Mission

This sounds like the story from the book The Travels and Controversies of Friar Domingo Navarrete 1618-1686 which I mentioned in the thread on Catholicism and piracy. It's a wonderful read and I highly recommend it. It's a bit expensive to buy, but I got it through inter-library loan, so that may be the way to go.

We actually sort of discussed some of this (specifically regarding Catholicism) not too long ago. See this thread.

Ah. Even so, thanks for the heads up. I'm always curious to see new material, especially related to period medicine chests and instrument listings.

How many boats have you read about from that time period that were very well-built? Could it be that that was the best they could do given the requirements of the ships and the materials available? Or perhaps with long-distance traveling ships being so much in demand they were trying to get the ships done very quickly and so quality suffered. I'm just hypothesizing. I got a job working at a small machine shop just after graduating high school. The owner explained to me that there were three qualities of a job: good, fast and cheap. The customer could have any two of the three qualities he wanted, but never all three. It was up to them to decide which two were most desired.

Oh, yes. I'll bet it's that one from just past period - 1730s or 1740s? I'm almost certain a link has been posted to the list in project Gutenberg in the Medicine Chest thread in Twill within the last year or two. (This will all be hindered by the fact that Mission still doesn't have a medicine chest proper.)

Hummmm... a better one? Let's audit Mission's medicine chest and compare its contents against the one posted in Pirates #14. Jas. Hook Is that a reference to a real article or something?

Mission likes to think we could find a different way to amuse ourselves. A better one. (Yes, a better one!) That one. (That one!?)

I did wonder why on earth she would share any info with Jack at all. I mean, I know they needed someone to explain the rules of the thing for the audience but her telling Jack when she clearly didn't trust him made no sense to me. It would have made much more sense if they had done a humorous pre-credit sequence building up to Jack finding the FOY and then discovering that he doesn't know what to do next. (I was never clear on whether he had found the FOY location or not before the events of the movie, although I assumed that he had based on the way things were presented at the beginning of the movie.) Good point about Barbossa and the face-powder. Yet another thing that could have been nicely exposited had they focused on him in this story. The ending did do a good job of making it all seem grand, but I was still disgruntled by the dull middle third and many underdeveloped characters. You can't just whitewash that with a good ending. (It was a good ending.) As for what happened to the Spaniards after their big scene...I think they just left. "Well, that's done! Goodbye now!" Say, does anyone know why the hell the mermaid decided to

Which, in my opinion, is the correct answer for any of those films. He's a madcap adventurer, and thus, like Bugs Bunny, not subject to the laws of physics. Yeah, I can accept some of that. Like when he's swinging around on a turning, wooden loading arm (or whatever that was) and somehow manages to swing himself over from that to a guy-rope that leads back to land - I'm pretty much OK with it. It's unlikely, but it's cool, even remotely possible. I'm even OK with him using his supposedly leather-soled boots to climb up the side of a tree he's tied somewhat securely to. But when we can actually see him reach the huge crown of the same tree, still fairly secure in his ropes and then *pouf!* suddenly he's on top of it with the loosened rope in an unexplained jump cut... Well...I guess all we can do is apply a Bugs Bunny/ 'He's CJS' rule. I still prefer it to at least be possible. It's the engineer in me.

Don't bother. I read the book some years ago, after a bunch of people I know in the gaming world went on and on about how good it was. It was ok, but not up to the level I expected. There were a few cases of "uh, that's not how that works, you should have done more research." That being said, it's a shame they didn't actually make the book into a film, because the book is better than PotC4. Well, that seals it. If it didn't work for you it will almost certainly not work for me. Speaking of, "uh, that's not how that works", there were at least three times I asked Kate Bagley (who had the misfortune of sitting next to me in the theater), "How did Jack do that? It's impossible!" She promptly replied (three times), "He's Captain Jack Sparrow!" ...with just the right intonation.

