Captain Midnight

Ahoy, John! I believe we have spoken once a long while back. From what I can tell from me navigational charts, it looks as though I am only about an hour and a half north of you, it would be a simple matter of shooting down through Albany and hitting highway 19 south. It would be nice to meet you sometime, if we could manage. What are the names of the groups in Jacksonville and Pensacola? Do you have contact info for them?

I can feel your pain here...I actually love the cutlasses from Old Dominion Forge, but as they are so far out of my price range, not to mention their long backlog, I have take matters into me own hands... I obtained a section of an industrial bandsaw blade from a local sawmill. The piece was about a foot wide by three feet long, enough to make several blades. I marked off a nice, historical cutlass blade shape on the metal and had it cut out with a plasma cutter. Then, VERY carefully, I ground in a fuller on each side of the blade, and then ground, polished, and sharpened the heck out of the blade. The result? A light, historical blade made of high quality tool steel, that will take and hold a razor's edge (the steel was MADE for cutting, after all). My next step is to manufacture a double shell guard and antler grip for it, then a scabbard and baldric. Total dollars invested in my sword so far? $0.00 I think the proper term for my method of construction is "stock removal", to form the blade. When finished, it will look almost exactly like the ODF double shell guard cutlasses. I don't intend to use it for stage combat, but it would definitely stand up to real combat if it had to, as it is made from the highest quality cutting tool steel.

Great and Blackbeard and the Queen Elizabeths Revenge are my faviorts of the GAoP era. I hope it really is the QER after all and not just some other tallship. Anyways thanks for the info. ~Tora of Tortuga~ That should be Queen Anne's Revenge...

I agree with Will. I bought my hat as a blank from here, and it was a very simple matter to add some black edging, and stitch it up into a tricorn meself. Gives it that personal look, you know? Add some feathers or beads, or whatever you'd like, and there you have it, all for a nice price.

I bought my pistol, a late 17th-very early 18th century English doglock dragoon which was used in the "heyday" of the GAoP, from Loyalist Arms, in Nova Scotia. It is a beauty in .64 caliber, and Loyalist Arms' service and friendliness was, in my opinion, unparalleled. I believe if you give them a try, you will not be sorry. The pistol comes ready to fire, no gunsmithing involved. For ammo and supplies, I would recommend Dixie Gunworks out of Tennessee. P.S. I'm not terribly far from Birmingham, I live in Southwest Georgia, about 35 miles south of Ft. Benning and Columbus.

Ahoy! I'm looking for any pirates in the state of Georgia to join up and form a crew with, or any pirates within a reasonable driving distance who would be willing to have a pirate from my area join them. I live about 35 miles south of Columbus and Fort Benning.

Wow! Thank you, William, for those awesome pics! I never knew so many different tavern scenes existed! Rumba, yes, Savannah's Pirate's House is an awesome place indeed, you can even still see the entrance to the tunnel which led down to the riverfront, where men were supposedly shanghied, and goods were smuggled. The food there is truly outstanding as well, as it has been my pleasure to eat there on several occasions. A trip to Savannah would not be complete without a visit to this place. Here is a photo of it: Anyway, so far, this building has been my design inspiration for my own backyard "Pirate's Tavern". Does anyone else know of or have pics of any pirate buildings similar to this? Thanks again, William for those pics. Captain Midnight pulls a small leathern drawstring bag from the depths of his green coat, and shakes three shining, gold doubloons from it, laying them on the bar. "Good barkeep Ray, kindly pour pretty Rumba and Master Redwake and myself another round..."

Ahoy mates! Being inspired by Odorless Eye's and Blackjohn's talk of home pirate decor, I am wondering if any of you might have any photos, drawings, or any other type depictions of a pirate tavern from the 17th or 18th century, either real or fictional? (Mainly the exterior). The reason is, I am expanding and remodeling my workshop behind my home, and would like to design it to resemble a proper establishment of the afore mentioned type. The drawback, though, is it needs to be primarily wood, as I have little or no masonry skills. I do have one historical building I am using as a visual reference, the famous Pirate's House restaurant in Savannah, which actually used to be a pirate tavern in the 18th century. However, any other references any of you could help with would be most welcome and appreciated!

