Coastie04

Upload them onto the internet (you can use the Rogue's Gallery on this pub). Then go to the image, right click and copy the URL. When posting in the forum, there's a button called 'Image' that somewhat resembles a picture of a tree. Click on that, paste the URL (ctrl v shortcut on PCs) in the popup, and there you go. Of course, if an image I took of the Duyfken's stern chasers doesn't show up below, then disregard my advice and contact one of the moderators or do a search for better advice on the pub. If all else fails, message me and I'll give you my email address to forward the images to, and I'll post them for you. Coastie

Shouldn't have a problem getting back into the U.S. either. First off, it's Alaska. It's very common up here to have at least one firearm for bear protection. A flintlock is not exactly scary up here as it might be in some cities down south. Nearly every law enforcement officer will recognize this, and shouldn't give you any trouble. Second, according to U.S. law, your long arm is not considered a firearm (I'm assuming that it's a reenactment weapon, since this is the pyracy pub-if not, my first point still has merit). Under Title 18, Section 921 (a) (3), "The term 'firearm'...does not include an antique firearm." What, you don't have an actual antique firearm? No problem, Title 18, Section 921 (a) (16) describes an 'antique firearm' as: "(A) any firearm (including any firearm with a matchlock, flintlock, percussion cap, or similar type of ignition system) manufactured in or before 1898; and ( any replica of any firearm described in subparagraph (A) if such replica- (i) is not designed or redesigned for using rimfire or conventional centerfire fixed ammunition, or (ii) uses rimfire or conventional centerfire fixed ammunition which is no longer manufactured in the United States and which is not readily available in the ordinary channels of commercial trade. In conclusion, you should be fine getting back in the U.S. As for the Canadian laws, I have absolutely no idea. The other option is to drive to Bellingham, WA and take the ferries up to Whittier (Haines and Skagway would both require a trip through Canada). On the way, you could take a layover in Juneau and we could share a tot of rum or a homebrew. Coastie

Best wishes for his family. He will be missed.

Generally, the braces are tied as far out to each end of the yard slightly beyond the end of the sail. They can actually provide 2 functions on a smaller boat; they can act as braces and lifts to control the angle apparent to the wind, as well as to help keep the yard level (or as level as it can be on a boat). Good luck in the race!

Attach a block to the top of the mast, and use a bedsheet or tarp attached to a yard of some nature (maybe a 2" dowl, or a section of hand rail from a local hardware store). Then, a line to the middle of the yard as a haliard, going through the block at the top of the mast, a line on each yardarm to help control it, and sheets attached to the clews and running aft. If you might want to try going upwind a little with it, then use an additional line from the clews forward as tacks. This should at least get you going in the right direction, assuming that direction is downwind. Obviously, depending on size, you could sew multiple bedsheets/tarps together, use different sized ones, etc. Ultimately, if you can control the four corners of the sail (upper two with controlling the yard, and lower two with the sheets), then you'll be fine for a short fun race. No need for buntlines, clewlines, reeflines, lifts, and the host of other sail controlling and trimming lines on a small, basic rig. Good luck, and don't forget to post some pictures!

Thank you!

Unfortunately, my first (and still one of my favorite) shanty albums was produced in cassette tape only. Unfortunately, my copy has gone missing (either packed in long term storage or purged at one point due to lack of a tape player). Now, I have a friend that would be able to transfer it to a CD or digital format (for personal use and hopefully some posterity). It's hard or impossible to find the tape anymore by the Saint Elmo's Choir, but if anyone knows where I could obtain a copy, I'd be very interested (hey, almost a sentence where I didn't use parenthesis).

Nice, but where's the blue?

Spring weather here. We had snow, hail, rain and sun all in about 4 hours.

There's just no pleasing some people, is there?

I second Gertie's motion. As for the snow...I just circumnavigated Douglass Island to bring my boat to its summer moorage. It snowed today, so I'm not in to summer quite yet, but I also tend to target the more northern trades.

Amen! I do wonder if we could get photos of the 'hidden' pieces for historical research purposes by contacting the museum? Also, why have I not been aware of the underground market for scrimshaw pornography? It seems like something that should have appeared on this forum at some point in time! Coastie

Wait, some lady goes to an exhibit about sailor's art (scrimshaw and tattoos) and doesn't expect a bit of nudity and sexual references? And this lady's a teacher?!? And from the pictures that I was able to find online, much of the nudity was of Tahitian women in traditional dress (meaning bare breasted). There were only two bits of scrimshaw that I was able to find showing sexual acts, and one of them didn't have any "private parts" showing at all! The one of a sea captain with women on his mind was very artistically etched, with the nose and upper head of the captain being a naked woman. Does this woman also object to the statue of David, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, or pretty much any depiction of the goddess Venus? I'm glad that her complaining has actually increased the museum's revenue, though. Coastie

I would love to get a copy of his testimony. I heard most of the 3rd mate and bo's'un's testimony, but wasn't able to tune in on the rest. I'm sure that there will be a TV special before too long that incorporates at least a bit of the testimonies. However, I would still have loved to listen to this one unfolding.

What about the liquid bretheren: freshly brewed beer? And even better, freshly poured beer!

Oh, for that 1st rate SoL, was the oven for general bread making, or did they just have a small one so that the officers could get fresh bread?

