Captain Jim

I've lost about 225 pounds over the years.... Same ones over and over and over....

You mean this one? I just noticed: It was expired as the pic was taken in December. Pyrate!

Agreed. Gratuitous use of the skull and bones to advertise "I am a pyrate" would have been a self-signed death warrant.

Dated to the mid 1700's, slightly out of period, but close. At the Pirate Soul museum, Key West. This falls under the category of religeous relic though.

Actually, if a pyrate ship were careening near or even relatively far from a town, shopkeepers and others would come to sell wares or buy stock from the pyrates. Many, many folks were not hostile to pyrates as they helped to lower the cost of business. Black market goods = large profits in shop. The references are not at my fingertips, but trade goods were the major part of hauls: sugar, rhum, bales of fabric. Turning this into gold meant trade and that means towns. Women in the camp trading or mending or cooking in trade for plundered items is historically supportable. The women of the night would come, well, at night. And maybe stay for breakfast. I would be loath to exclude anyone who attempts period garb, even if we have six Bonney/Read characters in camp, the arguments presented in Twill notwithstanding. That's not in the first year plan. The first year we build numbers and interest. Portrayals and numerical accuracy would be addressed for years two-three. Besides, the Bonney/Read characters have been taken by players in the trial. That having been said, there is a lot of time for those interested to develop appropriate characters and learn the skills needed to portray them, even if they want to portray men, and not women passing as men. That does not mean women can’t fire the guns or cannon. Women often defended the home front when the men were gone, which means that you would have to side with the English. (Now why didn’t we think of that last year?) Women, at least on this side of the pond, knew how to fire guns because they were on the frontier.

I make it out to be 24.016"H x 17.992"D x 35.984"W, taken out to three decimals for reproduction accuracy. It would be nice to have some square-on, bottom and virtical shots, to extrapolate the arch of the top and wood dimensions, but that's asking a lot.

Eewww...Foxe wants Chole to cut the cheese...

Lo and behold, the dimensions are here.

Compared with getting hit with a wad of warm Limberger, you might prefer a rock.

Great Pictures! A couple of comments: those are falconry still lifes. Note the hoods at the top of all three. Also, the "Art of Shooting Flying" (modern wingshooting) was in its infancy and hitting a moving sparrow with the wheellock pictured would be next to impossible. Falcons took the fowl more than likely. The hare in the self-portrait could have been taken with the gun pictured, however. Also, note that the horns are hunting horns, not powder horns. Great pictures.

Well, then, carry on in your self loathing. And get back to work, we're waiting for stuff...

Hrothgar, I thought summat smelled different on the wind, thought mayhap it was the outgoing tide. Welcome back, and what Bo said.

You get breaks? I thought you said your boss was a cast-iron Bi....Uhm, never mind... I'll be on that list, too. I need to re-do evrything before PiP.

I got a new sewing machine. Of course I'll finish all of the visible stuff by hand, but this should speed up most work. Kass, make ready for orders. I also got "an Idiot's Guide to Piracy." Hey, wait a minute....

I must second the nomination of Patrick Hand, for all of the reasons mentioned. If further proofs are needed, just see the the new indexes in Twill and Plunder.

Way good Patrick.

Too much going on this year, but maybe next if this becomes an annual event. Really.

Damn Patrick, you sure save me a lot of time on the 'net.

All except that one.

The list of possessions with which Alexander Selkirk was supplied at marooning (Published in the Englishman by Sir Richard Steele) "He was put ashore from a leaky vessel, with the captain of which he had had an irreconcilable difference; and he chose rather to take his fate in this place, than in a crazy vessel, under a disagreeable commander. His portion were a sea-chest, his wearing clothes and bedding, a firelock, a pound of gunpowder, a large quantity of bullets, a flint and steel, a few pounds of tobacco, a hatchet, a knife, a kettle, a Bible, and other books of devotion, together with pieces that concerned navigation, and his mathematical instruments. " Which he kept here (Courtesy of the National Museums of Scotland 1999): And that is a period sea chest.

I would love to. Being a biologist in FL I have no love for feral anything. Once did a feral dog hunt for a pack of ten that was decimating a deer population. Of course the public condemned what we were doing until the dogs invaded a school playground. The dogs met one very brave teacher with a chair who managed to hold them off until the cops arrived and killed one. I (and my team) took care of the rest over the next several days. Then we were heroes. All in the same week. Meanwhile, taking on a wounded or cornered hog with a flinter sounds thrilling. "Thrilling" is the word people use before an event that will later be described as "brave" or "manly" or "adventurous" if it turns out well or "stupid", "assenine" or "Darwin award nominee" if it turns out badly. A misfire could ruin your day. Fortunately is sounds like you will have a lot of firepower to take him down and what are the odds of all of your guns not going off in the damp, humid south? Somone going to pack in the 44 magnum as a safety?

Provided the cannon didn't intimidate them, and boarding became necessary, I would not carry a 'buss calmbering over the rails, not on the first line. Maybe second wave. I would count on the tops and rail gunners to clear me a space to board. Once on the other deck, lots of pistols. Then cutlass and empty pistol (or cutlass pistol, there's another thread) or cutlass and axe.

This is the passion created by the 1720 Careening Camp, PiP 2007. Just amazing Patrick.

Come to Key West and live the life of a Pyrate! Thanks William.

As usual, a thought provoking thread. I think, though, that I would drop the 'buss after firing as it is too heavy to block and parry with: too slow. I think the progression would be 'buss and drop, pistol(s) and drop, saving the last to parry with, then cutlass/axe or drop the (empty) pistol and go for cutlass and axe. Substitute "throw" for "drop" where a target presents itself. An empty 'buss heaved with both hands, spinning horizontally at head level might get some attention.