Hawkyns

The cavalier hat dates around 1630-1650. Tricorns appear 30 years or so later. BTW, if you go with a cavalier hat, it's the left side that turns up. It's so the musket doesn't knock your hat off when you shoulder it. Right side stays down to shield your face from the flash of the pan. Hawkyns

Ah now, ya got me all excited and then it wasna t'be. I've been looking for the dutch cutlass that Museum Reps had a couple of years back. A really sweet shell guard with knuckle bow on about a 28 inch curved blade. It appeared in their catalogue for about 2 issues and was gone. Never been able to find one since. Hawkyns

Thank ye, Cap'n William, thank ye kindly. Yes Elias and I bounce things off each other on occasion. We're in the same barony. The whole thing is mindset. When I'm getting ready for a major muster, I read period material, stories about the period, listen to period music. I also have a full persona story-home, family, ships, experience, and I reread it before going out. Part of getting in the mindset is having the small details and material culture correct. It's impossible to ditch the 21st century if you see plastic when you go into your tent. Everything non period stays in the car and the key is hidden in a leather pouch where I won't see it. I eat period foods, live a period lifestyle, suffer period discomfort when I'm at a muster. Matter of fact, I'm in the process of getting ready right now. this weekend is the Grand Muster at St Mary's Cittie, MD. Covers the period from 1580 to 1705. I'll attending as an English sailor of 1590. A couple of people are trying to persuade me to take a digital camera and get some pictures of the camp and kit. Maybe. Not sure that's not stepping out enough to be disturbing to the event. Hawkyns

I think Deacon's right on this one. It really appears to be a late 18th C cavalry hilt. The blade's a bit short for that, but otherwise it looks right. Looking at the picture on the link, it's a bit hard to tell, but it looks like the back third of the blade may be 'sharpened'. I'd also be interested if that were the only blade made with that hilt. The site says forged steel, but most movie swordplay is done with aluminum blades for safety. Could there have been a couple of clones done from this for the combat scenes? It's also interesting that the credits for the movie do not name the swordmaster. I'd really be interested to know who trained them for the fight scenes. Hawkyns

I use cotton braided clothesline with the nylon core removed or 3 strand hemp macrame cord, braided wet and let dry. Make a super saturated solution of potassium nitrate in rubbing alcohol (stir it in until it won't dissolve any more). If I'm using white cotton clothesline, I throw in some teabags for colour. Cut the cord into 6 foot sections and soak for about 10 minutes. Hang them over the line and let them dry. They should feel very slightly gritty when dried. Hawkyns

I make my own match and it burns about 10 inches per hour, without wind. Doesn't burn, really. Just glows like a cigarette end. The tube is actually to put it out. Pull it back inside and the match goes out. Otherwise, it takes water to put it out. I normally cut the end and drop it in the gun bucket to be safe. Hawkyns

That's one of those real vague questions- depends on time, place, and personality. Especially in the earlier periods, 16th/17th c, pirates were much the same as other mariners. Could go on the account or on a trade voyage. Depends on the captain, crew and opportunity. So their ideas of comfort would not be particularly different from any other mariners. Fire was the great fear, so there wouldn't be much call to light lanterns on ship. When you did, it would be flint and steel. My f&s kit has a small firesteel, chunk of flint, tow, charcloth, small beeswax candle and e couple of inches of slowmatch, all in a brass box about the size of a playing card and 3/4" thick. I've found slowmatch is best for lighting my pipe. Doesn't go out in the wind and doesn't throw flame everywhere. I carry a small box of herbal remedies with me, peppermint tea, candied ginger and some cold and cough mixtures that I get from the local herbalist. A twist of tobacco, a small jug of spirits, deck of cards, and my journal pretty much rounds out the comfort items. Everything else in the chest is practical. Sewing kit, gunners tools, musket maintainance, gunnery books, and spare shirt and slops. Hawkyns

I bought mine many years ago from The Practical Goose, one of the better 16/17th C sutlers. I believe it was made by CAS Iberia, but I checked their online catalogue and it's not there. However, I'll be sing the Practical Goose this weekend at the Grand Muster at St. Mary's Cittie. I'll ask them where from and if still available. I'll also try and get some photos of my blades and post them, if I can borrow a digital. I still believe in real film, so don't have a digital yet. Hawkyns

Oh, definitely at sea. Not sure about the chests, though. Certainly the Mary Rose had plenty of sea chests. There seems to be a fair amount of documentation for sea chests throughout the period. Sea bags appear to be more of a navy idea and from the later 18th and 19th C. Hawkyns

Thank ye, Sir! Much appreciated. Remember though, I'd only be doing one impression at a time so only have half the list and most of each one is clothing I'd be wearing. I can fit all my nonworn stuff into a small seachest and a small ditty bag, other than the long weapons. Very liitle room at all. Hawkyns

