Matusalem

More information can be found in the book 'The Pirate Hunter...The True Story of Captain Kidd' by Richard Zacks (Theiabooks.com). I bought this book last may, and I highly recommend it. Sorry to say, but on page 43, Zacks wrote: "Pirates rarely sailed under the black flag with skull&crossbones, and certainly not in the17th century. They generally opted for a ruse de guerre, ad used a flag of some country likely to lull the intended prey into sidling closer. If that failed, pirates in this era hoisted a simple Bloody Red Flag (Jolie Rouge...aka Jolly Roger), the succinct notice to the merchant vessel that any attempt at fighting free would result in death would result for every single person aboard." As for me, personally, I'm inclined to disagree with the author because of the evidence of other pirates such as Jack Rackham, or Thomas Tew, and that a part of me refuses to believe what Zacks says.....however, every other vainglorious thing known about pirates , Zacks pretty much does say about Kidd, right down to the bling-bling clothes.

I'm curious....how many of you explore destinations and places using Google Earth?

Rogue Mermaid wrote No, That was below, on the addendum to the Top Ten as "Screws" (also known as rheumatism) However, in keeping in line with your sense of humor, here's a clip of a Saturday Night Live sketch from a while back: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWnxsVcNL2w

Piracy wouldn't be fun without the scourge of disease on bord ships and making contact with distant people. I give you the preliminary top ten that only a commited non-farb reenactor would wear with a badge of honor today! 10. Ague (....malarial fever) 9. Bronze John or Yellowjacket (...yellow fever) 8. Sprue (...tropical disease characterized by intestinal disorders and sore throat) 7. Worm Fit (...Convulsions associated with teething, worms, elevated temperature or diarrhea) 6. Mania (...insanity, no less) 5. Dry Belly Ache (...Lead poisoning) 4. Lockjaw (...fatal after 8 days) 3. King's Evil (...tuberculosis neck& lymph glands) 2. Scurvy (...lack of vitamin C) & Morphew (subset of scurvy) ...and my all-time favorite: 1. Delirium Tremens (...hallucinations due to alcohol) ..and there are countless others ( Sloes, Screws, Cachexy, Viper's Dance,etc....)

I must be out of it 'cause I ain't never seen this video, and I'm pretty up on Johnny Cash, even his latest Anerican recordings stuff: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e0EQlQXoEo

Foxe wrote: I can't speak for Bridport Dorset, but my old home town Bristol R.I. was a shipbuilding port that primarily specialized in sailmaking because some of the textile mills were located there, and still is. Think of it as similar to the auto industry where most parts manufacturers are located in northern Ohio and Indiana not far from Detroit.

Does anyone have anby information on leather waistcoats? One, did they actually exist during GAoP? What does one look like?

Phew!.....I just made it in time for the PIP festival down in KW, to have ready my outfit, which I was fortunate to try to go with a more french theme and lucked out by finding flyingcanoetraders.com in Quebec. I didn't want to go with the red "Fabio" shirt that international male sells, and Seinfeld spoofed on. I'm kind of following the crew of the Acheron in Master&Commander. I ordered and rcvd a replica cotton/linen of the French&Indian war shirt which is identical to Will Turner (orlando bloom) shirt with the 1 inch wrist cuffs(Capnt jack Sparrow's shirt has 4 inch cuffs), but unlike the movie character shirts, mine has really authentic looking antiqued pewter (or tin) buttons which make for a great embellishment. The only odd thing, I guess, is that the shirttail goes all the way down to the knees, but i guess that's the way they are made. Now I'm going to get a 5 gallon jug of some seawater and some rocks and put the shirt in it, and roll the jug down a steep hill a couple of times to distress it a bit. Right now it looks too clean.

The website says rain or shine...but all I can think of is an icy evening on the Patapsco river. That vessel better be heated.

I say afterwards we sneak up to the Constellation and cut 'er free and see if we can sail past Fort Carroll with 'er gun's a-blazin'. Lets see how the nine-pounders fare against the DHS inflatables...just for fun.

Silkine mc Donough wrote Unfortunately, my job has landlocked me in this god-foresaken spit 'o'land called New Jersey also. At the extreme northern end, that is. I am not native in these parts, nor will I intend to remain here, as I have lived most of my life within the vacinity of the sea in RI or MD. I need to see water!!

Lemonade

Wisconsin

JD still has his job....even for POTC4.

I myself will go anywhere as long as I'm not cornered and eaten by locals.

Aerosmith

Swing

Cheeky Actress wrote: Roger Williams and his congregation were pretty much on the mainland, the Bapitist Church being on South main st. ( in front of "RISD beach") in Providence, however the pirate activity was on Aquidneck island, particularly Newport, which was a haven for pirates during GAoP (which according to my high school RI history class was pretty much like the way Tortuga was prtrayed in POTC1). The benefits of being separated from the mainland made it harder for the authorities under Lord Bellomont (then Governer of Mass bay colony) to effectively engage in any sizable crackdowns. And as you would expect, the locals kept their mouths shut. That's why Thomas Tew, Black Sam Bellamy, and Wm. Kidd sought easy refuge there. The state pier was then Gallows Point, where pirates were hung if they were caught. Aside from the Americas Cup and the mansions, Newport has always had a reputation as a seedy place, even when my father was stationed there in the Navy during the 1950s , hard to imagine touristy, bustling Thames st being a filthy hole nowadays. A bit o' history for those Rhode Islanders, Bristol my beloved hometown, was the classic rum-runner port, if there ever was one. Some of the decendants of these families that did ply the trade, including slave shipping during are still there. Nicest people you'll ever meet, some of which I went to school with, but it must be weird to have your family name tied to rum, slaves,and piracy in all the history books and newspapers. talk about skeletons in the closet!

Dire.

Matusalem, besides the rum brand, I actually took from the french canadian movie Matusalem i& II: les derniers de Beauchesne (transl: The last of the Beauchesne's) of which my real-life surname is. In the movie, the lead character Pillipe Beauchesne is competing against pirates. I looked at my family tree, and much of my family, incl. Beauchesnes emigrated from France to canada between the 1660's to around 1710. In the Golden Age of Piracy, it's a wonder that we even got to this side of the pond.

Magellan

Bomb.

Shot

Monks of Doom-Soutrack to the Film "Breakfast on the Beach of Deception".

What's with the praying hands thign he always does when he makes public apearances? I wonder if hethinks he walks around with a halo above his head.