Coastie04

I generally make a habit to check out the weekly updates on pirate attacks throughout the world on the ICC website (http://www.icc-ccs.org/prc/piracyreport.php). Last week had some rather interesting pirate attacks, as follows:

05.05.2006 at 0345 LT at Chittagong anchorage B, Bangladesh.

Two unlit boats approached a container ship. One boat with 10 persons armed with long knives came close and one robber boarded using grappling hook. Alert crew raised alarm and the robber escaped.

04.05.2006 at 0120 LT in posn 01:23.5N - 104:27.0E, off Horsburgh lighthouse, Singapore straits.

A speedboat with five pirates on board fired upon a bulk carrier underway. D/O raised alarm; crew mustered, switched on deck lights and secured doors. Four heavily armed pirates boarded, broke open bridge door and tied up the crew and threatened to kill them. Pirates stole ship’s cash, equipment and valuables and cash from crew and escaped.

02.05.2006 at 1030 LT in position 09:13.1N - 014:06.2W, off Conakry,  Guinea.

A chemical tanker drifting 25 nm off the port received a VHF call by someone claiming to be from Conakry port. Caller asked the ship to rig the pilot ladder as the pilot was on the way. Soon after D/O noticed a grey boat with five persons being launched by a mother fishing vessel nearby. Persons in the boat were armed with automatic weapons and wore life jackets. They pretended to be officials and demanded pilot ladder to be lowered. As the ship was not expecting to berth until following day, master raised alarm and crew activated fire hoses. After following  for some time boat returned to the mother ship. Master reported the incident to port authorities.

01.05.2006 at 1140 UTC in position: 03:13N - 108:45E, Kumpulan Natuna islands, Indonesia.

Persons in several unlit boats followed a tanker underway and came close to her stern. Crew mustered, switched on deck lights and activated fire hoses. Boats aborted chase and moved away.

28.04.2006 around noon at Islas de Piritu anchorage, off Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela.

Five armed robbers boarded a sailing yacht and shot the only sailor onboard. He was injured in his stomach but escaped in a dinghy. He was operated in a hospital and one of his kidneys needed removal.

27.04.2006, off Barawe, sw of Mogadishu, Somalia.

Pirates hijacked a UAE flagged ship underway. They took hostage all crewmembers and forced her to sail to Harardhere. Pirates shot dead one crewmember and two others were seriously injured. The ship was released after a ransom was paid.

22.04.2006 en route from Belawan port to Batu Licin, Banjarmasin, Indonesia

A tug towing an empty barge departed Belawan on 13.04.2006. Last known position on 22.04.2006 was 02:07S - 108:47E. The tug/barge and 12 crewmembers are still missing and they are believed to be hijacked.

I especially thought the one on the sailing yacht was interesting. Won't he have a story to tell!

Coastie

That was great! I must admit, I was a bit skeptical at first, especially with the 'share your plunder' and 'when it comes to pirate gear, don't overdo it' rules. But it all turned out great in the end.

Arrrgh!

Coastie

I think there's another aspect here that people aren't mentioning. There's also being a tour guide in historical clothing. It's not really living history, but often is closely related. When I've sailed on the Lady Washington, it's a combination. When we're giving dockside tours, we're tour guides. We answer questions and educate people. When we sail, we turn into living history, although there's obviously a bit of tour guide at the same time. During maintenance, it's living history (much of which happens during dockside tours, so the crew is split between living history and tour guides explaining it).

Just my thoughts.

Coastie

The easy solution to the hat is just to wear the suit around for a few weeks hard labor. Then they'll go fine together, all battered and faded. Looks good anyway.

Coastie

Hence, the Revenue Cutter Service, precursor to the Coast Guard. Its purpose was to collect revenues from tarrifs.

Coastie

I'll point you to this site.

The picture at the top gives all the names of the common sails on a square rigger. One thing to note, in the GAoP, ships didn't have the split tops'ls. That is to say, instead of an upper tops'l and lower tops'l, there was just a tops'l, as in the picture below.

Coastie

I made a mistake sending this thread to one of my ship's cooks. So, today I had duty and was called down to the galley for my normal duties and sitting out there was two ship's biscuits. One was made with olive oil added and the other was more standard. It had the dimples in it that looked like he used a meat cleaver or something for the design, but it did look good. The one with olive oil was a bit flakey and just a little saltier than some of the buscuits we've had aboard at times. The other was not nearly as flakey, but was still rather palatable, about as salty as saltine crackers, but more substantial. I think the next time we go off shore for a few days, we'll probably find a tin of hard tack for any seasick crewmembers.

