William Brand

That's the blissful 'Mmmm, yeah, I could live out here' face.

I keep hemp in my kit. The smell of fresh hemp cord and tobacco make a great smells for kit. Keith also keeps a cloth with pine tar on it in my sea chest.

National Geographic television is often entertainment first and history second. It does not trump example after example in paintings, etchings, drawings, artifacts, and writings of the period. That said, did pirates trade beads and shells? Maybe and probably on some scale. Did they wear them? Examples from art and literature seem to suggest 'no'.

I'm sorry about the crohn's disease, but experiencing the same symptoms would give you an empathetic edge when describing scurvy at events. How many of the symptoms had you experienced prior to diagnosis?

I love the Gasparilla Pirate Festival images going back to 1914!

Seconded. The detail of the work is amazing. Laid paper. Hand marbled end papers. While I do not own own of their books yet, I've seen some of the incredible craftsmanship first hand.

Welcome aboard, Shealey!

I bring this up every year. We're two months out and this is the time to get in shape for the walking, standing, and battling of FTPI. If you're going to shed a few pounds, now is the time to start.

You never cease to amaze me with your obscure pop cross-culture references.

This was the first one, so I laser cut the holes to see how accurate such a process would be. I plan to paint this one after a little hand carving. The second one is all hand cut, drilled and carved.

It's a navigational tool for deriving your position from a fixed point. Think of it as an inertial positioning device for dead reckoning. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traverse_board

This is still a work in progress, but I'm delighted to say that it was the most asked about object in my display at the last event, so I can't recommend making one enough. Almost everyone who came by asked what it was and enjoyed an explanation of it. It's also easy to tailor make one of these to the needs of one crew or another and paint it with a color scheme that suits your own tastes. This is the first of two traverse boards that I'm working on.

I know what you mean. I just managed to find my sailor's knife as I was headed out the door to the last event and lost it off my person immediately after arriving. Fortunately, Jason Cousineau had better eyes than I for spotting knives in grass.

That is awesome! It's a shame that such a useful rig is so seldom re-enacted.

QUESTION ONE: Why aren't you realistic Pirates? Scurvy. Who wants to experience the following? tiredness loss of appetite irritability inability to gain weight muscle weakness or pseudoparalysis joint and muscle aches and stiffness rashes, particularly on your legs; generally looking like tiny red blisters and eventually large purple blotches bleeding gums which turn blue-ish purple and feel spongy bulging eye balls corkscrew hair (only in non-infantile scurvy), particularly noticeable on your arms and legs loosened teeth which will eventually fall out in the advanced stages of scurvy fever swollen legs, particularly swelling over the long bones of your body diarrhea vomiting lethargy scar tissue will break down and you’ll begin bleeding again from these formerly healed areas slow wound healing anemia depression unusual paleness bleeding under the skin and from hair follicles eventual death due to cardiac failure Give me a tricorn and the basic food groups. I'm just a graphic designer.

Or... Imagine if you will how few Lincoln re-enactors we would have if they were shot at the end of each performance.

Aye, but there are only a few proper ways to answer an email that asks 'Why don't you actually rape and murder as hobbyists?'.

This is one of the most serious topics Pyrates Way magazine has ever discussed? To what end? Question one is ambiguous and based on a broad stroke standard for defining pyracy, which is the act of robbing another party of their goods at sea. The 2 of three mark would only apply to pirates on a case by case basis and the idea that a hobbyist would have to engage in rape, murder or theft to by a purist is exactly the kind of ridiculous argument I would expect from Pyrates Way. Question two implies that all pirates were bad people, not individuals motivated by different modus operandi. And I've seen Nazi, Slaveowner, Conquestador, Inquisitor, and Cannibal re-enactors, so the argument is flawed on it's face. History both good and bad must be taught. Minds must be armed and enlightened. Question three is simple. Don't rape, kill or steal. If you don't know where to draw the line, you have issues that need addressing that have nothing to do with hobbies.

You understand that each time you post an event I want to attend and can't attend you make me sad?

"The state requires that members of the park staff be present to monitor our actions during the 'battles', so the field is the primary location for all the cannon and small arms for that regulation. The planning team had to submit a battle plan very early on for approval at a state level, and so that's being approved for the year already. If we have enough people to man the field and the casement I think that would be great, and we can see if they'll accept an amendment, but they may require us to push it to next year. The state (if you happen to be an event governed by the state) is moving to an 'everything in writing' mode. " I'll pass along the additional suggestion, but I submit that we need more people in the battle. Numbers! We must get the numbers up. There will be more activities during the day. It's actually busy enough at night that things have had to be moved around so that we wouldn't all have to be in too many places at once.

It is key and that solution is carried out best through numbers. We need more pirates willing to attend and willing to demonstrate. The park set a limit of 100 pirates camping inside the fort. When this number was thrown out (almost arbitrarily) a few years ago, we thought we'd meet it with ease. We haven't reached it yet. Even now we have more than enough registered numbers, but we'll suffer losses to work rand family related issues and financial problems that will keep some of those pirates home come December. Any way you slice it, the fort set a mark we have to reach and surpass to show them that we'll exceed their expectations. While the decisions about battles, gunpowder, hand-to-hand combat and the like are influenced by us, the Friends of Fort Taylor and the staff, many of the 'battle' decisions about position and logistics are decided by people at a state level that never attend. Call it blind bureaucracy, but some of the overall decisions are dictates from agencies outside the park staff. Gone are the days when Harry carefully sidestepped the powers that be and allowed us a free 'walk in the park' as it were. Does this stop the Friends of Fort Taylor, Jai, Fayma and Lily from burying them in well cited examples and deeply researched study papers? No, but the state sometimes paints with a wide brush.

Aye, once we can prove that we have enough pirates to fill the fort and the beach.

The beach is great and I miss the beach, but the park makes the decision about the beach and they prefer to have us in the fort as the fort is the draw that they wish to push to the public. The positive and favorable reasons for camping on the beach have been presented many times, but the decision to return to the beach has always been based on the numbers in the fort. We have no bargaining chip until we meet and exceed the numbers that the fort itself can handle.

An apple a day keeps the Doctor liquored up. The history of apples in alcohol alone is an interesting American tradition.

We have never filled the 100 pirate quota inside the fort yet, so the discussion of the added space on the beach won't become a bargaining chip unless we fill the fort and can show a significant waiting list lingering in the wings. Participation is key to growth and the beach possibilities.