Gentleman of Fortune

I immediately went to Darkwood's site to take a look.

Here is what I found...

I have to admit, it looks pretty good. I think they have done a good job with the shell guard.

The sticky wicket (there always seems to be one, doesn't there?) is that, much like the ODF and other high end makers, is time and price.

From the Darwoods site, relating to the hanger cutlass above...

The blade on these sabers are made to order and as such are not always available quickly...

These styles may take as long as 8-10 weeks during normal business backlog.

Also, the price is $700... which is in league with other makers for this type/quality.

The thing to hope for is that they don't have a 2 year wait list to get on the wait list...

So if you are interested, you might want to contact them to get your place in line squared away.

GOF

Hey Josh!

Haven't seen you around in a while... Guess you been hanging out in the pubs other forums (where I seldom frequent... )

Glad to see you back in 'twill

GoF

Interesting approach Bo...

I have to say that I never really thought to approach it that way (which seems to be common sense, so "duh" on me).

If I had to pick a crew position, it would probably be "cooper". I have always been intrigued by that profession... and they have a bunch of extra kit. I think they are a little higher up on the food chain as far as pay goes... 1 1/4 shares?

But my alternate impression, the fancy git one, is of a privateer ship's owner. So many of our events (historical and non-historical) are land based that I think that would be cool.

Don't have to risk anything but capital, and get to strut around like a peacock.

GoF

As the initiator of the post, I will say that my intention was to create a list that would help the newbie (or person new to pirate re-enacting) develop a list of the things that they would need. Maybe I should have spelled it out a bit more to avoid the confusion and feather ruffling we are having now.

For every ship owner/captain in the GAoP there were probably hundreds, if not thousands of sailors. So to put "a ship" on a list for newbies would be a little absurd.

As I was trying to help the new folks out, I kinda lost interests and enthusiasm when others chimed in with funny or cute stuff. But, as you all well know, once you click the "send" button on the new post, it creates a life of its own and has the potential to be uncontrollable.

GoF

I had a pair of those pajamas. They were orange, printed with the guy from the game "operation" all over them.

I think I wore them once... then my wife grabbed em and I have not seen them (on me) in about 8 years....

GoF

And I wonder how many of us contributed to the re-afloat fund... I know I was one.

Should I regret that?

GOF

Clearing out more stuff to make room for.....

More stuff!

Wanna clear the decks in a hurry? Here is a reproduction grenadoe. The perfect favor for your next boarding party!

This reproduction is cast in ceramic and is a little less than 4" in diameter.

Along with it comes a linen wrapped wooden fuse.

$30 +$10 shipping to Continental US (hey! get shoe buckles and/or a Monmouth Cap and save on shipping!)

More information on grenadoes can be found on my

GAoP Weapons Page

Again first come, first served. And if it doesn't sell by Sunday, its going to E-bay.

PM me or e-mail for Paypal account info

GoF

Enigma

Care to share what exactly your project/purpose is?

GoF

The second SG link is to Italian Blankets. I have about 10 of those babies. I have had them for about 15-20 years now, and some are even dated back to WW1/2. (not from the Sportsman's Guide though)

Great blanket. I wouldn't have the heart to cut mine up...

GoF

Cool!

I am working on some trousers as we speak. I am using my own pattern for these... and taking it slow (which is difficult for an instant-gratification kind of guy like myself).

Hope to have some pictures up soon as well.

Keep up the good work!

GoF

Precisely

Now add "alum" to the logwood to get the color.

Logwood is an "indicator" color, one that changes with the pH of the solution. Thus adding either acid or alkali to the dyebath can modify the hue obtained. Too much acid will actually cause the dye to "disappear". Just enough will give redder tones, while alkalis like chalk or bases like ammonia will turn the tone more blue.

Because the iron-Logwood combination has such a pronouncedly blue tone, iron-Logwood can be used to turn yellows and golds into lovely soft greens. Compounding mordants by adding tin or alum in with the iron gives very fashionable lavender grays.

