Captain Midnight

I never understood why folks want to eat the guts of an animal when there are so many better things to eat on that animal... Never could get into eating liver, or chitterlings, or tripe, or any of that crap...

Nice photos, Maggie! Look forward to seeing more.

Mighty fine croonin', Coastie me lad! Let's here a bit more from ye if'n ye don't mind!

That's disgusting... I'd have to say my favorite cologne is Davidoff "Cool Water", and for a woman, Anais Anais.

True, vigilantism can be bad, but like the old saying goes, "if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself"... (For the record, no, I am not going to harm one hair on this man's head as long as I am never confronted by him, although God knows I have so often wanted to. But I have my own family and children to take care of, so I can't do it. However, I do have an immense amount of patience, so I know one day, retribution for his crime will come...the Good Lord will take care of him for me on Judgement Day.)

They're absolutely beautiful, HarborMaster! You did a wonderful job. Of course, after seeing the treasure chest that you built, it doesn't surprise me that your cannons turned out so beautiful. Wonderful talent you have there, mate.

Lawful good.

Charity, lass, I do respect and value your opinion, and you are indeed entitled to it, but speaking with the experience of a man whose sister was brutally murdered, then her killer went free after four years, and tried to gain custody of his daughter (my niece), who saw him commit the act and is forever emotionally and mentally scarred from the memory of it, you are correct in your assumption that I disagree with you and view such criminals as animals. To me, they are NOT people, and as someone mentioned previously, are like rogue animals which should be destroyed. Does that make me as bad as they are in some peoples' sight? Probably, but I care not for their opinion of me, only how my heart feels. Then my own government is going to force me to pay taxes to feed and clothe these people and give them a comfortable stay in "prison"...it hardly seems fair to me. Nay, if I be a cold hearted animal for feeling this way, so be it. If I had the chance to avenge my sister and drop him with a bullet between the eyes, I'd damn sure do it in a heart beat.

Put a friggin' rope around the dumb bastards' necks and let 'em swing. I don't care to try and "rehabilitate" someone who has murdered or raped a child, or anyone else, for that matter. If the justice system would get rid of all these damn liberals and stretch a few necks, maybe we wouldn't have as many of these problems as we do. Do it publicly, and afford the criminals no dignity or respect. Criminals are damn lucky I'm not their judge! P.S. I'm not talking about petty criminals here, I'm referring to criminals guilty of particularly heinous acts, such as murder, rape, child molestation, etc.

Well, aside from Treasure Island, which is my favorite, I'd have to second Phillip's recommendation of Tim Powers' On Stranger Tides. Also, The Island, by Peter Benchley is a good read. It's set in modern times, but is definitely all about pirates.

Good morning, GoF! Unfortunately, my friend, I don't have a photo of the buttons myself, but they are pictured on Jas. Townsend & Son's web site. Just look under "buttons", and scroll down until you find stock # BU-33 "Plain Pewter Buttons" (small). Their photo actually doesn't do justice to the buttons, as it is not very clear, but they are one piece buttons and actually very nice. Though they are pewter, they are the exact same style as the brass ones in your previous message. Hope this helps you out. :angry:

Actually, Jas. Townsend & Son does have the proper pewter buttons, just like the ones pictured above. The loops are cast in one piece with the button, not soldered on. I recently ordered a number of them for a British knapsack I made. They are 5/8" in diameter, and are indeed lead free pewter, but this is good for those who don't want lead marks on their clothing. Hope this helps. :angry:

Ozzy Osbourne's Bark at the Moon, in which he is made up like a shaggy werewolf...completely awesome. :angry:

My sincerest and most heartfelt prayers are offered to you and your sister and her little girl, Lady Seahawke. I hope the Lord will bring her and her baby girl through this ordeal and ease their pain, and I hope He will also be with you in this stressful time.

Man! This is an awesome thread! Thanks for starting it, Harbor Master. I have been reading it with intense interest sice you started, and am very fascinated with this project. I too, have been pondering a project like this for quite a while. It is nice to be able to compare ideas and experience with folks who have the same thoughts and interests! My hat's off to ye, mate!

My ship is the Barracuda. Like it's namesake, it is small and fast, and deadly for its size.

My true given name is Jeffrey, thus the initials on my banner. From the old French, meaning "God's Peace".

