Mission

I have a queue from Madam Joan and I personally think it the better option. Wigs can be hot, itchy and expensive. MJ matches her queue to your hair color and if you wear a kerchief over it, it looks pretty natural based on the photos I've seen. (Plus it's not itchy.)

Thanks for those of you who have been reporting these. We've cleared out a bunch of them with your help.

I didn't until you said that. He has a nice machinist's chest for his tools. I had seriously thought about getting one of those until I decided to make my own. (A project that may be completed sometime in the next 10 or 20 years...) However, in one photo he's holding a tool that I'll bet he purchased on eBay where it was listed as a fleam, but which I suspect is more likely an ink eraser from the 1800s. For more on identifying ink erasers, see this helpful page.

'splain please...is he hot, wounded, dead.... just taking out the trash?? If you click on Pete's photo link, there is a whole video at the bottom of the page that may be helpful in answering your question. (I shut it off because I am at work, so I don't know the answer to that.)

Where were all you photographers for the Santa Maria event? There ain't jack for pics of that event for me to play with! I'd be better to write a Journal for this event, which I didn't attend. (I'll bet I could do it, too, but I ain't-a-gonna.)

There was another case also. In 1722, Bartholomew Roberts' pirates burned the Porcupine in Whydah roadstead with 80 slaves aboard, because the captain refused to ransom the ship. Note in each case there were serious obstacles to marketing the slaves. Roberts was on the African coast, the ultimate buyer's market for slaves, and would have had to go all the way across the Atlantic to reach a good seller's market. Slaves on the African coast were so little valued that several pirates (notably England) gave them back to the captains they robbed. In Martel's case he was under attack and was about to lose the slaves anyway. That is actually the one I was thinking of. I thought it was Roberts, but I wasn't sure. I don't doubt pirates would trade in slaves if the opportunity existed. They were after fast cash, just like any criminal intent on stealing. I still don't think BB would plan to take a slave ship unless he had a ready buyer. (And for this you still need proof, dammit. All the rest of it is circumstantial evidence and supposition.)

I've made the same sort of argument for something much more mundane (why people might have used something other than 'dishes' for coffee - such as mugs) and been soundly booed off the stage for lack of evidence. (Evidence which I have yet to find.) Proof, man! Proof! What appears to be logical to us now may or may not have been then.

"And I'll buy you the hat, a really cool one... Commodore." What a great pic of madPete!

My head's been buried in period medical books for quite awhile and I may be confusing things, but wasn't there a pirate crew that burned a ship full of slaves rather than bother to try and transport and sell them? Or perhaps I read that in one of the old threads we have around here about slaves and pirates and it was proven untrue. My pirate history fact recollection is a bit hazy these days. (This is also circumstantial evidence, but it helps make my point about slaves not being ready trade for pirates if true.)

As I read this, he's trying to make the point that Blackbeard was primarily out to sell slaves. This may or may not be true, but it is unprovable. He's just just positing a sensational theory. Slaving was legal at the time the General History was published and I can think of no reason the author wouldn't have wanted to include this in his account if he could prove it were true. Nor has it been scrubbed since the original publishing of the book because we have copies of the original work. It sounds like someone trying to make a name for themselves to me by incorporating a now reviled practice into the history of a famous anti-hero. I've no doubt BB would and did sell slaves if the opportunity presented itself. But slaves were a difficult cargo, hard to care for and keep alive. Pirates wanted things that would give them a fast turn-around.

In other words, the author has an unprovable and somewhat controversial theory and he's going to amass a whole mess of circumstantial evidence that doesn't prove it, but sounds pretty good when strung together with helpful explanations of how the scattered data fits his theory. All this while ignoring any possible controverting facts. JR Moore used this sort of technique to give credit for the authorship of The General History of the Most Notorious Pyrates to Daniel Defoe and make a name for himself.

This really is a terrific book for my purposes. Not only does it look with detail into various procedures and lay out medicine doses and precise instructions, the author has a sense of humor as you can see. Still, he also says he relied on that medicine "in camp." (He means in a military encampment. He wasn't a sea surgeon, but he was a military surgeon during his career.)

