Deacon Frye

No, I mean it looks huge compared to other shots of his pistol.

Royaliste, is it my imagination, or did they used to sell sleeved cannon at their own site? Yup, Deacon, they still do :) ..HM, a few details...I've spent many a day and night in Cebu, 'tis a good idea but,...a few things 'ere..first, unbored castings are very expensive to drill, therefore 'tis why the trend in sleeved bronze, the sleeve inserted in the mold saves machining costs. secondly, you need really good quality 'Navay bronze', a particular alloy in the copper-tin-manganese mix, and 'Naval bronze' ain't cheep!..So, back to grey iron and sleeves....Any material used to make barrels should be scrutinized carefully, as well as the person casting, unless you never plan on firin' 'em...From my time of employment in the R.P., I found no foundry that I'd trust with a cannon barrel, as I had a tough time getting quality work done on non-explosive items.......... Thanks Royliste. Last time I was at their site, I didn't see any mention of sleeves. I did note that they were selling these only for decoration, and that they have the buyer sign an agreement to not only hold them harmless if they are used for any other purpose, but committing the buyer to indemnify them should any suits against them arise from such other uses.

Royaliste, is it my imagination, or did they used to sell sleeved cannon at their own site?

Dimly, from the far reaches of my memory, I seem to recall a scene early in Beau Geste where the brothers in their childhood are sailing very large models and blasting away at each other with cannon. I gather it's still done today, with large models of modern war ships and air-driven projectiles.

Nay, I'm afraid I'm a bit more time worn than that young man.

You can not sit in her: "Sailing weight is 107 lbs (48.7 kgs)" Unless you have the size and weight of a new born, there is no way you could sit in her. Wenonah's Spirit: Weight: 42 pounds in Kevlar Ultra-Light. Two adults can sit in her quite comfortably. Specs The Surprise wasn't designed for passengers, but weight isn't the issue.

Claire, you didn't happen to come across any Gaelic compasses, did you? I believe Bully's looking to accessorize his longboat. Bully, firshermen's anchors seem to be mighty thin on the ground in the U.S., at least online, but they pop up some in the UK and down under. http://marinestore.co.uk/Merchant2/merchan...Code=classchain http://www.southernmarine.co.uk/index.htm I wonder what the shipping is from the UK on a boat anchor? Edit: Oops, just re-read your post--somehow missed the fact you already had a UK source.

Is this the lock you mean? http://www.therifleshoppe.com/(724).htm BTW, is it just me, or does the pistol Barbossa's holding in the pic look incredibly huge? A sort of nuclear pirate pistol.

Lady Barbossa, I'm very sorry to hear of your sister's troubles. With regard to the pistol, we still don't seem to have any clear images of it. Whoever you get to make one is going to need to know what it looks like. I think perhaps your best bet at this point is to go right to the horse's mouth. Find out who made the original prop for the movie and ask them about it. These folks are proud of their work and often quite willing to talk about it.

Many thanks for the heads-up, Capt. Grey. I loved the Disney series on "The Wonderful World of Color" and remember it well after all these years. McGoohan is one of my favorites as well. I've been wanting to see it for years. Anyone see the '37 version? Life's a Movie Anyone remember the Moonrakers?

The Surprise was played by "HMS" Rose, along with a full-size "model" constructed in Fox' huge tank in Mexico used for the Titanic film. See also Tall Ship Rose. The Acheron, based on the U.S.S. Constitution, was a combination of models and CGIs, I believe.

Nope, I've never done business with the guy. Some of their larger working cannon come from a Canadian firm, I believe. What do they say when you write to them?

Those are nice, Royaliste, thanks for posting it--I haven't seen that site before. I seem to recall these folks talking up their business on another forum quite a ways back, but I don't think they had the site ready at the time. Bully--if you haven't already, you ought to take a look at Cannon-Mania.

Aye I did fire them fine cannons a couple of times. It was literally a blast! Ah! The memories! I can still smell the blackpowder! :) Were you able to get those folks out on the pier?

I like Selkie, too. Although it meant seal in the Orkney dialect, it was much more than that. The Selkie, or Silkie folk lived in the depths, but could shed their sealskins and come on shore in human form, where they, ahem, had relations with the land folk. Known also in the Hebridies and Shetlands, where there were variations, they had their sinister side as Fin folk. See: The Selkie Folk The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry (A ballad with music. Joan Baez did a nice version back when I was a youngster.)

The War That Made America?

Hi Maria, much joy of your new cutlass! I've always admired this design, and you're tempting me. Any chance of some pics of your sword? If you want to know what sword inspired yours, the man to talk to would be Eddie Floyd. He designed it, and made the prototype for Hank Reinhard back when he headed MRL, IIRC. You can reach him (or his wife Samara, who seems to do a lot of the communicating) via his website: Swordplay Alliance. He also does custom work, such as this version he made for the wife of one of the SFI members:

Much of theatrical/movie swordsmanship involves edge-on-edge contact. What can and does happen with steel edges is that they get nicked. This can produce cool sparks, but it can also send little shards of steel flying off at high velocity. Not a good thing to land in the eye of of your umpteen million dollar star. Good aluminum, however, compresses under the same conditions, so no shards.

How about ... some pictures?!

It's possible that the one I posted was the one used by Sparrow in the forge fight scene. Swatton's specialty is fighting swords with blades made of high grade aerospace aluminium for the movie industry. Aluminum has a number of advantages for stage combat. For static close shots, they'll substitute another copy of the same sword with a steel blade. The one above is aluminum-bladed and was sold to the movie company for use by the Sparrow character.

Wolfy, I recall Sparrow's hanger looking more like this version made by Tony Swatton: Sword and Stone BTW, sorry to be didactic, but if you use the term "blood groove" around sword folks, they'll snicker. Just thought you might want to know.

These are nice-looking cutlasses and you can't beat the price, Hawk. Visually, they're a ringer for a c.1780 British from a merchant ship described in George Neumann's Swords & Blades of the American Revolution (376.s, p. 187).

My handy online Merriam-Webster reveals: However, American Heritage Dictionary ... has a different take: (A couple of the pronunciation symbols didn't make it through on that last post, BTW.)

Middlesex Village Trading Company offers a Sea Service with the 12" barrel: $299 US. They're located "about 15 miles from Concord's historic North Bridge" in Massachussetts. Not far from Salem, Bob. (Caveat, I haven't done business with these folks-this shouldn't be construed as a recommendation.)