the Royaliste

Should anyone have a really strong penchant for things 'East Indiaman', I've a nice eight reales coin, 1783, from the shipwreck of the British East Indiaman 'Hartwell' complete with COA for a reasonable price. My reales and asstd. coins are becoming hard to keep track of in rough seas.......

Aye!...Now I am the only tops'l ketch on the Bay, it'll be a might lonely 'ere in Sausalito....I'll really miss seein' her, altho' we rarely 'missed'!....Fair Winds and a Following Sea, mates......

ROYALISTE The Only Tops'l Ketch Left on the Bay of ST. Francis

Aye!...Now I am the only tops'l ketch on the Bay, it'll be a might lonely 'ere in Sausalito....I'll really miss seein' her, altho' we rarely 'missed'!....Fair Winds and a Following Sea

Chandlery's have traditionally carried all goods necessary for maritime trades to maintain ship,,, just 'what' depending on era and fashion, or new fangled necessities...A ship's 'chandler' generally maintained stock and issued said goods.........just my .02 marevidis worth........

I'm not sure what the dilemma is, but I'ma big fan 'o sprits'l yards...Add one; lashed to the jibboom just forward on the bowsprit near the cap, inner and outer shrouds, sprits'l furled and gasketed....It'll look shipeshape........

Excited as 'ell, Cap'n!

Aye!...After a long battle, I finally chased the bigger leaks outta your bunk!..Now thar be new stripey covers on the matresses all around! sleepin' in a nice bunk is a good thing........

Aye!..'Tis that time again, eh?..New Years Eve Sail, Party, and shore raid to Smitty's, Then....Early the next morn, the Annual Master Mariner's New Years Day Race/ Chili feed!....We'll party and sail on the Royaliste, weather permittin', float back 'n forth to Smitty's, and then...Sail in the race the next day for those who didn't sober up an' leave the night before!!..We've missed the rain 4 of 5 years now, so ye never know

Here's what I know as far as the scheduling thus far. I'm only listing California ports, as I don't believe we'll beat to windward for a start.

July 28- Aug. 1-San Francisco

Aug. 11-14-Los Angeles

Aug. 17-20-San Diego

Honolulu and Monterey scheduled on request by SSF; we may do Monterey for a stopover and restocking of whatever we missed leavin' homeport.

ROYALISTE Terror 'o the Pacific

Entertainment is neither science nor history. Now, such things as walking undersea with black powder weapons and then expecting them to function goes beyond artistic license, into the level of the ridiculous! But then, POTC was entertainment on a different level than NT.

I loved National Treasure, not least for its (rare for Hollywood) favorable portrayal of the Masonic fraternity. Seeing Harvey Keitel fingering his Masonic ring inspired me to dig mine out from the jewelry box; and it rests proudly on my finger!

Capt. William

Altho' I no longer show any Masonic affiliation for purely personal reasons, I enjoyed the close references me ownself!..With a mum 'twas a point in Eastern Star, an' me dad a past master-Blue Lodge, it was a fond memory flash I hadn't expected.........

In defense of the black powder thing, it is a whole lot more dry, being frozen under the ice than yours is on the open water.

Born and raised on the Northern Plains where -40 below keeps the 'riff-raff' out , made mine on Alaska's North Slope....C'mon, this is preposterous..Even when sub-zero, the humidity is thru the roof!..So, pour some gunpowder in the snow,(nevermind the freeze-thaw cycle after 250 yrs.), and light it..take pictures for 'proof'... :)

I really liked this one overall; research on privateering has educated me a bit over the years on 'a Franklin and Wall St.' relationship....Good plot, nice 'history', but......Somebody pull-eze explain to Mr. Bruckheimer 'afore he makes another flick that there are parameters to black powder, and he seems to like makin' it 'go off' after swimmin' in the ocean (Jack Sparrow), and in a ship's hold under the ice for 250 years fulla snow! (the Charlotte)..I kin hardly get it to fire hours later, still in the weapon, much less after a few centuries!...Other than that, a fine movie!

'Best Buy' 'as one in the 'under 5 bucks' bin....a triple, 'Classic Tales' containing David Copperfield, Captain Kidd, and Of Human Bondage.......

The offical outcome....

Winning bid:  US $9,102.00

Wonder if the person who bid $9,100.00 is kicking himself or thanking himself at this point.  

