Silver

she looking to be a fair gust. i'm on higher ground then i was for isabel, then i sent three days without sleep pumping the lafayette river out of my basement by hand with a sail boat bilge pump until the power came back and the sump came on line.

there are some for sale on e-bay they cva mountain (steel) 22.49ea.

i,m sure someone will ask this. so i might as well. do you have pic's you can post?

thanks everyone for the info on burn treatment and bringing me up to date on 17th century squibs.

checked my "boarders away II" no listing. today squibs are used in the movies, they are a small expolsives that can be fired by remote to open holes in a blood vest that makes it appear as if someone was shot or give you that machine gun fire up the beach. in the navy we used them as the initating charge (like a primmer) to fire the large ejection seat rocket. i haven't run across that word in 17th century text yet. question for you is viniger a 17th century treatment for sunburn?

Get Nekid..

here we go!!

I knew/understand pickling has been around for ages, pickled meat and vegetables have been on ships at least since colubus sailed for the Indies. I was just clearing up my mistake on pickled cucmbers being used to cool-off the body. No known references for that, I was mistaken, it was for the Vitamin C against scurvy anyhow, not for staying cool. That's what I use them for when I come in from the heat though. A cold dill pickle instantly makes me feel better. My bad on the mis-information,I was wrong. reading too many things from too many periods is not a good thing sometimes.

Bo

i liked the find on the vinger for the sunburns, i had never heard of that before. not sure if it is a period treatment. maybe mission might know?

I've found that soakin' my hat in available liquid keeps me head cool in the bright sunshine.

also you can take some crushed ice and roll it up in a cloth and tie it around your neck. i remember someone made small cloth poches that you could fill with ice and put up under your hat. ice isn't period but it's nice.

I received my book today, "The Florida Keys - Volume 3, The Wreckers", by John Viele. In it he states, "For amusement and relief from the heat, they would put a sail in the water suspended so as to form a pool and bathe in it". I suppose this would have also worked in earlier times too.

i had forgotten about that, glad you kicked it in. did they say if it was to keep out sharks, jellyfish or so the non swimmers wouldn't drown?

Drink lots of small beer and sweat. Really, it's Nature's cooling system and works well if you're using linen for small clothes. Or find a shade tree. Unless the sun is straight up, the sails should provide some shade for an off duty sailor.

Also, foods that are cooling (like pickles mentioned earlier) can be helpful if at hand. I have also heard non-seagoing types refer to putting a cabbage leaf in the hat (and seen it done, too!) Wetting one's neck stock/kerchief can also help.

We are people used to living in modern air conditioning for the most part. Those of us who have lifestyles that require outdoor work in summer get used to it. Monday I was working in the heat with a fire and braziers (3) going in the kitchen. It was a sauna, and I was stuck in modern clothing. It would have been more comfortable in petticoats. Better insulation from the heat that way. I know it seems counter intuitive, but staying dressed actually insulates you from the higher temps, just like it insulates from the cold. Think of it as keeping the cool _in_.

sweating and drinking plenty of fluids and aboard ship it would be beer, cider or fresh water if you haven't been out to long. eating less meat is also a way to keep the body temp down. i found that the cabbage leaf does seem to have a cool effect on the skin. it is a herbal treatment for swollen breasts also there was several stories about babe ruth wearing them on his head during the game. the new colonist who came to virginia went through a period of what was called seasoning in order to become use to the heat and humidty and insects, i live it the P.I. for two years and worked outside, when i came back to virginia in the summer the heat wasn't as hard to handle i refer to the seasoning as getting your tremostat reset. the arabs of the desert are a good example of how covering ones self up in a hot climate can reduce the effects of the heat it traps your body's sweat near the skin and it has a cooling effect as long as the fabric can breath. there is clothing that is called summer wool that they claim will keep you cool. thanks some good points

Look for pickles as I have seen some references to them used on ships. I don't have any references handy though. We use them for the same reason here in steamy Missouri. (i.e. "cool as a cucumber").

