William Brand
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November 16 - Born in 1785, Zheng Yi Sao, whose birth name is unknown, spent her early years engaged in a variety of illicit activities. By 1801, she was working as a prostitute in Canton's floating brothels, which is where she met the notorious pirate captain, Zheng Yi. The two were married in 1801, with the condition that Zheng Yi would share equally with his wife his power and that he would give her the opportunity to help them secure more wealth from their pirating activities. For six years the husband-and-wife team grew their piracy business along the coast of the South China Sea. Using military coercion and his family's pirating credentials, Zheng Yi was able to gather together a bevy of competing Cantonese pirate fleets into a strong coalition. Within several years, the Red Flag Fleet was one of the most powerful pirate fleets in all of China. Then, on this day in 1807, Zheng Yi died. Rather than step aside and assume a quiet life as a widow as other women may have done in 19th century China, Zheng Yi Sao (whose name means ""widow of Zheng Yi"") deftly manoeuvered to assume control of her late husband's booming pirate business. She oversaw and led a fleet of more than 1,500 ships staffed with more than 60,000 pirates.
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4 recipes together...
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One of these days I'll have to compose a song about Mister Mallett and Bacon. I added Mister Mallett to the Ship's Muster. How did we go a year without adding Mister Mallet to the muster?
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Welcome aboard! It's always nice to meet one of the victims that got tangled in the net of the hobby. I mean...welcome aboard!
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November 15 - Including the seven men aboard the Mary Anne, nine of Bellamy's crew survived the wrecking of the two ships. They were all captured quickly, however, and on October 18, 1717, six were tried in Boston for piracy and robbery. The following were found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging: John Brown of Jamaica, Thomas Baker and Hendrick Quintor of the Netherlands; Peter Cornelius Hoof of Sweden; John Shaun of France; and Simon van der Vorst of New York. Carpenters Thomas South and Thomas Davis, who were tried separately, had been conscripted by Bellamy – forced to choose between a life of piracy or death. Therefore, they were acquitted of all charges and spared the gallows. The last survivor was a 16-year-old Miskito Indian named John Julian – who was a skilled navigator, and also the Whydah's pilot. He was not tried, but instead was sold into slavery after his capture. On this day in 1717, the famous Puritan minister Cotton Mather accompanied the six condemned men as they were rowed across Boston Harbor to Charlestown. All six men confessed and repented in the presence of Mather, but they still hanged.
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After a long hiatus, due to too many issues to count and one delightful hard disc recovery, we have the new versions of the Verse in Numbers and ARC of the Verse. Enjoy! http://pics.fireflyprops.net/TVIN-2.1.pdf http://pics.fireflyprops.net/PACE-ARC-2.1.pdf
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November 3 - A letter from a gentleman belonging to this vessel, dated St. Barts, Nov. 3, 1821, says— " We arrived here, after a rather rough passage, in eighteen days from Boston, all well. We expect to sail again in two or three days. We found here the piratical ship which robbed the Orleans Packet. She is now in possession of the Swedish government. She came into their possession in the following manner : — The crew landed her cargo on a small island near this, from whence it was taken by a schooner to St. Thomas ;— they then run the ship into Five Island Harbour, where all the crew, except two men, deserted her. — The government hearing of her being there, sent a guard and took possession of her, brought her into this harbour, and confined the two men found in. her as pirates. — It is said, Capt. Elton has requested the Governor to allow him to take them to the United States for trial. This piratical ship was originally the U. S. brig Prometheus, which was condemned two years since, and was then sold."
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Excellent work on the kit, mate!
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That reminds me of a story. I once sat in a stall where some English major had corrected all of the graffiti with a red marker. It was hilarious stuff. All marked up and even graded.
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Niiice!
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Some of you who do not follow the Pyracy Pub's status on Facebook will have noted that the Pub was down for many days. Please let me explain. The company that handles our overall service and carries the Pub on their servers were updating their entire system and software. The Pub has a number of custom written codes and protocols that help reduce spam and traffic issues, and which also increase our posting capacities and archiving. So in addition to new software, these custom codes for the Pub created a connection issue during the transition, so some code had to be re-written. We appreciate your patience. We assure you that everything is carefully archived and we keep redundant copies of the Pub in case of any issues. We are glad to have the Pub up and running again and thank the server handlers and Paul's coding efforts to keep this site running smoothly.
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Participation is permission between participating parties.
