capnwilliam

Does anyone know of a maker who will whip up a custom pirate flag fer ye? Capt. William

OK, a couple of votes for incorporating the hourglass. Capt. William

OK, a couple of votes for incorporating the hourglass. Capt. William

If'n ye be an unhandy sort of pirate, like me...Museum Replicas has one ready-made. It looks nice in the picture; I have no experience with it. I have bought a few items from them; some of it held up well, some of it didn't. Capt. William

Pricey indeed! Starfire's cutlass is viewable if you type "cutlass" into their search terms list. It's priced at $325, and there's a companion dagger for $175. NOT cheap! I suppose it's worth it, if you're actually anticipating having to use it as a weapon, or if you plan to use it for choreographed fighting. But if I fight with a sword for fun, it's going to be something like a fencing weapon or SCA rapier. And we're talking to defend your life...well, $325 can get me a second hand shotgun or .38 revolver! Capt. William

I will look into Starfire; that ye for the info, shipmate! Capt. William

Pyrodex is supposedly safer against accidental ignition than is black powder. But because of that, it's also supposedly harder to use in flintlocks than in percussion ignition systems. Yes or no, anyone know? Capt. William

Aye, now there be a good one, Maria! I loved it! Capt. William

Aye, Capt. Flint, if it's reported in David Cording's "Under the Black Flag" I can look it up. I have a copy of that work here. Capt. William

OK, there's a sure-enuf vote in favor of black powder! Does anyone know of a good small BP cannon: something that might be, say, .50 caliber, and used just for signaling and noisemaking purposes? How well does Pyrodex finction in lieu of BP in cannon? How many on the list have experience shooting full scale black powder cannon? Capt. William

Mine is Calico Jack Rackham's: the skull, resting on crossed cutlasses. Why? Because it's a simple variation on the basic theme. The skull and crossed bones is an ancient symbol representing death. When you substitute the crossed cutlasses for the crossed bones, it carries the same meaning, with the additional, obvious connotation that your death will come via our swords! When you start adding hearts, people standing on hands, initials, bandanas, etc., it all becomes a kind of pirate hieroglyphic; you'd be spending time thinking about the meaning of it before it occurred to you to be terrified by it! Capt. William

Does anyone on the list have any experience with carbide cannon? How do they compare with black powder? Capt. William

Ahoy, all! I be Capt. William MacArthur; just Capt. William on this list, where I've been aboard for a voyage now, but just this fine morning stumbled over this topic, so figured I'd send an introduction. I call mesel' "Captain" because I am the founder of the Seadogges, a shiphold (nautically-themed household) in the SCA. All of you are most cordially invited to join our list, at Seadogges-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Our theme is that of an Elizabethan merchant vessel, but we rove the seas of various places and eras in our discussions. My lady wife Jannet is First Mate. She loves to dance and shoots the bow a bit. I do some rapier, archery, and live weapons throwing. My persona is that of a merchant/ship owner. Mundanely, I do administrative hearings as a civilian employee of his Imperial Majesty's Navy, and Jan teaches college English. We are considering getting actively involved with a pirate crew, but time is a big problem for us, with work, the house, relatives, pets, and I'm also active in Masonry and do volunteer work with the reserve deputies. Till then, I'm having a great time reading and learning about pirates, and posting to this great forum! Capt. William

We're new to the pirate scene but have been fairly active in the SCA for a few years. Generally speaking, the overall SCA reaction to anything nautical is cool. (I mean that in the sense of "not enthusiastic"). But the great thing about the SCA is the number of activities it has. Hell, you can fight rapier, fight heavy weapons, make garb, brew, cook, make armour, throw axes, shoot bows (at targets and at people: using padded arrows, of course!). There's even a bit o' black powder usage, though the Society tends to be anti-gun: probably has less to do with contemporary anti-gun bias than with a misguided view of period warfare. I'm curious as to how many pirate crews engage in swordfighting, archery, black powder shooting (small arms or cannon), etc. I don't mean Ren Faire style fighting with live steel and choregraphed moves, but extemporaneous fencing with safe, period-style weaponry. Also, how many crews engage in actual sailing? Capt. William

do you blokes know the reason Scots drink beer and whiskey at the same session? If you drink just beer, you get full before you get drunk. If you drink just whiskey, you get drunk before you get full. But if you drink beer and whiskey, you get drunk and full at the same time, so it all works out "all richt"! Capt. William Whose grandfather came from The Shotts, Lanarckshire

Captain Weaver, I am homeported in New Orleans, and Lafitte's Blacksmith shop is my favorite tavern! Do you know, the place literally never closes? Capt. William

Aye, mate, yew'll LOVE the title: SIR FRANCIS DRAKE, THE QUEEN'S PIRATE, by Harry Kelsey. Capt. William

Contraband Days commemorates Jean Lafitte and his Baratarians, and is held April 29 to May 11, with most of the real action scheduled for May 2 and 3. It's held in Lake Charles, Louisiana: halfway between New Orleans, and Houston. Capt. William

I'm ready to start reading a book I bought at Gulf Wars in March about Drake, so will have some comments very soon about this topic, ye may be sure! Capt. William

Is anyone from the list planning to attend Contraband Days? Has anyone from the list been there in past years? We were thinking about going, and wondering if anyone had any comments about the event. Capt. William

Capt. Flint: Do you recall what pirate crew those surviving artickles belonged to? Capt. William

It's OK with me, Joshua Red; yew sound like a goode enow bloke, fer a Damn Yankee, at least! I'd like to see some o' yer arty stuff. Oh, and thank ye fer th' drink! Capt. William

Aye, Coastie, the reason I have a shirt that mentions the U.S. Lifesaving Serving is because a couple summers back we visited an old lifesaving station at Chicamacomico (sp.), near Cape Hatteras, NC. They put on a nice show and lecture, and fire one of the old lifesaving guns that they used to use to shoot a line out to the storm-tossed vessels. Great fun! I highly recommend you stop there, if you're ever in the area. And it's a great area for pirates, since nearby Ocracoke is where Blackbeard fought his last. Then there's also Lost Colony; and Roanoke Park, where they have the Elizabeth II, a full-sized, sailing replica of the type of vessels that brought the colonists to the New World, in the 1580's. Faire Winds to ye, Capt. William

Hey, Coastie, I'm wearin' a T-shirt with the logo of the U.S. Lifesaving Service on it. Ever heard of that? Capt. William

Ahoy, Capt. Scarlett, and welcome aboard our vessel! My, but our crew is growing! Soon we'll be more than a match for any first-rater the Royals send after us! Capt. William P.S. The blasted revenooers are taking more o' me hide this year than I thought! But I hope to wrap it up this weekend and resume serious (huh?) posting. W.