Bo

have been looking into the pickles/cucumber reply, cucumber do have a cooling effect on the body because they are 90% water also they replace lost eletrolytes so eaten fresh they will have a cooling effect, pickles are small cucumbers don't find the same claims to cooling as with the cucumber, not saying there could be some, but they are soaked in brime or viniger, something that i found in looking up pickles that goes with dealing with the sun and heat is that viniger is excellent to rub on sun burns it removes the pain and reduces the blistering. don't know if the surgeon prescribed this treatment then. thanks

AWNINGS was also the first thing to come to my mind, in port it is a must, i have rigged them aboard ship but they do get in the way undersail. on a hot sunny day they are a must. it is the same as throwing up the fly at a event it is the place to relax.

i am looking for references of how 17th century mariners kept their cool in the hot amd humid climates that they sailed in.

did some digging through my pirate library and have come up with some quotes where lighting is addressed: 1- articals of the ship "revenge" capt. J. Phillips 1723, VI. the man that snaps his arms, or smokes tobacco in the hold, without a cap to his pipe, or carry a candle lighted without a lanthorn, shall suffer the same punishment as in the former article. (40stripes lacking 1 on the bare back). 2- articals of the "royal fortune" capt. Robert's 1720 IV. the lights and candles to be put out at eight a-clock at night: if any of the crew, after that hour , still remained inclined for drinking, they were to do it on the open deck. 3- "the sea gunner" J. sellers 1691- art of gunnery pg162- lanthorns, muscovia-lights (means the openings in the lanthorns are covered by mica sheets allowing the light to come through)with a large bottom to put water in, to prevent danger from sparks of the candle flying upon the powder dust that may get into the lanthorn. i tried to find oil but could not as of now.

i have a book by robinson and dow "sailing ships of new england" i pulled it off the shelve and found the inventory done on march 16 1703 of ship PROVIDENCE GALLEY 90 tons in the listing is "three poop lights" "three lanthorns" i look for oil or candles none listed.

that is a very good question? there where lanterns used about the ships, i can think of a few places i have found in my reads such as the big stern light called the "poop lantern" the light in the powder room, the helmsman light in the binnacle, the captain, surgeon and navigator had lighting, the gunner(dark lantern) someone going below deck into the hold. and of course the smoking lamp.

good finds so the "frog" is actually a common oilwick lamp and the squatty little lamps are frogs. i have a small lamp like the frog, bought it oversea in turkey it is shaped like an arab slipper the wick at the toe. in the P.I. folks would use something like the oilwick lamp they made them from tin cans you could burn anything in them that the wick could draw up. i brought a couple back with me. good bug lamps. btw hitler is on page 183!

the frog lantern- found a site where miner's lamps are shown this lamp is like what we call the tea pot lamp which is a oil burning lamp made in the 1860's for mining, the tea pot had a hook that allowed the lamp to be fastened on the front of the hat. as far a using oil and open flame for lighting aboard wooden sailing ships "fire hazzard" comes to mind. anyone got any doc. on prefered 17th century shipboard lighting? i vote for candles.

the frog lamp looks like it would burn with an open flame?

found a web site that had dark lanterns shown on it, but they are from the early 1900's. it states that a dark lantern is a lantern that is used for light but is fitted with a shading device that will allow you to cover the light (go dark) without blowing out the fire inside. so they are not for lighting slow matches. what would a gunner aboard a ship need this for?

has anyone ever seen what is known as a gunners dark lantern. used to keep the slow match lighted, i think?

that's would be the end to reenacting for me. fair winds and following seas to ye.

it should be in a wooden box about 7in by 7in or around there with a sliding lid, should be gimbled and the card turns, no needle also the marking on the card should have the fleur-de-lis for north and a maltess cross for east (holy land) don't forget the 32 points they don't have to be mark most will just have the fleur and cross, sailor knew there compass. if you can get your hands on a copy of fisher's "latitude hooks and azimuth rings" that will get you started on the "right course"

Falconer writes "Powder-Chests, certain small boxes, charged with powder and a quantity of old nails or splinters of iron, and fastened occasionlly on the decks and sides of a ship, in order to be discharged on an enemy who attempts to seize her by boarding. these cases are usually from 12 to 18 inches in length and about 8 to 10 in breadth, having their outer or upper-part teminating in an edge. they are nailed to several places of the quarter, the quarter-deck and bulkhead of the waist, having a train of powder which communicates with the inner apartment of the ship, so as to be fired at pleasure to annoy the enemy. they particularly used in merchent-ships, which are furnished with close-quarters to oppose the boarders. Gilkerson in Boarder AwayII says that Falconer"s "train of powder which communicates with the inner apartments of the ship" is another of his misdesciptions. he states no open powder train would ever be allowed under any circumstances aboard a wooden sailing ship, much less throught some kind of hole from the inside of the ship to the outside. also Gilkerson goes on to state that "warships were not like barns, where things were simply nailed up. no hole was made in the ship's fabric except by her carpenter or one of his mates.

what period are you in. GOP? and what are your shipmates using?