Capt Thighbiter

Chaos, one of the prime considerations for a Brigands tune... does it stick? Does it reverberate in your head for a few days? If the answer is yes, then we consider it for adding to our song list. If you think that one has glue, try listening to 'Pirate's Way'. That one was in my head for weeks, so of course we added it. Glad you like it, though.

Bo, a caution if you will in the use the kegs for black powder. We used to have a brass bound small keg we used for our cannon powder - it does look cool and all. But after a few years of being bounced around in the Hellion, and being topped off periodically, I found that there was an ever increasing amount of black powder dust being generated within the keg. BP dust is extemely explosive. I tried emptying the keg, rinsing with water several times, drying and refilling. But the amount of dust present when I would totally empty the keg out was still far too much for my comfort. I suspect the water did not get all the dust out, formed a cake-like lining in the keg, which abrasion with new powder then liberated back into BP dust. If I am not mistaken, powder kegs were not re-used on board ships, they were heaved overboard when empty. Whether this was for weight/space considerations or for the above reasons, not sure. Just keep it in mind should you use them for black powder.

Sterling, your reputation preceeds you! Never have a care, though, we'll do it later in the evening.

Our ship is the Hellion, formerly HMS Hellion, but we had a disagreement with the management. She has served us faithfully lo these many years and has taken her share of prizes ( and a few lamp poles too, as anyone who was at Fells Point this year can tell you). Pics can be seen on http://thebrigands.com

We are very proud to say the The Brignds will be back as the host band for the Pirates Ball at Blackbeard this year. We have lots of new songs (including "The Guns of Hampton") and tunes for your enjoyment and we look forward to seeing old friends and shipmates. 2011 is our 10th Anniversary performing together as The Brigands, and it started right there in Hampton at Blackbeard. Despite what other festivals may have going for them, we always consider the Hampton Blackbeard Festival to be the heart of Piracy on the East Coast. See you all there!

Could it be the ultimte examples of doing work for the Government, ie the lowest bidder gets the job. Then its up to the winning shipyard to now turn a proffit with the meager bid that they won. Which means all kinds of short cuts and damn pursers tricks. Robber bolts, twice laid rigging, masts made to look like spruce, and a host of other obfustications may have been the norm, unless the ship owner oversaw the entire build themselves. Even then the shipyard likely could pull some funny business.

So it is time to unveil the new tune at last, "The Guns of Hampton". We'll be performing it for the first time, appropriately enough, at the Pirates Ball at the Blackbeard Festical in Hampton. I think the various crews and ships will get a charge out of the song, we managed to get every gun listed into the lyrics, no easy feat given that none of the rhyme! We hope you all like it!

Foxe, I'm sure your presentation will be entralling to any who attend. When ever we are asked to talk ( as opposed to playing music), I always spend several minutes trying to make the audience know and FEEL just how important shipping was to the civilization of those days, how critical is was in the day to day lives of citizens, especially those in the colonies. Modern audiences have no concept of this, so the whole idea of piracy is at least once removed from thier minds, if not further. Once firmly fixed in their heads, a talk on piracy has a more intense effect, I find. Attendees should feel priviledged to be able to hear one of the best authorities on the subject; making it more personal to them could only enhance your presentation. Of course, I could be full of **it , too! Sorry I can not attend this.

"I'll Kill anyone that gets in the way of me killin' 'em" Yellowbeard

The Pirates Salty Ball - come and have a testacular time! Hear The Brigands introduce songs from the upcoming new album, "Ship Happens", tunes like "The Guns of Hampton", "Burbon Street Reel", "Markus Hook Reel" and "The Undead Sailor's Hornpipe", along with a full boat load of traditional shanties, songs and tunes, plus hear the lovely harmony work and spirited ballads of the Bawdy Buccaneers, plus witness the smutiest, ribald, x-rated bunch of pirate music what ever was played from a stage. Mar 12, Manchester CT @ the Main St. Pub, 8-12 PM

I can vouch for adjacent barrels setting others off. My double barrel pistol ( Middlesex) does that all the time, to the point where I don't prime the second barrel until the first is fired off. Oddly my double barrel flinter flowling piece never does it. That QA on the top looks right good to me!

Me, I'm with Foxe in that Henry Avery always embodied what I think of as a Pirate King.

