Mission

Tom and Huck Or maybe this would be more appropriate as Tom and Huck: This was about the age when I became interested in pirates: "And Captain Searle says to me, 'Let there be battle.'" And there was and he saw that it was well planned and good. "Yeah. What he said." "Ask not what Captain Searle can do for you! Ask what you can do for Captain Searle!" "Yeah. What he said."

Wow, there are some beautiful photos in DB's collection, including some great establishing shots! Anyone know this guy's name? (He kind of reminded me of Chief Chirpa.) Awesome pic of Willie Wobble:

How do we find you, DB? Can you post a link to the album?

Did you guys photoshop this? Hey kid! Put that down!! You don't know where it's been!

Anyone know any more? The guy in yellow loaned me a gorget and I'd like to recognize him if possible. If not...well, such is life. Michael Bagley - International Man of Mystery Neat picture of Willie waving the flag: Pikers marching on Saturday. (I look like a brown and blue harlequin): Don't EVEN mess with Carlos. (It was Carlos, right?) Diosa and friend: Who is the friend? Does s/he have a name? Oh, she's not really going to... Anyone know the name of this one (Not the monkey. We know that one.): ♬Spear and magic helllllmet!♪

Happy Birthday Tracy. Some day we'll meet and I write all sorts of lies about you.

What exactly are you doing that you're searching for all this detailed info on individual pirates? Making a website? Writing a book? Color me curious.

You're recommending him after all that b!tching we used to do about Rogozinski?! (Well, someone used to do...I don't recall who. It wasn't Tony, was it?)

Wait...Patrick and I replied, so I think you're more than safe. Luv, Mission - who will never in this lifetime run the risk of having offspring if he can possibly help it (and he can)

The music in those cartoons is great. Plus it's a very interesting characterization for Sylvester and Porky.

That about sums the whole thing up IMO. Babies are probably the closer in character to their 17th c. counterparts than anyone else in an encampment.

I dunno about that book; I heard the author is dodgy. (That's Ed's book and I'm teasing him. It's a fine, well researched book.) Of course, if you want a good book about Madagascar settlements, there's always this fine work of fiction.

Ok, who are these two gentlemen and what crew are they with: I know this is Jeff's son and his girlfriend, but what are their names? (Particularly their character names if they have them.) And who are those two? Whose kids are they? And these folks? Which crew are they with? I know this gentleman is the shop owner, but what's he and his wife's names? Are they with a crew? What's their shop called? Does it have a website? And I am truly embarrassed to admit it, but I forgot Jeff's wife's name, even though I used it about 20 times! Someone please help! I've asked three people to help me out with this. I'm starting to feel like no one wants to tell me.

Yes, the amputation knife is sharp on the inside - it makes good sense when you think about the shape of an arm and a leg. :) I am not yet sure what they mean when they refer to tape. In fact, I have been most curious about this. I suspect it is just a piece of broad, flat cloth. It is basically being used as a tourniquet as he describes it. Hm. While looking for more info, I found a reference to cautery in amputation in Richard Wiseman's book, so I have to take back that previous comment. (I'm afraid I've forgotten more than I remember at this point.) "At Sterling I made an Amputation on above the knee and had as little help; besides my Servants, there was only a Sea-Chirurgion assisting me. We stopt the Flux of blood by actual Cautery [Actual Cautery is using heated steel instruments to cauterize; potential cautery is using chemicals to cauterize], and the Wound digested and cured without any ill accident. Yet where we have convenience to proceed more formally, we always place the Patient to our most advantage, where he may be held firm, and in a clear light, and so that our Assitents may come better about us. The Member is to be supported by some one, whilst another standeth behind the Patient, and draweth up the Skin and Musculous flesh. Then make your Ligature two fingers breadth or thereabout in the sound Part; so that if you amputate in case of Mortification, you may be sure to quit your self of it. This Ligature is omitted by many of our Chirurgeons here in the City, they only making a turn with a Tape, pinning it on as a marker to circumcide by: And in stead of the Ligature I propose, they make a Gripe [grip], which Gripe is commonly made by some assistent who hath strength to do it. Indeed this is good, where a shattered Member is to be cut off, to smooth the Stump; in which case there is no great fear of Bleeding. But in Amputations it seems to me to be very inconvenient: For I never yet saw any man so gripe, but that still the Artery bled with a greater force than was allowable; yea, when Mr Woodall griped, who was so applauded, and in truth made for the work. It being so, in what a huddle is the stump then dressed? But suppose the uneasie posture and the long griping tires the Griper, or that his Hand be crampt the while, what condition is the Patient then in? Whereas by this ancient way of Ligature the Vessels are secured from Bleeding, the Member benumbed, and the Flesh held steady, ready to receive the impression of your crooked Knife [Capital or Amputation Knife], (or Razour, which I have often amputated with.) This Ligature made, the Assistent strengthens it, whilst he draw up the Musculous flesh. In the mean time the Operatour, with a sharp crooked Knife, by a turn with his hand cuts the Flesh off round to the Bone; then with the back of it he scrapes the Periosteum from the Bone; if there be two Bones, then with a dividing Knife [or Catlin] he separates the fleshy Membrane from them. The Bones freed of the Periosteum, Guide proposes a linen Cloath, and Hildanus a kind of Purse, to be brought over the upper divided Flesh, to pull it upward, and make more way for the Saw. But I think that needless. The Flesh divided, the Parts separate enough of themselves, besides the Assistent’s pulling up of the musculous Flesh and Skin is sufficient. That done [the bone of the limb being amputated cut], you are at liberty, whether you will cauterize the Vessels by a Button-Cautery, or a Ligature [fabric strand used to tie arteries] stop the Bleeding, or __ by Agglutination [adhering the wound edges together]. The use of Chalcanthum [Copper sulfate, used to chemically cauterize] I do not approve. To apply Escharoticks [mild caustics] to the ends of the Nerves and Tendons newly incised, causes great pain, weakens the Part, and makes way for Gangrene; it not being likely you can so apply them to the Artery, but that you must burn the Parts about, which are, as I said, the Nerves & c." (Richard Wiseman, Severall Chirurgical Treaties, p. 452-3)

You're right, Cross. We did sort of answer the primary question about what sort of ship a pirate would use. We didn't answer the secondary question of why the figures in Cordingly's book don't add up. Now we're splitting hairs over what exactly Cordingly meant by Ship which is a tertiary question. But answering this won't answer the original secondary question. It was just a suggestion I had for why the figures might not add up.