GoF

Everything you need to know about logwood dying... if you didn't find it already.

http://www.aurorasilk.com/info/logwood.shtml

Let me know how it turns out.

gof

***SOLD****

Thanks to all who were interested, it went pretty fast FWIW

GoF

I still gots the buckles!

Another "project" has come up... unexpectedly, and I need to raise some cash.

If you have been thinking about getting some buckles, now is a good time (for me anyway... )

Mick MaxAnselan's shoes with GoF buckles

GoF

Pm or e-mail if interested

I need to make some cash to fund another project....

For those that want to add a few extra things to their impression, I have about 47 feet of 10mm Hemp rope and a Vintage Belaying Pin... probably from the 30s or so.

The Belaying Pin is Just about 20" long and about 1 1/8" diameter.

$45 + shipping to your location.

Send me a pm or e-mail if interested, first come first served.

GoF

I was going through some stuff and found "the last" monmouth cap that i had made. Wool got too expensive and hard to fine (the right stuff for monmouths anyway) so I have been out of the monmouth business for a while

If you have a special someone on your Christmas list, you could get them this authentic monmouth replica.

Last one.. no more

Brown XL

35$

$5

Total $40

I can make you a deal deal, and put a pair of shoe buckles (see other thread) for $60 shipped. (hat and silver buckles)

They are made from hand spun pure sheep's wool. For more information, check out my site Scroll about halfway down.

first come first served, pm me for Paypal details

You can find good patterns out there if you look. You could google Arnish Moor or Gunnister Man and get something to work with.

GoF

I don't think its a flame war. Mr Foxe always has an interesting and well thought out opinion of various GAoP topics. So, I think of it as more of a friendly discussion than anything else... keeps one on their toes, it does.

No really new pictures either, they are all (except for the Spanish one) posted on Mr Foxe's own site... for the newbies who have been following this discussion, take a look here....

http://tinyurl.com/2y22kr

I'll warn you though, Mr Foxe's interest isn't limited to GAoP, so he has lots sailor pics, spanning hundreds of years.

And I am sure he is just showing us the tip of the iceberg as well.

GoF

Wear a neckerchief....

Now, I know Mr Foxe loves to be the counterweight, but it is really hard to find pictures of GAoP sailors, on ship or off, that are not wearing something around their neck.

It doesn't have to be a fancy silk affair either! A simple linen job, a square yard, will work.

GoF

Midnight

The shoes that I use, from K Garlick have a 3/4" heel (at that is measured from the tallest point in the back).

The ones recovered from the Belle (1686) are definately working men's shoes, and since there were only about 6-8 sailors and soldiers aboard when she sank, there is speculation that they could be from the crew...

Earlier in the post, I listed the heel heights of these working class shoes... Of the four, the shortest, is slightly under 3/4" the two in the middle are right at 1" (.96" and 1.09"), and the tallest, which is a leather covered wood heel, is 1.5".

What would I call a "tall" heel might be different from what Mr Foxe would call a high heel, and seems to depend on which pictures you are referring to. Heck, depending on which "early" version, and which country your copy of Johnson was publish in, you can have Ann Bonny and Mary Reade in low or high heels.

My guess would be that the Whydah shoe, using the scale of the line drawing, has about a 1 5/8" heel. Its a small shoe so, visually, the heel seems bigger. I am guessing that the shoe recovered from the 1690 wreck of the Elizabeth and Mary ( also called the Phips wreck ) has about 1 1/2" heel.

Since we see pirate captains pictured in low and high heels, it really muddies the water.

Higher heels were in fashion, and cordwainers don't appear to have made their shoes less expensive by shortening the heel, they seem to have saved time/money by changing the way the heel was constructed (peche, stacked, leather covered wood).

Even still, I don't think you can go wrong with 3/4" up to 1", which I would consider, historically to be on the low side. High would be anything above 1.5".

Unfortunately, the GAoP ASCs don't specify anything for shoes other than double soled and round toe.

