Silver

that is a very good question, in the navy i was surounded by this rope work. but i never give it a second thought as to it orgin. i was doing a living history one day and a woman asked if i had made a laynard that i had a boson pipe attached to. she said that she made thing like that when she was young and they called it macrame. i found that it was a craft of 13th century arab weavers.

i don't know, but if they don't it sure is a missed shot at a great promotion. i would goolgle there site.

that is a excellent job. i know you put a lot of time and thought into it. i also made a fly useing the lowe's drop cloth "heavy duty" made it about 10yrs ago and it is still in great shape. i like the work on the gromments.

just got back from there fri.night hit all 4 parks in 4 days, the pumkins are out and the buildings are getting a light wrap.

how is the reproduction sea charts coming along. i would like to have a decent chart of the atlantic showing the east coast of america, caribbean and west coast of africa. another showing just the caribbean and one more just the east coast of america. when i demo navigation these are the area i focus on. i plan later on, when i get a major project done of doing those three by hand, but if i could come by a decent repo it would be worth the coin.

if you google "seaman's grammar and dictionary" by captian john smith there is a section on how to figure out the ratios of building a naval carriage for each size cannon. it is written in old english and requires some deciphering.

the gun with it field carriage resembles a british 6pdr, captured one were also used by the american troops

I wasn't sure which was the appropriate forum to put this in so please move it if you deem it more acceptable someplace else. I recently purchased a "traditions yorktown cannon" (See one here) for a ridiculously good deal from a local hat and commercial fixture store. My ultimate goal is to make something similiar to this:

Step one will involve a naval carriage. Does anyone know of any good plans or scale drawings or even a set of measurements from a period carriage? I know the cannon style itself is a little late but that doesn't mean I can't be correct with the surrounding details. I have found some decent info online but everything is later except for a bad period illustration.

are you going to made a scale model? if so, how big is the yorktown cannon?

sorry just noticed your reference. to work something up to fit that, that would be 17th century, you will have to start from scatch. if you can get a copy of time life book "the spainish main" it has an excellent drawing of an early spainish carriage. one of the traits of early gun carriages is they have a full deck in them them.

I wasn't sure which was the appropriate forum to put this in so please move it if you deem it more acceptable someplace else. I recently purchased a "traditions yorktown cannon" (See one here) for a ridiculously good deal from a local hat and commercial fixture store. My ultimate goal is to make something similiar to this:

Step one will involve a naval carriage. Does anyone know of any good plans or scale drawings or even a set of measurements from a period carriage? I know the cannon style itself is a little late but that doesn't mean I can't be correct with the surrounding details. I have found some decent info online but everything is later except for a bad period illustration.

are you going to made a scale model? if so, how big is the yorktown cannon?

it looks like you might have to put some money into it to make it a teasure chest. if you want to use it to keep personal items in your tent covering it completely with canvas adding a few ropes around it (one hidding where it opens)and a large dutch east indian stamp on it. you have a plundered bale of *****(i'll leave that to you).

do you see it tucked away in your tent or out in open view?

if you want to read about spainish fighting and tactics read the "conquest of Mexico" those guys where out numbered most of the time. it had to take cuning and guts to do what Cortez did. at one point he had to withdraw from engageing the aztec and launch an attack aginist other spainards coming from cuba to capture him.

google - the upstairs bar at the white horse tavern in newport, rhode island.

i like the ideal of getting rid of the ropes by staking down the tent and then poping it up on the poles, or did i miss something? the less parts the better. more room for rum!

I just might sell them, that is if they are up to my standards. I'm going to try a few and see where it takes me. I'll keep you informed.

how is your search for charts coming along? have you tried ebay?

are you going to reproduce the charts to sell?

wool has great warming properties, i have a couple of wool commando sweaterd (woolie pullies) that i wear over a long sleeve turtle neck shirt, it is great at holding body heat in even when it got damp from the rain.

cannonball! who would have thought.

excellent picture, i have seen sailmaker's benches before, but this is the first carpenter bench that i have seen. i made a bench to use as a ships carpenter and it is close to this one. copied the plan from a wood working book on benches, the plan was a roman saw bench. i made mine with mortise tendon joints and a trussel between the legs so i could knock it down. put work stop holes in the top also a cut out for a hand hold. it 18" high 12" wide and 4'long. have used it to make alot of things on.

has anyone seen a picture of a carpenter's bench aboard ship?

i agree that everyone wasn't running around the ship looking like they are josie whales. i have walked around carrying a blunderbuss with an axe, pistol and sword in my belt. you can't do much loaded down like that. i think that any sailor in his right mind would want to be able to move about swiftly and freely in any action. i do think that if anything was needed to help in transporting a weapon it would not be out of reach to have it made using canvas.

having done some "confederate CW" naval reenacting, it is a fact that canvas was used when leather was in short supply. belts, cartridge boxes, cap pouches and rifle slings. canvas aboard a sailing ship was plentiful. also the skills to make anything from it. being a sailor, you have to be resourceful.

L. Silver,

use caution if you use the ole dried peas, oatmeal, beef, bread, butter combination. I tried it for a week about a year ago and buggered my intestines. Our bodies digestive systems and enzymes are not of those 300 years ago- weve gotten soft on sugars and such. Things that go haywire are your sugar/insulin levels, sodium/potasium pump gets screwy as well. digestive output is far less than input creating a renal problem, then the cramping I imagine is right up there with child birth. No matter how much you try to rehydrate the hard tack, dried peas, or oatmeal it is just not the same. once you do get enough liquid back into your system to dislodge "the brick" you will wish you had not. But the good news was I lost some weight.

thanks for the waring, may i ask what was your beer intake during this period? i have people ask me what did sailor eat during the 1700, i have heard of the ships bisket and have seen some hardtack. but after looking at some of the food stuffs taken to sea i was thinking what could a creative cook come up with, before he is thrown over the side. there was a time when i was trying to save money and i ate alot of rice. i came up with alot of different dishes using it as the main dish. i have two different manifests and rice is on both.

i have been doing some research on period shipboard cooking and have been drawing up plans to build a fogan and try some recipes using the ingredients that are found in old shipboard food storage lists.

i was in the navy when sailors where allowed to have beards. zomwalt's navy. if you have ever "been" to SEA and have felt the wind whip through your beard you wouldn't even be wondering about this. think of your self up in the tops, one hand for the ship the other for you. the wind whipping through your beard, what better weather gauge could there be. i still wear my beard...