Ok, I've posted a mini-web page of it's own containing period info on the pox (which includes that photo of Cross.) You can read the whole mess via this link.

If that's the case, then I agree with Red Bess...why have him in there at all? Any pirate captain would have been just as good and then they wouldn't have to buy the rights to the book and confuse/upset everyone who liked it. (It was probably a nice boost for the book's sales though.) I'm still not inclined to read it, not because of the movie, but because I don't read much fiction. If the movie had been really good, I might have picked it up just to see how it compared. Wow...I wonder how much material was left off the screen to keep the movie at a reasonable time? So much could have been done with those other characters... Now I think they really should have focused on Barbossa. (C'mon you must have wanted to see the battle they left out.) Oh, forgot to mention that there was another indirect reference to people who re-enact Jack Sparrow. I wonder if that's intentional or subconscious?

I saw it with Kate and Michael Bagley last night (They were up in Toledo so we went out for dinner and then saw the movie.) There were so many underdeveloped characters that looked like they might have been more interesting had they been given backstory and screen time - the preacher, the zombies, Blackbeard himself, the young kid on the crew they kept showing and then ignoring, the old man who knew about the mermaids, the Spanish captain...particularly the Spanish captain. His brief bits of screen time were terrific IMO. (And that's saying something when Depp, Cruz and Rush are out there chewing up most of the scenery.) Plus it's rare the Spaniards aren't portrayed as complete and utter villains in a GAoP pirate era movie. I'll bet the book would prove to be a bit more cohesive and less distracting than what wound up on the screen if the writer did a good job of it. (Haven't read it, not really inclined to at this point.) I agree the mermaids were well-done. I thought McShane was OK as BB; his problem was that he had to compete with several other actors who were completely off-the-charts. Plus the movie really sagged in the middle third. I found it dull and would have much preferred them to do some character development on the people I mentioned above rather than giving us the mutiny, hacking through the jungle and dancing about on de Leon's ship. (Or at least combined the character development with those scenes.) I second the complaint about the music. I bought the score movie unseen and advise against it. Most of the orchestral stuff is a rehash with the exception of BBs theme and a guitar theme for Angelica. About half of it is electronica...like something from the 90s. Very strange. There are also a few DJ mix things in there that are...well...yuck. If I were writing this, I think I'd have focused primarily on Barbossa beginning with his battle with Blackbeard or (if it came first in the writer's mind), the way he became a privateer and then proceeding to the battle followed by his return to London. Then I'd follow him with Sparrow popping in when he was needed. (I'd have scrapped the parts with Jack and the judge and the King entirely. It was rather pointless, except as a way to show what a trickster Jack is. (Yes, we know that one.)) But I guess they can't really do that with Depp being the star, can they? It's kind of funny because I really like Jack and have always thought Barbossa should have been killed off in the first movie. Still, looking at the it, this story really should have been his IMHO. My overall impression was 2.5 stars out of 5, leaning towards a weak 3. At least they didn't use the electronica junk in the movie that I noticed. Then it would be leaning towards a 2.

I've been collecting accounts of bodies being buried on land vs. at sea from the different journals I've read (for my book as this falls under the role of the surgeon...sort of...) and it's about half and half as I've mentioned before. I also have some accounts of amputated limbs being thrown overboard as well.

Unless people were drastically different than today, my thought is that many of them probably just threw them overboard in what they were wearing unless someone was looking. (Especially if someone was mangled in battle. Imagine re-dressing that.) Why does fish food really need to be wrapped in wool? (Then again...why does worm food? The wool manufacturer's guild demanded it?)

Outstanding work William! A whole skeleton! Who doesn't like to see that?

Apparently this skull was drawn after celebrating the taking of a merchant ship loaded with alcohol. It's cross-eyed!

Ivan Henry's birthday! I'll bet he had something interesting to drink to celebrate. "[demon voice] There is no Dana, only Zhul." "What a lovely singing voice you must have."

A brace trepan.

