Captain Jim

Like Silas I wish you fair winds, mates, from another high and dry pyrate. Keep all of us who cannot be there in mind as we shall all be thinking fondly of you, the family we made the choice to be a part of. Madd d'Dogge: do us proud in the walk the plank competition. For you that should be as easy as falling off a, umm, well, plank, actually...easier than getting in the gate to camp, anyway... Watch your hats around Stynky...and your mead, too! Take good care of your feet! Play safe so we can all come back next year... And post pictures early and often, ye scurvy lot of no-good, nefarious ne'er-do-wells!

Aye, a venue may be said to be successful when you can start another with the attendees who can't be there. I see a need for another T-shirt.

And what will these bumper stickers say? "Follow me! I'm persistent, silly and sometimes right!"

Ummm...what's a doglick musket? Do I really want to know?

Don't know how I missed this earlier. You have officially popped the spooky scale for pyrate hats. Very nice, indeed.

That's not a blender. Now this is a blender!

Recover quickly; we need alla the wenches we can get on active duty!

Now, now, we all agreed: No captain. I will gladly command during engagements, though. Besides, since we have such a stellar Quartermaster, a captain is rather superfluous anyway...er, I mean, some ruddy bilge rat of a captain would be extra baggage, Mate.

For the two pence it's worth: this is a hunting frock (in the context of the painting) and unlikely to be too fancy.

Cruise on over to YouTube and search "fire piston" and you'll get a bunch of hits. Our prototypical striking-type match wasn't invented until 1826, 100 years out of date, when a John Walker stumbled upon a chemical concoction that produced fire. After stirring together a mixture of chemicals, which did not contain phosphorous, John removed the stick he used, only to find a dried lump at its end. When he scraped the stick against the floor to rid it of the lump, the stick ignited. His mixture of antimony sulfide, potassium chlorate, gum, and starch could produce fire. In his rush to demonstrate his discovery to others, John bypassed the patent office. In no time, a person at one of John's demonstrations, Samuel Jones, spotted an overlooked, golden opportunity, and patented the invention under his name. Mr. Jones produced matches he named Lucifers, which produced phenomenal sales. The widespread availability of the matches actually led to a significant increase in smoking.(http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/explain/docs/match.asp) I haven't used a match to start a fire since I learned how to use flint and steel and to make my own charcloth four years ago. I even use it to start fires in the home fireplace. I use slowmatch (which I also make using potassium nitrate) to light my pipe. All that having been said, one would look for fire and "borrow" some, say, from a candle, lantern, fireplace or another lit pipe. Striking one's own was a skill used only if fire couldn't be found close at hand. Fire was an integral part of daily life and was everywhere during the period, often saved over from one work fire to the next as a burning candle or banked coals.

Somebody else I'm going to miss seeing this year. And I swore I was going to keep my voice in one piece until at least the end of the first night and I have been practicing guitar like a madman. Got all my old chops back. Damn.

Joyous natal, Cutter. Sorry I won't get to meet you at PiP. Next year, mate. Only 377 days, two hours, 52 minutes, ten seconds...not that I'm counting or anything.

I just want to know ahead of time for if I EVER make it to PiP...is there a reason one would wear a BAIT suit???? You're in the water; shark's in the water; All hail and farewell to you fair Spanish ladies...

Or you could go to Track of the Wolf and spend 10-20 times that amount! Oh, but my, aren't they gorgeous?

And some twit justified it by telling himself,"It's not personal, it's just business..." Morons, they don't realize that getting fired is always personal, your job is personal, it reflects that part of you that made you choose it. Twits. I reiterate: the only thing wrong with capitalism is our modern capitalists. Greed is not always good and higher profits at any cost will become too expensive in the long run. I've been out for over a year, having been laid off at the age of 50. I feel your frustration at competing with so many,especially with employers looking for the cheapest hire. Off soap box.

I agree with Mission; living as you were was as close to living on a boat as you can get without having to deal with falling overboard. A land yacht, that's what it is!

Hey, stupid county people. I was living in the loft of a barn once. Came home from work and it had been torn down by the county folks as "abandoned." Seems the person from whom I was renting didn't own it...after a short, very pointed discussion the "landlord" refunded the three months rent I had paid plus some for the stuff I had had in the loft. In the small town of Rockport Mass, he avoided me whenever he could, which got kind of funny after a while, watching this guy scramble out the back doors of bars and such.

A webcam might keep certain of us from sitting in a corner all week with numerous bottles of rum, cradling our weapons, watching every pirate movie in our collection while muttering "Pyrate!" over and over and...just sayin'...

OK, I can't read this topic without a picture of D'Dogg's total immersion experience popping into my head. Classes? He don't need no stinkin' classes! (photo the Callahans):

The youngest known avowed pyrate was John King, who was between eight and ten at the time of the Whydah sinking. That opens up berths for quite a few of Silas' kids.

James Barrie McKay Warren (Captain Jim) Myakka City, FL Former landowner, merchant and dealer in smuggled goods (didn't everyone?); currently adventurer and free man of the sea, former captain of his own ship, the Patricia Morgan

Aye, an' 'e seems to have stolen his father's hat...good little pyrate. Next Tracy will come home and find William tied to a tree...

I'm still giving it further thought, but my Internet connection is freaky today. I get the Pub fine, but most everything else is broken up so I can't do searches for specific things that I'm considering. Still, I'll put up another: Is the wording too "lawyerly?" Does it reflect the wording style of ships articles as opposed to those put together by landsmen? Just speculating as I can't do searches just now.

Now I knew it would be William that "fixed" 'em. Now look at the mess he's gotten himself into. Now for a minor fee...William, I sense an opportunity here. Support your local Pyrate Paynter o' Half-Truths!

Someone who is adept at PhotoShop should do something about those backgrounds...if not for them it would be difficult to distinguish the time period. Brilliant!