Capt Thighbiter

Nell I remember my own fiddle journey some 35 years ago. I had played guitar and bass a while already, but the first time i held a fiddle in my hands i KNEW that I had to play this. ANd proceeded to loose all my friends , as I practiced constantly and couldn't wait to show off my new skills ( very very meagre). Keep at it. Your ahead of non-musicians already, since you play and hopefully have developed an ear for true notes. Scales, scales and more scales, arpeggios too. It helps to use a drone string, since you can hear when the note is true. Get a GOOD bow, its your connection with the instrument. If your in the Northeast, come to Fiddle Hell next year ( Fiddle Hell is an international fiddle jam session that lasts 3 days - with music from all over the world - just google it). Good Luck

Well if you stay by the pirate encampment, its more historically minded, and the re-enactors did a bang up job this year. If your kit is period, you should passs muster and be able to go beyond 'the ropes' into the actual living history areas. Away from that area its more H-wood and Renn faire type pirates you'll be seeing. But the sense of the history of the area and the event is always evident, IMHO. And for the pub crawl, anything goes ( and I saw some firsts this year down there in fells point). See ye there mate!

Oh and I didn't mention the sea battle - this year it was a shore battery from the stone pier firing upon 3 vessels, two of which were under sail and circleing the other. We got to fire our 1-7/8" cannon from the deck of a sweet two master that was running under full sail and went thru 22 rounds before we ran out! The BBF in Hampton has a good battle ( several actually) but for sheer number of guns involved in one encounter, the Pirate Invasion on Sat seemed to win the bell. P-con, well not so much boom booms. In fact, I don't think black powder discharges have been mentioned at all in the P-con reviews and promo stuff... and black powder smells like pyracy!

We stayed this year at one of the hotels in the outer area, one by a trucking hub ( north of Fells Point, i think) maybe 10 min by car. It was a bit cheaper ( $125 or so, but dont quote me, we stayed in so many this year). No min stay. By cab it was 20.00 one way to Fells Point. The great thing about the ADMIRAL FELL , you can get falling down drunk and fell right into bed! Rogue - you gonna be wearing the SEXY mermaid costume? Tignor, I dont think you will be disapointed in Fells Point, great surroundings, really good daytime entertianment and a decent living history area, a harbor and water and SHIPS immediately at hand ( unlike the P-con, which is no where near water or ships), is one helluva lot cheaper - and the pub crawl is the biggest f-ing party I've ever been too ( an i been to a lot of biker ralleys and such). PLUS the Friday night Captains Ball will have us, The Brigands, and some very good friends of ours, the Bawdy Buccaneers and others. The last time we did a nite time adult show together with the Buccs (Down East Pirate Days in Maine) it was 4 straight hours of the bawdyest, filthyest Pirate fun! I am sure P-Con will be fun also, so if the $$ is not a big deal, flip a doubloon and decide!

Done and Done. Wish it was Apl 12, so we'd be getting ready to leave! Ken , we simply must get sloshed this year

Non-firing....... but I wonders ....

Scupper, I UPS'ed the CDs to you yesterday, let me know if there is any problems.

The Brigands will be releasing their 4th CD, titled "X", a collection of bawdy, shame facedly dirty tunes, along with original songs, dittys familiar to your ear ( from POTC and the like) and of course some white hot fiddle tunes. We'll be releasing it in time for Yule, but we wanted to offer members of the Pub a chance to reserve a copy from the first printing. If ye wants to be one 'o the first to listen to songs like "Pyrates' Way", "Triple Scotch" and the like, send us an e-mail and we will set a copy aside for ye. http://thebrigands.com Party like it's 1724

Greydog ..." It’s a tasty morsel of a site that we take with a grain of salt" Dam , that one hurt! Took a few months off me life it did.

Scupper, we will donate a set of CDs from The Brigands, if you think they are age appropriate. How old is the lad?

Cool, Silver, building a cannon from scratch is very rewarding. I hope your working from plans, as some of the geometry of a carriage is important. like the little 'steps' on the rear of the cheeks - they were there to crowbar the cannon up into the right position to fire after the qoin had been properly set. If they are not just so, they look dopey and out of kilter. cheek thickness - are you making your own trunion caps? if so the thickness should be OK, but if your buying premade ones ( and Cannon Mania has some Nice bronze ones) the width of the caps should determine your cheek thickness. You can always over build your carriage, but should never under build it, especially if you plan on fireing live rounds.

