Mission

Not to turn this into an advert thread, but why try to make one yourself? I got one made by Madam Joan for something like $25 or $30. I sent her a sample of my hair and she matched it and made me a queue. It's lasted for 5 or 6 outings so far. (The only problem with it is that the braid has become somewhat messy with stray hairs poking out of the braid and I don't have the wherewithal to learn how to re-braid it. Plus I like it sort of ratty and unraveled - it fits my concept of a pirate-captured surgeon.)

At last I have something of merit to donate to the Dead Man's Chest Auction. Muhaha.

Ladies and gentleman, the scourge of sea medicine: the splinter. (No, it was not the bullet, not the cannon ball, not the sword...it was the splinter.) “EXAMPLE III. An Eye struck out by a Splinter making one Side of the Os Nasi and Spongiosi bare. Alexander Henderson, in that grand Naval Fight of ours with the French off Malaga, 1703. had his left Eye struck out by a Splinter, making that Side of the Os Nasi and Spongiosi bare: and from which several little Splints of them were easily drawn away with the Forceps. I cut away the lacerated Teguments [pieces of skin, I think] in the Wounds, as far as they appeared to be insensible; drest it and the Bone immediately with equal Parts of Tinct. Myrrh. a Fomentation and Decoction warm’d; over that again Pledgets of Digestive, a Compress, and a double Fold of Linnen pinned down to retain all. Where one Side of the Os Nasi was perceived loose, stricter __ Bandage would have depressed and disfigur’d: Instead of which, I advised him to practice the Smoothing of it, with his Finger frequently, that it might fasten evenly. In six Weeks the Wound was incarned [skin had regrown in it], and healed; but soon gave Notice by a pricking Pain, Tenderness, and Tumor about it, that some Ossicles [small pieces of bone] or Exfoliation was further to be expected. The Cicatrix [scar covering the wound] being thin, I broke through it with my Probe, and enlarged with the Scissars, discharging a fœtid Matter. A small Scale or two soon came away by the Wound; as did also another thro’ his Nose, (on blowing of it;) after this it healed, and continued firm.” (Atkins, Navy Surgeon, p. 142-3) And another (which he calls a gunshot wound, but which is, in fact, a splinter caused by gunshot.) “EXAMPLE V. A large Gunshot Wound, and Loss of the Glutæi Muscles. John Carter, had a Splinter in this Engagement, come close to his Groin, and in passing off carried half his Buttock away. We laid him by at present among our other Wounded, with a slight Astringent Application: Next Morning he was found in grievous Pain, the Wound very large, a great Part of the Glutæal Muscles on that Side being torn away, the Ossa Innominata [pelvic bone] bare in Part, and the whole, black, livid, and insensible externally. I made superficial Scarifications [a series of small incisions designed to allow blood/humors to be released] to the Wound now, and next Day applied three of four cauterizing Buttons [round-headed cauterizing tools], one after another, where the Insensibility or Colour led me to think a Mortification [area of dead or gangrenous skin] begun; and this without much Complaint from the Patient, filling the whole with thick Pledgets of Tow, dipped in U. Ægypt. hot. In a Day or two, I had the Pleasure to see the Gangrene checked, signified by a red Circle round so much of the Lip [of the wound] as I had cauterized nigh, and is Nature’s Effort to separate the Eschar [scar tissue], the remaining Part that had been left undone, and now covered with stinking cadaverous Sloughs, I repeated the Cautery too, a little at a Time, for two or three Days, extracting now and then a Shiver of the Splinter and Bone, which I carefully look’d after at every Dressing. When I had finished with the Cauterising necessary, I immediately dressed the whole Wound with Digestive [medicine designed to cause incarning, or growth of skin in a wound], used the Fomentation very warm, and half an Hour at least every Dressing wrapping a dry Stupe wrung from __ it, and a large Flannel-Roller round all: Inwardly the best nutritive Food we could get him, instead of the vulnerary [healing] Decoction. In eight Days most of the Sloughs were separated, and in twelve all that little red Circle, or adjacent Inflammation vanished; but then the Largeness of the Wound gave such an Increase to the Discharge, that from a chearful Disposition he became remarkably weak and depressed, more so by a Looseness supervening, that very much abated the Hope of his Welfare. I kept him to the white Decoction, and an Opiate every Night, which relieved a little; but to the Wound which I consider more essentially, (those being only the Dependencies of this,) there seemed two Intentions necessary; 1st, Was by all Means we could, to lessen the Discharge; and 2dly, to keep the Matter from insinuating among the Muscles above or below: It ouzing from all Parts on any Pressure as tho’ rotting. Here the vulnerary Decoction came in Use, not to drink, but to dress him with, mixed half Brandy or Spirit warm; and is always my Method when the Eschars of any large Wound are separated, and Digestion obtained: increasing your Spirits, (and Astrictives [astringents] in the Decoction,) as you design to pursue more or less of this Intention. For here is the Caution again, if you are too sudden in the Check, you give Room for Tumors and Apostemations [wounds releasing pus] elsewhere; as was the very Case of this Man. I dressed him every Day as above; and to answer the second Intention, made Compresses from the Perinæum, the Buttock, and on every Side towards the Wound, giving his Position in the Cradle, as great a Tendency also as could be consistent with any Ease: The Quantity of Matter lessened presently, and only a thin Synovia [mucus or mucus-like fluid] from the Bottom of the Wound at the Bone, (common where the Tendons and Ligaments are torn;) but a large, painful, and discoloured Tumor, at the same Time, spread itself at the anterior Part of the Hip, down the Abdomen into the Inguen [juncture of the inner thigh and trunk of the body] and Scrotum. It was now about a Month from his being wounded; and though this was a new Misfortune disheartening to our Patient, yet I did not think it equal to the Advantage we had in lessening the Discharge’ for he now daily __ recovered Strength and Spirit, the Wound incarning, and growing ruddy from all Sides. The Tumor indeed required Incision, (the Matter fluctuating under my Finger;) but I purposely omitted it for a Week, that my Patient had become heartier; and then opened and cured as in other Apostemations. The Wound was nigh three Months in filling and cicatrizing [healing by scar formation], leaving a prodigious Scar, and great Lameness and Weakness on that Supporter, while I knew him, which was only the following Winter.” (Atkins, Navy Surgeon, p. 144-6)

