Zephaniah W Nash

I've got one of the "Pirate Companion" cutlasses from Windlass, and overall, I do like the piece. It is, as has been mentioned, very blade-heavy, so it's definitely nothing to do any fencing with. I do tend, on the few occaisions I've actually used it in a choreographed fight, to parry with the flat, just to protect the edge - but we don't use that sort of blade often enough for me to put in my two cents on the earlier parrying points made. It seems that people will do best with what works best for them, no...? It's a great workout blade, though, for the arm and wrist. I also have the Windlass replica of the 1860 Naval Cutlass which I just happened across at a very, very good price ($25, if I recall correctly). At this point, I'm pretty well drooling over the cutlasses (or footman's sabre, or whatever they happen to sell it as) made by Baltimore Knife and Sword. They don't have any pictured on their website at this point, but I would compare them very closely to those made by Starfire swords in general. I've seen some of these for $250-ish, which to me, isn't bad at all. However, if I buy one, I have to buy two, as my usual sparring partner is my better half, and we really need comparable pieces to work with. but, if we drink enough beer at Scarborough this weekend, and they still have a pair at Legacy Forge, we may well be a-comin' home with a pair...

Well, being in Texas, many bets are off... Largely, it seems the same as all the other posts here, any sort of flintlock, or even caplocks, just aren't firearms, so no worries. They will get you, though, if you carry it loaded. It's still a weapon, at the very least, and many cops (as has also been noted) don't know the law all that well. I've never had any trouble finding black powder - the real stuff, and Pyrodex is very easy, of course, and that's what I usually use in my Colt Navy, as it is less caustic and does less damage to the piece.

A couple of new pics, inlcuding one of my better half... Pic album...

HarborMaster- I, for one - and I figure most here neither - ain't mad at you for your views, but I'll certainly disagree with 'em... Yes, gas prices in England are much higher than ours. They got public transportation that'll take you anywhere you need to go, also. Not so for many places here in the States. Texas, for instance. You could get across town if you absolutely had to, but you better not be on a time constraint, and pretty much forget going from one city to another, unless you're talking maybe Fort Worth to Dallas. And, as Lady Barbossa mentioned, things here in the States are just generally a long way from each other. Particularly Texas. And oil companies may not be gov't owned in the States, but they are very much gov't supported - and that's not a shot at the current admin, just 'cuz they come from oil families, that's a shot all 'round (though it may be a wee bit more right at the moment than at other times). So, yeah, gas prices are a hardship, but not a huge one for me personally just yet. I drive ten miles each way to one job, three to another. It's forty to visit family, and the nearest event I go to regularly (Scarborough Faire) is about forty or so as well - so my gas bills are more of an annoyance to me personally so far, but I understand how many people are getting pretty smacked down by 'em...

I've been without an official position or job for going on two months now - been fairly happy with the freelancing stuff and working on my own projects. In a single day, I've been offered two longer-term, temporary positions, while not actively looking for anything of the type. One is to go back and clean up the mess my replacement made from my last position as a theatrical booking/tech manager - and likely taking the booking position again on an interim basis (not that happy with the place, but we did part on good terms), and the other is as a stage-manager for a small, relatively new theatre company. I'll likely be taking on both gigs, and can use the extra sudden infusion of cash, thanks to Uncle Sam, but I had just planned on hanging out today and reading, not fielding job offers...

Anybody going to be there...? Don't know for sure yet if I'll make opening day, but will be going for certain (or as certain as I can be these days) on Sunday, the 9th - possibly opening day as well, but that's even less certain than Sunday.

You can try Museum Replicas, Ltd. They have a few, but for some reason on the website right now, they are only listing left-handed baldrics, even though they show both. MRL baldrics and belts. They are in line with your budget, and they're not bad stuff. I've got one in black, and the leather isn't necessarily top-notch, but useful. You could also try By The Sword, which has the exact same product that MRL does, plus a few others... By The Sword baldrics

Looks like I may be the "resident skeptic," so here goes... Electronic Voice Phenomenon Not my site, by any means, not trying to take credit for someone else's work. Personally, one of the biggest problems I have with "Ghost Hunters" is that they rely on EVP entirely too much. If you speed up and/or slow down a tape enough, and listen to basic noise enough, and want to hear a voice, chances are, you will. Not completely different from the "Face on Mars" nonsense of a few years back - the human brain looks for patterns, and will usually find them, even if they're not there. Again - 'cuz I know this can hurt feelings and cause fights, almost as much as discussing religion or politics - this is just my opinion, for what it's worth.