If 'e ain't kickin' yet, 'e will be!..Most reputable boat haulers won' touch it...Surely there'll be a gypo trucker in Fla. that'll step up, but the 'regulars' don' like haulin' even well found wooden boats...Now, the rigger's that'll come with the crane rental.....they'll 'ave a good laff in the bar afterwards! ..besides, another ten k an' I'da called it a good downpayment on a well found vessel I have on the market!

Hmmm, methinks I be seein' double!!...Gimmee that bottle 'o rum!...Whaddaya do wif a drunken sailor??

Aaargh!!...Not so, mate!!...I'd be rather pleased to put a broadside 'o heated shot in 'er, firin' for effect!.......... ...Aye!!....Alllllwaaays seeking a new target!

I'd like to know how a boat, stated as being worth over 200 grand two years ago, is now a piece of timber waiting for a match worth only 5 grand. BTW, there's now two bids on the junk.

About that 'bridge' for sale ...Words be words, I'd have to see a 'not for insurance' survey by a reputable surveyor to believe the vessel was ever 'worth' 200K...get real folks....take a quqlified tool for wooden boat survey; an icepick or an awl, and see how deep it goes in the 'wood' that's left.....almost any penetration, not firm hardness, and you've got total dryrot.............

Even when new, I'll wager that was a clunky-lookin barge. From the looks of it in the pictures, I'd bet in an earlier life it was a 40 foot whale boat or captain's gig. USN surplus-- Most of the forecastle and stern cabin look to have been tacked on at some date later than the hull's original construction.

It looks like a total waste of time and dubloons.

Now, I have this bridge--in really good shape-- only used by old ladies in tennis shoes to cross from Brooklyn to New York on Sundays.....

Read me mind on the whaleboat, but I'll pass on the 'bridge'....I build 'em, (if'n ye find a buyer, I'll sell ye a quantity! )

Too much money to make the boat seaworthy.

HOWEVER, there are those out there who do like to restore stuff. Just look at all the people who have purchased falling apart homes to restore (Hey I watch the Home and Garden channel a lot) and put far more money into restoring than what the home was worth when bought.

So there may be someone out there willing to take on such a project as restoring the boat, but it's not me!

What BOAT really stands for:  Back Out Another Thousand    :)

Rumba Rue

** **

..That said, the sea has ne'er rotted a vessel away; that be the work 'o fresh water with bacteria and fungal spores, as salt water be symbiotic with wooden ships. This one has seen toooo much mother nature out 'o the water, meanin' total restoration, which is infinitely more expensive than even new construction in vessel restoration. It takes a rather 'historic' ship for such an undertaking. We are finishing up on the Thayer here in S.F....Big bucks, no whammy, mates....'ere's the marshmallows, who's bringin' the graham crackers???

I'm hoping the Royaliste will post and give some insight on how much $$$ it would take to remast and rig for sails. If those aren't working masts, I'd imagine quite a cost to get just the lumber itself. . . I can't tell from the photos what they really are. They look like telephone poles, actually. : )

It's still pretty cool, though.

Myself and several members of the Wooden Boat Magazine forum 'ave mulled this 'n over..for about 60 seconds, long enuff for the opinion of 'where's the marshmallows?' (an ancient rite, performed by groups of wooden ship owners, not enjoyed by modern flubberglass owners).. No respectable shipwright would take this one on, you need to have a vision of completion in your mind's eye even to begin.We generally hate to impune any floatin' vessel, as 'one man's castle'..etc., but..this 'n ain't floatin' so..If you do the work, most likely100k just to float..30k in canvas, minimum...the 'Rondezvous' in Monterey looks 'spiffy', and needs 500k....(in comparison).. Those of you who have helped in any replanking or framing on the Royaliste will understand the labor AND expense involved...A used powerplant will run 5k for a Cat or Detroit, 3k for a used Perkins.. It is considered the same as most sailboats with an engine, name 'Auxillary sailing vessel'...Doubt even a miracle could make her CG certified nowadays..decent shipbuilders mahogany(5/4 or 6/4) for underwater planking runs around 80 bucks for a 12 footer, and by the looks of it, theres a forest of replanking necessary. Spars are the hard part, as no matter how reasonable you may find them, they are all long, and require a full size 40' to haul 'em down the road. Imagine hauling a pair or three of full grown spruce or doug fir from Canada to Florida and the cost. Lastly, as far as 'haulin' it off and'..... Been there, done that..it's a rather large federal law covering polluting U.S. waters for 20 some miles, and I doubt it'd make it that far to put a round in it..Disney might want it for a fireship!

