William Brand

Miss McDonough! Enjoy...

I appreciate the concern, but I'm not packing the yoke or water buckets on the plane. I'm sending them ahead to the fort.

I most of those bookmarked for various products, and a few others which make those look cheap... http://www.beaverbuckets.com/PrimitiveCampbucket.htm I may buy two buckets and carve a shoulder yoke to fetch the water.

^ Too small. < I shall need some twenty changes of pirate attire before I'll call it adequate. V Name your favorite soft drink.

^ Macaroni Grill...for the baked lasagna. Red Robin...The Whiskey River Barbeque Burger. < My favorite sushi place closed recently. The owner passed away due to complications from cancer. A moment of silence... V Do you bear the restaurant selection curse? ...whenever I find a food I like at a restaurant they close the place or discontinue the item.

No need to cook up anything. Just sit down and have a mudslide.

I think I can swing the price on the bucket, so I'll take that one in addition to a lantern or two. Out of curiosity, where were you looking at buckets?

^ The Nina, Mayflower, Constitution, Wolf, and numerous others I have forgotten by name. < The Nina was a beautiful little ship of dark wood. I would have gladly stolen her. V Which replica ship do you long to steal?

Most certainly. Harry had a redcoats camp in 2005, but you would be welcome in any camp under any capacity. We would welcome more numbers to fire upon and to be fired upon by them.

Aye. Hurricane volunteered to bring his expertise on the subject of Port Royal to bear at this year's festival. We will also have a "sutlers camp", and with some repairs being made to the fort this year, the exact placement of these camps has yet to be determined, but there will be three for certain.

^I see your choices as an even split, but for altogether different reasons. So don't choose between them. Just choose one and then choose not to regret missing one for the other. I am invited every year to a game convention in California and one in New York. They run the same weekend almost every single year and I always have to choose, so I do. Then I forget the other as if it was never a possibility. < We would love to have you at PIP, of course, but we understand the draw to both events. We'll either drink with you, or drink a toast to you in your absence. V Are you a gamer?

Rearranging things about the house and gearing up for a large house party next week.

^ I don't know, but based on my downhill skiing I'll say no. < I do like cross country skiing. I've donw winter camping in the high country where we had to cross country ski several miles into the wilderness. V Have you ever been snorkling?

July 29, 1704 - Aboard the frigate Watch Dog Between two and three bells of the Afternoon Watch The unloading and distribution of supplies continued even after noon had come and gone. It was after one of the afternoon and still supplies were being brought down into holds and armories by the returned Larboard Watches and the departing Starboard sailors. During this time, Eric relented the holy ground, giving the quarterdeck over to Maurice Roche, and the last of the Starboard crews went into the shore bound boats. Maurice stood a long while with his hands behind his back and the grin of a man given a new command, no matter how temporary. He smiled the grin of the impish school boy, entertaining ridiculous thoughts of high mutiny and Jamaican towns. The idea was laughable and he knew it, for the rewards of loyalty had been too obvious of late. Still, he laughed to himself from time to time, especially when he looked down at his own threadbare clothing. 'Captain Roche, Unshaven Scourge of the Caribbean!' he thought, chuckling. Then, as quickly as these thoughts had come, they were gone, and Maurice Roche became officer of the deck. "You there! Mind the gallows and spars!" ~Starboard Watches on Duty~

I know a number of people who may still have old high school instruments laying about unused. Do you have a list of needed instruments?

I'm sorry to say that the Pub's chat room went the way of the Dodo on October 26th and has shown no signs of returning.

Aye, and I'm already searching along those lines. In fact, Historical Enterprises makes a nice brass lantern with a horn pane window for $29.95... If several people could bring two lanterns, one to keep and one to donate, it would be appreciated. Most of the lanterns owned by the fort are of a much later period. I do recommend them for any pirate on the night watches. We actually discussed this at length before the last PIP, but the conversation stalled due to heated opinions rising from wooden banded buckets versus iron banded ones. Still, we should certainly have one. Did we have buckets near the fire this last year? The year before I brought a canvas bucket for fire safety.

^ Scholastic books sent me a "Greatest Mom" certificate. It said "William Pace, World's Greatest Mom". < Liam calls me mommy. V Any unusual nicknames?

You are employing lies and the arts of deception to attend a pirate festival...? I like the cut of your jib, man. I don't often buy the drinks for them which are meant to buy the rounds for us, but for you I'll make an exception.

I just ate a very nice apple. mmmm...

^ Beaches...hhmmm. I live in the northern Rockies. The beaches are scarce and more along the lines of lake shores and river banks. < I miss the sea. I see it to infrequently. V Favorite spread of beach...?

Florida, you say? Excellent. Welcome aboard... ...and as a pirate recruiter of the Pirates in Paradise Festival in Key West, may I take this opportunity to invite you to the festival in late November?

July 29, 1704 - St. Louis William and John McGinty made their way through the bright streets of many a merchant row searching out the proper place to sell the Ilex goods. The Captain and Marine passed more than one tempting shop, and more than one more tempting tavern. They passed milliners, tanners, coopers, cobblers, liveries, blacksmiths, bakeries and even a spice shop. William made special note of the spice shop for later. The degree of wealth and prosperity increase by neighborhood and architecture until they stood before a jeweler's shop. It sat half in sun, half in shadow, nestled comfortable under the bows of a very large tree. The sign was lavishly embellished with a carved border of intertwined links, which glinted brightly enough that they might have been gilded. The image in the center showed a wise, thoughtful looking man caught up in the craft of fashioning a crown set with jewels. They entered into the cool but amply lit workroom at the front of the shop. "Bonjour, Messieurs." said a large man who sat in a large, comfortable chair immediately to the left of the door. He was a large man, who had an imposing stature even while seated. He did not smile exactly, thought his face made a kind of formal attempt, and William guessed by the pistol in his belt and the too obvious blunderbuss across his knee, that this man was not the jeweler. More than likely he was a paid man in the employ of the shop to keep 'light fingers' from being tempted. William nodded and returned a genuine smile, for it pleased him that the place was all business and propriety. Such a shop carried promise of clean and precise affairs that would make this easier for him. "Bonjour, Messieurs." came a second, more feminine greeting from the curtain which separated the front of the shop from the living and working spaces beyond. William returned her greeting as well and with a smile more genuine than he had given to the seated man, for here was a woman of surpassing beauty. She was young, perhaps some ten years younger than William. She was dressed in a dress the color of butter cream and her neck was adorned by the trappings of the trade. "Bon après-midi, Mlle." William said, calling upon his gift with bows and hats for the second time that day. "Vous me pardonnerez, mais parlez anglais ?" "Yes. I am able to speak anglais." she returned, her face pleasant, but otherwise unreadable. "Excellent." William said, smiling. "Mister McGinty, you may wait outside." "Aye, Sah." McGinty returned, snapping off a salute, and William was pleased for the additional formality, for it painted him in a light which belied a higher station. The marine strode out into the sun and William made a formal introduction of himself and his purpose. "I am William Brand, Captain of the frigate Watch Dog, traveling under the grace and marque of his Excellency, Gouverneur Louis-Claude Garavaque." She curtsied and William took the occasion to bow a second time, careful to pause between his decent and ascent. "My name is Adélaïde Molyneux, daughter to Monsieur Thibault Molyneaux, the owner and your host." "I may linger here awhile yet." William thought. ~Starboard Watches on duty~

I am vitally interested in the the printed wares. Are these being sold through Reconstructing History or through a partner?

Excellent. This seems to be 'the year' for me. I have handmade items coming to me from all parts of the globe. Many from my fellow pirates. The kit grows and grows.