Gentleman of Fortune

Happy Birthday! Hope is was a great one! And you got pirate stuff as presents! GoF

No... I haven't received anything yet... I feel like I am the weak link... but there is nothing I can do about it. Its USPS. GoF

Its stated at 2.5". A tennis ball fits snug and, I hear, can be shot about 300 yards.... if one needed to shoot a tennis ball 300 yards GoF

Littleneck I am not really seeing that raised neck/lip on the grenade. I have a few more pictures of grenadoes on my website http://www.gentlemenoffortune.com/weapons.htm and a lot more on my hard drive, and if the neck exists, I don't think its a common thing. Some of the fuses have a neck to help them fit, but you can see that yourself from the collection of Whydah grenades above. There is somebody on eBay selling glass grenades supposedly from the GAoP period.... They kind of look like warped/melted bottles. GoF

Hurricane Again, I concur with BlackJohn If you can get this book, do so. It was out of print and copies were going for $300 on e-bay. It covers so much and has great pictures of actual samples. I link to it on my site... http://www.gentlemenoffortune.com/library.htm So if its back in print, its almost a must have.... GoF

Black John That is exactly what I was thinking, and was getting ready to post when I saw your reply. I hope it has some good stuff on our period... I will see if I can convince the base library to get a copy! GoF

Looks great.... request? Could you take a picture of yourself all decked out, with the sword on? Also I am curious about the scabbard, as in... how the hell do you make one? Lastly if you are not a member yet (its free) you should join the muzzle loading forum http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/ Its mostly gun stuff, but there are sections on "how to make stuf", gun building, and places to show off your handiwork, and there are a lot of folks who would like to see and be inspired by your work! GoF

That QAR site is pretty cool! Its a good question about the size of the barrels found. In another thread, there are a few posts that talk about water (and possibly beer) iron hooped casks being used for a long voyages... but even then its expressed as a percentage of the overall casks used for that purpose, and we could assume that the barrels for water storage for a long voyage would be large... 60 gal or more. Again, they certainly had the ability to make iron hoops during the GAoP, and I am not refuting their existence... I just question their universal use for every size cask. The QAR wreck shows a dozen iron hoops, but I wish they could give us a general idea of their size. It makes me wonder then what proportion they would be to all the casks on board... but we won't know as it seems that the wood has deteriorated. I am not sure about the wood hoops for land and iron for sea duty.... I have posted several pictures above that are in a naval context and the hoops are definitely wood. The other part of the puzzle is that very few folks are making wooden hooped barrels anyway. Great stuff though... keep it coming! GoF

I am not trying to beat a dead horse... really. But I have looked, searched and hoped to find evidence of metal bound casks in "normal" sized containers. That is, in a size that could be used in and around a camp and not meant to store 300+ gallons of liquid. I haven't found anything. If anyone else has.... I would love to see it. Until then, here are a few wooden bound examples that I have found. 1673 Dusart 1685 German Workers 1700 Casks being loaded onto ship 1700 German Cooper 1700 "The beer Carrier" 1700 Flanders Camp 1707 Mieris 1718 Captain Lowthar 1734 Black Beard 1730s GoF

"The London and Country Brewer" first edition was 1734, First reprint 1735, Second edition 1736. GoF

Lady B Well it looks to be block printed. They are done in India for the museum. I have to say that the lady at the museum didn't speak english, I didn't speak French, so we communicated in German... which we were both equally bad at Neckerchief or ? I believe that it is a neckerchief as the pattern is "square" which limit its use to something that is about 1 meter square. Also, the background is more khaki than the picture from the museum shop. The museum calls it a "scarf", but I have not run across that term in 17th/18th century documents. For me though, its just too perfect. A copy of a period block print neckerchief with a nautical motif.... I must be dreamin'! The only thing that i am going to do is re-hem it. Currently, its machine stitched around the edge. But then again, I am anal.

Sword sources are a tough nut to crack. It really depends on what you want it for. Do you want a highly accurate copy of a period sword for display? How about a sword that you can use in "competitive" fencing with other pirate group members? Maybe you need something flashy for your next renfaire? That really is three different swords (yes, of course there can be some overlap). The other factor is the price range you are comfortable spending on the weapon. I have not fleshed it out entirely, but there is some information on my sites Sword page. I am in the process of adding more suppliers so bear with me. GoF

I have been looking for the right Neckerchief for some time, and I had found it a while back, but, as the dollar/euro exchange rate sucks, I figured I would save some money and pick it up in person, instead of paying their hefty 20€ ($28) shipping charge. This neckerchief comes from the Le Musée de l'Impression sur Etoffes or the Museum of Printed Textiles in Mulhouse, France. They have a pretty interesting collection of stuff, and is worth the stop if you are in the area. I happened to be in the area last weekend, as my wife (aka the "Warden") has family in Switzerland, and we were going there to spend the weekend. Mulhouse was on the way, so we stopped by. Unfortunately, the museum was closed, BUT, the shop was open, and this is what I got. From their website The price is pretty steep at 41€ ($57) but probably not bad considering it is what it is. Here is a link to their SHOP

CrazyChole This is off topic... but I really liked your previous signature graphic.... I miss it even! GoF