Well I have two impressions 1595- canvas shirt blue wool venetians or linen canvas slops leather or linen sleeveless jerkin claret blanket wool cassack thrumm cap 3 lb monmouth cap wool cut hose and knitted garters leather latchet shoes bucket top boots oilskin cloak wool cloak bollock knife cutlass matchlock musket wheellock carbine and wheellock pistol gunners tools- Mary Rose linstock, vent pricks, quadrant 1720- striped ticking shirt linen canvas slops red wool weskit rose linen weskit linen canvas sailor's jacket red and black silk scarves grey tricorn knitted wool hose black leather shoes just ordered a Billy Bones overcoat from Bradley hausewehr belt knife cutlass brass barrelled blunderbuss 3 pistols, 5" 9"and 12" barrels gunners tools- vent pricks, linstocks, quadrants, calipers Multiple small items-compasses, pipes, facsimile books, sea chests, etc. 4 cannon- 3 pdr, 2pdr, 1 pdr swivel, 24pdr mortar I have a couple of tents, depending on who is with me for an event, but on my own I try to camp with a piece of canvas and a rope stretched over crossed oars to form a 3 sided open front lean-to. Gots lots of other stuff that I rarely use anymore. Found better kit, or better documentation. I'm definitely a re-enactor, all my kit has to be historically accurate and real working kit. Hawkyns

Hausewehr or hausfern or a couple of other spellings is a 15-18th century German utility knife. Longer than the French or English trade knife, more pointed and without the curved belly prominent in most trade knives. Mine also has quite a thick spine. Excellent as a working piece, but with enough blade to make a better fighting knife than a thin bladed trade knife. Hawkyns

Aye Cap'n. I carry a belt knife (bollock knife for 16th c, hausewehr for 18th c with a gunner's vent prick on the front of the sheath) and a cutlass. Original 18th c Austrian blade with a shell guard and knucklebow with a single short opposed quillon. Worn on a baldric with a large brass buckle. More blades than that get in the way when I'm working the guns. Hawkyns

Haven't been happy with commercial boots yet. Most of them are just too damn soft/flimsy to stand up on their own. Best solution I've come up with is to get a good pair of shorter boots, cut the barrel off along the ankle stitching, and sew on a proper high barrel of good stiff leather. Last pair I had was built on a pair of standard Fry boots. They've lasted me close on 10 years but the shoes have finally cracked apart from being wet and dried so many times. Not to mention the gouges from the spurs. Anyway, I think my next pair will be built on a pair of engineer boots. The flat sole will be a bit easier to fight on than the stacked heels of the Frys. Picked up a hide of 6-8 oz wax stuffed leather (think very heavy belt leather) at Pennsic that that will stand up uon its own. One of the projects for the winter while watching TV. Hawkyns

I've chummed more than a few seas over the years. Found two preventatives. Took a party cruise in Barbados a few years back on The Jolly Roger. Bonine and Old Brigand Rum let me eat a great meal and hang on to it while dancing on the foredeck. Not sure the sawbones would approve, though........ The other was pure bloody work. Out on the Providence, between hauling sail and running cannon broadsides, there just wasn't time to think about it. Hawkyns

Agree with Deacon on this one. I've been studying the sword for a quarter century or so, me own self and fighting as I was trained is very different fom fencing. What the foil class will teach you is distance, basic parries, movement, maybe some point control, and getting you used to someone swinging a piece of steel at you. Right of way, target area, and stance is *very* different from real swordplay. I use both point and edge, though my preference is edge. The style is commonly called cut and thrust, or the new term is sidesword. One of my martial arts teachers long ago told me that there is no form that can't teach you something. Take what you can use and discard the rest. Get into the historical stuff ASAP. If you want to look at a couple of books in advance, try Renaisance Swordsmanship by John Clements or The English Martial Arts by Terry Brown. There is very little written on cutlass work before the 19th century, but if you can get hold of a navy cutlass manual from then it will give you ideas, too. Just don't try to tell the instructor 'but I want to do it this way'. Take what he teaches, as he teaches it. There really is a reason for it. As you advance, you can start to develop your own style. Just be warned, Lass. It's addictive and there's always just one more sword that you need to try that new technique. Hawkyns

I be in the Connecticut Colony, in the town known as New Haven. Hawkyns

Mornin' te ye Dorian Always glad ta have ye on the crew. There'll be few changes in my bairns over the winter. Morning Glory will get a new sledge, if the timbers will ever finish seasoning. 10x10's take a bloody long time. Voice will get either new or rebuilt wheels and new capsquires. Cricket, in addition to her 15th C carriage, will get a 3 truck Dutch carriage, like those on the Batavia. Then there's always new tools to be made. In between all this, I'm going to be rebuilding the carriage for one of the 4 pounders from the Providence. Busy winter ahead, I'd guess...... Hawkyns

