. I have already found gems like a "Tide-Table, Shewing the True Times of the High-Waters at London-Bridge" for 1683, and several others for subsequent years, sunspot observations, an "Historical account of the Trade Winds, and Monsoons" by Edmund Halley, microscopic examinations by Anthony Leeuwenhoek, etc etc. Most of the texts are in English, as opposed to the then "scientific language", Latin. But you have to hurry:

Well, that's certainly the most important item on a 18th century sailing vessel!

Flanders... as in Ned?

I sure hope they will launch the 1,600 tons "7 Provinciën", a Dutch man- o- war, one day. But then again, the VOC retourschip "Batavia" took them ten years to build., and it was "only" 650 tons.

Isn't that what history is all about? How many of today's historians have participated in Pickett's Charge? How many were aboard "Titanic"? How many saw the exploding "Hindenburg", or Lindbergh landing in Paris? Most of the recent history is based on eyewitnesses accounts, be it from letters, official documents or other sources. The historian's real work is to eliminate contradictions between these accounts, so that a sensible picture emerges from the blur.

BEAUFORT, North Carolina (Reuters) -- Nearly three centuries ago, the notorious pirate Blackbeard ran aground in his ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge, off what is now a North Carolina beach town. This month, a crew of 13 heads out to sea each day, hoping for clear-enough weather to dive the 20 to 25 feet to the ocean bottom to excavate what they believe is Blackbeard's ship. The team has found cannons, a bell, lead shot of all sizes, gold dust, pewter cups and medical devices, like a urethral syringe used to treat syphilis with mercury. "A saying at the time was 'a night with Venus and a month with mercury.' And mercury doesn't even cure you," lead archeologist Chris Southerly said in an interview. For more information, click on this CNN page

That's too bad. But then again... we can't be all different!

Well, here's my ink: Some people may know its original form:

Although you failed to specify which period you are looking for: Here's a Virtual Tour of the VOC retourschip "Batavia". And to the picture that was posted by oderlesseye: It looks just like my grandma's coffee table. Just our disneyfied, romantisized, hollywoodized imagination of a "Captain's Table". Even multi- armed candlesticks are there. But how long do you s'pose this layout would last even in the slightest breeze aboard a tallship? Listen to someone who has actually been to sea: Not a minute. By that time, everything you see would be tumbling in very handy heap of shards on the leeward side of the deck. I could also mention that there hardly were (leather!) upholstery nor even comfy cushions aboard, but I guess you see my point.

I have studied period writings on the making of hourglasses and I have encountered two or three examples in museums and collections; I have even built two glasses (sealing them with sealing wax, and tying a decorative knot around the joint). There'd be no point in testing the acuracy of original GAOP glasses, as the grinding action of the sand has widened the diaphragm holes to a point where a former 30 minutes glass I came across a few years ago ran through in a matter of 24 minutes. Also, I guess the owners would have - rightfully - objected to the degree of maltreatment I would have subjected the glasses to. But I did conduct a series of experiments with two different 30- minutes hourglasses from my collection: I clocked their running times in the freezer, in a normal 18°C surrounding and in the baking sunlight (42°C in the shades). Although they were as hermetically sealed as it gets (having closed glassblown bulbs), they showed different degrees of variations in their respective running time, due to the air moisture trapped within them.

Ed, you missed the whole point here: GAOP hourglasses were sealed hermetically "enough" so that ambient air moisture does not influence them, much in the same way as it does not influence the contents in a bottle of wine. What is really important is the level of air moisture trapped within the hourglass when it was made, especially when the sand is very fine and/ or hygroscopic.

"Bound together"?? You are kidding, right? GAOP hourglass halves were joined with sealing wax, or by a glassblower or something like that. The knot had a merely decorative function, as it covered up the often unsightly joint and the diaphragm. GAOP hourglass halves were not "bound together" and they were as hermetically sealed as possible at that time.

The moisture of the weather has no effect whatsoever on the hourglasses' accuracy - and how would it? The glass is sealed hermetically, after all. If air moisture could influence the running time, no sauna hourglass would run correctly. It is the air moisture trapped within the glass before sealing that can render it inaccurate, depending on the ambient temperature. Of supreme importance is whether or not the sand (or eggshells, or whatever is used for running medium) is hygroscopic.

While they are no period depictions, here are some examples of spectacles from the 16th century, and a pair of glasses from the 17th century I even found the ladies version of spectacles which was fixed to the hood of this charming lady. Compared to these glasses, the Clark Kent model are really cool shades.

Ok, here are the pictures that I promised. The big arc It is not steam- bent, but - like the original instruments - sawed from a massive cherrywood board. The smallest divisions are 10 minutes, 6 of them to each degree. That represents an accuracy of 10 nautical miles or better, which was a huge improvement over instruments like the quadrant. The small arc It too was sawed from a massive cherrywood board. The smallest division is one degree. This arc does not need bigger accuracy, because the fine tuning was done with the large arc. The general layout This is what one sees when sighting with the backstaff. The shadow vane is placed at a convenient spot on the small arc and then the navigator sights through the hole in the sighting vane and moves it up or down the big arc until the shadow of either the upper or the lower edge of the shadow vane matches the line on the horizon vane, while the upper edge of the slot matches with the horizon. The angle between sighting and shadow vane equals the angle of the sun above the horizon. The horizon vane The shadow vane The sighting vane The back of the sighting vane Note that the brass strip acts as a spring and presses the vane against the wooden arc. Thus the vane can be moved, but will stay in its place. The maker's plaque Like most historic instrument makers did, I sign all my instruments. I predate the year of making by exactly 400 years (hence "1605") and sign them with a latinized version of my first name, Wolfgang. "INCESSVS LVPI" means "the wolf's walk", which is a literal translation of my name from the German. I hope this helps. If you have more questions, please feel free to ask.

Naw, not ignoring anybody, just kinda busy at the moment. I will post the requested pix in the next days. As for the questions concerning the selling of my instruments: I might sell the bigger one of the astrolabes shown, but only for a hefty sum - after all, I spent 500 hours of work in the making, plus it is gilt and silvered. So you can figure that it's not gonna quite be a Woolworth price. GOF: I am currently at pos. 54° 09' 55.67" N, 10° 32' 55.87" E. Hope that helps.

Dang, Foxe beat me to it! Beware however, that this is sometimes pretty heavy stuff. I own a reprint of the 1633 edition. The preface says it all: Capt. Sterling: Any particular detail of the backstaff you want to have a looksie at? The sights? The scales? The joints? The maker's plate? GOF & Ed: I have considered selling them, but the exotic woods are very hard to come by. Originally, I wanted the frame to be ebony, but that was simply unobtainable. I have to admit that althogh I was a bit annoyed at first, I now think that is was a good thing in the end: The contrast between the ebony and the cherrywood arcs would probably have been too big.

Copyright protection without much success, one might add. Here's the link to the first movie poster on that particular page, here's the second, and so on. Anyway, better luck with your anti- piracy activities next time.