John Maddox Roberts

The folding jackknife appeared in the 17th century and quickly became a favorite with sailors as well as others, so pirates probably had them, too. Working knives of that time usually differed little from kitchen knives. A plain, wooden-handled boning knife from a traditional company like Chicago Cutlery would be perfect for a pirate outfit. I think they still make their blades from carbon steel, so they'll take on a nice, dark patina after a little use.

A colleague on Sword Forum International took the trouble to drive to the address listed on the Lord's Armory website. Not only did he find no business there, there was no address at that address. It is entirely fake. I think these people stay active by not selling high ticket items. The sums they gouge you for are too small to justify taking them to court. Scurvy bilge rats!

Thank'ee, Cap'n Flint. The order is in the name of John Roberts. Receipt of order acknowledged 7/27. Amount was $73.85. Amount was deducted from my checking account (Wells Fargo) on 7/30. Payment was by debit card, Visa. Incidentally, the long wait does not disturb me nearly as much as the refusal to answer emails or their phone. A single message pleading stock on back order would have been enough, for a while. This silence smacks of fraud. Thank'ee again.

Scupper: Royaliste's right. Grendels Cave sells through ebay and apparently they have an excellent reputation. Wish I'd tried them first.

Back in July I ordered a pirate cutlass from Lords Armory. Payment was deducted from my account on July 30. I am still waiting. I emailed them three times asking for an approximate delivery date. I received no answer and the last email was returned as "undeliverable." Their phone number elicits only a busy signal. I contacted Sword Forum International and discovered that other people have had similar problems, some of them labeling Lords Armory an outright fraud. Do not do business with these people! The same sword is available from other merchants, and is described as a good munition grade cutlass well worth the price, but not from this merchant. Don't get burned like I was, and others were.

BatSpell: Here's a coincidence for you: Anne Rice and I went to the same high school; Richardson High, Richardson, TX. She was class of '59 and I was class of '65, so we never met, but her next youngest sister, Tamara O'Brien, was a good friend of mine and I kept up with her for a number of years after graduation. It was only many years later that I realized that Anne Rice had to be that sister of Tamara's who had run off to San Francisco and married Stan Rice (another Richardson High grad.) I'm a pro writer now myself, and a few years ago met another of the O'brien sisters, Alice Borchardt (there were four sisters, the youngest being Karen). So far, though, never met the lady herself.

I'd say use the pistol from just out of sword range - say 5 or 6 feet. Close enough to hit, far enough to be relatively safe. By the way, we know it was a pirate custom to wear pistols slung in braces around the neck by a scarf - one such was found on the wreckage of the Whydah - thus when fired, you simply dropped it and it would hang there until you had a chance to reload or the fight was over.

Brad is the one who rides off after the bandits turn the Seven loose, but comes riding back in during the climactic gunfight, a scene swiped for Han Solo in the original Star Wars movie.

Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughan, Brad Dexter and Horst Bucholz. It's Brad nobody can ever remember. Music by Elmer Bernstein. Mine is The Wild Bunch.

I didn't know Kenneth Bulmer wrote sea stories. I know him from his science fiction work of the 50s and 60s. Incidentally, I've contributed stories to several of the Mammoth anthologies Mike Ashley has edited, all in the historical mystery genre. I'll have to pester Mike for a copy of that book.

Curved knives cut better than straight ones and straight knives stab better than curved ones, but it's a matter of degree. You can stab with a curved blade and cut with a straight one.

The distinction between smoothbore musket and rifle is a relatively modern one. In the 19th century there was a period when "musket" meant a military weapon. It was a musket if it was adapted to mount a bayonet. I've seen Winchester lever-action muskets made for Russia, complete with bayonet (it was an unsuccessful experiment. The rifles were far too delicate to be used that way.) Well into the 20th century individual skill with a rifle was called marksmanship but mass deployment of rifle fire was still called "musketry." As with so many things, terminology was flexible in times of transition.

The Depp brand seems unlikely. Branding was for minor offenses. A man convicted of piracy was hanged. Why brand him first?

The hook on my Charleville has a tang that curves down under the frame and screws into the top of the triggerguard just behind the trigger with a very stout screw. It seems an odd arrangement, but it won't rotate and damage the stock, that's for sure.

Dear Tales of the Seven Seas (may I call you Tales for short?) The second article sounds more like the one I read, though I read it back in the 60s or 70s and it was longer, but told about the same story, only with a shipwreck. As for the first article, I detect an odor of snake oil. In folklore, there is nothing more common that the treasure that is unexpectedly discovered, only to have vanished when the finder returned for it. This sounds like an Admiralty version of the Lost Dutchman's mine. Incidentally, in "Treasure Island" "Dead Man's Chest" seems to be a capstan chanty. When the Hispaniola weighs anchor in Bristol, the crew heaves on the bars just as Long John hits the third "ho!"

I just bought a Dixie Charleville pistol from DGW and it's a beauty. A bit late for our period, but flintlock design changed little over 200 years and it will pass muster for any except the most anal retentive authenticity buff. Haven't had a chance to shoot her yet, but she sparks well and set off a priming charge on the first try. At .69 calibre she'll take down the toughest king's man. Has a belt hook, too. I also have a Queen Anne. Now contemplating a shortened Brown Bess of the sort marketed as an Indian Trade musket. I think it would make an ideal boarding weapon.

Cordingly, in "Under the Black Flag" states that Stevenson "---took the Dead Man's Chest from At Last by Charles Kingsley." Has anyone seen this book and know how it relates to the song? Many years ago I read an article, I no longer remember where, by a man who claimed to have tracked down the song's origin. He said that Dead Man's Chest was a tiny island in the Caribbean and that the song commemorates a shipwreck there, not a mutiny. After the wreck, the marooned crew got into the ship's cargo of rum. Some drank themselves to death, or killed each other in fights. When relief arrived, there were only fifteen survivors, thus: "drink and the devil had done for the rest." In this version, the fifteen were still alive, not among the killed. Of course, I have no way of knowing if this guy is just blowing smoke up our poopdeck.

It should be noted that both the skull & crossbones and the hourglass were both common "memento mori" (remembrances of mortality, roughly) used on tombstoes of the period.

Getting back to the subject of pipes: At least one set of pirate articles forbids smoking a pipe in the hold without a cap on it. This suggests something more substantial than a clay pipe, rather like the distinctive German capped pipes of the 19th century. Anyone seen such pipes from the 17th/18th?

It makes sense that Maynard would not have boarded Blackbeard's ship. Since he was in command of a vessel, leaving it would have been construed as deserting his post in time of action. Naval boarding parties were led by subordinate officers, not the skipper.

Just now I'm reading Pirates&Patriots of the Revolution, an immensely informative book. Plus, I'm writing an alternate-history book that involves Jean Lafitte as a minor character. But my big pirate novel is still in the planning stages.

I just discovered this site and it's just what I've been looking for. I'm a professional novelist, perhaps best known for my series SPQR: historical mysteries set in ancient Rome. But I've also written a great deal of SF, fantasy and contemporary mystery as well, around 50 books in all. I'm now laying the keel for a rip-snortin', blood-in-the-scuppers pirate novel. I've been a lifelong pirate fan and was amazed to find that there are so many of us out there. Haven't picked a pirate moniker yet, but then I already have one of the great pirate names. Looking forward to splicing with you all.