Deacon Frye

Warrem Moore, in his Weapons of the American Revolution ... and accoutrements (which includes earlier examples) describes and pictures quite a number "Queen Anne" pistols. Among them are a few that lack the "turn off" feature. However, these have provision for a ramrod. Moore states (IIRC), that these were called "night pistols", as they were intended to deal with unwelcome nocturnal visitors; and that they were meant to be loaded with shot rather than ball.

Thanks Cascabel. I'm quite impressed. Nice work. Were the parts from The Rifle Shoppe?

There is another problem ordering muzzleloaders from Canada. It seems to me Loyalist Arms used to spell it out more clearly, but I can't currently find it at the site. It is, however, alluded to in their U.S. ordering /shipping directions: What this means is they can ship a gun without the touchhole drilled directly to you with no problem. If you then want a functional gun, however, you have to drill the touchhole yourself and proof the gun or find someone to do it for you. If you want them to do it , they (at least they used to) will gladly to it for an extra fee, but then it must be shipped air freight to an airport where you have to chase it down and deal with Customs. The Cherry's price looks great to me. You can get an almost finished kit for less, but it's unlikely you'll beat that price by much for the finished gun.

They don't call me Deacon for nothing.

It occurred to me to look in the dictionary (Merriam-Webster). I appears that "savvy" made it's first appearance in written English in 1785, which indicates that it's unlikely "golden age" pirates would have been using it.

As a noun and a verb, savvy apparently comes from creole/pidgin English dialects (hence, perhaps the pirate association) from the Portuguese sabe/saber ("heknows"/"to know") which in turn derived form the Latin sapere, to be wise. (As in homo sapien). But the Latin root also carries the meaning of taste--to have knowledge and taste, which shows up in our savor and savory. Savvy? The usage is quite common in modern American English. As a verb, it means "to understand", or as a single-word question, it basically means "Got it?". As a noun, it means knowledge, but with the connotation of knowledge of a special sort.

Rob, if you're looking for funtioning replicas, Loyalist Arms in Canada has some nice-looking blunderbusses. I can't speak to the quality of workmanship. Unfortunately, the site is very much a work in progress, and the only current pics of the blunderbusses are in their "virtual tour": http://www.loyalistarms.freeservers.com/vi...ualtour-03.html They also have Sea Service pistols which may be a tad late for Gold Age, but might "pass". Also, if you look about in the Pyracy Pub Photo Album, Cascabel has an impressive-looking "Blunderbeast" in his toybox. Cascabel: Perhaps you could say a bit about it if you see this?

"I'll be more'n happy to furl the forecourse for ye Cap't, but first I must change into me rainhat. Be back in a jiffy ... '

For a minute there, I thought ye might be referring to my English, Royaliste. Ya gotta be careful how you use the word "antique" when I'm about!

Perhaps Bilgemunky is referring to the flag sold by the Port Royal Trading Co., which Angus endorses in the pinned post at the head of this forum (the company that is, not the flag):

Mario's in it? I don't recall him mentioning that when he posted about the upcoming Conquests. Such a modest young man. Mario's Asian???

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by a crewed boat, but if you are on the Jersey coast, you should be within striking distance of the Kalmar Nyckel: What more could a pirate ask for? Speaking of the coast and pirates, I have a question for you. Lewes, Deleware, right across from Cape May, is rumored to have been the stomping ground for Blueskin, aka Levi West. Have you come across any mention of him in your research?

Suliel, you are within cannon shot of the lovely brig Lady Washington, alias HMS Interceptor of POTC fame.

Tales and Capt. W.: You might want to take a look at Champion Attitude Boots. They offer wide and large sizes. In their Costume Boot section, they offer both "Pirate" and "Swashbuckler" boots. The "Pirate" model does not look especially "piratey" to me, but the "Swashbuckler" does. The "Pirate" goes for $250. They offer both a standard "Swashbuckler" for $250 and a Custom for $300. I'm not at all clear what the difference is, as they both appear to be customizable. For EE or EEE on the Swashbuckler, it is $25.00 extra. The Swashbuckler comes with a 2" heel standard--there are a number of options, but again there is an extra fee. The inside of the cuff is standard in suede. Again, smooth will cost extra. Please note, this is in no sense an endorsement. I've never done business with these folks nor do I know anyone who has.

Greetings. I fear I'm a bit late to the party. I see you've already done an excellent job of covering the ground for available cutlasses, and a frustratingly small ground it is at that. I do have a couple of thoughts to add, but I'll get to them later. For now, I'd like to share three of my favorite internet "sword sites", though some of you may already be familiar with them. The first is Sword Forum International. I know at least one of you is familiar with the place, as I've had a couple of good parleys with Red Maria there. I recall her telling us about the auction of Captain Tew's belongings, poor soul, may he rest in peace. I was able to find a picture at picture at Christie's of his elegant, if pricey, little strong box, but fear I never came up with a pic of the cutlass. Arrgh. To get back to the site itself I think of Sword Forum as "sword central" on the internet. The forums there have members from all over the world ranging from kids interested in anime swords to very serious collectors and scholars of the sword. Not to mention a couple of authors of historical fiction. Aside from the forums, there's a considerable amount of informational resources. The Museum Store there is an attempt by Adrian Ko and his staff to defray the costs of running the site, but the forums are by no means commercial. The store is there to support the site, rather than the other way around. If you see what I mean. Unless you register, you will have a heck of a time getting to the forums without a treasure map, so I'll provide this clue for those who want to lurk a bit before they commit: SFI Forums. If you want to post, you'll have to register and are asked to do so with your real name (mine is Scott Bubar). Here is a recent cutlass thread there inspired by POTC: Pirate cutlasses. Which reminds me, I meant to post that nice Butterfields "Caribbean" cutlass there. The second site is NetSword. I love this little site, and have been a member for many years. Although the focus is on the European medieval period, all are welcome. The place is laid-back with a laissez-faire approach. There actually are moderators, but they're often off doing there thing for long periods of time (months), but the members do an excellent job of keeping the peace amongst themselves (usually). This site is non-commercial. You can read the forums without registering, but must register to post. Screen names are OK. (Mine is Sikandur,) Lastly, there's .VikingSword.com. This is really two sites rolled into one: the Medieval Sword Resource Site and the Ethnographic Sword Resource site. And resources are to be had there in plenty. The forums there are for the true sword afficianado. The tremendous amount of edged weapon knowledge some of these folks carry about in their heads is matched only by the size of their libraries. But they're nice, helpful folks willing to share their knowledge, so don't be afraid to post. It is a non-commercial site. You can lurk without registering, but must register to post. Screen names are OK. I only occasionally post there, but when I do it is under my real name