William Brand

I agree that not all men might have a fork for eating, but the knowledge of which fork is period can be used in ways beyond the portrayal of the common sailor. It would be entertaining to have a common seaman carrying a whole bag of forks for the express purpose of selling them. Indeed, it could be quite humorous to have a crew arguing the very need for forks, when selling them would be more obvious to them. They might even laugh openly at the idea of eating with anything that would strain their food and prove no more useful than a knife.

March 8 - On this day in 1702, Anne Bonny was born in Ireland.

March 7 - On this day in 1665, the second rate 'HMS London' accidentally exploded in the Thames Estuary, killing 300 crewmen.

Catching up from the weekend, we have a few days in history to mention. While there was no leap year this year, on February 29, 1720, Edward England (aka Jasper Seagar, or Edw. Seegar) with no less than 250 men aboard, “attempted a Dutch ship near Cape Town. He came up with the Black Flag flying.” Royal James “was not beaten off until his foremast was within one foot of the Dutchmen’s ensign staff, when her chase guns raked him and made him withdraw.” Then, while not pirate related, this little bit of history certainly demonstrates the fears and superstitions of the period, because on March 1, 1692 the notorious Salem Witch hunts began. Also on March 1, 1796, the VOC (Dutch East India Company) was nationalized by the new Batavian Republic. Its charter was renewed several times, but allowed to expire on 31 December 1799.

The trifid finial fork found off Jamaica is a three pronged fork, but has the same overall look as the fancier example that jendobyns linked above. There were three pronged forks recovered from La Belle, which sank near Jamaica in 1686. Replicas of Jamaican shipwreck forks were widely reproduced in the 1970s. There are also shipwreck examples of four tined forks from both Jamaica and the Whydah that are so similar in style to ones used today, that with a little effort, one could find modern forks that are period in style.

February 24 - Also on this day back in 1720, the Spanish fleet arrived at New Providence, only to find that Roger's had fortified the place with new defenses. Wary of Rogers' defences, the Spanish landed troops on Paradise Island (then known as Hog Island), which shelters Nassau's harbor, but they were driven off by Rogers' troops.

February 23 - It is believed that Captain Samuel Bellamy was born on this day in 1689, not because we have a record of his birth, but because his mother Elizabeth Bellamy is reported to have died in childbirth and was buried that day.

February 21 - On this day in 1701, William Dampier's ship, Roebuck, sank at her anchors at Ascension Island, ending his expedition described in 'A Voyage to New Holland'. The 290-ton 12-gun Roebuck with a crew of 50 men and boys had carried him to King Sound, where he was the first European to describe the Australian aboriginals in very unflattering terms. He explored coastlines, rivers, streams and maintained his extensive journals in his seaman’s chest or, forced by necessity, in long sticks of hollow bamboo (waxing the ends to keep out the water and humidity) during the numberless crossings. He had won wide, previous acclaim after writing and publishing a lively narrative entitled 'A New Voyage Round the World' in 1697 that ran into many editions, the best being the 4th, published in 1729. The work transformed the pirate into a respected explorer.

This thread shows, that like so many things in life, we all get involved in one interest or another for either very similar reasons or very different reasons. The good news is, many of the events we're attending provide for all. Some events will pay specific pirate for their entertainment and talents, specific to their needs, while still providing an open, friendly environment and many free services to other pirates in mass. No two events are ever quite the same in this regard, so I appreciate fellow pirates who try so many of them and bring back their observations to share with the rest of us. Fresh water, ice and gratitude go a long way with me. Paid or not, cold, clean water and a 'Thank You'.

A very happy birthday!

Kristen is making whaler caps. She's working on the first now and I hope to have it next week. I'll post pictures when it arrives, Because they are made of a finer wool they take a little more material and time to make, so she'll be charging a little more than the monmouths caps, but watch for pics and pricing. Yeah, it was cold enough today to wear my monmouth. I use it more for shoveling snow and work in the garage than at events.