Aye!...Go to the website here entry point for new scallywags , click the 'join' barrel, and then watch out for bloody pirates in your email, lass!

Royaliste, just because you and your salty mates do something now it doesn't mean that pirates of the Golden Age did it. All traditions have to start sometime, I just believe (based on reasonable evidence) that the tradition of seamen wearing earrings (for whatever reason) post dates the Golden Age of piracy. And incidentally, I'm not such an infernal lubber as you take me for - I've got my sea-legs...

No truck with that, mate..But, just because the Royal Navy did something or other, whenever thru history, really doesn't mean a lot as far as the rest of the sailing world at any given time. I have been told you are quite the RN buff; not my cup 'o tea, (aye, we threw it in the harbor) Many countries and individuals had their own interpretations of world domination. Also, n'er said a word about your sealegs, just the 'purely historical' angle, which doesnt parallel any sailors I know on this side of the pond. Fair Winds, may history serve you well, it does me just fine. I'm hoping for a few really grand reenactments in the next few years, hop aboard, show us wot ye'er made of!!...

Wasnt intendin' on any 'match', mate...And no broadside or whatever intended, with this many members, I cant really tell one 'capt.' from the other, cept. 'Flint!'...no need to ruffle your feathers...............and seein' as how one 'o yesterday's 'birthday' pirates turned '12', I'm watchin' me vocabulary closely hereabouts.........

One thing here, though.  Much of this seems to be based on England.  Anybody know what the French and Dutch were doing at this time?

Hawkyns

Proud Royalist Officer of The King's Army, Sir Thomas Blackwell's Reg't

Hawkyns...A family I grew up near, whose son was my best friend until 'Nam was of Italian heritage. I've seen photos, early daugerrotypes(sp), and painted portraits of their family all the way back to 16- somethin'.....all males received an earring at their 13th birthday.....quite a lot of seafarers in their line....all us kid's ran from his mom when she grabbed the needle every time one of us turned 13!......... ..........she caught me!

By the late 18th century a RN captain was sufficiently surprised by one of his crew wearing an earring man. Therefore, by that time we can conclude that in general seamen HAD stopped wearing them, and they had not been fashionable for seamen in that Captain's lifetime (or at least his memory)    by say 1650 they were rare. At about the same time the evidence for seamen of any sort wearing earrings also dries up. Coincidence?

For the late 17th/early 18th centuries you might find the odd bit of evidence relating to one odd seaman (or indeed pirate) wearing an earring, but it will probably be in the nature of an oddity. out as a fashion.

One capt.s 'opinion', big ocean.......Your conclusion, not 'we'....general or fashionable have little to do with the life of the average seaman, only cobs under the flag of the RN, and the RN were the cops of their day, not the gospel.......'rare' and 'didn't' are very different concepts.........and lastly, as I mentioned, us sailors have little regard for a need to 'gather evidence'. This idea of 'burden of proof' is great for those non sailors. Any sailor with a history of sailing believes many a concept that has no basis in fact; it's what keeps us sailing ahead of all types of adversity, both natural and man-made. In other words, 'it all works for us'... :)

.....Besides, I have no interest is supportin' anything mentionin' pirate proof, just relayin' some very common observations by a lot of sailors who are also not stereotypical........we'll leave that to schoolgirls in plaid uni's, and and 'soldiers all in a row'.......seamen plied the waves right beside the stereotypes...be they simple mariners, merchants, or marine salvors........

Why men did things in court, and why men did things at sea are two vastly different views. With documentation, such as Drake in the 1500's, prove to me that seamen STOPPED wearing them. Just as sailors place coins under their masts to pay the ferryman after their demise, many wore earrings , some to ward off seasickness. Of course some of you need 'factoids' for proof, but sailors follow practices for centuries with out care for 'facts'..........Yes, there are coins under all masts on my vessels, and every other sailor I know. We seldom need 'proof', we are living it as always.