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I'm reminded of a story. A friend of mine took a journalism class at USU and the teacher explained that extra credit would be rewarded to anyone that could fine five glaring mistakes in the local paper each day. My friend's hand shot up and he declared, "I have the paper right here and I've found five on just the first page!" October 4 - On this day in history, the Danish ship Dannebroge exploded and sank in the Great Northern War during the action of of October 4, 1710 Also on this day in 1744, the first rate HMS Victory was lost in a storm near Salcombe.
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Just to catch up a bit... September 23 - On this day in 1641, the ship Merchant Royal wrecked off Land's End in rough weather. September 24 - On this day in 1493, Columbus set sail with 17th ships on his 2nd expedition to New World. September 25 - On this day in 1492, a Crewman on the Pinta sighted "land" a few weeks early. And on this day in 1513, Vasco Nunez de Balboa was the first European to see the Pacific Ocean. Also on this day in 1639, the first printing press in America was used. And also on this day in 1690, Publick Occurrences, the first newspaper in the American colonies out of Boston, published the first & last edition due to being the worst newspaper of the time. The public found their reporting to be so bad that the newspaper had only one edition.
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September 11 - On this day in 1692, Ingela Olofsdotter Gathenhielm née Hammar, a Swedish privateer in service of King Charles XII of Sweden during the Great Northern War, was born. From 1711, Ingela was married to the privateer and pirate Lars Gathenhielm, who in 1710 had received permission from the king to attack and plunder ships from enemy nations on the Baltic Sea (and also, as it was said, often attacked other ships as well) and sold the valuables of the ship in Dunkerque. He was making a fortune, and was ennobled in 1715. Ingela had met Lars when they were children, as the farms of their parents were next to each other. They had five children, and she is believed to have been not only his wife but also his companion in his professional life, and the brain behind a lot of his plans as a privateer and pirate. They both ran the affairs from their base in Gothenburg. When her husband died in 1718, Ingela took over his Privateering (and his alleged Pirate empire), continued its business and also expanded it during the remaining war. She was called the Shipping Queen. Swedish privateering ended after the peace treaty with Denmark in 1720 and Russia in 1721. Ingela married the lieutenant Isak Browald in 1722, and in 1729 was buried with her first husband in Onsala.
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September 8 - On this day in 1628, at the Bay of Matanzas Cuba, Piet Heyn captured the Spanish silver fleet. And on this day in 1664, the Dutch surrendered New Amsterdam to 300 English soldiers.
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September 3 - On this day in 301, San Marino, one of the smallest nations in the world and the world's oldest republic still in existence, was founded by Saint Marinus.
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August 30 - On this day in 1682, William Penn left England to sail to the New World.
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WDW POTC sail boats - what are they?
William Brand replied to Littleneckhalfshell's topic in Shipwright
The lidded box on a boat that small might be a binnacle for compass, traverse, sextant, etc. Apart from that I couldn't say much, though the ornamentation at the bow reminds me of something from Chapman's drawings. -
Very nice addition, Greg. Thank you. August 29 - On this day in 1721, privateer George Shelvocke and his men weighed anchor aboard the 'Sacra Familia' and set sail for China with only thirty men and "a few negroes", reaching Macao toward the end of the year.
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August 28 - On this day in 1565, the oldest city in the U.S., St. Augustine, Florida, was established. And on this day in 1609, Henry Hudson discovered and explored Delaware Bay.
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August 27 - On this day in 1601, Olivier van Noort completed the first Dutch exploration of the New World. And on this day in 1667, the earliest recorded hurricane struck North America at Jamestown Virginia.
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August 26 - On this day in 1641, the West India Company conquerored Sao Paulo de Loanda, Angola. And on this day in 1651, the Battle of Plymouth took place. General-at-Sea George Ayscue of the Commonwealth of England attacked a convoy of the Dutch Republic commanded by Vice-Commodore Michiel de Ruyter. The Dutch were victorious.
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August 25 - On 25 August 1685, Charles Swan separated from his confederates Peter Harris and Edward Davis, and sailed up the coast of Mexico, but met with little success. And on this day in 1718, hundreds of French colonists arrived in the Louisiana area and New Orleans was founded.
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August 24 - 1608 - On this day in 1608, the first English convoy landed at Surat, India. And on this day in 1658, the Battle at Grevelingen saw the defeat of Spanish forces by the English. And in 1704, the Battle of Malaga, the largest naval battle in the War of the Spanish Succession, created a strategic victory of the Grand Alliance.