Captain Jim

It's not backseat driving when it's your kit. Now for some real backseat driving: I see that the knife handle has a slight cant, an angle. Given that I would suggest you switch positions and put the knife in the back slot. Now I realize that this means rebuilding the whole thing. In the mean time, rounding off the fat end of the marlinespike, make it more of a ball, would smooth out the extraction.

Nag, nag, na...uh...Yes dear...

Beautiful, simply beautiful. Is it lazer cut or have you mad carving skills, too?

I believe we have the difinitive answer. Well done, as always, Mr Foxe.

Hmmmm...upon (reasonably) sober reflection I see I took the question, and possibly the questioner, a bit too seriously. It was a poorly crafted query that seems to have been lacking in basic journalistic preparation.

Mission does make a good point in that you should do your own research. By all means use what we say as a starting point, but if the question is whether pyrate reenacting or reenacting in general is a "valid" (to whom?) pastime or worthy of scholarly recognition is to evolve into some sort of editorial piece, then the byline should be yours. As I am not allowed to have a say in the final shape and tone of the story/piece, then I would also prefer not to be included in any byline. Besides, how does one give a byline to an unlimited number of various opinions, either supported or unsupported?

One more thing. You intimate that the upcoming story is about "the validity of pirate re-enactors." In all actuality, we do not need you to validate us. We are our own strictest critics.

How about, "You're joking, right? You do know that this is not real life, right? Right?" Remind me to keep an eye on that guy...

Having re-read all of that I realize I let pyrates off a litlle lightly. Yes, some were actual monsters. Roberts was one vindictive son of a bitch. Blackbeard, well we all know his stories all too well. There was evil aplenty, but also men dealt very bad hands just trying to get by in a ruthless world. Again, you can't just say, "Pyrates were all (fill in the blank.)"

Well, you certainly know how to (potentially) stir up a hornets nest, but there are basic and profound flaws in your questions. The first is that to be a reenactor one does not need to have done the thing being reenacted. Acting. It’s what they do on stage and in the movies. One does not need to have live ammunition and kill the opposing side in order to reenact battles from the Civil War. None of those people “killed” in movies actually dies. You have confused real life with acting, “realistic” with “real” and your first question is misguided as a result. Although I know of a couple of pyrate reenactors that can claim your “two out of three” test, this aspect of the question, too, is flawed. The only requisite to be a pyrate is to have robbed at sea or plundered the land from the sea without a commission from a sovereign nation. That is all. Your question assumes that all pyrates were rapists, murderers and, later, you insist drunken. One of the greatest pyrates of all time, Bartholomew Roberts was a teetotaler and devout Christian who kept the Sabbath. So, would not drinking or raping disqualify him as a pyrate? I think not. Pyrates do not fit into any easy pigeonhole, largely because their stories were almost always told by others, often those with newspapers and broadsheets to sell. Sensationalism sells, and exaggeration has always sold more ink than understatement. We do not really know much about the lives of pyrates before they turned to a life of crime. How many were married, had kids, were fleeing debt and prison for the crime of being poor. How many were left, abandoned on distant shores by their governments at the end of national conflicts, to shift for themselves in a foreign land. How many, in a time when democracy and the rights of the individual were beginning to stir, chafed at the collar of virtual slavery on the merchant ships, of the naval ships of the time, ships where the captain’s word was the absolute law and severe punishments were meted out for seemingly minor infractions. One pyrate was a ten-year-old boy, John King, who voluntarily went aboard with Sam Bellamy from a raided ship upon which he and his parents were passengers. Why would such a young boy turn to piracy? We do not know exactly how many pyrates there were at any one time, nor do we know how many returned to lives as honest citizens either by accepting general amnesties or by quietly jumping ship and resuming the life they led before. During most conflicts, many of the participants keep diaries. Pyrates did not, in the main, because a diary would also be a confession. As such we don’t hear much from the individual pyrate and so we cannot conclude that pyrates were always (fill in your stereotype here.) As for question Two, many do reenact the other side of the coin. There are Nazi reenactors, SS reenactors. Google it up. As a magazine editor/publisher, I am surprised at your lack of enterprise. As it is, we pyrates have sold people on the block at reenacting events. As such we have had slaves, owners, auctioneers and a buying public. As for Conquistadors, we celebrate Columbus Day and have a Desoto Celebration in the city where I grew up. Politically incorrect? Yes, probably, but it is history. It happened. Reenacting history, right or wrong, good or bad, opens up conversations about history, conversations that sometimes end up rewriting that very history. Why do I reenact piracy? One, because it’s fun, burning off black powder, camping on the beach, swordfighting, cannon, sailing on ships when we can get ‘em. Two, because I don’t have to drill in no stinkin’ lines and the command structure is so much more relaxed. More individualism is allowed. And because it is a little-known aspect of history. A lot has been learned in the years since the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie reignited interest in pyrates. More energy and more research as led to a wider understanding of pyrate life, but so much more is left to learn. As for the living history demonstrations of period maritime arts, sewing arts, surgical craft (hi Mission!), cooking and daily life are interesting, fun, educational and in danger of being lost. So preservation, conservation and appreciation of the past are a large part of what we do. Now for question three. Where should the acceptability line be? That would depend on the audience, much like in that other acting venue, the movies. Of course, one must stay inside the law, so actual rape, real swordfights and shootings are kinda out. Real swordfighting is a messy, bloody, smelly affair replete with resected bowels, dismemberments, screaming. Hard to get volunteers for those anyway. So should we simulate the gore by pitching some bloody pig intestines out on the stage? Not for the general audience, no. A bit too graphic. However, one crew I know does a (simulated) pyrate hanging. But the set-up and dénouement are so well done that it remains accessible and appropriate for the general audience. So you put the line where you need it. Reenacting should be about history, storytelling, learning, and teaching. Showing instead of telling. Doing instead of reading. Feeling it instead of just imagining.