Another way to antique brass is exposing it to Ammonia fumes. Just a half hour is enough to make it look 100 years older. Go to the grocery store and look for a cleaner that's 100% Ammonia and you are set. I set up a double boiler with 1/3 cup of ammonia in the bottom and put buttons or buckles in the basket. I haven't tried rubbing ammonia directly on the piece though, as the fumes work so well... try googling it to see what you get. GoF

Finally got back to updating the web page. Still a work in progress, but I welcome your comments http://www.gentlemenoffortune.com/weapons.htm and http://www.gentlemenoffortune.com/swords.htm GoF

I have followed the game development for "years", and I honestly just got tired of waiting... Plus, like you guys, I HATE to pay a per month fee for a game. So I got half way through the HUGE download of the Beta and stopped. I think that it never was going to be a historical piracy game, but just a way to cash in on the POTC /WOW thing. Oh well. GoF

yes There is a wreck recovered Spanish Boarding Axe from the 1715 fleet, and it looks a lot like the 1733 Spanish axe Both Can be seen at Noel Wells Boarding Axe site This Spanish Version doesn't have langets (metal support straps down the sides from the head of the axe). The other surviving examples are pictured or drawn in Boarders Away. IIRC there is a Danish example from 1675 and a Swedish one from 1700. They really don't look much like each other when you compare their characteristics. I have not seen anything documentation/pictures of GAoP era British ones or French ones though.... The British pattern that is widely copied is the later style one that is often Dated to the second half of the 18th century. I can't say if the pattern was the same or different during the GAoP. But I liken it to the "1742 British Hanger". Yes, elements of that style do date to the Late GAoP, but when I see one, I immediately think "hey, there is a 1742 pattern hanger" as that is what it is 1742 Pattern British Hanger I will look back through my info and see if I can find anything else GoF

Black John got me hooked on Order of the Stick a few months ago, and now I eagerly await each update. I have to admit though that I am not a big fan of Anime/Magna.... Maybe its just because I have been out of the comic book loop for almost two decades. I think that the "Watchmen" was the last comic/graphic novel I enthusiastically read. But I have been brushing up on my skills due to the Pirate Sketchbook coming round. GOF

Barrels, Tons, Pins, Hogsheads etc. There is a reference to a document that says for Royal Navy Ships going on a LONG sea voyage, that a portion of the containers for Beer could be in Metal Hooped barrels. (This information was provided by Cpt Tightpants... if you search for barrels at the pub, you should find it). Anyway, All of the pictures of barrels, from the smallest to hogs headish ones that I have found depicted in paintings or engravings seem to have wooden hoops. I will let you draw your own conclusions, and I really don't want to get into the same argument again but I thought I would post some pictures for the new folks (and old folks that haven't tired of this yet). First The previous post has an Early Edition of Johnson and shows Black Beard with a wooden hooped barrel. Second Weigel's "Cooper" circa 1700 Third This is from Van Mieris' 1718 "Peepshow". I cropped it to the important bits, but there are three barrels, all with wooden hoops. GoF

As promised.... more containers. Here are some croppings from a GAOP era Painter named Abraham Storch (or Storck) They are from the late 1690s and show "Containers" either by, going on, or coming off, ships. This one shows what appears to be wooden trunks (Check out the big lettering), baskets, and barrels. A Storck again, a 1696 Venetian Scene (cropped by me) that shows what appears to be woven/basket jug containers with either glass or ceramic jugs, wooden boxes, and canvas covered goods. Last of my A Storch croppings. This one is 1697 dated and has wooden hooped "barrel", and fabric sacks. Also in the painting (but not this cropping) is a guy carrying a box and some folks sitting on fabric wrapped goods. Here is an interesting engraving from about 1700 from a German artist Weigel. He made a series of "Occupation" engravings from that time... I guess the German Version of "Cries of London". This is the "Sailor" Interesting domed sea chest.... This last one is from an Early Johnson edition and is one of the Black Beard engravings. I cropped the pic for info that relates to this thread. Again, fabric wrapped goods with writing on them, and a barrel with wooden hoops. more on the hoops to follow.....

That is a GREAT site! My only caution is that some things are just marked "18 Century", which of course, covers 100 years and only the first 30 or so relevant to GAoP. The Late 17th Century stuff is way cool too! GoF

I wish that instead of Bumping this event "up" from Harborfest, they would bump it back a week or two to mid to late June. Kids are still in school ( end of may/early June) and its hectic that time of year. I would also like to know why "the same weekend" as harborfest is viewed as a bad thing. In 2000, with opsail 2000, Harborfest, and Hamptons' Blackbeard festival all at the same time, it was sheer bliss from VA Beach to Williamsburg. GoF

I think I am going to try to make a life size Bing costume.... Kind of like a "Mascot" costume.... Anyone know where I can get faux fur (long hair) cheap? GoF

While I couldn't say this is original to our period.... it definitely fits the type of Early Boarding Axes pictured and described in "Boarders Away" for the GAOP. http://tinyurl.com/35v4tr If it is a period piece, 700 Euros is about $1000 and probably not unrealistic for an original piece.