I just ordered a KnitKriket Monmouth Cap for the raffle to be held at the Pirates 4 Salty Ball. Kristen was kind enough to enclose a Gunniston Purse as an additional raffle. Her work is top shelf. William - Is she going to start making the whalers caps???? Jas. Hook sorry - didn't realize yours from from GOF... Is it much different? mP Kristen and I are discussing the particulars of the whalers cap, so they should be available soon. And...the monmouths from GoF and Kristen are so identical that I sometimes forget mine isn't from Knit Kriket. Proof positive that two people can research a period product separately and come to the same result. That's one of my main reasons for commissioning a whalers cap, just so I can remember the distinction.

My monmouth cap came from Gentleman of Fortune (the man who started this very topic). It's an excellent hat and I was glad to get one for my kit. http://www.gentlemenoffortune.com/ The vast majority of the crew to which I belong has purchased monmouths and thrums from Kristen Wilkinson. She makes excellent hats to order and she's working on my Whalers Cap. I keep monmouth caps and gunnister purses from her in stock for all the events I attend. Pete can attest to the workmanship/ http://www.etsy.com/shop/KnitKriket

You're welcome. If you need a few suggestions for knitters, just let me know.

Thank you. Just jotting down whatever I come across throughout the year. February 18 - Mathurin Desmaretz, was Quartermaster with captain Charpin in the ship St. Roze, and quarreled with him over the division of the loot. He agreed in defining the captain’s dividend (ten lots and first choice of any captured vessel) and those of the two surgeons on board, who, in addition to the usual allowance for their chests, were to keep captured instruments which were not embellished with silver details (“qui ne seront point garnys d’argent”). Pillage included gold, silver, diamonds, pearls, musk, ambergris and all sorts of precious stones as well as all bales that were not pierced between two points or at their bases (“tous balots entammez entre deux ponts ou au fond”). Recorded at Ile à Vache, February 18th, 1688.