Also, this is the only hard tack I've heard of being made on Coast Guard Cutters lately. Keep the tradition alive!

Coastie

Nice looking models you've got there. I especially liked the Charles W. Morgan's weathered look. She looks pretty much exactly like you'd see her if you went to Mystic today.

As for pirate ships, I'd recommend the Lady Washington (an 18th Century merchant ship, the replica played HMS Interceptor in Pirates of the Caribbean). She'd probably be a fairly common size/design for that era of piracy. However, if you can find good info on Kidd's 'Adventure Galley', it would be nice to see as well. I'm sure the Wydah would sell nicely too. Good luck with that and I can't wait to see new models. I've already bookmarked your site.

Coastie

Picton Castle (highly recommended if you ever get a chance to see her)

Eagle

Bluenose II

(see above image)

Mircea

Amistad

Star of Alaska (formerly, I just can't remember how to spell her current name)

Charles W. Morgan

Brilliant (I've actually raced against this one)

Europa

(see above image)

Alcyone

Wawona

Black Pearl

Batkivshchyna

(see above image)

Coastie

This could take a while to load...

Lady Washington & Hawaiian Chieftain

Adventuress (2 pics because she was the first I sailed on and deserves the credit)

Californian

Lynx (left)

Swift of Ipswich

Zodiac

(see above image)

Mystic Whaler

Argia

Providence

Pride of Baltimore II

I know there's more, but these are the ones I could remember setting foot on, and not even all of them. I've sailed a few of them, and worked on a few of the others. I fear if I put any more pictures in this post, then it will be too large.

Coastie

Note: OK I did try to post too many images. I'll split this into two posts.

Rumba,

The difference is that Lynx was built in the U.S., whereas the Royaliste was (I think) built in Canada. I do know she's not an American hull. However, Royaliste, didn't you get some sort of waiver? I know you were working on it about a year ago or so.

The law in question dates back to the Civil War era. It was a time when iron steamships were becoming more and more popular throughout the world. America was a bit behind in this department, because we had an abundance of trees to use, unlike European countries that depleted much of their forests building up their navies and other shipping. So, since the rest of the world jumped on the technology of using iron for ships, the U.S. didn't because we were building some of the best wooden ships (just look at the U.S. achievements in shipbuilding: USS Constitution style 'heavy frigates', Baltimore Clippers, and many of the wooden 'extreme clipper' ships were built on our shores as well-see my pictures of the Cutty Sark in the gallery to appreciate how beautiful they really were). So, with the advent of iron and later steel, the U.S. made laws to protect the American shipbuilding industry by outlawing foreign-built hulls from engaging in domestic trade. That's one of the reasons that large cruise ships always make at least one stop in a foreign port. Even up here in Alaska, they usually stop somewhere in Canada to pass this requirement. Then, it turns to international trade instead of domestic. Even after American shipbuilding turned to steel, the laws were kept in place due to cheaper labor, and thus cheaper boats, being built elsewhere. Today, most of the large merchant and cruise ships are built overseas, so the laws allow atleast smaller vessels, such as fishing boats, ferries, charter boats, most things on the Great Lakes, ect. to feed the remains of the U.S. shipbuilding industry.

Well, that was my history lesson for the day. I might be off a bit on some of the details, as it's been a while since I looked at any of my references, so this came from the best of my memory and has some personal bias in it as well. However, I do know that many of the tall ships we see around are U.S. built vessels, such as the Lynx, Californian, Lady Washington, Hawaiian Chieftain, Swift of Ipswitch, and Pilgrim (to name a few you might see in CA).

Coastie

There be room fer more than a few cannons. Just take a look at her deck, clear as can be amidships.

Coastie

Also, many casks weren't necessarily round. Often they were designed to make the most of the ship's hold. Thus, you'd get odd oblong or triangular shaped ones on occasion. A bit late, but they have many barrels in the hold of the Charles W. Morgan, a whaler from the late 19th Century, and they were all designed for her hold and to go in certain locations. Then, the cooper aboard would assemble them as needed for oil. I know some I've seen are large keg-style barrels, and some are thin and long. Therefore, I'd say that just about any dimensions would be appropriate and historically accurate.

