TalesOfTheSevenSeas

Thanks Grace you explained it perfectly. That was what I was contemplating above if it were possible or not. Mystery solved and Captain Jack Sparrow is more clever than I!!!

Captain William T. Popples... when are ye puttin' in to port in San Francisco? Perhaps it will coincide with one of our pirate events?!!

I went back and saw POTC for the third time... and although I too, am willing to overlook anything less that perfect in for the dashing Captain Jack Sparrow, I do have fun finding the little imperfections. Watch for this one next time... when Jack makes his escape and slides down the rope with his wrists in irons... How in bloody blazes did he get a suspended, rope BETWEEN his cuffed wrists, so he could slide down it?!!! A removable arm perhaps?!! Or was there enough chain to throw it over sideways? I guess our hero Cap'n Jack Sparrow managed it the same way he roped together two sea turtles using the hair off his own back to escape the deserted island, eh?!!! (ye' gotta love a good sea dawg's tale!! ARRRRRRRRRRR!!)

Ahoy all ye' pistol-packin' pirates with blackpowder flintlocks- What sort of hanger/holster are ye' usin' to carry your pistol on yer belt? Any recommendations? I'd like not to accidently blast away me.... eh... 'goods' by mistake!!

Drat!! Then ye' missed the boat lad!!! ...Eh... I mean SHIP!!

Bloody Jack, To show your photos, they need to be loaded up onto a server on the web. If you'd like, you can email your photos to me at talesofthesevenseas@hotmail.com and I'll load them on my website so we can see your ship.... We ought to at least get a couple o' photos up so people can see it before Royaliste and I send it to the bottom of the Bay, don't ye think?!! (Just pullin' yer wooden leg lad, I'll be happy to load the photos if you'd like to email them to me.)

Ye' be quite welcome lad! T'was a pleasure as I found it quite a facinating subject. Are you local to the SF Bay Area? If so, ye' might be interested in our pirate guild www.talesofthesevenseas.com

Why I do believe we've been challenged here Captain!!! I have only one thing to say in response.... BROADSIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I did a bit of reading the other evening in "Blackbeard the Pirate, A Reappraisal of His Life and Times" by Robt. E. Lee. Towards the conclusion of the book, it states that the following quote comes from a letter dated Sept. 14th, 1721; addressed to the Lords Commissioners of Admiralty (unpublished manuscript Admiralty 1/1826, Public Record Office, London) from George Gordon, Lt. Maynard's superior officer. This letter "positively denies" that Maynard went on Blackbeard's sloop before he was killed! "...This, Sirs, is the true and real steps of that action, given in upon oath at his Majesty's Court of Admiralty in Virginia, by himself and people, the truth of which if need by Lt. Governor Spotswood can judge as also Capt. Brand: there being no such thing given out there of his boarding Thatch sword in hand; as his is pleased to tell" (the author also notes that all other contemporary accounts use Teach rather than Thatch) The same book also has several contemporary newspaper articles giving conflicting information on the details of Blackbeard's death as well as Lt. Maynard's letters, written after the fact and containing some conflicting information. All we know for sure is that when they brought in ol' Blackbeard's head, it looked like this:

I've got a bit more info to add to Royaliste's... In ancient times when sailors spoke about sailing the "Seven Seas," it generally meant all the seas and oceans of the world and was not literal. But in early times, these seas were regarded as the big 7: the Red Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Black Sea, the Adriatic Sea, the Caspian Sea, and the Indian Ocean. Today, the seven seas are regarded as North Atlantic, South Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific, Indian, Antarctic, and Arctic Oceans.

Before ye' all surround me and string me up from the yardarm, let me explain why Metallica or some other form of aggressive rock would likely be my choice for a pirate soundtrack. I heard a good statement about movie music on NPR the other day by a guy who writes soundtracks. He commented that when you leave a movie, you shouldn't be able to remember what the music sounded like. But you go out and buy the CD, not for the music itself, but so you can relive the movie. I believe that soundtrack music should create background mood and when you're blasting the hellfire out of someone, it would have to be hard, driving, and aggressive. The music of ye' olde days frolics, it doesn't kick arse. For a pirate, the mindset was mean and aggressive. I believe that the music of a modern movie soundtrack would have to reflect that mood. You just can't make accordians and pipes growl, like you can an electric guitar. I'd have to go with in-your-face rock n' roll, or at the very least, something big and orchestrated for a battle scene, with plenty of bass drums and loud crashing cymbols.

The superstition regarding women at sea was that women would bring back luck, which could mean storms or anything. The irony is that it was also believed that bearing the nude body of a woman could calm storms! (go figure!) So how did they resolve this quandry in days of old? Simple! A female figurehead! That is why so many of the early figureheads showed women with their breasts bared! On the gold earring- I have also read that it improved eyesight, but there were a couple of other beliefs associated with them. One was that it could pay a dead sailor's way into the underworld. There is a Celtic god and goddess associated with that myth and another similar one about Neptune if I remember correctly. There was also a very practical reason for the earring. Many sailors did not know how to swim. They figured it was better to die a quick death at sea than a slow one. They wore a gold earring in the hope that if they were washed overboard or the ship went down, that their body would wash ashore. It was generally understood that the earring would pay the fee of the undertaker who was to give the unfortunate sailor a proper Christian burial. One of my favorite superstitions is that you should avoid contact with a red-haired person on the way to a ship to begin a journey. They were believed to bring bad luck to the ship. However, you could avert the ill omen if you spoke to the red-haired person, before they spoke to you!!

Beautiful ship Viper! Tell us all about it after you sail... and we want to see photos too! :)

This webpage has 20 mistakes found in the movie- from velcro shoes, to historic inaccuracy to where you can see fishing line holding props in the film.

