William Brand

From the site godecookery.com White Ginger-bread PERIOD: England, 17th century SOURCE: A Daily Exercise for Ladies and Gentlewomen, 1617 | CLASS: Authentic DESCRIPTION: Molded gingerbread made of marzipan To make white Ginger-bread. "Talke halfe a pound of March-pane-Past made with Almonds, Rose-water and Sugar, and a spoonefull of Aqua-vita, season it very hot with Ginger, mould it vp stiffe, rowle it thin, and print it with your moulds."

And post pictures if you do any period hunting this winter in kit.

You did amazing work figuring out all the finer details off the diagram. Add in a good book, a tropical breeze and the hammock is perfect. What was your total yardage and cloth weight?

It's a beautiful project. Your work just keeps getting better and more diverse.

A very happy birthday, Captain Bo.

December 25 - On this day in 1676, Barlow and his men went ashore for Christmas. “Having put all our goods on shore that we were to deliver [to Marseilles], we walked ashore being Christmas, to take our recreation and see all about the town, which is a place of very good buildings and a pretty large town or city, where all things are very plentiful, both for meat and drink. They have a very good wine of several sorts and very cheap, especially a red wine, which is a king of wine much like to claret, only a clearer red and better wine to drink.” (Edward Barlow, Barlow’s Journal of his Life at Sea in King’s Ships, East and West Indiamen & Other Merchantman From 1659 to 1703, p. 271) Raphael Mission has gathered some amazing tidbits and citations from pirate history about "Christmas Holidays at Sea in the Golden Age of Piracy" at the following link… http://www.piratesurgeon.com/pages/surgeon_pages/christmas1.html

December 23 - John Bannister, a pirate in command of the privateer Vlijt from the Netherlands during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, was accused of seizing the British Sally and was sentenced to death "at Justice Hall in the Old Bailey convicted of piracy". On December 23, 1782, Bannister received the pleasant news that he would be released at the next general pardon "for the poor convicts in Newgate". Bannister was released on the condition "of his entering and continueing to serve us in our Royal Navy".

December 22 - On this day in 1522, the Knights Hospitallers of Jersusalem and St. John, having commanded the line of commerce between Alexandria and Istanbul (and a brisk trade in piracy on passing vessels) were expelled from Rhodos. Also on this day in 1609, the pirate John Downes and many other pirates were indicted for piracy. John Downes preyed from ports in Southern Cornwall, he bribed local officials, and demonstrated the corruption that was symptomatic in the waters off Ireland, Wales and the Severn. For example: the conduct of H. Vivian and his son Francis in the vice-admiralty of South Cornwall left much to be desired. In 1606 Downes was allowed by Vivian’s deputy at Fowey to remain in harbor for several weeks, for which favor they were rewarded with a pipe of wine, a chest of sugar and several bolts of Holland cloth. On another occasion the deputy accepted a silver chain. “Capt. Harris, Jennings, Longcastle, Downes, Hanlsey and their companies were severally indicted on St. Margrets Hill in Southwarke, on December 22, 1609 and executed the Fryday following”. However, the pirates’ examinations were forwarded to the King who granted the pirates a stay of execution “in hope of farther confessions from them”. The pirates’ revelations had shown how low the standards of admiralty and naval officers had sunk under his administration. Downes is known to have tried to persuade the commander of the Scottish Royal of Leith to tell him the whereabouts of his money by whipping him and two young sailors. Downes also tied knotted chords around their heads, a way of torture called “wooling” that led to success in the shape of six bags full of reales of eight worth 400 pounds. Downes remained active till captured in 1631. And on this day in 1675, the Barbary Corsair and renegade from Holland, Corali (aka Koralli), arrived with his command ship Olive and a Portuguese prize coming from Brazil with 236 chests with sugar, 400 chests Brazilian tobacco, 4 chests cacao, and some elephants teeth. Later in command of the ship Orangetree he captured a small barque from Oran, loaded with corn, and suffered a defeat by a Dutch frigate some 50 miles off Cape Vincent in the Atlantic. Corali was purchased for 12 hours but escaped.

December 21 - On this day in 1682, John 'Calico Jack' Rackham was born.

December 20 - On this day in 1738, pirate James Buchanan was executed at Execution-Dock. It was a Wednesday.

December 19 - On this day in 1675, The Barbary corsair Admiral Canary entered the port of Algiers in his ship the Rose, in company with Recip who commanded The New Moon and had captured two fluiten (Dutch merchant vessels) and two Portuguese caravels. One fluit was taken while on her way from Cape of Good Hope to Holland. The second fluit, called Hope, a 14-gun ship with a 24-men crew on her way from Venice to Amsterdam, had a cargo of 1.000 bales of rice and chests with raisins. The ship had defended herself against Recip some days before she was taken by Canary. Also on this day in 1716, Thomas Davis, a Shipwright out of Carmarthenshire, Wales, was forced into piracy by Bellamy from the Bristol ship St. Michael. Thomas was told he would be transferred to the next ship captured. When Bellamy took the London built Whydaw Thomas reminded him of his promise but was told that, as a carpenter, he was too valuable to release. He was one of the two out of the 146 on board who got ashore alive after Whydaw was shipwrecked one year later. Thomas swam ashore from the bar on which the ship was breaking up quickly. After reaching the beach he had to climb up the face of the cliffs to avoid being beaten by the heavy rollers at high water. As soon as it became light Thomas looked for signs of life. He found a house about two miles distant from the cliffs. He was taken to Barnstaple gaol and a few days later to Boston and put in the Stone Gaol in irons. He convinced the court that he was a forced man and was acquitted in October of 1717.