February 17 - John Coxon, a filibuster from England, was a hot-tempered man. He served as one of the commanders who surprised and plundered Santa Marta on the Spanish Main in early 1677. He was declared a pirate since he sailed from Jamaica with a questionable French commission, but he promised to give up his crimes to escape punishment. However, in 1679, with Sharp and others, he fitted out an enterprise to Honduras that turned out to be rather successful. Among the plunder there was to be found 500 chests of indigo, cocoa, cochineal, tortoiseshell, money and plate. In January of 1680 he set sail, in consort with Allinson, Essex, Row and Sharp, for Porto Bello. They arrived there on February 17th after four days marching, and after having been without food "and their feet cut with the rocks for want of shoes" they still took and plundered the town, gaining about 18.000 pounds in booty. Each man’s share was 100 pieces of 8. Cornelius Essex, with Allison, Row and Sharp joined the same expedition under command of captain Coxon, who in four barques and two sloops, sailed from Jamaica to Puerto Bello. Their passage was frustrated by violent storms but all ships arrived at the destination. Some 300 men went in canoes and landed about 20 leagues from the town, then marched for four days along the coast, “many of them were weak, being for days without any food and their feet cut with the rocks for want of shoes and stung by insects”. Essex was among those who attacked and took Puerto Bello, on February 17th and left the town before a Spanish force of 700 could come to hinder them. As others, he received one hundred pieces of eight for his pains. On his return London was informed of Essex’s arrest in Jamaica “with 20 of his men for riotously comporting themselves and for plundering Major Jenckes of St. James parish.” . . . Richard Worley, who died on this day in 1719, was a pirate who was active in the Caribbean Sea and the east coast of the American colonies during the early 18th century. He is credited as one of the earliest pirates to fly the first version of the skull and crossbones pirate flag. The name of Worley's ship has never been identified, nor those of the four ships that he captured during his five month career from late September 1718 to February 16, 1719. He is first recorded leaving New York with a small boat and a crew of eight men hoping to make their fortune in the so-called Golden Age of Piracy. However, their first prize resulted in the capture of household goods from a ship in the Delaware River in September 1718. This attack was technically burglary rather than piracy, as according to British maritime law at the time the attack did not take place in international waters. Local authorities mistakenly attributed the attack to Worley's better-known counterpart Blackbeard, who had raided the same waterways earlier in the year. Their second prize brought better luck as, upon capturing a sloop bound for Philadelphia, Worley also gained four additional crew members. As they made their way to the Bahamas, however, King George I issued a royal proclamation for the capture and execution of pirates who chose not to accept a royal pardon from the British government. Although the 24-gun warship HMS Phoenix was sent out after Worley, he and his crew were able to evade capture. After six weeks off the Bahamas, during which time he captured a brigantine and a sloop as well as additional guns and crew members, he began flying his official colors of a flag with the skull and crossbones. It was during this time that the crew agreed upon a set of articles, which included a vow to fight to the death rather than surrender to authorities. Worley soon prepared to make his return to the colonies, where others such as Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet were enjoying success off Virginia and the Carolinas. When he pulled into Charleston, South Carolina to refit his ship, the governor was informed of his presence and sent two warships against him. As they reached the mouth of Jamestown harbor, Worley encountered the warships and moved against them, mistaking the ships for merchant vessels. Attempting to block the harbor, he inadvertently trapped his own ship, which was easily disabled by cannon fire. The pirates refused to surrender however, and, as colonial militia boarded the ship, all of the crew were killed (with the exception of Worley and 19 of his crew were seriously injured in the fighting). Worley and 19 of his crew were sentenced to death the day following their capture and hanged on February 17, 1719. However, another account states Worley was killed in the fighting with some of his crew, while 19 of the crew were captured in the hold of their ship. . . . Thomas Baker came aboard Rackam’s sloop at Negril Point in Jamaica, enticed aboard to share a glass of punch. He brought his gun and cutlass with him, but had the ill luck that the sloop was overpowered by a pirate hunter the very same moment. By a tragic travesty of justice he was executed on this day in 1721, at Gallows-Point at Kingston, Jamaica. John Eaton, one of John Rackam’s men who also came aboard the pirate’s sloop at Negril Point, Jamaica that day, only to be executed one February the 17th at Gallows-Point, Jamaica.

The phrygian cap is from Roman antiquity. The hat reappears about 1790 in France as a common, outward symbol or revolution. It is most commonly known as the bonnet rouge and was adopted in the colonies during that revolution as well. I don't know of any GAoP usage for that one.

The voyager cap with the tassel or the pom on the top is a more modern invention, but the design is based on a French tuque or toque, which has no tassel , pom or adornment. The tuque was commonly worn by women from the 12th century onward as a working cap, but men began wearing them as traveler/voyager caps in the late 17th century. Now, they do enter service among men earlier than this, because Basque whalers of the Sixteenth-Century used them as whaler's caps. Again, they are like tall monmouth caps that lay over on one side of the head with no tassels or adornment. This may be the earliest connection between this type of hat and the sea. Early whaler's caps are also plain and have no tassels or poms. Fancier voyager caps become more common during the French fur trade of the mid 18th century onward, but plain ones are period for the GAoP. Be careful about color. Red is most common from the mid 18th century forward. Blue is most common in the 19th century, so choose more subdued and natural colors for common caps. You can find a good pattern for a basic basque whaler's cap here.... http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sixteenth-century-basque-whalers-cap