Some of this stuff is so bizarre...you'd think I'd like the medicine part of this role better, based on the following concoctions. I think there is some form every whack-a-toonie type of ingredient that period medicine had to offer in this thing with a bit of the astrology hokum that tinged medicine at this time thrown in for good measure. As for the Sympathy cure itself...I think this is the most thorough period treatment I've seen of that rather strange topic. It would make a nice bit for a re-enactment if you wanted to emphasize the strangeness of medicine at this time. (Although most of it was actually pretty mundane and not that far removed from techniques used as recently as the mid-20th century.) This is all taken from the book Chirurgia curiosa, by Matthias Gottfriend Purmann, translated from "the original high Dutch" by Conradus under the guidance of William Cowper in 1705. The author also mentions breeches having pockets, which I consider significant. "CHAP. V. Remarks upon Cures by Sympathy, and those perform'd by Transplantation It's very well known to the Learned World, that upon the Invitation of Paracelsus, who was the first Inventor of the Sympathetical Ointment, Petrus Servius, Professor at Rome, and the great English Digby, with several Physicians and Chirurgeons, set themselves on work to find out the true Preparation of it, that cured Wounds, only by applying it to the Weapon or Instrument that made it, or to some of the Blood or matter take out of the Sore; and since their Eyes were witnesses that it did perform these things, their next Inquiry was __ how this Medicine came to operate after so strange a Manner: which being a Nice Speculation, many have troubled their Brains to find out the reason of this particular Magnetical Quality, but to little purpose, having left it more intricate and perplexed than they found it, for among them all Sir Kenelm Digby has only given tolerable reason to render its Operation intelligible, to to whose Learned Treatise I refer the Reader. Others have writ against it, and some think with reason enough, as Williebrus Libavius, but who can contradict Matters of Fact and daily experience; or how could I have called this Book Chirurgia Curiosa, if had said nothing of it? I shall therefore first give you the Preparation of the Unguent, and the Sympathetical Powder and conclude with a Remarkable Observation. It [the unguent] is prepared in this manner: Rx. Axung. Procin. Sylv. ana {ounce}ij per dimid boram cum Vini Rubr. coquantur. After it has been boiled, pour it into cold Water, and reserve that for use which Swims on top, and throw away what sinks to the bottom. Then take Earth-worms well cleansed with Red Wine and Salt, and dryed in a Pot well and close covered. Of these Worms, take {ounce}j. Cerebr. Porcin Sylv. Sandal Rubr. Mumiæ ana {ounce}ss. Magnet ppt {ounce}iij Hæmatit. {ounce}ss. Musc. é Cran. Human. {dram}ij. Misce f diligent. ad form. Unguent. That Moss of a Mans Skull that was either kill'd or Hang'd, and gather'd when the Star Venus is in predominate, or at least two or three days after a New Moon, if it can be had, is thought very proper to be added to the other Ingredients. [back up in the recipe, you'll note that he lists 'Mumiæ.' This was a bizarre folk remedy - powder taken from mummies. You can read more about it on Wiki here.] This Unguent, I had always with me in the Camp, and have often used it with good success. Barbette, a French Chirurgeon, omits the Moss, and instead of it employ's Man's Fat and Blood, and adds Oil of Linseed and [Oil of] Roses to it. I never made use of that, nor of several other Prescriptions which I have seen, being entirely satisfied with the Operation of that above inserted. This Unguent is to be used in the following manner: Take the Weapon or Instrument wherewith the Patient was wounded, while it is Bloody, or instead of it a Stick put into the Wound that it may be Bloody. Anoint it with the Unguent about a hands breadth, and wrap it up in a clean Linen Rag or Paper, your hands being very clean, and then lay the Weapon or stick in a place neither too hot nor cold, two or three days after anoint it again, and so for four or five times, till the Wound is well. The Patient in the mean time must keep the Wound clean, and cover it with Fine Linen Rags, without applying any Medicine to it; but if it should chance to bleed very much, apply a peice of Fuss-ball to stopt it, and then proceed as before." (Purmann, p. 299-300) "The Sympathetical Powder, to which is ascribed the same virtue with the Unguent; besides which, it also Stanches Bleeding; it prepared of the best Hungarian Vitriol and Tragacanth, ground to a small Powder upon a Marble, each of them by themselves, and not in a Copper or Brass Mortar, lest it should attract some of their Noxious Qualities: When they are Powdered put them by themselves into a Paper, lay them in the Sun about the thirteenth of July when the Sun enters the Sign Leo, and continue it so till the twelfth or thirteenth of August, when the Sun enters Virgo; then remove them, mix them well together, and keep them for use in a Wooden Box Sir Kenelm Digby takes as much Tragacanth as Vitriol; but I find by experience that the Tragacanth is too much, and binds up the Virtues of the Vitriol; therefore a Drachm of Tragacanth is sufficient for an Ounce of Vitriol. When you design to Cure a Wound with this Powder, let some of the Blood of the Wound drop upon a clean Rag, upon which strew some of the Powder, wrap it up close and put the Rag with the Powder into your Breeches Pocket [SAY! WHO WAS IT THAT TOLD ME BREECHES SHOULDN'T HAVE POCKETS!]; and to the Wound apply nothing but a clean Linen Rag, which must be repeated every Morning and Evening, and so continue til the Wound is quite healed, and then throw all the Rags into a River. This Powder is also very good in Old Running Ulcers, cures Stitches and Pains in the sides, if the bigness of a Pea be given in Water of Elder Followers, without the Tragacanth. I could mention several instances of the Virtues of Sympathetical Powder if it were not for Fear of being to tedious and tiresome to the Reader." (Purmann, p. 301)