Ahoy Foxe, Thanks for those illustrations. If you will look closely at the engraving of Bartholomew Roberts, (whose pistol arrangements you were unsure of) he is wearing his cartridge box on a strap slung around his neck, exactly like in the pic of Blackbeard. It seems the pistols in both illustrations are secured by loops or holsters attached directly to the cartridge box sling. An interesting arrangement, even if a bit awkward or clumsy. I would have to agree with Cascabel, however. Even though they are the only pictures we have of what the period looked like, period engravings and other illustrations are not necessarily accurate depictions of the subjects they represent. Artistic renderings from the Middle Ages and before, right on up through our period were notorious for being very fanciful. That's not saying that there is no truth, however, in those drawings...only that you can't always take them at face value.

Damn, Joshua! That is exquisite work! I'd be extremely proud and honored to have that piece hanging on my wall. Someone will be very lucky indeed!

Aye, that it does, my friend. "Band of Brothers" is aptly named...you form a kinship with the guys you serve with, like brothers. I miss the hell out of them and the comradery we shared.

I'm a veteran of the U.S. Army 3/187th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) "Rakkasans". Served during the invasion of Panama, and got out just before Desert Storm. Like another previously mentioned, I sure felt guilty about leaving, but I'm sure glad I'm not in now. I still miss the ever-loving hell out of it at times, though...

Thank you, Story, for posting that pic. Those look like holsters attached to his baldric to me. Sure, they are small pistols, but if you only had one or two large ones, this system would still work. I'm wondering...was one end of the ribbon secured to the pistol, and the other end attached to the baldric somehow? The pistol could still be held in its holster when not in use with this method, and when fired, instead of re-holstering it, could simply be dropped to dangle from the ribbon until a convenient time to re-holster it presented itself...just a thought. This might explain why the Whydah pistol found in its holster appears to have the remains of a ribbon wrapped around its butt...

Ahoy Tall Paul, That is quite a good idea, yours, of attaching loops for the pistol(s) to your baldric or cartridge box sling. That, along with a belt hook attached to the pistol should secure it nicely. As far as the cartridge boxes worn at the waist or groin area is concerned, that seemed to be the norm for a long time before the shoulder-slung cartridge boxes came into wide spread use (from what I can gather happened after our period). I think this is why the smaller cartridge pouches worn in that manner were referred to as "belly boxes". I believe that the cartridge box found in the wreck of the Whydah is in fact a belly box. Anyway, good observation about Blackbeard's method for carrying his pistols. Any chance you might have a pic of that to post?

Thanks for that picture, Blackjohn, it is a good one. I think the leather has deteriorated too much to allow me to see much detail, however. From what I can see, it is very similar in construction to a saddle holster, with a stitched in bottom. Just as an educated guess, I would think that a simple flap style saddle holster modified to fit a belt or baldric would be very close. I tend to agree that it may be the remains of a cord or ribbon wrapped around the butt of the pistol. Looks alot like a Queen Anne pistol with the grotesque mask style butt cap...

Thanks Captain Jim, that's a nice one indeed. I wonder how authentic it is, though? See, I'm not knocking the Ren Fair pirates at all, but I am a historical reenactor, and I want to be as historically accurate as I possibly can. I know it is very hard on some things because we know so little or have little or no historical evidence for some things, but I think it's important to do the best one can. That being said, however, I must admit that some of my crew are more of the "Hollywood" type pirates, and I say nothing at all to them about it, because I want us all to have fun together, which is the most important thing, and some prefer the hollywood version. If that is one's personal preference, I respect their opinion. The historically accurate version is only my own personal preference. Now back to the subject at hand. I realize belt hooks were probably the most common method to carry a pistol for a sailor, and it is indeed the method I will employ for my pistol, as I had Loyalist Arms install a belt hook on mine. But the fact remains that there were several holstered pistols recovered from the wreck of the Whydah, according to Blackjohn. My question is, if they were not used by sailors, why were they on board the Whydah? From this evidence, we can presume that holsters were indeed used on board ships, even if to a small extent. I would like to see photos or drawings of one of them to determine if a decent reproduction could be accomplished. Not having seen or read about the Whydah holsters, I will assume at least for now that they took a form similar to the saddle holsters of the period? Is this far off base, John?