Most of the information in the posts after mine are the reason I put in the caveat "I don't know how well it will translate from theatre," or however it was I put it. I know there are a lot of theatre companies out there that survive completely on gov't, corporate, and private grants - with actual ticket sales barely being a drop in the ocean, so to speak. Some of these budgets must be getting at least near the neighborhood of the budget to support a ship. I also may be looking at it from a point of view of a bunch of smaller projects all linked together, rather than one large project all at the same time. The various laws presented would be a huge obstacle, that I hadn't thought of. I would be shocked if there weren't loopholes for those in the know, but I ain't one of them in the know...

Corporate funding is possible, but often with various limitations. Remember, though, I'm coming from a theatrical background, so how much anything I can say here will be applicable is questionable... I've seen productions that cost in the neighborhood of the buying price of the ship that a corporation or company (or more than one) covered at least the majority of, in return for advertising and such. So, you might have to hang a particular flag during anything you do, or something along those lines. One show in particular cost pretty near the same amount, and a local boot company (okay, they really just embroider boots from another company) covered about a quarter of the total cost and supplied boots for the show (it was a Western musical, of all things), and required a sponsorship mention in the program, and a sales booth in the lobby, plus mention in any ads or stories in the media. They got another partial sponsorship from a hat company, for some of the cost, and so on... Depending on exactly what you're going to do with the ship, there's the possibility of setting it up as a non-profit organization, which will help with taxes and the such, making upkeep at least a little easier.

I kinda like a saucy wench meself...

I just finished reading the book. This particular novel isn't as dependent on already knowing the Warhammer setting as a lot of others I've read, but there are a number of references to it. Overall, I think someone without the Warhammer knowledge will be able to read and enjoy the book - they just won't catch a few of the "in" references. I don't think it would make the book unreadable, though. Most of these would be the references to various countries - based on real world countries, but... Warhammer-ized. Overall, I prefer some of this author's other books over this one (particularly the Gaunt's Ghosts books in the Warhammer 40,000 setting).

Capt. Bo- Never underestimate the boredom of the locals. I have a cousin that almost got his fool head blown off for a prank not completely unlike your story. When the story started going about that there was the ghost of a Confederate army officer a-hauntin' the moors, so to speak, he thought it would be really funny to go about on brightly-moonlit nights dressed up as the ghost. What he didn't consider was how many of the locals keep shotguns on the gunrack in their trucks, and that there had been a run of break-ins around the same time. Not saying this is what happened to you, of course - I just like to tell stories on my cousin...

Rumba- It's possible... As I said, if I see proof, I'll change my mind. But, just a few points from the heathen unbeliever I've been working in theatres for about a decade and a half now, and, in case you didn't know, pretty much every theatre out there is haunted - and they say sailors were supersticious. I have yet to see or experience anything that couldn't be explained. And that includes some pretty freaky stuff. Granted, my stories wouldn't be so compelling as some others - "Yes, the tape deck started rewinding on its' own, but that particular model, if set correctly, will automatically rewind if it hits more than three seconds of dead air. Yes, really. Okay, it might have been the ghost, but that model does do that..." Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying anyone else should believe or disbelieve - especially on my say-so. But, as one other aside, never go ghost-hunting in a theatre without a techie who knows the space. He or she will save you some embarrassment - we tend to know all the weird noises already.

I would have more use for the Ghost Hunters show if they had at least one skeptic "on the payroll." From the earlier episodes that I saw, it seemed that in the vast majority of cases they went in already having decided that a particular place was haunted, found very little - or absolutely no - evidence that is was, and still went away saying it was haunted, even though they couldn't prove it. That may have changed since I stopped watching it, but it did manage to turn me off pretty quickly. Plus, a personal bias, they rely way too much on the whole "electronic voice phenomenon" concept when they can't find anything else - and they've found some pretty unimpressive EVP's, in my opinion. Personally, I don't believe in ghosts - but am willing to change my mind when presented with proof. Off my soap-box now...

It's not something I actively do, but was involved in one way back in college - taking a class called something like "Subjects in the Paranormal" and someone had called the instructor claiming her house was haunted. Turned out most of her "spirits" came out of a bottle: some liquor bottles, some pill bottles...