It sort of depends on when there are admins around to pick it off. (The mods can't delete it, they can only hide it.) There are only a couple of regularly active admins, so the response time depends on when they're on-line to delete it and then log in to the forum management software and ban the slobs who're posting it.

That's a really good one. It matches the vehicle's shape quite well.

With that profile, I'd call it Piglet. Or maybe Razorback. (It sort of reminds me of the Arkansas mascot.) I never named my cars (and that last comment may explain why.) Even the Delorean was just 'the Delorean.'

<Dr. Evil>Riggggggggght.</Dr. Evil> Welcome. You should post some photos of your work in The Thieves Market.

Ah, I misunderstood. I don't use the forum index, I use the View New Content link at the top of the main page rather than the forum indexes, so I didn't see them. Those were SPAM threads. The posts were deleted, but the pub software doesn't seem to want to remove them from the "last post listing" on the forum index page. (They were the last posts before they were deleted.) So when you try to click on them, the the software can't find the SPAM thread that was deleted and you get an error. While it is a problem with the software, it's a forum coding problem, not a hack.

I am not seeing that, even in IE6 without any ad removal plug-ins. I'll give Stynky a shout on it, but it may be your computer, not the pub. May I suggest using Firefox if you're not already? They have some wonderful anti-ad and spam plug-ins available for free.

I wondered about that. There is sometimes a tendency to assume pirates would kill the whole crew, yet many accounts disagree with this. (Pirates were people and only some of them would have been psychopathic.) It also makes sense that merchants would most likely be acutely aware of the loss of something as large and valuable as a ship and it's cargo, so records must have been kept in some form indicating the suspected cause of the loss of any ship. Your logic about the numbers makes good sense too.

I wonder how likely it was that all the pirate victories were reported? How many ships were lost without explanation? (It seems to me that this could be a statistically significant percentage, given the communication and ship tracking limitations of the age.) If a merchant ship disappeared, how likely was it's actual fate to be known? Again, we are limited to what records we have and it would behoove a captured pirate not to report their activities if the courts didn't discover them. If this were a significant factor, any ideas about who took how much money and how many ships would be open to a awful lot of conjecture making large parts of this discussion sort of irrelevant in the broader scheme.

I thought this was pretty funny. It's from T. Aubrey's book The sea-surgeon, or the Guinea man's vade mecum [handbook]. Based on his comments, I suspect Mr. Aubrey is a physician or an apothecary writing this manual focusing on fevers and medicines for the (in his opinion, hapless) sea surgeons. "They had a kind of Barber-Surgeon on Board, which they might have as well been without, only that he served well enough to shave and bleed. I demanded of him, how he treated the Mate [the patient - Thomas Wright, "on Board a West-India Shallop" who had "Relicks of a Diarrhœtic Fever"], he said he had blooded him three times, and purged him as often, but with what he could scarcely tell me, or else was ashamed to let me know, altho' he had a Chest very handsomly furnished with Medicines for such a Vessel, had he had but Judgment to make use of them. Thus many pour Souls are cast away by the Ignorance of such Vermin, who without Consideration, or Conscious, undertake the charge of a Vessel." (Aubrey, p. 80)

