Misson

Yeah, there are no campgrounds on Key West proper that I'm aware of. If you want a regular campground, you'd have to go off-island. I know there's one on Stock Island (the next key up) called Boyd's. (Curiously, it has a Key West address, although it is not, in fact, on Key West.) Stock Island isn't much to write home about from my experience, but I've never really checked the park out and you probably won't be staying there much. (If you want to do that I'd check to see if they have reservations available now, though.) There are some others within a few miles of the island as mentioned. You might want to try Googling "RV Camping Key West" In all honesty, though...you're likely to have far more fun staying at the park, even if you have to sacrifice some amenities and convenience. You can only do so if you're re-enacting, but the price is right which is something precious hard to come by in Key West.

Hmm. I have read a bit about medicine as related to shipwrecked/marooned sailors and was planning to read a book recommended by one of my contemporary books on medicine during period. I plan on putting a chapter in my little opus on the topic. However, it seems we're going for being shipwrecked on an inhabited island and working that into the weekend if I understand this correctly. How do you figure to put the notion that we're shipwrecked across (as opposed to what we did last year) to people? Perhaps Captain Jim should go down on weekends and build a lifesized replica of a wrecked ship on the navy side of the beach... Incidentally, I plan to do at least one explanatory thing if we can work it into the schedule. Probably about 15-20 mins talking about surgery, how a surgeon would come to be with pirates, some of the more gory aspects of the trade with an explanation of the tools I will have. Like something you might see at Williamsburg, I suppose. It will be in costume, but not "in character" as I want to relate to the modern audience directly. If we're going for marooned, I want to be the Professor.

Here's a neat little apothecary chest that the seller identifies as being from 1830. Those inset brass fixtures sure were popular then. http://tinyurl.com/2dn3we It has a nice scale with weights in it's own drawer as well. During period, the apothecary folks had their own guild. In fact, there were three guilds - the physicians, the barber-surgeons and the apothecaries. The physicians were primarily theorists who saw patients and recommended treatments, the barber-surgeons did all the dirty work and the apothecaries provided medicine. On a ship, however, there were rarely (if ever) physicians or apothecaries so the barber-surgeon assumed all the duties. If nothing else, being a sea surgeon provided tremendous opportunities for learning medicine.

Ah, I do know a little... Graysail aka Bloody Buckets owns and runs a company, I believe it's a marketing company of some kind in...Virginia? He bought the site from someone other than Jamaica Rose - some guy whose name I've forgotten. This is all according to what Stynky told me at PiP. Booty (our current Admin) works for Graysail and was handed Admin duties when Graysail discovered he didn't have enough time to regularly feed, water and care for the site. Moderators are chosen for their obvious good looks and wizened brains...but mostly for our drinking skills. Graysail once shot me in the knee just to remind us all that he was still captain.

There used to be quite an extensive post about this in Beyond Pyracy, but it got purged. Alas, I don't recall much of it, but I'm pretty sure the site was originally owned by someone in California and got sold to Graysail (who is on the East Coast) a few years back. Stynky Tudor (who designed the little pirate emoticons we use) seems to be a reliably good source of info, but he probably won't see this thread. He drops in at the Pirates in Paradise Festival forum every now and then. You might pm him if you're really curious.

Curiously, I just read something related to the topic of a seaman's clothing. It's from John Keevil's Medicine and the Navy: 1200 -1900; Volume II. According to Keevil, records indicate that it was, for the most part, the responsibility of the sailor to provide his clothing. "No allowance for slops was normally made, nor were the Commissioners under ordinary circumstances responsible for organizing them, although they could intervene in their supply if necessary. Their only guide was that each man was allowed a sum, usually amounting to £2 for his kit if this were lost in action or by shipwreck." (Relating to the Spanish War in 1655, Keevil p. 57) He then goes on to list the clothing and its cost on the same page, which is slightly interesting. Further on, he talks again about clothing in regard to the plague and worries about clothing carrying it amongst the powers that be which gives some info on colour. (There seems to have been significant inflation even in the the 17th century!)

I sense there's a theme here...except it should be "Welcome aboard, Miss Aeshcombe. You have been added to the crew compliment along with Maeve, Liaem and Aeva.