Just found these coats - $359 in sizes up to size 2X. They are from a goth store, but that works for me! www.leatherworks.com

Awesome! I will drop by and say hello. We'll be pulling in late Friday afternoon. "Jeff" of our "skeleton crew" who you see below, will be out in front of our encampment, and you can also look for the flags with the skull and scythe on them.

No Metallica?!!! But... but... but... *whimper*

Just when I thought I'd seen everything on Ebay...!!!

If I were creating my vision of the "ultimate pirate movie" I'd want it to be something like a pirate version of Gladiator. A film that you totally get lost in and feel like you are THERE! I'm torn as to the music- one side of me wants grand, orchestrated music like in Gladiator... the other side of me says that Metallica's "Wherever I May Roam" is a song that was born to be played during a battle scene! (yeah, I know, but hey, I'm fantacizing here alright?!!) The leading man would have to be Oded Fehr, the guy who played the Medjay in the Mummy, Does he have the pirate look or what, eh?

Nope!! Absolutely not :) That's the same reason why I don't wear my 3000 year old Egyptian ring, even though it's stable. An accident happening to an artifact changes it's history. I love to see wear and signs of use on artifacts and antiques that is contemporary to their time, but not from modern day accidents. Too risky to have something so old on my hands. I agree with you completely and feel the same way about firing an antique flintlock. The idea was intriguing and I wanted to get some feed-back as to how other people felt about it, since there seem to be two schools of opinion about it. I'm with you on this one. I do take the risk of wearing my tankard, thats the one exception I've made as that has the potential to be knocked against something. I do have a couple of ancient Roman artifacts that are heavy bronze strung on necklaces, but they are about as safe as it gets around my neck. One is a lion's head that was used to hold the leather shoulder strap of an armored chest plate, the other a small dolphin whose use is unknown.

There was a bit on the news a few weeks back about the Raiders doing the same thing- copyright infringement, over someone using a similar design. I guess this falls under the infamous Mickey Mouse case- Mickey's copyright (or patent? I can't recall) expired and Disney was trying to get a landmark decision in the courts to renew. The argument was that an icon like Mickey Mouse eventually becomes part of something like American heritage (don't recall the exact term used). I think that would probably be the case with Jack Rackham's flag or the generic jolly roger skull and crossed bones. But if ol' Calico Jack were alive today, he'd probably be shrieking 'COPYRIGHT INFRINGMENT!!" (although that be a weeeeeee bit hard with a rope 'round th' neck, eh?!!)

If you were making a pirate film, what would your film be like? What kind of music would you use? Would it be a swashbuckling romance, a light-hearted comedy or a high seas drama? Who would your leading man and leading lady be? What would the plot be?

Thanks Dorian. I was thinking along the lines of admiring rather than firing anyway, but I'm glad to hear your story about even inspected guns having backfired. I hope the guy who had the brown bess accident recovered well enough. I'll stick to firing the Queen Anne and keep my face intact.

The following excerpt is from an article printed in the Boston News-Letter, Feb 23rd to March 2nd, 1719 on the death of Edward Teach (or Edward Thatch), aka Blackbeard- "Maynard and Teach tehmselves begun the fight with their swords, Maynard making a thrust, the point of his sword went against Teach's cartridge box, and bended it to the hilt. Teach broke the guard of it, and wounded Maynard's fingers but did not disable him, whereupon he jumped back and threw away his sword and fired his pistol which wounded Teach. Demelt struck in between them with his sword and cut Teach's face pretty much; in the interim both companies engaged in Maynard's sloop, one of Maynard's men being a Highlander, engaged Teach with his broad sword, who gave teach a cut on the neck, Teach saying well done lad; the Highlander replied If it be not well done, I'll do it better. With that he gave him a second stroke, which cut off his head, laying it flat on his shoulder." I have found very few Blackbeard historians mention this article at all. Why, I'm not sure. It is relatively contemporary to the time of Blackbeard's death in 1718, only a couple of months afterwards. But here is mention of a broadsword being used by one of Lt. Maynard's crew, specifically a highlander, to make the final death blow that killed Blackbeard. Funny that it is the only mention I've ever seen of the crewman on Maynard's crew being a Highlander.

Arrrrrrrrrrrgh!!! We will be in Ojai for the Pirate Faire the 26th -29th!! Here's how I travel with weapons. Two weeks before you go, call the airline and get the low down on the current requirements. It is in a constant state of change. But be flexible. It can vary, depending on who's in charge of security that day. Have a business card with you reenactors info on it and present it at the check-in counter so that they know you are a reenactor. This was recommended to me by Southwest Airlines, who also said not to come in costume, security would freak. One week before you actually fly, take the suitcase you're using with you to the airport empty. Let them know that you'll be coming next week and explain what weapons you'll be carrying. Ask them which counter you'll be going to to check in your baggage and have them inspect the empty suitcase to make sure it meets their standards for what you want to do. Be sure to ask if they want the suitcase locked or unlocked. This is one thing that changes frequently. Sometimes they want it tiewrapped. If you 've been firing blackpowder, you need to let them know because it will show up when they do a wipe-down of the baggage. If you are carrying blackpowder or ammunition, it has to be in a separate case from the gun itself. None of this can go as carry-on of course. On the day you are traveling, allow plenty of time for inspections. Go straight to the counter where you've been told to check in your bags, give them your business card first and TELL THEM VERBALLY WHAT IS IN THE SUITCASE BEFORE YOU OPEN IT. If they seem unconcerned, great, but be sure to ask them to advise the CTX scanner operators that your gear is coming so that they don't freak when it comes through the scanner. Some places inspect heavily, others not. Smile, be friendly, cooperative and patient, plus willing to compromise what they told you to do the week before with what they tell you to do now!