The most common 'heavy' guns on pirate ships would be 3, 4, and 6 pounders, all of the 'bastard' size. (shorter barrel than a landbased gun of the same calibre). Larger guns would require more deck space, recoil room, and crew than most pirate ships had. The larger guns are primarily shipkillers anyway, and designed to send your enemy to the bottom. NOT the sort of thing you want to do to all that lovely gold. Bar shot and chain shot are for dismasting and destroying the rigging. There are many variations on this but all serve the same purpose. Swivels are indeed the pirate's friend. Ranging from 1/2 pounders up to 3 pounders, they would be arranged along the rail. On navy ships, they were also on the quarter deck rail, for defending against an enemy or a mutinous crew. Loaded with case shot (musket balls in disintegrating wood or tin cannisters), grape shot (large balls arranged around a wooden mandrel and held in place with canvas and line 'quilting'), or langrage (loose ball and whatever else dropped down the barrel), these weapons could make short work of sweeping a deck, especially if you had a height advantage. Many people seem to focus on langrage, but, in reality, this was the least favourite round and was very much a load of last resort. If you had bronze guns, langrage of iron or glass or gravel or even sharp bronze would scrape the hell out of your bore and do serious damage to the gun. Every one of those gouges can hold a spark so that next time you load a round, it can go off in your hand. Even in iron guns, this could be an issue. The other issue is that loose loads would not neccesarily pack tight against the overpowder wad. Blackpowder has an interesting little quirk that if you have a gap between your powder and your load, the barrel will burst. This applies to hand weapons too, so be careful in loading your pistols and blunderbusses. All of the Articles have a clause of one sort or another that you must keep your weapons in good shape and ready for use. This most especially applied to the gunner and his charges. Hawkyns

Well, depends how much you want to spend. "De Pyrotechnica" is currently in print from Dover at about $20.00. I saw a copy of "The Sea Gunner" on a used book search last week for about $75.00. There's another commonly available one but it's a bit late, "A Treatise of Artillery" by John Muller, written in 1780. Museum Restoration Services out of Alexandria Bay, NY publishes that one in paperback for not too much. I've got most of mine from book searches and occasionally Ebay, but they price anywhere from $50-150. I've got a whole shelf on artillery and sea gunnery alone, 35 or so books. Then of course there's the 4 cannon in the garage..... I need to go on the account just to feed this hobby! Hawkyns

Gunnery was a very advanced subject in the period. Manuals on ships gunnery were being written as early as the 1540's. "De Pyrotechnica" by Berengutti (sp?) had directions on casting cannon, making granadoes, how to pack a fire ship, and a number of other topics was one of the first. Bourne wrote "A Regiment for the Sea" and "The art of Shooting in Great Ordnance" in the 1590's. "The Sea Gunner" (John Seller, 1691) became a standard on the subject. The 18th century saw a series of manuals on artillery, most of which had chapters on sea gunnery. So it was not a by guess and by god operation. A master gunner new his pieces and his art and was highly valued. No doubt he would be a specialist who was offered the chance to join the crew rather than be killed or ransomed. A large amount of math was involved, geometry for ginding aiming points and ranges, calculating the dispart (the difference between the height of the breech reinforce and the muzzle swell), and the weight of shot versus charge. A gunner had to know each individual piece because cast cannon all shoot differently due to the variations in a core cast cannon. Israel Hands gets passed off as a violent whacko. If he was as good as he was supposed to be, then Stevenson made a big mistake in portraying him as barely civilised. Hawkyns Master Gunner

$3900???? Better have some damn good provenance and something special about the piece. Originals are generally in the $2300 to $2800 range. Wouldn't want to shoot an original anyway. Too much possibility of barrel rupture/broken spring/damaged sear, etc. $500-600 is the general price for pieces being made in India, just make sure you deal with a reputable importer and get some opinions from other people who've bought from the same importer. Guns made in this country are more likely to be in the $800-$1000 dollar range. Going the parts route is OK if you know your way around a gun shop, or if you have someone who'll do it for you inexpensively. The parts are not the most expensive bit, but a gunmakers time can run very high. Hawkyns

Also known as dragons or musketoons. Loyalist Arms out a' Nova Scotia makes a damn fine piece for not so much silver. Brass barreled, early to mid 18th C roundfaced lock, .75 cal. Comes in a couple of barrel lengths, I got the 16inch. Well made, fires well, and has some nice details. I particularly like the tow worm permanently on the end o' the rammer. They have an earlier piece, Queen Anne doglock, but more money and a longer wait. Hawkyns

Ayuh, Down Among the Dead Men is great stuff. Got a couple of versions, both from Williamsburg. After that, I guess it would be Johnny Jump Up from the Crimson Pirates. Hawkyns

Sorry Lass, I'll be in MD, but not at the renfaire. That's the weekend of the Grand Muster of the 17th Century at St. Mary's Cittie. Planning to go down and see if I can win the matchlock shooting competition again. On t'other hand, if people are interested in seeing some excellent 17th C units and probably a battle or two, it is the largest and most authentic gathering of 17th C re-enactors in the country. Hawkyns