I watched the first five or six episodes of Ghost Hunters on SciFi. For the most part, it looked like a good lesson in what NOT to do if hunting ghosts - at least to me.

GoF- Much closer to what I was asking... What I was actually doing was getting even further off-topic, and taking it away from boots specifically to historical evidence in general, by using boots as an example. The thread just made me wonder what the more historically-minded folks here think of an argument that says some item was popular, and we know it was popular because there are few surviving specimens - they were all worn out and destroyed, so very few examples survive. And then, from there, I went even more off on a tangent when talking to Kass... With boots specifically, I think you are most likely quite correct, and have made a strong case for your stance - bacause of the other historical evidence. And if I'm getting too off-topic and annoying folks with these thoughts/questions on this specific thread, I'm more than happy to drop it here and move over to a more appropriate thread, it's just that this one was still going and I decided to jump in...

kass- I do see what you mean, and almost completely agree with you... Regarding documenting backwards, I only have one small, niggling difference. I see nothing wrong with asking and investigating the question "I wonder if they wore boots." I only see a problem if it gets to the point of, "They almost all wore boots, and that is the only evidence I will accept!" Exagerating to make the point there, I don't think anyone has taken that extreme of a stance - at least not in any part of the thread I've seen. Of course, that goes both ways. If anyone were to say something like "No pirate ever wore boots on board ship, ever!" they are very likely wrong. That's just what tends to happen when one says "never" when it comes to the behavior of human beings. Additionally, I think you may be leaving out the idea of reasonable inference. There probably aren't many pictures that clearly show some sailor or other was left-handed, and probably not that many written accounts specifically dealing with south-paws, but it is a reasonable inference that there were some, probably in largely the same proportions as there are now. But, other than those minor points, we find ourselves at an accord. And just for the record, I'm one of those scurrilous boot-wearers. I just think they're more comfy...

GoF- You missed my point a bit, but I'm not terribly surprised. I posted a horribly written post... I actually agree with your stance regarding boots - but I think the lack of written or pictoral evidence is more telling than the fact that the remains of a single shoe have been found, while no boots have. Clearly, if only the remains of a single shoe have been discovered, then it could as easily be that footwear doesn't survive well as it could be that boots were never worn. It was more a question regarding how well some things survive the years than it was specifically regarding boots. And yeah, I know I'm getting a bit off-topic, but it seemed a reasonable place to put the general question. Is it, in your opinion (or anyone else who chooses to venture an opinion) more important to rely on actual physical remains, or on historical accounts? Or both, when each is available (I tend toward the latter, but the boot issue, for the point I made earlier, seems to be more strongly answered by one more than the other). Or, if only one or the other is available, which makes the stronger case? Please pardon my rambling questions, and the possibility that this is the wrong topic to post 'em in, but I'm interested and curious and all that...

I have as many tattoos as I have fingers. Whether that means a certain number of tats or less than the usual number of fingers, I'm leavin' to the imagination...

I'm not trying to stir anything up either, but this did occur to me while reading through some of the posts here'n'there... Only one bit of remains of a shoe have been found, if I've gotten that right. Is it possible that this could be because any boots that were worn were worn completely out, and therefore left less evidence that they were used? It seems that I've read somewhere - sorry, can't remember where - that the reason very few falchions survive in collections is because they were used up, rather than preserved, or that very few whole pots survive from even further back is because they were broken and discarded, often not where one might expect them to be found. I realize this doesn't touch on the question of boots not being in pictures from the time, but it was more of a sideline question anyway...

Pirate Petee- If not at a hardware store, then a lumber yard will usually carry it. One full sheet may be more than you'd ever need, so any friends working in carpentry or any theatre trash would likely be able to get you plenty of scrap (us theatre lowlives build almost everything out of Luan these days).

Bad Carter, bad! No cookie!

Now I'm all jealous... We're building a house in the not-to-distant future, and in my fevered imaginings I've been building it in a nautical vein. Seriously doubt the finances will let us go too far in that direction, but a body can still dream, I reckon. One of my twisted plans that is likely an actual option is the buried/sunken ship made of railroad ties for a flower garden with a mast sticking up for any climbing vegetation that comes about. The actual foliage won't be much of my own choosing, I'm sure, as the only stuff I've ever known how to grow is left over from my days of growing up on the farm - y'know, wheat, hay crops (and not the "cash crops" some of you scab'rous dogs surely thought of ).