Silver

i have tried to put this on disc. i going to give it another try. i use colstons "the mariner's calender" 1688 this one looks like it has more info, plus more diagrams. thanks for put it up.

true. the lost of good pistol would be a shame, but the lost of your ship and to be taken captive would also be a shame if it could have been avoided by one shot and the lost of a pistol. at the "WHYDAH" exhibt there was a concertion of gun parts you can identify a trigger guard, frizzen and what may be ramrod holders. it is said to be tools of a gunsmith's trade. there were also flintlock powder tester which resemble small pistols (eprouvettes). i think a resourceful mariner could come up with a reliable ignition system. i have found another referance it is Falconer' 1769 "Marine and Naval Dictionary" i'll post it later.

i apologise for taking so long to get back to this. have been doing some reserach on the subject. i found that in 1573 Samuel Zimmermann, a german military engineer, developed a type of land mine called a Fougasse. he used a snaphance or flintlock firing mechanism with trip wire or lanyard trigger. the mines were buried by the defender near the base of their fortress and on being exploded, would fire rocks or lighted granados into the attackers ranks much like a claymore or cluster bomb. i am thinking that the pistol would be placed in the chest and the phrase "in such a place as you may fire the powder underneath through a hole made to put a pistol in" means the chest would be postioned and nailed down on deck were a straight pull on a laynard could be achived from a protected position. the cartridge (i would guess about 3-4 lbs. average charge for a 5-6 lbs round shot) is placed underneath the two boards nailed together like a ridge of a house to protect it from the loading of pebbles and iron pieces into the chest. a hole big engouh for the pistol would be made in the side of the chest upon the construction of the sides, allowing the pistol to be cocked and placed into the box in the cartridge area so the barrel pointed directly at the cartridge. a lanyard would then be run into the stearn or fore castle. i could be wrong i haven't a drawing i'm just working with the mechanics and what i know about powder.

thanks PoD, i knew there was another reference out there, but couldn't remember where it was and had spent the last day searching for it. smith talks of igniting it with a powder train, sellers a pistol through a hole. i like the pistol ignition. i'm thinking the pistol would be in the chest and would be fired using a trip wire or lanyard any thoughts?

i am planing to build a powder chest (an explosive device used as a defense weapon against boarders), i am not sure about the type of ignition system to use. has anyone ever built one or seen one exhibited? your inputs would be greatly appreciated. i do know that there is one described in John Smith's "Seaman Grammer & Dictionary" thanks

well done!

powder chest

there is a very active web site called chirurgeons-the staff of the serpent/medical history. it is a yahoo group, i find them to be very helpful in expanding the knowledge of medical history. i also have been working on a medical addition to my program and have gotten alot of help from them, many of them are on your side of the pond. give them a hail.

it is similar. the difference are, there is a trigger with guard located on the handle just aft of the breech of the barrel right where the handle starts to curve downward. instead of trunnions it has a moulded lug on the bottom of the barrel in the same area as the trunnions on your drawing with one hole going all the way through (left to right) to slide a bolt through to lock it into a mount (like a civil war boat howitzer. now, if you are asking if your drawing is the same as the one i stated as being in the uss constitution museum it is the same.

that drawing is on page 66 fig 20, there is also a picture (photo) of that weapon on page 67. i wish that i could scan it for you. the caption on the photo reads" early 19th century french espingole: this specimen displayed at the uss consitution museum.

in "boarders away II" on page 65 there is a drawing of a french canon a queue with iron breech block and internal lock mechanism 1790-1800. it looks like a swivel with a pistol grip, trigger with trigger gaurd on the grip and flintlock ignition. instead of trunions it has a large lug with a bolt hole through it.

great find!

TOTALLY OUTRAGEOUS!!!

i got there through the (nmm). here is a shortcut, google "national archives" select the one for "official archives of the uk gov. once there search "ship log book" then select for the list "royal naval museum portsmouth admiralty lib." then select "link to scanned list" you should see a pdf "gb 1070 from the royal naval museum" hope this helps.

go to the national maritime museum (nmm) they have a wealth of informantion on log books the sizes are given in "mm" if you have never searched their site you are in for a treat. how to make 17th century books, google a good book binding site. go for it

found a source for 18 oz. canvas, 60" wide for $9.00/ yard... seems like a pretty good deal to me.... what i was thinking of making with it is a new and larger dining fly...since most of them are usually using 10 0r 12 oz. canvas, i am thinking that a fly with this weight material would be heavy and troublesome....

any one with some experience chime in here ??

i think you would be right. if you are good at sewing canvas, it wouldn't be a bad thing to have some around it would be great to use to reenforce tentage or to make things were a heavy weight is needed. in the navy we would make chain bags out of it. i have a bag made from that weight that i use to carry fire wood into the house. it's tough stuff. i might look around and see what i can find in that wieght i have a few winter projects in mind.

i ran a google search to see what hit. most were battleship hits, except for one that one was a site that sold a water proof jacket made of 12oz canvas.

great pic's, just finished looking at them.

i was there for a port visit in the mid 80's, took a run out to paradise island mostly casinos and hotels got back into town hooked up with a couple of shipmates who where from the islands and wandered around town sucking up the local atmoshpere, i remember drinking alot of beck beer, never liked that stuff. we went to the conch market under this large bridge because my buddies knew something about conch fishing. i don't think the pirate museum was around then.

how did the sail boat project go?

did you get back or are you being held for ramson?

i would like to hear them do "whiskey in the jar"

visit a bar in the gut of a seaport town in third world country, if you want to have something to write home about.

Given the habit of pirates of razing ships (removing upperworks for the sake of speed and handiness) I suspect the answer for most pirate vessels would be nothing. Smaller vessels wouldn't have had a poop anyway.

have you ever studied the double page illustration on page 132/133 in the TIME-LIFE The Seafarers "PIRATES" book? the vessel that has been cut down has the look of a sailing landing craft.

The poop: that odd little cabin or compartment at the extreme top and back of the ship that sits immediately above the captain's cabin, and whose roof forms the poop deck. In Falconer's diagram of a 1st-rate ship of the line, there is a large poop that is actually divided into three compartments; a room for the trumpeters, the "Captain Lieutenant's" cabin and the "cuddy," which is for "the Master and secretaries officers."

All very well, but you also see poops on large East Indiamen and other merchant ships. It seems unlikely that merchants would have had trumpeters or "captain lieutenants," which would have been a military rank. I suppose they might have put the sailing master there if the captain was not also master, but who used the poop if the master was also captain and roomed in the captain's cabin?

page 81 in the "BATAVIA'S GRAVEYARD" by mike dash (a large 1600's east indiamen) "Jeronimus and a half a dozen other distinguished passengers were shown to a warren of little cabins on the deck above (over the great cabin), where the quarters were smaller and more spartan".