Captain Jim

Yet they still wear them, don't they? I am a biologist and I wear them in wetlands all of the time. One gets used to the weight of them over time, but they do affect your gait a bit. I wouldn't want to wear them on long marches, but how far do you have to march from one end of a ship to the other? And where are you going to run? Yes for day-to-day work on a boat the boot is impractical. But hours and sometimes days passed before a sighted prey was close enough to even fire upon, much less board, so there was plenty of time for the initial boarding party to change to fighting trim. In close combat they would serve well as lower body armor if made thick enough. So, do you want a cutlass cut on your stocking-clad leg or the one in the bucket boot? Leather ones would also turn aside thorns and brush when moving overland. If I had a choice to wear buckets or buckle shoes with hose on an overland expedition, there would be no question that I would choose the boots. We have a plant here (Florida) called the saw palmetto that makes short work of jeans and the legs within. I've even had them cut the laces off of a pair of leather boots, but the boot leather turned the thorns aside. And don't get me started on catbriars. Now here is a question: Hollywood has been blamed, perhaps rightly, for introducing the bucket to pirate attire. Yet in many very early movies the rest of the costuming was quite good and included the boots. Where did the Hollywood costumers get the idea to use buckets? Did they just pull buckets out of thin air or are there archival references as to the process that the costumers used? Thanks to a cartouche on a map we have placed buckets in the Carribean in 1700, so we know they were there. Now to get them onto a boat... Just stirring the pot...again.

If it does prove to be accurate, ye just got yer license to wear bucket boots. (Runs and hides from the impending s*itstorm.)

Caught it, loved it. Very cool designs, not too bad execution. Not my idea for a house, but I would go party there. Did anyone know any of those pyrates at the end? Are there any on the board?

Off topic thought: She'll no' be puttin' out many fires in that outfit. Startin' 'em yes... And now back to your regularly scheduled discussion.

"Arrr! Me other skin is by Howard Pyle"

Here's another that I had lost but just recently found again. You can get butt caps from Pirate's Cove Arms Now how could I have forgotten a name like that? A sample of their work, in sterling silver:

Unless you already have a script/storyline, tell Blackbeard's story. Tell it correctly. He was a cad, womanizer, wealthy landowner, political force and ruthless sea dog, charming and most likely psychotic, possibly schitzophrenic to boot. Dress your pyrates correctly, not silk shirts and bucket boots. Arm them correctly and if they fight, have them fight dirty, with both hands, with feet, elbows and whatever else is close at hand, not like Hollywood gentlemen (some of the fight scenes in Master and Commander are good models). Have a few of the cannons and pistols misfire, have them use pistols to parry blades and crack skulls and have a sword or two break during boarding actions. Have you dialect coach, or director, have them speak according to their station and time period, remembering that most pyrates were Britons, even those living in America. Without knowing more about the storyline, I really can't offer more advice than that, except that we would all like to see a movie about pyracy, as opposed to an adventure movie with pyrates.

Perhaps a reconstruction for the proposed gun deck....

Petee, where did you get that Picture? I'd like ot find out more about their project, and maybe suggest that they not have so much open flame about their black powder.

Billy! Pictures, man, pictures. Meanwhile, how about a combination boar spear and pole gun? Stab the beast and shoot 'em at the same time.

Bravo! Mate, Bravo!

When ye takes the tatto plunge ye go all the way don't ye? I votes fer "A short life and a merry one"

Here is a picture of a flint pistol/hunting sword up for auction: And here a variation on the theme, a knife with the lock built onto the blade:

Mate, ye have way too much time on yer hands.

Busted! I threw the flask in to stir the pot. I know, bad Captain, but I wanted to draw responses from the more knowledgeable at the Pub (and I was at work and feeling peevish ). I promise I'll quit that unless I qualify it with a caveat of some sort. On the subject of the leather flask, that was for bullets, not powder. On the loading block, I'm not sure either, but I suspect that it was a development of market (fur) hunters, and actual use more than likely predates documentation by some time. This is one of the more interesting aspects of frontier (and interestingly, pyrate) life, that it was painfully undocumented. Did all of the historians stay on the old sod and send a batch of non-journalists to this shore?

Actually, flints are notoriously slow to load, so loading during a boarding action probably didn't happen. During a boarding action one would carry as many pistols as one could handle. The drill would be to fire the pistol, drop it and draw another until you ran out. Add a boarding axe, a fighting knife and a cutlass, mix and match as the situation warrants, reserving one pistol of last resort and remembering that an empty gun is still a good club. Braze has a pistol with a bow to guard the fingers that could be used to parry while loaded, retaining that shot as the last resort. Also remember that a pistol still stuffed in a dead guy's sash or laying about on the deck at half cock and frizzen down hasn't been fired yet. PICK IT UP AND USE IT!

Blunderbuss with Bayonet? Like this one: And the business end: Yet another project to pursue.

yeah, it's gone astray like many threads here, but it has remained interesting nonetheless. Maybe we could change the title.

There was some use of pre-rolled cartridges about this time, the cartridges stored in a special cartridge box. Click here for a really detailed Rev war specimen. It would be similar. Also, powder was carried loose in a powder horn or flask: Bullets carried either loose (not a good idea, dirty bullets), in ball flask or in a bullet board or loading block. :

That was simply ARRRful...

I've seen that type of cutlass pistol before, mostly as a non-functional reproduction, but I have also seen a few in antique auctions. a more famous cutlass pistol, but OOP for our purposes, is the Elgin cutlass pistol. This one is available as a kit from Dixie Gun Works Someday I want to recreate this in a flint version, even though I havn't seen an authenticated example of one.

Paul you might try these: Antique Gun Parts The web site is useless and under development. Contact them directly and discuss what you need. If they can't find it it may not exist. Track of the Wolf They have a fab website and an estensive inventory, great service. If only the rifleshoppe could match the service here, it would put all others out of business. Brownell's Quite possibly the worlds largest supplier of gunsmithing stuff, but mostly modern. I have some other links at home (I'm at work) so I'll get back to you later with some other sites.

Something similar was tried by a television news station some years ago. They snatched someone off the street, dragged 'em into a car and sped away while another crew filmed unobtrusively. They wanted to show how nobody wants to get involved anymore. Well, we here in Floriland carry guns and we do care. No less than three bystanders had them under the gun before they could drag the "victim" away, and a fourth was in the process of blocking the "getaway car" with his truck. Damn news crew was lucky to escape serious harm.

Thanks, Pew, the sailing stuff was fun, and we were led by the member of the Yacht club whose boat we sailed, a perfect leprechaun of a man, a urologist named Dr. Payne. Even his name seemed to be a prank. Patrick, the bunny episodes...just perfect.

That's brilliant Patrick, and I live near the beach. If I try this one this summer I'll give ye credit for the idea.