Captain Jim

Perusing the 18th Century Material Culture's Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/18thCenturyMaterialCultureResourceCenter ) I came across these little gems. Wooden tricorn hat boxes. Who knew?

How will you ever ride the horse in a boarding action? Ah! I have it! It's a seahorse! Welcome aboard, mate!

Aye, we should erect some boundary markers on that site, have the Fort just deed it over to the Mercury crew. And yes, Jon provided a most welcoming camp. Display Area. Demonstration Station. Grandstand. Supper Table. Thing.

Welcome aboard.

As always, William, awe inspiring.

Pinkbeard the pyrate!

I don't think Mr. Wake is going to like his hair being quite that grey...close, but there's still a little red in there somewhere...(In truth it's a very good likeness.) Nice, Patrick. Very nice. Huzzah to you.

Welcome aboard, mate. As far as choosing a pyrate name, don't try too hard. Actually Daniel Siemens, Carpenters Mate, sounds about right just as it is. Think of it more as a reenactor name. Using your own name makes the character a little more natural-feeling for you as well. Also, I don't know how many pyrates started out with very fancy, swashbuckling, Hollywood-sounding names only to revert back to their real names or names based on their real names. Causes quite a bit of confusion when they do that. And, yes, do get a copy of the drafts for the Mercury. Fabulous work.

Happy Birthday, mate.

Now how did I miss this? Happy birthday, Mr. Bagley!

Well done, mate, Huzzah!

And Happy Birthday as well.

Happy birthday to us, everyone.

The site certainly has potential, and there is camping. Would reenactors be allowed to do a living-history camp on the beach and stay there for the duration? For quite a few of us hotel costs prohibit some events. Also a number of us go for the living-history camp experience. And is it for only one day? Edit: I just noticed that the lovely fort depicted in the link is not on Bear Island. Well, get back to us after the 13th.

I would imagine that normal household cleaning measures would be used (brooms, mops, rags, scrub brushes), which brings up the question of soap or its equivalent.

If it please the group, a few thoughts on holystoning of decks. This knowledge I have gleaned from several older sailors, old when I was young, who worked tall ships, were in the Navy when holystoning was still done (abolished in 1931, by the way) and who heard tales of the sea from their fathers, grandfathers and, in one case, great-grandfathers. Taken as a whole I remember this: Holystones were so called because the use of one brought the user to his knees, as in a prayerful position. Later in the US and British navies a pole was attached, but never mind that. It was still a holystone. As for why use a stone in this manner we must first think of the properties of wood. Wood, when exposed to water and subsequent drying, expands and contracts. Wood planks, not being uniform, might expand and contract differently from its neighbor plank. This might raise the edges of the seams, a bad thing. Wood, being porous, allowed anything spilled on deck to stay on deck, no matter the washing. Also wood, when subject to the foot traffic of leather-shod feet, would have been polished to a high, and very slick, sheen. Last, when wood dries, it contracts, opening up the seams in between in spite of any caulking. This would make the deck leak like a sieve, soaking the lower decks whenever it rained or waves splashed aboard. Holystoning, with water, fixed all of these things. It flattened the seams. It cleaned off anything that had been spilled on the deck and soaked in (at least superficially soaked in.) It roughed up the surface, removing the polish caused by traffic. Furthermore, as anyone who works with wood can attest, wetting a sanded surface "raises the grain" causing any wood bits not firmly attached to curl up. On a deck this would create a non-skid surface. Wetting the deck periodically kept the deck tight, preventing leaks. If done with salt water (and why would you waste fresh water to scrub the decks?) the salt left after evaporation served to preserve the wood. Lastly, the sand from the wearing of the holystones would have improved the nonskid properties of the deck. Now I haven't got a single reference for any of this, just the testimony of old sailors which, taken collectively, is pretty good stuff. Now to place all this in our period.

Thanks again, Patrick!

Finally aboard. Welcome Zak. Nice hat.

Happy Birthday! Good to see you at FTPI, just wish we had had more time to just hang out.

I'm sure I wouldn't know that, but I would assume that period surgical techniques ranks pretty high.

Happy Birthday to Misson's Other Obsession, wherever you are.

Here's to livin' like it's 1713! Happy New Year!

Happy belated birthday, mate.

Just as an observation: Notice how many tables/chairs made from half barrels. Also, square bung holes in the barrels.

Happy birthday, mate!