Gentleman of Fortune

I am trying to get a hold of the Sid Meir's Pirates Live the Life game. If you have already played the thing to death and want to move it on to another loving home.... send me a PM. I have some pirate trade wampum or a fair price can be paid. Thanks GoF

GACK! As the regulars have eluded to (or outright said). Its very difficult, no impossible to get decent steel for cheap. But all this is a moot point really. For all those needing to get or just want to buy a pirate sword.... 1) Decide if you want to have an overall appearance of a historically accurate pirate, or a Pirate that leans towards hollywoodesque (ie you don't care about authenticity, you just want to have a good time. 2) Is it for show, or do you need to use it for stage/theatrical fighting? 3)How much money do you want to spend? Depending on what you want if for, applying the above criteria gets different results. I guess the bottom line is that there are very few commercially available swords used by seamen during the 1690-1725ish period. John Posted a hanger that looks decent, but it might not stand up to much theatrical blade on blade contact. Thats $200 There is the 1742 "pattern" sword that is being made in India(?) and the sword has similar precursors that date to around 1725… again, it looks ok but will not be good for stage fighting But for $90 here you go But for the really nice stuff... be ready to shell out serious money $500 plus for a custom made reproduction of a historical blade. BUT IF you are a good time, authenticity is not the issue, "i want me sword" pirate... geesh you could get anything that comes up when you google "pirate sword". Or you can search the post in plunder for swords that members here have given their okey dokey on for stage fighting. A lot of "fencing" suppliers are carrying period styled smallsword epee' and foil swords. Find out what the group you want to hang out with has and get one of what they got..... GoF

Captin Gage.... Are you trying to Pad your numbers? GoF

Just curious as to what period of piracy did you decide on? Good luck with your cutlass! GoF

Not sure what you mean by "pattern" CK... A three cornered hat is just that. Most people get a hat "blank" and fold three sides up. You can tack the sides up with some linen thread. If you check out my Tricorne Page you might get a better understanding.... But if you mean "how do you make a tricorne hat from scratch"... Well that is a horse of a different colour. Assuming you mean a period wool felt hat, you would need to get a pound or so of sheeps wool batts or roving. Its cleaned sheeps wool that is either in clumps (batts) or in kind of a roll (roving). You "felt" the wool by using warm water and soap. You lay a matrix of wool down, one layer, then another at 90 degrees, then another layer 90 degrees excetera. Then you soak it with soapy water. The soapy water helps the individual wool "hairs" to stretch out its "fingers" and mesh with surrounding hair. Its kind of like making wool dread locks. You use gentle agitation (like putting it between two towels and rolling it up applying pressure. The end result is that you have a "sheet" of wool felt. You then shape the sheet of wool felt into what is known as a felt hood (its what it is before its a "hat blank" you could also just google "felt hoods" and start the hat making process from there). Then, using steam and a form, you shape the hood into a hat. fold up the sides and viola! Tricorne. Now, this is a simplification of the process, but that is generally what you do. If you are itching to try it for your self, I would definately google : Felt making Hat making Wool Bats Felt Hood Felt Hat Blanks And definately post pictures of your progress. GoF

Sandwhich

Gentleman of Fortune.... hmmmm well I wanted it to go with my pirate re-enacting web site but the truth is......... Darth Vader said "Gentleman" in Star Wars. He said "of" in The Empire Strikes Back and then he said "Fortune" in Return of the Jedi So, you see, I too was using a cryptic STAR WARS name that nobody guessed!

Thanks Black John... Then I wonder what the "schools" that teach classical cutlass training do? I imagine that they try to apply a classical style to an early 18th century hanger/cutlass? Now smallsword techinique makes sense but for the regular joe seamen, I don't think he was trained. Maybe I should open a school for GAoP "cutlass" training.... GoF

I live in Germany, so I don't have access to the cards ( I picked up two packs while in the states this summer and kind of got the bug...) So those of you willing to dump some cards I would love to take em'. I also have a spiffy Pirate Brethren T-shirt (un-worn new) I can trade for some cards... PM me GoF

This is interesting. I have heard that there was no formal training of weapons for seamen during the GAoP for Navy sailors or pirates. I can't imagine that some sod in Plymouth that got press ganged into the navy or some merchantmen turned pirate had much training with weapons. Does anyone (HEY FOXE!!!) know when weapons training became part of the seamen's art? GoF

Declare the item and check it in with your luggage. You can still travel with weapons (firearms too) they just have to be in a locked case, tagged, and sent in with the cargo area of the plane. A knife in carry on luggage? What the hell WAS he thinking? GoF

They do have 1.5" twill tape... though its probably a moot point as I agree you should go with the hat braid... You have to scroll down to the bottom to see #02-150, 1 1/2" wide - $ 4.75/yard #02-875, 7/8" wide - $3.00/yard #02-500, 1/2" wide - $2.50/yard #02-375, 3/8" wide - $ 2.40/yard Please post pictures of your hat when you finnish! GoF

OK lets see pictures of your slops then! GoF

Mick I bought my hat when I lived in England. At the time, it was referred to as worsted wool twill tape. I don't think you could go wrong with either, as Wooded Hamlet hat braid looks pretty freakin good too! The way they describe it, it may be easier to apply to the curve of the hat. Good luck, and sorry for the confusion.