Odorless, mate! That is one awesome looking hang-out! What a wonderful job you have done!

I am a state forest ranger/wildlands firefighter.

Yeah, those sea monsters are totally awesome! By the way, does anyone have an extra El Phantasma and David "Bones" Wiley they's be willing to part with? If so, I'd shoot along some doubloons to ye, as I don't have much in the way of trade...

Oh man! I watched about an hour of this movie tonight and finally gave up and left the room...what an UTTER PIECE OF CRAP! Very disappointing...the costumes were outrageously ridiculous, especially that "tank-top" looking waistcoat "Blackbeard" was wearing. Sad, considering the fact that I actually like Angus MacFadden. By all accounts, I believe Blackbeard was a huge monster of an Englishman, not a short, squatty, Gaelic-accented fellow...I definitely would NOT recommend this one, folks.

That is truly outstanding work, my friend, on both the carvings AND your forgework...I too do a bit of wood carving and have a brake drum forge that I piddle around with...alot of fun.

Aye, Alice Cooper is WAY cool! Been a fan for a long time. I also like Ozzy Osbourne...

Aye, Kendra me lass, ye do indeed have my sincerest and most heartfelt prayers always, as do your Grandmother and the young lad afore mentioned. :)

Those look to be "capotes", made of Whitney blankets and were worn during the winters during the F&I Wars, the Revolution, and even earlier. Panther Primitives sells them, and unless I am terribly mistaken, so does Crazy Crow Trading Post.

These are good points. Although I do consider myself a true historical reenactor, I think the vast majority of people on this forum are not. Now that is not to say that I think my garb and equipment are perfect: certainly there is always something to improve, and I am still learning, and there are many things in history that we just don't know and have to make an "educated guess" about. Take for instance my previous threads concerning hat cockades and pistol holsters. According to contemporary art, the hat cockades of the GAoP were different from the ones during the Revolutionary War, but because we don't have an actual artifact, we are forced to replicate the cockade from the pictorial sources. The same goes with the pistol holsters: we know they were used, because they're pictured in countless drawings and engravings, but without an actual historical piece to hold in my hands and examine, I have to make guesses as to their actual construction and methods of attachment. The only holster I am aware of from this period (that was definitely used by pirates) is the one from the wreck of the Whydah, which Blackjohn was kind enough to provide me a photo of. The holster is so corroded, however, plus the clarity of the photo masks any details that might be seen, so I have to use what details I can make out from that photo, coupled with details from period engravings and written sources to craft my best "replica", which is an "educated guess". This in my opinion, however, does not depart from history enough to be considered "hogwash", as my efforts and intentions are at the very least to craft something that is as close to the truth as I can humanly get it without studying the real thing. Now I would consider a pirate's flintlock pistol being carried in an American Civil War flap-style holster utter hogwash. While I too, like the Hollywood/Disney versions of pirates' images that we have grown up with, I would have to say that most of that is utter hogwash (and I seriously don't mean any disrespect to those of us who recreate that image, but it must be realized that it is complete fantasy---which is just fine in the proper places and contexts). As for real pirates from history? I would have to agree that they most likely looked for the most part like any other people or sailors from their day, aside from the fact that they might appear at times more tattered or poor, due to their clothing and equipment wearing out at sea. I don't think they would have been dressed in anything outlandish enough to make them stand apart from any other people, (other than the few who dressed as elegant gentlemen) otherwise, it would have been recorded in history.

Quite simply, it provides me the means to live my life by my own rules...