The Pirates Salty Ball, Mar 12 at the Main St Pub, Manchester, CT. 8-12PM, $20 at the door w/light buffet. Accomodations can be had at the Super8, Manchester, 643 1864, area code 860, mention The Salty Ball and the rate is $63.00 Join The Brigands and the Bawdy Buccaneers for fun, music, danching and smut!

The Pirates Salty Ball, Mar 12 at the Main St Pub, Manchester, CT. 8-12PM, $20 at the door w/light buffet. Accomodations can be had at the Super8, Manchester, 643 1864, area code 860, mention The Salty Ball and the rate is $63.00 Join The Brigands and the Bawdy Buccaneers for fun, music, danching and smut!

Gonad this date to ye calendar! Mar 12

That's my issue with a lot of these ballads - sung to the tune of " XYZXYZXYZ" and if'n ye know not the tune, it's just so much poetry. Luckily, the site you gave has some MP3's of folks singing the tune, making it ever so more useful. A good resource, says I.

The Pirates Salty Ball, Mar 12, 6-12PM, Main St Pub, Manchester Ct - The Brigands and the Bawdy Buccaneers present an evening of dancing, piratey fun and mayhem. For our New England friends, this is The Brigands only scheduled 2011 appearence in N.E. No holds barred, no Faire Management looking over our shoulders. ...$20.00 at the door, w/light buffet dinner. Pirate or formal attire required. More info -631-434-7091

The Pirates Salty Ball, Mar 12, 6-12PM, Main St Pub, Manchester Ct - The Brigands and the Bawdy Buccaneers present an evening of dancing, piratey fun and mayhem. For our New England friends, this is The Brigands only scheduled 2011 appearence in N.E. A no holds barred, no Faire Management looking over our shoulders evening. ...$20.00 at the door, w/light buffet dinner. Pirate or formal attire required. More info -631-434-7091

LOl, I just saw it and came here to ask the question about the roller buckles....

The pitch has indeed been rising over the centuries. In fact, bagpipe are the most singular example of this. As any one who has tried to play with pipes knows, they are pitched in B flat. But not really. Not quite B flat, not quite A, and one must tune to the pipes. The reason for this is that over the last two centuries, pipe players have asked the pipe makers to pitch the pipes slightly higher then concert A ( 440Hz), in order to stand out more in a group. Decades and decades of this has resulted in bagpipes being pitched between the two notes (closer to B flat though). Issac Stern, the notable virtuoso violin player, regularly tunes to 442-443 in order to stand out from the rest of the orchestra. Dont even get started on temperament, which is how each scale is tempered to suit the pitch. Look up well tempered scales in Wiki, and you will understand why pitch is relative.

Oh Arthur, that was just wrong.... funny, but wrong! QM James, I happen to be going to China on Fri, want me to show it to a few people?

[quote name= This is the list as it is now, and I'll update it as we add the names of the last few. Larboard Guns 1 - Patricia Morgan: 4 pounder 3 - Nemesis: 6 pounder 5 - Dangerous Donna: 6 pounder 7 - Jupiter: 6 pounder 9 - Hell,s Breath: 4 pounder 11 - Andrea Doria: 4 pounder 13 - Veritas: 4 pounder Starboard Guns 2 - Maeve: 4 Pounder 4 - Discordia: 6 Pounder 6 - Loud Lucy: 6 pounder 8 - Mars: 6 pounder 10 - Titan: 4 pounder 12 - Kraken Slayer: 4 pounder 14 - Aequitas: 4 pounder The names all come from members of the Mercury then and now who wanted to or who were invited to contribute. I've seriously considered renaming Jupiter and Mars (which I named after a discussion in chat), and I welcome your thoughts on any of the names. Tis a shame ye waited so long, Master Red Wake - lyrics for "The Guns of Hampton" have been written fair by the ship's clerk and we are practicing even as we speak. Nice names though - much more lyrical then some of the names other crews sent us.

We had our favorite rum this weekend - Cruzan Black Strap Molasses Rum! Relatively inexpenive but what a taste! Like pancake syrup, but with authority. In fact Mr. Cannon tried some on his pancakes Sat morning. FWIW - we were perforing in NYC thurs at some hoitey toitey society book signing. Up scale liquor store down stairs. Now we all knew the prices were going to be high, and we guessed from out side the shop what might be the most expensive bottle they had. Marley guessed a wine, Cannon a congac, McQueen a rum. Me I guessed a bottle of single malt Scotch. I won - a single bottle of one brand was ..... $5,500 US greenbacks! Sheesh , who could drink it?