How come, when I lived in England 3 years ago I couldn't find Pirate Re-enactors anywhere? I move to Germany and they seem to have sprung up out of the woodwork! GoF

Trims are a conundrum as what we have available at our modern fabric shops are not exactly what was available during the GAoP. Finding period style metalic trims for hats and coats is a challenge. The trim you see on the picture from my site is a wool hat with a period style worsted wool twill tape. You can find some in several colors from Wooded Hamlet. If you need more close ups of the tricorne, I have a hastily prepared Tricorne/Cocked Hat page Good luck GoF

To me, the shoes above from raystown forge look like "tweaked" modern shoes. They may not be... but that is what they look like. Plus... the pictures they take of their shoes are pretty dark and do not show detail. That always makes me believe that they are hiding something. Plus, they are right/left shoes which is not period for GAoP. It would be a shame to spend $100 on something not right. For a little more money, go for the C& D Jarnigan #FI110 (Early 18th Century) Colonial Buckle Shoe $139.00 Ask him to make it with a 3/4" - 1" latch though. He tends to make his latches larger to fit the later period buckles that he has. GAoP shoe buckles should be 1" or less. You can get those at GGGodwin's site. Again, this information can be found at my Pirate Website Good Luck GoF (ps, if you want some close up pics of shoes, PM me)

Uhmmmm... no There are a few boot threads in Plunder and maybe even a few in Captain Twill. Most researchers agree that the bucket boots would not have been practical on board ship. Even if they were, 17th/18th century boots are constructed differently than the boots being sold as pirate boots today. If you are tending towards a "fantasy" pirate impression to have fun, hell you could wear Star Wars storm trooper boots and I don't think it would really matter. But as with most things for historically recreating the GAoP, you are going to probably have them made for you if you want them done correctly. I have some information on my website about period shoes and sources at GAoP Shoes. Sara Juniper makes some really nice period boots good luck GoF

I second Black John's reccomendation for Old Dominion Forge. You can pretty much go through Swords and Blades of the American revolution, pick one you like, and Kyle can make it for you. I have collected some GAoP weapon information and posted it here Weapons for the Golden Age of Piracy Mike has posted a nice replica of a cutlass (Mike always has great links!), but like he says in his post, its for the end of the 18th century and more appropriate for Rev War/F & I privateer than for golden age. The "cutlass" that we think of did not really come together till later in the 18th century. For GAoP there were hangers, hunting swords, small swords etc. There are other bespoke swordsmiths that could probably make something that you could use... but bespoke weapons are expensive (but I would charge a lot too if I could make them!). Good luck GoF

Thanks for chiming in Foxe... I always enjoy reading your thoughts (as well as P Hands). Whereas I am a firm believer in the Slops contracts (whatever that means), I am still a little curious as to which item, if any, is referring to the slops (sailor shorts) that we think of in the traditional sense. You quoted the Breeches and the Trouser specifications, but the sheer amount of buttons on the breeches almost percludes them from being the "slop" shorts that we think of. Not only that, the pictures on your site only show 1 (one) button at the waistband for trousers/slops. We know what the breeches look like, and what petticoat breeches look like, so the rest is up to us experimental anthropologist to discover. gof

Other interesting tidbit is that all the trousers seem to have a single button waistband. I wonder if that would be the standard for slops (shorts) too. When I change my pattern I will go to a single button style. gof

I am having to chime in from a friends computer but will try to answer some questions regarding the slop pattern. Slops (I will use this term to mean the sailor shorts) and trousers (this term will mean the long sailor pants) are tricky because we have no surviving examples and relatively few pictures depicting them from the 1690-1720s. Foxe provides some of the evidence on his Period Picture Site but still there is very little in our time frame. I believe that there is an evlolution of clothing including the slops/trousers. The parents of the garments would be the petticoat breeches and breeches. Earlier (1690-1710?), I am guessing the slops/trousers would probably appear more baggy and "breeches" like. While later in GAoP, I think they may loose some of the "baggieness" and be more like modern trousers. If we look at the pictures on Foxes site, though few are posterior shots, by the picture "detail from an engraving of the execution of Captain James Lowry, 1752" the trousers don't seem to be very baggy at all. The 1725 picture of "detail of the execution of Stede Bonnet, from 1st Dutch ed. of Johnson" you could interpret them as baggy or not depending on your bias. Since I titled my pattern as a "style of slops" and a "rough" pattern, it does not have to be the bible for pirates, I think you can take it or leave it, or make adjustments as necessary. Personally, I think you are right though and they should be more baggy then mine (I like your rough pattern better), but with the lack of concrete period refrences, I think it would be hard to say mine would be wrong. I think that a pattern that was more breeches like (like yours) would be good for the whole period and mine might be suitable for the latter part of the GAoP. When I clean mine up though, I think I will change mine to have the inseams more like yours. If anyone else is using a different style or pattern, I would love to hear from you. GoF

Then are we to assume that the current century is the only one where people got drunk and made noise? I have heard that people as far back as the Romans got drunk and made noise.... gof

Great Job Mike! You have posted some really worthwhile links! GoF

I'll clean it up and make it prettier when I get back next week. GoF