William Brand

Great stuff. It's nice to see a few pics off the beaten path.

I didn't even get to the beach until Monday. It was all crazy, silly fun. The trident was awesome. Cross needs to be sedated once a day. Mission, Shay and Pete should not be allowed to travel together at any time. Crispy is still...well...the same. I got to shoot Jack in the back point blank. It was cold. So many things I could mention and all of them fantastic.

I had a wonderful time. The company collected there is as varied and interesting as one could ever hope to find, and if you're lucky, stab and shoot on the field. Sorry, Jack.

The copper rivets are definitely 20th century. It's reminiscent of three or four types of tack I have hanging in the garage from the early 1900s. That said, it's a genuine hook most likely used for someone who lost an arm. 'Pirate' is a stereotypic reach, but hey, they guy wants to sell this thing, so he's pulling out all the stops.

Pirates take care of their own. Wait...that sounds threatening.

Cannon fire. But seriously, do you need a hat? I'm not wearing my tricorn this year and your welcome to borrow it.

Interesting that you should mention it. We discussed that very thing when we were first talking about the Mercury flag in another thread. We even discussed it as a bale mark, but we never came to any conclusions on it.

I love a good test cutting.

Thank you to everyone who is sacrificing time, vacation, money, and um...sanity, to attend one of the best events in one of the most picturesque locations. For you that are new, this is a baptism by cannon fire.

And to you and your family.

"What's that," he asked, agog with curiosity. Infinitely more interesting than it sounded. It's just a blank notebook of linen rag paper bound in leather. Simple. Functional. I keep one pocketed for jotting down names, notes, and information at PIP that needs to be remembered or reiterated at the time or stored after. The 'logbook' and 'ledgers' are probably next year's project, unless I suddenly get more time to work on them before PIP.

1 - Finish shoes. 2 - Bind some printed materials 3 - Make a knife sheath for my Kard. 4 - Finish the printed goods for the public 5 - clean up a few maps 6 - Cut the marking pins for the traverse board 7 - Ship the ship's bell to the fort 8 - Finish my notebook 9 - Find some missing kit

For those who play, here is a site offering free sheet music by Robert de Visee (1680-1720). Some of the links are dead, but I was able to download 6 of the pdfs. http://creativeguitar.org/sheet-music/visee-robert-de

The name of the first fellow is Trond Bengston, and unfortunately he doesn't have any albums out that I can find.

Funny that you should say that, because I made a formal request to fly our very flag over Fort Taylor at least once during the event. I should know by week's end.

The posters are superb as always.

Welcome aboard. I look forward to seeing more of your work.

Captain Jim has supplied the name 'Patricia Morgan' after a ship he captained earlier in his life.

The funny thing is, I knew that once upon a time and the title even says 'Sail tools'. I'm an idiot.

Aye. 'Varieties' of earlier ages (in places limited by ingredients) are often described in quality, not distinct and altogether different beverages, so that establishments of limited variety would still serve different beverages, but more 'differences' in quality of the same type of beverage rather than different drinks. At the very least, it's safe to assume that this longstanding tradition of serving poor, fair or best quality versions of similar drinks would still persist. That said, even wines of remote and isolated locations often come in dozens of varieties by the simple addition of one berry or another, or one process of refinement over another. You can alter a beer even slightly with different clarifying agents (i.e., seaweed or isinglass). I've come across a half dozen different varieties of alcohol from the Caribbean alone, all using native starch sources and ingredients. Fermented cocoas, cane sugar rums, agave tequila, flip, aguardiente, bumbo.

That's an interesting choice. Given his colorful history, I have no problems with the name.

While working on the draughts of the Mercury back in 2007 I was against a deadline to complete them in time for PIP, and we never finished discussing names for the great guns. With PIP around the corner I've been updating the draughts and adding more details and information, so I thought I'd start a thread abut the Great Guns of the Mercury. Since the Mercury is a smaller, early vessel of the 1700s, she carries cannon that are six pounders and smaller. She is also carrying a mixture of swivel guns (i.e., bronze pedereros, older falconets and some English brass). This is the list as it is now, and I'll update it as we add the names of the last few. Larboard Guns 1 - Patricia Morgan: 4 pounder 3 - Nemesis: 6 pounder 5 - Dangerous Donna: 6 pounder 7 - Jupiter: 6 pounder 9 - Hell,s Breath: 4 pounder 11 - Andrea Doria: 4 pounder 13 - Veritas: 4 pounder Starboard Guns 2 - Maeve: 4 Pounder 4 - Discordia: 6 Pounder 6 - Loud Lucy: 6 pounder 8 - Mars: 6 pounder 10 - Titan: 4 pounder 12 - Kraken Slayer: 4 pounder 14 - Aequitas: 4 pounder The names all come from members of the Mercury then and now who wanted to or who were invited to contribute. I've seriously considered renaming Jupiter and Mars (which I named after a discussion in chat), and I welcome your thoughts on any of the names.

The wooden version of a caulking iron used to drive oakum made from oiled/tarred hemp between the seams of a ship's planking. And/or a paddle for very small pizzas.

You're a lot happier with short hair.

That's definitely not the thing missing from my list.