Check out this thread for my thoughts on restaurants in Key West. From what I've seen so far here, I'd recommend Cafe Sole for great food and B.O.'s Fish Wagon for neat atmosphere and cracked conch. (If I had a four-hour layover in Key West, I'd be trying to find a way to get to Cafe Sole.)

This is true. However, for me at least, the key to a Dr. Who episode isn't so much what happens, so much as how witty and absurd the Doctor is in responding to it.

The 'Disease'... “Pimples or small Bumps upon the face… begin about the Nose and Forehead and from thence increase and spread further about the Face. They are white at their first Appearance and without Pain; some of which Suppurate [form pus], and at least emit a little white Matter if they are squeezed, others grow dry of themselves, and afterwards very Red, somewhat larger and bigger, and yet contain white Matter in them. These also cause no great Pain, unless they are squeezed very hard. At length having go the upper-hand, the white and red Pimples vanish and become great red Bumps and little Tumours, especially in great Wine-Drinkers and common Drunkards, and then are called Rubra Facies, and Gutta Rosacea. The Cause of these Pimples is partly a Hot and Inflamed Blood, and Liquors [fluids in the body, not liquor as we normally think of it] thickned by a too great Acidity, which by the Impulse of other Liquors, is driven towards the Skin, and stopping in the small Veins, cause small Pimples, but if they increase and obstruct the Glandules of the Skin about the Nose, they grow into larger and redder Bumps, or small Tumours. Sour Drink and Victuals is also said to be another Cause of this Distemper. And the cure... The Cartesianists [followers of Rene Descartes, who believed the mind was wholly separate from the body – how this relates to his point, I have no idea], and especially Dr. Dolæus [writer of a book on the cure of gout] say, that in the Fat Parts of the Body, and especially in the Face, where the small Vessels abound with Spirits and Nutrimental Juices, there may easily happen an Extravasation [leakage of a fluid] of such Juices of the Skin, which coagulating there, produce Pimples, Blisters, Morphew [a scaly eruption], and Bumps in the Face, and spread all over it.” (Purmann, p. 96) “Pimples, at first being commonly like the Skin in Colour, and without Pain, the Patient seldom looks after the Cure of them; but when they grow bigger, Redden, spread all over the Face and disfigure the Countenance, then they begin to enquire after a Cure, and sometimes ‘tis too late. Bu if there be any Hopes, make use of the following Water which I have used with Effect. Rx Aqu Flor. Fabar. Spermat. Ranarum and {dram}iij. Solant Rosar and {dram}ij. Pulp. Citron. Sagill. Salomon Lill Alborum {ounce}jfs Ol. Tartar. per deliqu {dram}iij. Sacchar. Saturn Tinct Benzoin ana {dram}ifs Boracis Venet. Cerus. lot. ana {dram}j. Mercur. deleas {dram}js. m. f. L. a mixture [This above appears to contain Mercury, but it may not. There was a plant they called mercury that is not, in fact, the metal we think of when we see the term. Since I haven't found a translation for 'Mercur. deleas', I can't say what this is exactly.] Remember to shake it very well as often as you use it, and washing the Face with it, give it time to dry in of it self. If any think the following better, they may use it. __ Rx. Unguent Rosat Alabast ana {dram}j Flor Sulph. {dram}j Lact Sulph {scruple}v Sace Saturn Ocul Cancr ppt ana {dram}ifs Ol. Rosar Tart per deliqu ana q s m ad Liniment formam [Note: the reprinting of this prescription was very hard to read and may not be completely correct as written here.] This Medicine was a long time kept as a great Secret, in the Possession of Dr. Michael at Lipzick.” (Purmann, p. 98-9)

I wasn't a re-enactor when I joined either. For three years I wasn't. Then I was. It's fun to do and involves top-drawer rum after hours.

Aww...someone banned the original posts in this thread and you guys can't seem 'em any more. (Sometimes I crack me up...it's not drugs, this is pretty much normal. Honestly.)