I were on E-bay ( as I usualy do) looking for new armament for the Hellion, when I realized that there are loads of cannon being offered there as 'firing' cannon and upon close examination of the pictures, I realized that many are basically desk paperweights and the like, being sold, in error or on purpose, as firing cannon. For those thinkin upon buying new long guns, be wary. What to stay away from: Small Brass barreled cannon with solid cast iron carriage - these are souvenier cannon and are NOT usable Bronze or Brass barreled guns, known as lantaka, usualy offered from Borneo - these are cheap, badly casted repros. They look like fancy,long swivel guns. Very occasionally I see one that MIGHT be authentic, but who the hell knows. Cast iron barrels that do not have a steel sleeve. Fancy antique cannon, with iron webwork carriages - ostensibly from Victorian England - many are modern repros. Cannon that have thin wall thickness - the bore at the breach end ( the back end) should be one third the diameter of the breach end. ( 1" bore and the breach measures 3") I am sure Cascabel and others who know BP cannon well can chime in here While good, safe cannon can be had on E-bay, a safer bet is to patronize one of the many cannon makers listed on this site: http://www.go2gbo.com/forums//index.php/topic,2814.0.html Cannon are a lot of fun, but when things go bad with them, they go REALLY bad

Mission - all cannon get honeycombed eventually. It is because black powder residue from firing is very corrosive and eats aways at metal. Even scrupulous cleaning can not get every last bit of residue out ( and I imagine life aboard shiip would prevent 'scrupulous cleaning). The corrosion is worst where the action takes place, back in the breach of the gun. As the little pin holes get bigger and deeper, the barrel becomes less and less safe and more likely to burst. Honeycombing also holds glowing embers from the previous round and can ignite a new charge rammed home ( as it did in your story).

Speaking of swivels Capt Jim, we obviated the need for a stand of any sort. THe yolke for our swivel ends in a rather longish heavy spike, instead of the usual stubby one, intended for placement in a pin rail or the like. The long spike lets us drop it right into the ground. Seemed like the best and easiest way to place it at festivals etc. And we can still mount it on a pin rail when we guest fire onboard a vessel.

Ahhh... you guys were sailing rings around us. And I'll never forget the look on your face as you put fire to powder... it was the proverbial kid in a candy shop look. Fun! Boy, thats the truth. Usualy, we get to fire an opening and closing round, maybe a noon gun, and thats it. When the Capt said fire as much and as quick as ye can, we applied the spurs with a will ! Blackjohn, you're another one we need to bend elbows with next year.

Of course you know that one of the ingredients of BP is KNO3, saltpetre. I know saltpeter is a part of BP, I dinna know the chemical symbol for it was KNO3. This learnin' stuff hurts my intelects! I suppose it makes a difference how much BP one disolves in the water, as to how well it works as slow match. We used a quarter of a can of Goex to a half a pail of water, made 12 feet and it lasted us pretty much the whole year, and we fired one in three weekends. I wound up with about 4" left at the close of our last festival of the year. I burnt the last 4" the other day, just to fill the house with that lovely smell! A course, my wife and dog hate it, but 'waste not...'

That is pretty sweet, but mates check out the others on the link. Them are some of the damnedest looking shootin irons I have ever seen! Most nefarious? The Crusafix gun. For the well armed servant of God I suppose?

Recipe? We been using black powder ( FFFF GOEX) disolved in a bucket of water and letting the rope sit overnight. Dry it out and seems to work fine, doesnt go out and the burn rate is pretty good, not great. Light my pipe with it? Novel idea!

Matt, These new designs are sweet! I love this hilt! Would you mind snapping a few more angled pictures of the bronze skull sword pommel? Stynky - I have this cutlass, but with more of a 'cut-toe" blade then a cutlass type. The pommel and guard are even better lookin in person and with the thinner blade , its sneaky fast.

My favorite is my Baltimore cutlass. Made for live steel action and with a narrow blade, it's the handiest of all our naval edged weapons. Kinda partial to my sons fencing sabre too, so light and sneaky fast. Hugh, Damn man thats a sword to be proud of!

Ah Corsair, too long has it been since I seen ye post on these pages, I hope all be well with ye kith and kin. Cheers, I say, cheers, for this event which grew from very humble beginings ( as ye well know, better then most). Favorite moment(s): 1) Way back when it was a wee pubcrawl, confined to 200 or so bretheren - the singing in the square after midnight, along with other pirates who were in thier cups. 2) When the manhole covers on the street blew up, during The Brigands performance last year! 3) Firing our cannon from the deck of one of the pirate ships last year, during the sea battle. Gave my crew a real taste of true engagement conditions and rate of fire! We def have to hook up after hours for some real drinking!

Aye, tis been the quiet 'afore the storm, says I. The Brigands have been a might busy, finishing up the last dates of our Concert season. We are now back in the studio, recording our 4th CD, titled " X " to be released for Yule-tide this year! It will be a mix of traditional sea songs, new and olde fiddle tunes, some original songs and, for the first time, some of our X-rated songs from The Bawdy Show.

We made one with: 3/4" oak dowl 3/8" copper tubing ( the bendy kind) 3/4 to 3/8 reducing coupling, copper, the sweat fit type. file a groove in the 3/8 end of the red coupling to fit the OD of the 3/8 tubing, so it lays 90 deg from the axis of the coupling. bend the tubing carefully into a J, dont kink it. Solder in place. Attached to the dowel with a few brass screws. Viola! Linstock for about 10 bucks.

While not as big as some of the pieces here, we have a jolly good time firing ours at Pirate and Renaissance faires. No ball though :-(

We don't use wadding either, for cannon or small arms. For the reasons given above.