michaelsbagley

Okay, not a re-enactment demo.... But I didn't think this warranted it's own thread.... This past few days the Santa Maria has been hosting a "Haunted" Halloween event. Pretty much your typical family friendly haunted hause, but on a ship rather than in a house... And of course, if you're going to do a haunted house on a perfect replica of a five hundred year old ship, you might as well do it with a pyratical theme! Neither the wife nor I did manage to get the camera out to take any pictures, but there was a professional photographer there snapping pictures, which he has posted online to sell (and to view if you don't mind the watermark slightly obstructing the image). A percentage of all photos sold is being donated to the maintenance and upkeep of the ship.... I don't imagine anyone here would want to buy any of the photos, why would any of you want to buy a picture of someone else's family? But here are the links for your amusement anyways. Thursday's Photos Friday's Photos Saturday's photos Sorry I only found out about our involvement about a week ago, or I would have invited some of you from the surrounding areas as I can think of a few at least that probably would have really enjoyed this event. Numbers were down from last years haunted pirate ship event (which we were not a part of), but we were fighting against construction on many of the surrounding streets, political rally's (one of the presidential candidates was in town on Friday), and Saturday there was a huge street party not too far north of the area where the ship is moored... And considering all that, the numbers were not down that much (-20% give or take), so overall it was a mild success.

Happy Birthday Greg!!! (Although belated).. Hope you had a great one!

When it is decided who will be taking this on... I'd like to tag along for the meetings if that is okay. Being my first year, I really don't think I would be a good choice for being responsible for this, but if my tagging along wouldn't be a disruption, that would be great...

Hey McRae, welcome to the pub... This question does come up fairly regularily, but it is one of those questions that really can't be answered well until we know what it is you are trying to accomplish? Are you aiming for a strictly historical look? A more pirate entertainer look (inspired by movies and fiction)? OR something in between? There are plenty here that will have all kind of friendly advice, we just need to know what it is your looking for before directing you... I don't want to be suggestion all kinds of historical nonsense if you be looking for a more fun and fancy free approach, and likewise the more lavish here probably don't want to share their visions until they know you be not looking for strict history... Cheers!

Hey Dutch, it sounds like you had similar results with the linseed oil and turpentine mix as Aminjiria had with his denatured alcohol and shellac... But your mix has the advantage of me not having to buy new ingredients... What kind of ratios did you use? And was the black oil paint just for colour? Or does the oil paint actually help with the structure?

I am just about to undertake a new hat, and the particular style of cocked hat I am going to be going for will require some stiffening... Earlier in the thread a 2 part denatured alcohol to 1 part shelac mix was suggested (with the suggestion to play with ratios for varying results), and also the suggestion to use hair spray (which the poster wasn't sure if it would hold up to rain or not)... Is there any other methods people have tried and had success with? I'm leaning towards using the denatured alcohol/shellac, but would prefer something a little less harsh... if something exists and works that is less harsh. Thanks in advance for any suggestions, advice or help.

M.A. d'Dogge, our offer still stands... Since we are driving down we can haul some of your stuff if need be, We'd have to arrange to meet some time between now and then, but that shouldn;t be too difficult since it is all of a whopping 3 hour drive.

Hey Bo, I found the following two threads. I hope one of them this the correct one... If not let me know and I will try a more thorough search.. I generally have pretty good luck with the search functions on this forum. Folding Knives Working Knives I'm actually glad you brought this topic up as a friend of mine gave me a dozen folding knife blanks, and I have been itching to get one on the grinder to finish it... but I wanted to do some research first... Well that and I will likely not have the time to take that project on until spring..

Darling Wife took car of ours this morning.

Anywhere from 6 to 9.... Mostly depends on my personal economy which varies from year to year.