I am somewhat surprised that they didn't have adequate battery operated pumps. Otherwise, yes it seems that the pumps failing to pump out as much water as was coming in was the determining factor. As for the rotten frames, they may not have horrified the Captain because of the extent of the rot, but because they were some of the newer frames and shouldn't be rotting yet. The horror may have been the realization that they would need to be replaced (an extensive and expensive project) at the next haul out. However, if all the rotten frames (still not sure how many-if it was only one, then it shouldn't have been such a big deal) were in one area, especially on either end of the ship, then it could have contributed to hull flexing and how much water was coming in. Unfortunately, this is one of those cases where there are many things that could have prevented the loss of the Bounty: not heading to sea in known storm conditions with an older boat (even though she had survived them many times before), having adequate working pumps, having backup pumps that are able to keep up with however much water tends to come in during rough weather in case the primary pumps fail completely (extra trash pumps, for example), and heading in to a port of refuge when things started going bad, making the call to abandon ship just a few minutes earlier (unfortunately, just a judgement call here). It will be interesting to see how the Coast Guard tries to codify these things in to law/policy and how it will affect other vessels.

The rotten frame bit has me a little confused. I've heard different reports, some saying "the frame" was rotten (unlikely that the whole thing was) and some that say "a frame" was rotten, in which case it might not be as bad as people imagine. Even the experts had different opinions about the severity of the rot. If a single frame was rotten, but the ones on either side of it were fine, then it really isn't too critical. There was at least one seam above the waterline on the port side that was leaking substantially in the engine room, but obviously there were other leaks that sprang as well. I just listened to the majority of the 3rd mate's and bo's'un's testimonies and I seem to recall that where they could identify leaking was not in the vicinity of where the planks were replaced (and where they noticed at least one rotten frame). Additionally, when the ship went down, these two both noted that they had been in conditions about that bad on Bounty before (20-25' seas, 30-50 kts wind with the occasional higher gust). As they were going downwind in all this, until they hove to, this isn't too bad. Not a Sunday cruise, but not quite survival conditions (barring the flooding, of course). It's not completely unheard of when fixing a wooden boat to find hidden defects, such as a bit of rot in a frame, and not fix it right away (if it isn't in the budget for that particular haul out) if it's not deemed necessary. That way the materials (not easy to find for a boat that size) can be procured without a lot of delay and extra cost in the ship's schedule. That sounds like the route they took, planning to fix it in the next year's haul out. Only time (maybe) will tell if it played a pivotal role in this sinking, or possibly also the compounds used to caulk the hull (an issue that was brought up by the bo's'u'n's testimony), or something else entirely. We'll have to wait for the investigation results to come out and hope they can definitively tell us what happened. On the other hand, listening to the stories of the crew about the struggle and eventual final moments of Bounty is quite informative. For many mariners, it will force home some lessons that are taught in survival classes, but can be easily forgotten. Some examples include how hard it is to grab anything in a survival suit, even things that are tied on to you can go missing, and if a life raft is inflated, you won't catch up to it in high winds. Coastie

As for the owner, with a captain with the sort of reputation that Walbridge had, it would be easy to become complaisant and put too much trust that the captain would make things work. This complacency could be portrayed as negligence, even though you might be taking the advice of someone with direct knowledge of the ship's condition and vastly more experience sailing than you have. Although I do believe that the captain overestimated the condition of the ship (obvious in hindsight), with the recent overhauls and considering that the ship had survived hurricanes before in worse condition, it is easy to see how this was possible. Also, though I do believe that the captain did have a certain level of responsibility for this tragedy, as he made the decision to go to sea and the route to take (and lacking any 'act of God' circumstances), I hope that not too much blame is bestowed upon him just to find a scape goat...but we shall see... Coastie

This is the best, most complete article that I've seen yet about what happened to the Bounty. A couple of things that I noted that might not be obvious to non-sailors are some of the preperations taken before leaving port, including taking down the topgallant masts. This not only reduces the sail area of the boat, but also lowers the center of gravity making the boat more stable. Also, many people wondered why they weren't sailing in the pictures, even after the engines had quit (me being one of those curious). This points out that they did, in fact, try to keep some sail up. I do hope that the Coast Guard investigation doesn't begin to derail many of these tall ships that do sometimes exist on a very strict budget. This article is a long read, but a very informative one. http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/Sunk-The-Incredible-Truth-About-a-Ship-That-Never-Should-Have-Sailed.html?page=all Coastie

If you switch to the blue, you'll have less chance of getting killed.

You know, I'm a little disappointed with the Google logos. They didn't even have a banner for Trafalgar Day in the UK google for the 200th anniversary! Of course, if the Pub did that, then they'd automatically be better than Google... Coastie

Oh, I also forgot Bounding Main:Lost at Sea and Bounding Main: Going Overboard. There's also the Men of the Robert Shaw Chorale: Sea Shanties, which makes the shanties sound like they should be singing in a church, but is definitely very good. Coastie

It depends on what you're looking for, but I can at least give you a few of my favorites, both traditional and contemporary (or most often a mix of the two) in no particular order: Saint Elmo's Choir: Syrens (sorry, not readily available, and was never released on CD/digital) Glenn Yarbough: Chantyman Jolly Rogers: Pirates' Gold Great Big Sea: Rant and Roar Great Big Sea: Sea of No Cares Great Big Sea: The Hard and the Easy Marc Bernier: Always Welcome (you can probably find this somewhere online, but I got it after singing with him for many Sundays at the Harp and Hound pub in Mystic, CT) Mystic Seaport Annual Sea Shanty Festival CDs (multiple years, I've got a couple and they have many different, but generally very good artists) You can also find some online, such as the collection at http://chivalry.com/cantaria/lists/alpha.html, where you can find a variety of artists and figure out what you like. Note, not all of the songs at this link are period, or have anything to do with the sea, but some do. As for finding these, probably online is your best bet (unless you go to a maritime museum or the likes that has a gift shop). Google them and you can often find the band's website. Hope you enjoy. Coastie

Well done!