Yeah, that is cool, isn't it, Patrick? Any chance you might be able to post that pic here? I like the way the priming flask is hung from the strap around the holster...I'll probably rig mine the same way. I won't need a shot pouch, however, as my ammunition is in the form of rolled and tied cartridges stored in my replica of the Whydah cartridge box. Story, I think all of your ideas for the method of pistol carry are plausible and were utilized. However, had I actually lived back then, I would not have thrown away my pistol(s) after firing it, as it (they)are an expensive item, and sometimes not easily replaceable, especially when out at sea and prey is scarce. Of course, my personal method of combat for my own pistol is not to fire it first in the engagement, but to save it for that special moment it is needed, such as dropping the enemy captain from a distance, or stopping an opponent who is right on top of me, and my other weapons are unreachable. I only carry the one pistol, as my doglock is a whompin' big weapon nearly the size (and caliber...heehee) of a sawed off shotgun. Any more than that, and they would get in my way and seriously hamper my mobility, and weigh me down un-necessarily. Other than that, my cutlass is my first line weapon.

Well, I've been searching around, and finally found this on the internet. This is the holster I have decided to attempt a reconstruction of. Yes, I know that it is pictured with a wheel lock pistol, but if you look at the dates that the documentation shows, you can see that this type would definitely be appropriate for the GAoP. Since my pistol is a doglock of the 1640's-1690's, and my "persona" is around the year 1700, it is perfectly plausible to have a holster like this one. It is of Spanish origin. I will adapt the reconstruction to be fitted to my baldric rather than slung from a saddle as shown.

About 90% of the time, I keep a 5 o'clock shadow-type beard on my face. I am most comfortable that way. It is not a full beard, and to some, wouldn't be considered a beard at all, yet my face is not shaved baby smooth, either. More akin to the two day growth you'd expect to find on a cowboy out on the range...

I'd have to go with the monkey meself, aye.

Charity, there are no hard feelings at all on my part for our difference in opinions. You are as much entitled to your opinion as I am mine, and whether we agree or not, I still respect your right to your own opinion, so there is no need to worry about ill feelings between us. You are correct that my feelings were born out of terrible personal experience, but I assure you, my feelings are not in the least irrational, as I have complete control over them, I just choose not to let go. If I do so, it's like me admitting that it was ok for my sister to be killed...something I will never, ever admit to. If you've never "walked a mile" in those shoes (which I hope none of you ever have to do), it's hard to understand those feelings, but when you are faced personally with such a tragedy, you will see that those feelings come naturally, and easily, like second nature. So you see, I believe that the irrationality of which we speak works both ways...my feelings seem irrational to you because you believe that I only feel that way because of my grief over my sister's murder, and I believe that people's disagreement with capital punishment in many cases is irrational due to their never having had to personally experience such an atrocity in their own lives. If this is indeed part of the reason you disagree with me, than I hope you will disagree with me forever, because hopefully, that would mean you will never have to experience what my family and I have had to, and thus, will never have to feel the grief, and utter sorrow, and rage, and hatred for someone who has hurt not only you, but your whole family. You are right, however. I know the Bible teaches against those feelings, and I am a believer in what the Bible teaches. But as long as we are on the topic of the Bible's stance on capital punishment, I will remind you of these passages: "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed..."--- Genesis 9:6---and the passage of Exodus 21:12-26, which is the well known passage containing the call for an "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot..." As I stated in my earlier post, I never intend to harm the man. It wouldn't bring my sister back to life, and I believe God will punish him for his crime on Judgement Day. I try not to think about it much, but the feelings never go away. Can you see how the acts of such criminals can breed further hatred? Anyway, I apologize for my long rant. I won't argue in this thread any more, because it brings up too many emotions that are better left buried for me, but I hope my post will at the very least give folks some insight as to why I and many others feel the way we do about the death penalty. Now, I'm off to discuss more pleasant topics, like POTC, or Treasure Island and stuff...

I don't know about kits, but I bought an English doglock dragoon in .64 caliber from Loyalist Arms in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is an awesome piece, the muzzle is almost as large as a .20 guage shotgun. Since it is smooth bore, I could fire buck or ball (or a deadly combination of both) with enough power to cut a man in half. The pistol is nicely made, and Loyalist Arms gives great service. Very nice folks.

I agree. And his music is some of the best we've ever known. "Imagine" is an excellent song.