Basically, I had a look at the most common colour combinations, and found that "Independant Companies" used the red coats with the blue lining/cuffs. I went mostly from a research document by Lee Offin, his document showed that there were Indpendant Companies in Nova Scotia, four in New York, one in Bermuda, two in Barbados, one in the Bahamas, two in Jamaica, two in St. Kitts, one in Newfoundland. There were also independant companies in Virginia and other areas earlier in the time frame, but the previous list covers the later period I was focussing on for this uniform. This makes the uniform very diverse. I could have used white, yellow, green, or even orange (and perhaps other colours as well), but I just found the blue covered the most ground. Lacing was used on hats, but near as I can tell, the regimental lacing of one colour or another with specific coloured stripes for a particular unit was later period. So lacing was generic and as far as I can tell not specific to one unit or another... The War of Spanish Succession (Queen Anne's War) was pretty much the beginning of standardization of the British armies, and most of the F&IW and Rev War conventions were really begun in the late 1720s or 1730s. Buttons also do not seem to be numbered in the GAoP, as during the GAoP, companies were more named for their comander than numbered. The later GAoP does see the early stages of numbered units, but it really didn't get into full swing until after the period. The only units that seem to have lacing on buttonholes, as far as I can tell are the Grenadier units, and they are pretty much a specialty type of unit. I haven't really seen any evidence as to whether units of marines use lacing or not, but regiments of foot (which is what I am going for) seem to not use lace on anything except to trim the hats. Alsothe few images of grenadier units I have seen that have lacing, doesn't appear to have the same specifics as the later period F&IW or Rev War stuff. As far as I can tell, the grenadier units, just had solid colour plain lacing to match their unit colours. Hope this helps.

I don't believe this item has any actual historic provenance.... But it is a cool looking seat, and it has a very good historic look and feel to it... Which is why I am going with it... I think someone may have shared this link somewhere on the pub at some point, but here it is again. Camp Stool Instructions Camp Stool Instructions in PDF format for those more inclined to that format.

Okay then folks.... Here it is, the (un)official 2008 Pirates in Paradise car pool thread. I'll start. Kate, myself, Nick and Ashley will likely be leaving from central Ohio Wednesday evening I'm guessing it will likely be between 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM by the time we get home from work, get organized and get going. Mapquest has the drive at 21 hours. With such a long drive, we will not likely want to go very far out of the way... But I'm guessing we could go a little out of the way, specially if it helps save some funds. Mapquest has us mostly on I-77 for the first few hundred miles, and then on I-95 for the bulk of the rest of the journey... We have room for up to three people with light gear, or one or two people with moderate amounts of gear... Let us know if we can help you get there, or if you can help us. Cheers.

Okay then, so in the ongoing saga of my ever changing life... I started the new job today, and my boss breeches the topic of vacation time to myself and the other six guys that started today as well... SOoooo, since he brought it up, I ask about what the chances of me getting some more time off in December.... And he says "no problem". So this means, we are no longer flying, and are now driving down. I now have Thursday, Friday, Monday and Tuesday off... So we are thinking of leaving Wednesday night. I guess I should have posted this info in the "Carpool" thread... Assuming one exists for this year. I'll add this info there.

Dutch may not have known which of us was actually using his musket.. Which is why he wouldn't have shared that tid-bit. But all the same, I plead innocence on this one.

Gee Mickey why do I have that GREAT BIG cloud of black powder smoke in front of me and ye only have that tiny little one? Well you see.... It's all Dutch's fault. Yep, that's right. Blame Dutch! I borrowed a musket for Nick to use, and well since Nick didn't know Dutch too well, he insisted on using my musket because he was more comfortable with it, and made me use Dutch's musket.. So you see, it's all Dutch's fault. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

And for those who would like a sneak peak at some of the pictures... Here are Kate and my Photos from Deltaville. Hope you enjoy. Please feel free to pass this link on, and message me if I have mis-labelled anything or anyone, or simply not labelled someone I have forgotten the name of (which is plenty, because I am TERRIBLE with names).

This downswing in fuel prices couldn't have come at a better time.. We are headed to Virginia this weekend for an event, we're dragging a couple of friends with us to let them have their first try at pirate re-enacting, and the four of us we're going to all try to make the trip in the Wife's Hinda Civic. Because of the sudden drop in fuel prices, we are now considering taking the minivan, as we can now do that and spend the same money we had budgeted for gas a few weeks back when we first made the plans. Should the downward sloping fuel pricing continue, I just may do an event in November, which was something I was fairly certain I would not be doing (but secretly hope to accomplish). I filled up the tank last night for $2.96 per gallon (regular), I haven't been out and about today to see what the pre-weekend pricing is looking like. With this being a long weekend for some (anyone else get Columbus Day off?), I'm not too hopeful about the same under $3 per gallon pricing I got yesterday,