There are four large events this weekend, including Blackbeard. It's probably going to be pretty slow around here until Monday.

Sheesh!

You can't say every view is a lurker. Every time we look at a topic, we add to the count. (So if you look at the same topic a couple of times after people have posted to it, you increase the count a couple of times.) I'd guess the lurker ratio is probably 5-10 to 1. That's a pretty typical number for how many people look at something vs. take action on it. (Not specifically for forums, mind you, but I'll bet it still applies.)

I suspect the lurking ratio is quite high. Just for fun, I looked at the stats for the forum topic views. Since the first of this year (2011) there have been 146,788 topic views. (Every time you open a topic, that's a topic view.) It broke down like this for the top 10 forums: The Crow's Nest: 27,646 Captain Twill: 21,007 The Thieves Market: 15,721 Cascabel's Lock Stock & Barrel: 9,367 The Workshop: 9,016 Beyond Pyracy: 8,096 Pyrate Pop: 7,572 1stMate's Forge: 5,673 The Sewing Room: 4,186 Mercury Crew: 3,784 The number of posts during the same period was 7012. Dividing it out: 146,788/7012= ~21 views for every post.

You know, Facebook has impacted forums, but I don't see the effect as being entirely negative. A forum has a capability that FB doesn't - the ability to bring up old topics and thus gather information. Seeing as the folks who come to the forum with an interest in our hobby have a definite slant towards research, I think this is a major strength of this forum. What has gone away is a lot of the chit-chat and silly banter. It's a shame in one way and a boon in another. Even so, when I click on the View New Content button (as I have been doing for years), I don't notice that things are significantly different than they were a year or two or three ago. The names of the folks posting regularly have changed, but that also has always been. I have been on dying forums and this is not at all what I saw going on when I was on them.

A little over a year ago there must have been a gap in security and someone got in and posted comments on a bunch of photos in the gallery that were filled with SPAM links. The gap has been closed, but the comments are still there. They look like this: On the plus side, these links are only possible to see if you actually happen to be looking at the photo. On the minus side, they're just that much more SPAM. So if you happen to be looking at the photo gallery and you see such, please click on the 'Report' button and we'll go in and delete them. At least one user has been doing this for us which is why it was even noticed in the first place. So if you happen to see it, report it. Thanks.

It ebbs...it flows...it always has.

That would be an awesome service to have today if it weren't for copyright issues. You could do it with stuff that was out of copyright, though. Some day I'd like to clean up my pdf copies of the surgions mate and Chirurgus Marinus and have them bound for my display.

"I. Pirates What." I like that. This is actually quite readable; much more so than many of the medical books I've found from the same period.

The Book Block being the mass of pages? Were they trimmed to size or did the binder do that? It might help explain some of the crooked pages that show up in the scanned originals I have.

Jib made a point that a bible might be "worth a good amount of silver" in the Religion on Pirate Ships? thread. Given that it has been the most widely published book in history, I have my doubts about this, but it got me to thinking...were books of value during the GAoP? For whatever reason, I was under the impression that a lot of material was being published at this time. From my research, I can tell you that there are certainly an awful lot of medical manuals being printed. Extrapolating a bit, I would guess that medical literature would have a very small niche market, suggesting that there was no lack of printing going on, but I really don't know. Certainly printed pamphlets were in vogue and I seem to vaguely recall that they were quite inexpensive.

Yeah, but I think you could say that about just about any social group in any time period (and with regard to almost any regularly practiced moral behavior.) It probably came down to some were religious, but many weren't unless it was convenient. (And I think you could say that about just about any social group in any time period.)