Coastie

One minor adjustment to your post. I'm not a she. I'm a handsome, dashing, rogue (just do a search for 'Coastie' in the gallery and there's a few mug shots of me). As for affording it, I can only dream right now. However, for me long-term goal, I'd love to own one, run her as a sail training vessel, hopefully give college credits to the participants for classes such as meteorology, biology, etc., and sail the world. It might be a few years yet (heck, I owe the Coast Guard at least 4 more), but it'll happen one of these days. Good luck with yours. And if Royaliste has any advice about owning, operating, and maintaining his ship, please post as I'll appreciate it too.

Coastie

I'm up for taking donations for anyone who wants another sail training vessel around. Unfortunately, I don't have nearly enough money saved up yet, but I'll take any donations for this fine craft.

Coastie

Take a look at this simulator if you want to play around with this aspect. HMS Surprise I've been playing around with this simulator for years and have made schooners, barques, brigs, etc. with it by adjusting the sail characteristics. It's really a neat simulation that lets you play around with trimming the sails and how they work together to make the ship go. I'm sure any tall ship sailor will appreciate the accuracy of it. There are many forces that act upon the boat to make it handle differently including, but not limited to, the wind, heel angle, rudder, and trim of the sails.

Enjoy

Coastie

Sitka, AK: Warming up past freezing and actually sunny for once!

Coastie

Well, the nine neckcloths could easily have been turned into the bandanas we commonly see pirates wearing on their heads. I take it the six non-silk cloths were probably cotton or some common material?

One question I have is what is the 'rough sleeves'? Was it some sort of working shirt or foul weather gear? I just haven't heard that term before.

Nice list, though. Thanks Foxe.

Coastie

I've sailed against the Californian before, but never on her. She's a rather seaworthy craft, and extremely fast. She was sailing circles around the Lady (though the Lady can do some things Californian can only dream of). I'd recommend a sail if possible, she's a pretty boat.

Coastie

"Shanties from the Seven Seas" by Stan Hugill is a good one. I'd also suggest www.chivalry.com/cantaria, which has some good shanty lyrics and usually has an mp3 of one or more verses.

Coastie

I know the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) defines sodomy very loosely, so that sodomy does not necessarily mean buggery, or even a same-sex sexual relation. Currently, the article for sodomy reads as follows:

925. ART. 125. SODOMY

a: Any person subject to this chapter who engages in unnatural carnal copulation with another person of the same or opposite sex or with an animal is guilty of sodomy. Penetration , however slight, is sufficient to complete the offense.

b: Any person found guilty of sodomy shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

So, even in cases of sodomy, it isn't necessarily gay. I don't know what the standard was in England historically, maybe Foxe can enlighten me, but if it's similar to today's definition, getting a bit too friendly with the ship's cat would be sodomy as well (and, I might add, disgusting).

Coastie

A board burned onto a barrel? That would be great for a chess board or something of the likes, especially for a historical reenactment. When the crowds get to be too much, just retire to the camp, pour some beer in yer mug, and play a nice game of chess. All the while, looking perfectly accurate. Ahh, the possibilities.

Coastie

As for covering more pirate bases, I could probably do a pretty good modern pirate. M-16, bandana, overpowered black boat, machette...yeah, I've got all but the boat. I'm in the market, as it were. Then again, my Coast Guard Cutter is black, we board fishermen and arm ourselves to do it. All I'm missing is the bandana. And we're doing it legally, so I guess that's not quite piracy. Oh well, I can work on that.

Coastie

The Lady Washington should be heading through Oregon on their way back from California. they'll probably be sailing with the Hawaiian Chieftain, so if they're rafted up, it might be nice to get shots of boarders in the action of boarding. Right now, their online schedule only goes up to 16 May, when they'll be in Coos Bay, OR. Then, they'll be heading up the Oregon coast to the Columbia. You can contact them at 1-800-200-LADY (5239) or their emails are on the website (www.ladywashington.org).

Let us know when the book comes out and how we can get a copy!

Coastie

This can go back to that debate on whether human nature has changed in the last couple hundred years. I know many people on ships nowaday that do 'dress up' when the ship hits port. In other words, they have a shore-going rig and get out of their usually rather dirty working clothes. Pirates were essentially just sailors of a particular trade, piracy. If they could go on land and woo the prettier women with stylish, or at least clean clothes (if they owned them), then they probably would. Who really likes wearing what they wear to work when they're going out on the town? From this perspective, I think it's quite reasonable that pirates would at least put their nicest, whether trendy or not, clothes on while in port. Unless they wanted to blend in, of course, then they might strive to look like other more legitimate sailors, who probably put their best clothes on to go out on the town as well.

Just my two cents worth.

Coastie