I'm not exactly sure on the details.... But I think it went something like this. I was getting rather frustrated and fed up with the politics and gossip and other useless nonsense that permeated the Norse re-enacting circles I used to run in... and wanted to try a difference period. I was actually debating between musketeer era and pirate era (although a return to War of 1812 re-enacting for me was an option as well), and using google to try and find groups and/or forums that I could get onto to learn more and by learning more to help me make a decision. The Pyracy Pub at that time came up fairly high on the list of the search for "pirate reenactment" (or maybe it was "pirate reenactors"? or some other derivative?)... So I signed on, read a lot, asked a bunch of questions, learned tons, eventually started to learn where to go and what to look for to answer my own questions.... etc. etc, etc, For the record, pirate era won out over musketeer era stuff for me. Although I still may dip my toes into the waters of earlier 17th century re-enacting eventually... AND also get back into the War of 1812 stuff as well (there seems to be a good number of War of 1812 events in Ohio where I now live).

Yeah, but not all of us are as lucky as you to own such spelndiforous shoes BlackJohn! Funny thing about Role Playing games and costs... Most role players I have come across spent more money on games and books than I have spent on re-enacting gear... Most humourous part of this, is that the best role-players I have ever gamed with spent the least amount of money on books... For role-playing less is definately more! Now if I could only find a good group to get into a game with over this winter. Speaking of the Lockehouse in November BlackJohn... What is the date for that again? (I know I could look it up myself, but I'm being lazy today)... Not much chance I can make it, but if I can get a few of the local crew that has been forming up to carpool together, it may just be a realistic option.

I'm not so sure pirate re-enacting is out of anyone's price range.... Specially if one is willing to play pirate and not "gentleman pirate"... To make the clothing is rather reasonable in price. Anyone who is willing to do the work can have a decent set of garb for about $50 +/- (depending on sales etc.) and for about $100 (+/-) in fabric and a bit more labour, one can have a freaking fantastic set of garb. The only expensive items are shoes (although going with Mary Diamond's shoes makes this cheap, and going with thrift store conversion shoes is cheaper yet)... Of course then there is the musket and/or sword issue. Those are the only two bank breakers. Many people have spare swords and/or muskets to loan though (admittedly there are fewer loaner muskets out there than swords though). A member of the local crew I sail with was at an event last weekend, and talked to some members of the Sea Rats for a bit... Said they were a good bunch to work with. Some comments about their numbers though... It was noted that there were about a dozen members of the Sea Rats present at said event, and a very believable claim was made by one of the members present that they had about another dozen members that couldn't make it... and several "hangers on" (whatever that means). So to take this thread back a little ways, it seems that the claims of 60+ active members, and over 150 total members is grossly over exaggerated.... At least going from what the member of the Sea Rats my friend spoke to. I don't mean to harp on that fact, it's totally cool to "pad" the numbers a bit, just about every re-enactment group I know of does that, but grossly exaggerated numbers are just silly and really don't serve anyone well.

I can say with fair certainty we will be flying in and out of Fort Lauterdale, as for the pair of us, it makes about a $400 difference! The car rental is looking to be around $150 (+/-), so going by way of Fort Lauterdale is still going to save us a good $250. We'll likely book our flights right after we get back to Deltaville, and I will post our flight information... If anyone else's travel times come close to ours, we will gladly give them a lift...

We're thinking of renting a car... And so far it is looking like flying into Miami is going to be epensive for us, where as by flying into Fort Lauterdale will save us a few hundred bucks.... I don't mind the extra hour drive to save money on air fair... Or similar comprimises.... I guess what I should be asking, is does anyone know if flying into other nearby cities or areas will help save more money?

Recent events has forced me to reconsider my means of travel to and from PiP this year. I had originally hoped to drive and make a road trip out of it... But now I have to start thinking flight. Anyone else flying? And what airports are decent to fly into? I know flying into Key West would be most ideal, but flying into Miami or somewhere else would be cheaper (correct?)... If you could share what info you have I would greatly appreciate it, as it should be getting close to the ideal time to book flights.