February 14 - Quite a few things happened on St. Valentines Day over the years... On this day in 1683, Abraham Cowley (aka William Ambrose, a Sailing master) wrote in his diary: "We were choosing valentines and discoursing on the Intrigues of Women, when there arose a prodigious storm [which lasted two weeks on end and drove his ship farther South than any ship had ever been before] so that we concluded the discoursing of Women at sea was very unlucky and occasioned the storm." Cowley was a graduate of Cambridge University serving as sailing master in the ship Revenge under command of John Cook, sailing from the Chesapeake bound for the South Seas. . . . Edward Davis, was a buccaneer from Vlaanderen in the Republic of the United Netherlands. He operated with John Eaton but he left because Davis insisted on a larger share in the loot. Davis continued cruising along the coasts of Chili and Peru, sacked towns and captured Spanish vessels, but his general plan was to waylay the treasure galleons from Peru to Panama. On 22 October, 1684 encountered Swan’s Cygnet and a smaller vessel under Peter Harris. Then on this day in 1685, after having crossed the Darien Isthmus, 200 French and 80 English adventurers reached Davis’s squadron. Davis gallantly handed over a recently taken galleon to the French gentlemen, dividing the English over Bachelor’s Delight and Swan’s Cygnet. . . . L’Escuyer, aka L’Escayer aka Lescuier aka Lequie was a Filibuster from Fance. In January 1685 he served in command of a small ship with six guns and five swivel guns that sailed in the West Indies in company with Andriesz in his Mutiny of with Brouage’s Neptune, Le Garde’s brigantin Galant, the Captains Roze and Vigneron in their vessels. He sacked Paita and Guayaquil in company of Grogniet, Davis and Swan in the Pacific, after having arrived with 280 filibusters in a massive pirate invasion on the Westcoast of Panama on this day in 1685. He later suffered defeat at Quibo but was rescued by Townley. He then sailed with the latter and again sacked Guayaquil. L’Escuyer, with Grogniet, plundered Granada in Nicaragua but gaining no profits from the town (the inhabitants having taken their valuables to an island in Lake Nicaragua), they burned the town in March of 1686. He died shortly after the company arrived at the Pearl Islands. His crew merged with Grogniet and later Edward Davis. . . . Also on this day in 1688, following a 1,000 mile march overland, Raveneau de Lussan and his followers embark on an English lugger bound for Santo Domingo. . . . José Almeyda of Portugal, who lived with wife and eight children in North America, and was active in the wars of independence in the Spanish Main, was arrested in December 1827 and executed for piracy on this day in 1832 at San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Thank you. That's a great addition. Certainly far more interesting than the following, but it's all I had for today... February 12 - Duchesne was a filibuster from France from 1681 through 1689. He was in command of a ship that sailed from Saint Domingue to sack Tampico in the Gulf of Mexico in 1683. Duschesne was also in the fleet of Joseph Bannister in 1684. On this day in 1685, he served in command of Bannister’s 36-gun Golden Fleece, because Bannister was not supposed to sail under French colors. In September 1685 he was able to escape the Spanish flotilla that had hunted down Bréha and nearly ended De Graaf’s pirate career.

A very happy birthday to you, Mate.

Thank you for the entertaining and informative archiving that you do!

This is an excellent example of the details people are searching for when considering a crew.

February 11 - Captain Croc, aka Krok, was one of the pirates known as a Seabeggar. He's remembered for cutting off the nose and ears of a priest before murdering him cruelly. The prince of Orange had him arrested and beheaded on this day in 1573. William Funell was Dampier’s steward and was promoted to the position of midshipsman aboard the 200-ton St. George in 1703 (others had it Funell was sailing master). Funell was involved in a privateering expedition during the War of Succession, but attacking French vessels was a delicate question at the time. St. George was joined by Cinque Ports, and this was the voyage where Alexander Selkirk decided to stay behind at Juan Fernández Island. Funell helped attack a well-armed 400-ton French vessel, “fought broadside and broadside for more than six hours”, but St. George took heavy casualties, with nine men killed and many badly wounded. Funell supported a mutiny led by Edward Morgan and set off in a prize brigantine on this day in 1705. “If I spoke a word they would dash my brains out,” said Dampier. Funell arrived in patria eighteen months earlier (August 1706) than Dampier did, after having been jailed in Ambon (in the Dutch Moluccas) for four months. Funell was thought to be clever in imitating Dampier’s successes with his own journals and chose to write his own 'A Voyage Round the World', published by Knapton, London, in 1707, which book was denounced by Dampier as a “chimerical relation”. Most of Funell's charges in his writings against Dampier were unproven and fueled in part by malice and self-preservation.