I've added St. Augustine and Put-in-Bay for 2014.

Thank you, all!

December 18 - On December 18, 1620, the British ship Mayflower docked at modern-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, and its passengers prepared to begin their new settlement, Plymouth Colony. The famous Mayflower story began in 1606, when a group of reform-minded Puritans in Nottinghamshire, England, founded their own church, separate from the state-sanctioned Church of England. Accused of treason, they were forced to leave the country and settle in the more tolerant Netherlands. After 12 years of struggling to adapt and make a decent living, the group sought financial backing from some London merchants to set up a colony in America. On September 6, 1620, 102 passengers–dubbed Pilgrims by William Bradford, a passenger who would become the first governor of Plymouth Colony–crowded on the Mayflower to begin the long, hard journey to a new life in the New World. On November 11, 1620, the Mayflower anchored at what is now Provincetown Harbor, Cape Cod. Before going ashore, 41 male passengers–heads of families, single men and three male servants–signed the famous Mayflower Compact, agreeing to submit to a government chosen by common consent and to obey all laws made for the good of the colony. Over the next month, several small scouting groups were sent ashore to collect firewood and scout out a good place to build a settlement. Around December 10, one of these groups found a harbor they liked on the western side of Cape Cod Bay. They returned to the Mayflower to tell the other passengers, but bad weather prevented them from docking until December 18. After exploring the region, the settlers chose a cleared area previously occupied by members of a local Native American tribe, the Wampanoag. The tribe had abandoned the village several years earlier, after an outbreak of European disease. That winter of 1620-1621 was brutal, as the Pilgrims struggled to build their settlement, find food and ward off sickness. By spring, 50 of the original 102 Mayflower passengers were dead. The remaining settlers made contact with returning members of the Wampanoag tribe and in March they signed a peace treaty with a tribal chief, Massasoit. Aided by the Wampanoag, especially the English-speaking Squanto, the Pilgrims were able to plant crops–especially corn and beans–that were vital to their survival. The Mayflower and its crew left Plymouth to return to England on April 5, 1621. Over the next several decades, more and more settlers made the trek across the Atlantic to Plymouth, which gradually grew into a prosperous shipbuilding and fishing center. In 1691, Plymouth was incorporated into the new Massachusetts Bay Association, ending its history as an independent colony.

The temptation to take it down and look at once a day will probably wear off little by little, but it's too cool.

2014 is looming! Please send me any links and information you want to include in next years event calendar. The earlier we have it, the more we can advertise for you here and on Facebook.

December 16 - On this day in history, 1617, Spanish viceroy Hernando Arias de Saavedra founds provinces Rio de la Plata (Argentina)/Guaira (Paraguay) Also on this day in history back in 1773, some Boston colonists threw a tea party for the British.

What follows Ole Zach's Tavern is dark and silence distills upon the green but for the roosters sounding ever and the waves echoing will the spirits speak of us now as we did in our short turn of them our less than solemn musings in anthems of rum condemn where is the string plucked that filled the batteries with living sound and the stray voices which taught love and loss by song aloud where hang the jacks above the canvas which marked the wind and the lovers caged in handfastings of death twinned can you hear the laugh of mortals in their cups and company speak of deeds done and errands all bound up in infamy and taste clever lies we seasoned stories with to give such savor that every tale was longer made and longer shared with favor while favors of another cloth were clothed in shadow clandestine meetings by darkness sought or with the tallow and friendships made by firesides and elbows bent survive the silence which now stills once merriment for the cannon call has rolled away discharged anon with those carriages that bore them hence all come and gone and only embers in the ash remain which speak of nights that were till fires are fanned of such cinders left to some future stir to blaze in our imagination as they did by hammer and powder both in that invasion of our wills our worth and our unspoken oath -William Brand 12/15/13

We can add a sea chest, two more wedge tent poles and another canvas to the Florida ship stores.

December 15 - On this day in history, Henry Morgan recaptures the island of Santa Catalina on his campaign through Panama.

Excellent details as always!

December 14 - "On the sea near the Islands of Bayon five marauders attacked the Portuguese ship called Nuestra Señora de Concepción." The date given was the 14th of December 1604. Our Lady carried a valuable cargo of timber, sacks of hides and "an Alexandrian traveling carriage belonging to Gonsalvo." Gonsalvo's importance in society is not explained, and he might have been anyone of consequence from an ambassador downward. In the end of the verdict it is read: "Jennings, Curtys and Carbyn were hanged". The place of the execution is given as Wapping, but no date. Also on this day in 1679, William Cammock one of Sharp’s men, died at sea off the coast of Chili. "His disease was occasioned by a sunfit, gained by too much drinking on shore at La Serena; which produced in him a celenture, or malignant fever and a hiccough." He was buried at sea with the honors of "three French vollies". On this day in 1720, one of Roberts’ men, John Clark, and a seaman aboard the snow Eagle when taken by Roberts were hanged. "The said Roger Hewer and John Clark to be taken to the Sands of Leeth within the floodmark upon the second Wednesday of December next being the 14th of the said month between the hours of two and four o’clock in the afternoon and there to be hanged by the neck upon a gibbet till they be dead." The pirates blew out their last painful breath "within the floodmark" (infra fluxum ac refluxum) because piracy was theft at sea and thus a crime against the admiralty, whose jurisdiction extended to the low tide mark. This writ extended throughout England.

A very happy birthday! I hope that it's a happy one.

A very happy birthday to a fellow Decemberist.