No kidding, and I'm a lot closer.

Perhaps they'll count it as a 1-inch cannon, at which point you will be allowed 800 grains! (Based on the volumetric conversion of 100 grains equal to 1/4 oz and assuming that the cannon loads listed are volumetric and not weight. There really is no accurate conversion for volume grains to weight ounces, esepcially if different BP brands weigh differently, which they do.) Which, of course, would be a damn silly and plainly dangerous load.

OH, I got another one! I ususlly use a "possibles bag" rather than a "cartridge box" as specified in the rules. Allowed and, if not, could I just build an insert to hold the cartridges individually, effectively making it into a box? Considering the amount of people that don't have cartridges boxes. I think that could work. Let me get back to you on that answer.

And there you go answering on the Facebook page, as far as the max loads are concerned. Good. Now, about the priming flasks?

It's Let's Keep Lily Answering Questions Weekend! My turn! 1. To expand on Hawkyn's question: will we be allowed priming flasks or must we prime from the cartridge? And I see that 4f is dissallowed, so if we can use priming flasks I will assume 2f. ***No flasks. "Small and long arms are to be loaded from pre-wrapped paper cartridges prepared according to correct period procedures". 2. I notice in the maximum loads table that pistols are maxed at 45 grains. A Charleville musket, at 69 caliber is maxed at 100 grains. My big ol' dragoon pistol is 69 caliber. Will there be allowences made for big bore pistols? If I have to prime from the cartridge I'm only going to get about 40-42 grains down the barrel which might make a (small) puff of smoke, but there will be very little if any report. Not that it matters but for the record I usually fire this pistol with 95 grains and live fire with 35. ***I updated the table of maximum loads to reflect what is stated in the FPS manual. Pistols are now 90 grains and Charleville at 125 grains. 3. Are we beginning to bug you yet? ***You will know when you do

And Ft Taylor is a State Park.

Thnk you, Sir.

Thank you for the book recommendation. Watched the show last night. Fast, packed with information, something you actually have to watch and not just listen to in the background. Also, the directon and format of the show is, in my opinion, pretty cool, with the narrator (Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs fame) freely wandering in and out of historical set peices and giving away the tricks done to dress the stage and atmosphere. He'll start standing (without period garb) in the middle of a perfectly correct revolutonary war set, then wander back to where the cameras, vans, set workers are, breaking the barrier between stage and audience. The (obviously unscripted) excahange with the mondern cop wearing a kilt is priceless.

Alright me hearties, how can you resist a Discovery Channel series called "How Booze Built America"? Go here: http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/how-booze-built-america/videos for a preview. Wednesdays at 10.

I don't think that tying "numbers" to "beach" is a good plan nor a reason to not camp on the beach. The beach is simply more fun, more natural, more in tune with the "careening camp" ethos that began the whole historical reenactment camp to begin with. Also, how can we pyrates attack a fort that we are living in? The whole "take over the Fort" scenario goes away if we live there already. Why is it that we, the people who spend a lot of our time, money and passion to support the Friends cannot camp on the beach for five days? Is there a logistical/legal/safety reason not to camp on the beach? What is the rationale for "in the Fort" as opposed to "out of the Fort?" Mind you that this question is posted not as an affront or challenge, merely wondering why. I cannot express how fond I am of the memories of waking up to the sounds of the gentle waves lapping the shore of Cayo Huevos. Can we not pass this memory on?

Aye, when are they gonna move us back out to the beach? It's the natural place to put us. More breeze to dissipate certain pyrates' personal...ahhh...aura. Speaking of which, can you put Patrick downwind of me this year...?

Aye, good show.

Good, there's still a chance we can take over the Island...establish a Pyrate Republic...Mwhaaahaaaahaaaa...Did I just say that out loud?

A question: How many of us lucky souls will be chosen, in total? In other words, what is the limit of Pyrates that Key West can handle?

Mister Brand, you are looking rather...ah...aprehensive. Was it pitchforks and torches or a gaggle of beautiful women? Either are, in my experience, quite dangerous in their own way...