Some day, at some event, somewhere, I'd really like to see Captain Jim's idea of building a mock up of a mast with sails on it so we could explain the sails, ropes and knots. (Probably not at Put-in-Bay, but I just thought of it when Michael said he wanted to hear every idea.) Anyone who has seen DB's display at PiP can comprehend how we might do it, albeit on a smaller than actual scale. From the PiP '10 Surgeon's Journal, here's a photo of DB's mast set-up, taken by Iron John:

I also liked the boat being there. It added the right touch somehow. (You could probably charge people to have their photo taken sitting in it. ) However, I'd prefer we have our backs to the park or all the photos people take will have modern elements in them and the busy street scene. The photos looked better facing the park. (MHO)

Morgan was a sneaky beggar who was quite self-serving at times. I don't think that he always saw himself a an agent of the interests of England, although I'm sure he would have said that if asked. (He seems to have been an astute politician.)

Here is a complete(ly inaccurate) account of last year's event as put together by your ship's surgeon, consisting mostly of odd commentary, but also detailing stuff that happened on Saturday. When I created it, I could not find a formal site for the event, although I believe the calendar on the Put-in-Bay site that I link to includes it. (Mentions it is more what it does.)

I agree with Hurricane based on what I recall of what I've read. Although Morgan would probably need an asterisk next to his name because he was really a privateer with sanctioning from the Crown. (A bit of a loose cannon of a privateer at times, but a privateer nonetheless.)

It might be a small step towards allowing the group to fire in a battle for the following year if we did it well. They seem very safety conscious (which is a good thing). If you want to be allowed to battle and fire weapons, you have to show them that we are also safety conscious, which might best be done is small steps. It seems like that's what the cannon guy was doing to get permission to fire his cannon.

Foxe is probably the guy to answer this, but it's kind of hard to answer. There were a couple of pirates who had small fleets like Blackbeard and Edward Lowe, but there was never any kind of large, formal pirate organization of which I'm aware. Most pirates were pretty independent. They occasionally formed and broke alliances, but none that had a large scale, POTC-type formality. If you try to figure out who made the most money, you run into the problem of not knowing who all the pirates were. Many of the pirates we read about were caught, which doesn't really equate with success in the field. For all we know someone with a strategic long-term outlook may have run a bunch of small raids, hit the jackpot somewhere along the way and then left the trade with his wealth intact. (Or not. By definition, we can't know.) As for measuring by the amount of carnage created or number of ships taken...well, I leave that to someone else to research because I'm too lazy to do it. I know it's been discussed before either here or at piratesinfo.com.

HB to Diosa!

I stand corrected. The forced men uprisings are sort of interesting. What then became of the ship? Did it turn non-pirate? Wouldn't that have been a hoot? Someone should make a movie...

I was thinking of something like they do at Ren Faires where people put together a particular 15 minute show that takes place at a scheduled time. (Not like what I do, but maybe like a sword-fighting display with commentary for 10-15 minutes or a cannon-firing display with an explanation of the cannon, its parts and procedure and a sample firing or such-like. (Or a surgical repair if you can find someone else to do it. ) If scripted with humor and kept light, it would be a nice draw to the stage. Of course, it would be better if the stage was closer to the displays so people could wander off and have the less-staged, more educational displays (like mine) to wander through.

Crews would have mutinies to turn pirate, but once they turned pirate the articles allowed them to vote the captain out. So it wouldn't be usual for pirates to mutiny unless a minority fraction of the pirates wanted to go against the majority or the captain refused to give up his captaincy after being voted out. As for privateers, they ran the same danger of mutiny as any other ship. It seems to me Woodes Rogers was outvoted or at least pressured by his crew to go after a ship off of South America that he was against capturing. They never mutinied on him that I can recall. (I do seem to recall some funny stories about William Dampier being left ashore by his crew because he was not well-liked. I don't know that I'd call that mutiny, though. If you asked the crew, they'd probably call it just desserts.)

It's a pretty big step from what I saw last year to a battle. It would depend on how many re-enactors showed up because the other people I saw there generally didn't seem to be the sort who would engage in a battle. (OTOH, offer them the opportunity to shoot blackpowder weapons and who knows?) As a thought, they might do presentation pieces on the stage showcasing different skills or activities.

I have done no such thing. (I have been assured by others that QJ was some sort of fuzzy monster long before I met him.) What is behind the thing with the girls in Mrs. Peel outfits and rabbit heads in the snow? And Rabbuck makes me think of Twiki. Since Twiki was voiced by Mel Blanc, who also voiced Bugs Bunny, we have two degrees of rabbit.