It's actually based (almost scene-for-scene) on the old B&W cartoon Porky in Wackyland. Alas, due to copyright issues with the guys who made the Carl Stalling music CD you can't find it with sound on YouTube. And I'm a little leery of any site with an address ending in ".ru" Here's another good one: Baby Buggy Bunny "Finster shaving at his age...and tattooed...and smoking a ceegar?" "Oh dear, I do believe I've forgotten my fudge."

I find it hard to believe that I, as willingly ignorant as I am about ships, started all this. It seems to me we've lost sight of the original question entirely though. Why not just write Cordingly and ask him? http://www.nmm.ac.uk/contact/ Or let's just have Ed go over there and ask him face-to-face. Surely he lives right next door to the museum.

Well, you can thank Moyle for the description; I just copied it. (It was one of the better ones I've seen, though. This is why I am sometimes puzzled by the fascination with John Woodall as the leading light in describing period sea surgery. He was the first, but Moyle makes things so much more plain and clear.) The impression I have is that cauterization was not widely used with amputation. I don't believe any period amputation description I've read recommends cauterization as the primary treatment. Most authors seem to wince in their prose when they even have to bring it up. However, one must always keep in mind that books were written by the cream of the surgical crop (usually surgeons to the king it seems to me) and there were literally hundreds of times more surgeons out there practicing than writing. So you could probably have found someone or other who believed in cauterization as part of the treatment. It would most likely have been used for stopping uncontrolled arterial bleeding, even though they new about using ligatures. Somewhere I read that someone thought the fastest treatment was to dip the amputated limb in hot tar. I have NEVER found anything close to substantiation for this though. It actually sounds like a quick and dirty solution that a carpenter came up with. When there was no surgeon and someone was wounded at sea, someone had to fill in. The captain or the carpenter were the second and third choices. The captain because he might keep a surgical book in his collection and the carpenter because he had tools that could be used in a pinch. But this is pure conjecture on my part. The primary knife used to make the first cut is usually called a Capital or Amputation knife. Woodall refers to it as a dismembering knife. The Catlin (or "interosseous knife"; Woodall calls it a 'catlinge' or 'catling' as the mood strikes him) is a straight, two sided knife used to cut the materials between the tibia and the fibia when amputating a leg and between the radius and ulna when amputating an arm. As for tool names, I wouldn't get too hung up on them; different authors sometimes called the same things by different names. Too bad you can't see my kit or I'd show you the differences and you could just describe them. Pictures aren't quite as good, but for reference: Amputation/Capital Knife Catlin (Note: this is a 19th c. Catlin, but they hadn't changed a great deal from the 17th/18th c. The handle would not have been made of ebony like this one - probably wood or ivory or some other material.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_%28ship%29 They show a three masted snow on wiki. Maybe it's wrong, but that's what they show. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schooners Here they show a seven-masted schooner! But, as I noted, I don't know ships and so I must rely on the research of others.

Since these numbers add up to the puzzling figure of 120 percent, there is presumably a misprint in the percentage of sloops, the percentage of ships, or both. Was this ever corrected in a later edition of Cordingly? I am not all that knowledgeable about sailing vessels, but doesn't the term "ship" cover a wide variety of vessels? Isn't any vessel with three masts considered a ship? If so, there might be an overlap (schooners, snows and sloops could have 3 masts, right?) which may account for the figures, although it makes the results somewhat less clear.

The Wearing of the Grin is one odd cartoon. It's sight enough to set the heart crossways in ye. Speaking of odd cartoons, here's my favorite odd WB cartoon: Dough for the Do-Do "Hey! Whoayou?" "I'm the la-la-last Do-Do. And I'm worth 6 Trillion Dollars!" "6 Trillion dallas?"

It was great fun! It's actually got me wondering what I can do to make my kit a little more PC for this particular event. Hey Jeff, can you tell me the name of all the camp teens? I need them for the journal. Also, who were the sutlers with the wonderful spread inside the tent and what is the name of their company? And who is the guy who does the cannons? I think we were calling him Carlos... Thanks for the info!

Finally done! There were 360 some pics when I started. I seem to be taking more and more at each event. Mission's Searle's Raid Photos Now for the journal! May I use photos from the albums posted by Callenish, Diosa, Katie Kate & Ivan Henry Mooseworth Alphonse Gallaphonous Smith (or Smithee)? PM me your answers if you don't want to post. I will soon be posting photos innocently asking "Who's this?" so everyone can look forward to that.

"Hoboken?! Oooooohhhh, I'm dyin' again!" The concept is funny, but I always thought the penguin was a trifle annoying. Speaking of annoying little characters... Birds of a Father From the book Cat Psychology: "In order to grow up to be a real cat it is necessary to chase birds...catch birds...and..*gulp*...eat birds?!" (The idea that Sylvester needs a book on Cat Psychology is funny enough on its own...)

Billy, that book will give you neither dimensions nor speed. It will give you ideas on pirate tactics, which vessels pirates favored and why they favored them.