The person who researched the Belle seems to think that the "average" shoe of the 1680 period was brown. Some extant shoes I have seen have been greyish fawn, black, and brown, but those were probably upper end shoes.

Most folks that have "shoes" use black, so it would be nice to see something else in the mix.

Keep us updated on your project.

GoF

I am always hesitant to post the Spanish pic... because we can't be certain of a date on it.

As said earlier, it comes from information regarding Spanish "vestments and Equippage for 1719-1756. So does that mean that it was a retrospective look at clothing and equipment, done in say 1757? The dates are a little broad to make it an "aha" kind of pivotal evidence. I would love for some Spanish Speakers to pour over it and get us more information... like a date.

GoF

Now thats not fair... you post Duplessis and they are common sailors, I post one from the same series and he is suddenly an officer?

I can make the out of bounds claim on the Spanish equipment drawing...

The one for luck...

Its from a series of prints from:

Vestimenta y equipaje de un soldado y marinero de los navíos del Rey. Diccionario demostrativo... del Marqués de la Victoria. Cádiz, 1719-1756

So we are not really sure when its from/when it was drawn... as it covers a 35 year period which is mostly outside of the GAoP. It is a cool series though.

See here all interested...

http://www.armada15001900.net/naosgaleones...esycorbetas.htm

When we get to the point where heel height on correct shoes is a problem in Pirate re-enacting, I guess we can say we have arrived.

GoF

Mr Nash

I can be somewhat of an a-hole as you have probably already figured out by my post...

But hey!

They turned out pretty good! Let me follow that up with saying I feel that there really is no substitute for correct shoes... but the reality is that correct shoes are not very important to most folks, and to those that it does matter, it STILL takes a lot of money and Time to get to the end goal.

So I have been racking my brain about the question I get quite often via my website which is roughly. "I want to get a pair of shoes but don't know what to get and ordering them takes a lot of time and money and I have an event next month"

I think you have just come up with the solution!

I hate advising anyone to go ahead and buy Rev War shoes as once you say its "ok", people 1) never upgrade to the right shoe and 2) are now $100+ invested in the wrong direction.

But, IMHO, you solution is an inexpensive bridge to the right shoes. Obviously, you have learned a lot about how shoes are supposed to look in your pursuit of modifying those shoes. And at the end of the day, they really don't look that bad!

The trick is getting shoes that have the basic shape, with the minimal amount of "fancy" stitching on the sides.

Also, for tied shoes, the ties also go though two holes made in the tongue. If you haven't already, check out the Belle shoe analysis .pdf posted above for ideas on construction.

GoF

Ha!

If we agree so much, I am not sure what the point is....

But anyway this seems like fun. How about some boundaries though. If I didn't claim a .96" heel as a high heel, you have to take the nebulous pictures where you can't tell if the heel is high or not.... like #3 Anstis' crew and potentially Reade and Bonny. Sure, it makes for great theater....

OK

And ironically, i didn't have to go any further than your own site... So, with the pictorial evidence, and that from recovered pirate and other ships during the GAoP, I wouldn't make the claim that substantial heels on GAoP sailors is incorrect. And I would, at the same time, agree that no single shoe, recovered from any source, can represent the entirety.

All that being said, I personally think that the Whydah shoe is a great starting point. If a maker can replicate that shoe, and adjust the heel to personal preference... bingo! The pirate community will be a lot better off than buying American Revolutionary Right Left shoes.... Which has been my goal from the start.

Switching gears though... and maybe a new thread to be started, it does seem that we have taken one example of an item and used it represent ALL of the members of that group. Monmouth Cap. I think that the one everyone copies, including Ms Buckland, is from the late 16th century. I can't off the top of my head think of any known Monmouths that survive from the GAoP era.... Any ideas on that?

Wow.

Its pretty cool to see the number of "authentic" pirate events mushrooming.... (hats off Nate).

And to see the general authenticity getting better and better with each turnout!.

GoF