Google says you're both right. So I guess only the Captain knows which movie he had in mind. (Someone needs to pm and explain to the Captain how this little game works...esp. the part about checking in to see if anyone's guessed your quote. )

How's come this got moved here? Syn was apparently a fictional pirate... But since it's in here now...I was watching some of McGoohan's The Prisoner TV shows recently...the ones I saw before I gave up on it were ok. I think he played the character oddly...with too much distance and too little emotion. A guy in his situation and his angry temper when quitting (as shown in the introductory credits) would be much less equable. For weird 60s psychological Brit drama/goofiness, I think The Avengers show was much more enjoyable (particularly the b/w Emma Peel seasons.) The Saint with Roger Moore was also quite good in this realm.

I have actually found a resource for medical bottles, but I have yet to contact him. I want to find out what we be most appropriate to period and if there is a place to buy bottles that are good replicas (or close). Hey, I found an on-line medical antique dealer on eBay. Very nice stuff, mostly civil war (which seems to be all the rage on eBay). If you've more money than I to spend on this hobby, it might be a good place to shop. Very well preserved antiques, overall. http://www.sawbonesantiques.com/

I've been reading Wafer's account and I think what he has to say about tattoos is quite enlightening. To wit: "...we had four Women to carry our Provision, and my Cloaths, which were only a Linnen Frock and pair of Breeches. These I saved to cover my Nakedness, if ever I should come among Christians again; for at this time I went naked as the Savages, and was painted by their Women; but I would not suffer them to prick my Skin [a real tattooing], to rub the Paint in, as they use to do, but only to lay it on in little specks." (A New Voyage and Description of the Isthmus of America, Lionel Wafer and George Parker Winslow, p. 58) "The four English Men with me were presently known and caress'd by the Ships Crew; but I sat a while cringing upon my Hams among the Indians, after their Fashion, painted as they were, and all naked but but only about the Waist, and with my Nose-piece (of which more hereafter) hanging over my Mouth. I was willing to try if they would know me in the Disguise; and 'twas the better part of an Hour before one of the Crew, looking more narrowly upon me, cry'd out, Here's our Doctor... I did what I could presently to wash off my Paint, but 'twas near a Month before I could get tolerably rid of it, having had my Skin so long stain'd with it, and the Pigment dried on in the Sun: And when it did come off, 'twas usually with the peeling off of Skin as well." [emphasis mine] (Wafer and Winslow, p. 64-5) Two points from the above: First, a comment about the Nose-piece; the indians he was living with wore a crescent-shaped nose ring which covered part of their mouth. Wafer noted that it had to be lifted when eating and drinking and was quite impractical - suggesting, in combination with the fact that he ran around in similar clothes (or lack thereof), that he had allowed himself to be tattooed as a part of looking like his hosts - he had really "gone native." Note particularly the comment about his concerns about coming "among Christians again." Second, I emphasize a point in the second quote to show that Wafer wanted to be rid of his "temporary" tattoo as soon as he was recognized as a member of the crew. This suggests to me that it was not generally acceptable. As has been noted, another crewmen was apparently not quite so wise and "suffered them to prick their Skin" which they then wanted removed. Here is the passage as it relates to tattooing in its' entirety: "The Women are the Painters, and take a great delight in it. The Colours they like and use most are Red, Yellow and Blue, very bright and lovely. They temper them with some kind of Oil, and keep them in Calabashes [dishes made from Calabash tree fruit hulls] for use; and ordinarily lay them on the Surface of the Skin with Pencils of Wood, gnaw'd at the end to the softness of a Brush. So laid on, they will last some Weeks, and are rewnew'd continually. This way they painted me. [see above quote] But finer Figures, especially by their greater Artists, are imprinted deeper, after this manner. They first with the Brush and Colour make a rough Draught of the Figure they design; then they prick all over with a sharp Thorn till the Blood gushes out; then they rub the place with their Hands, first dipp'd in the Colour they design; and the Picture so made in indelible. But scarce one in forty of them is painted this way. One of my Companions desired me once to get out of his Cheek one of these imprinted Pictures, which was made by the Negroes, his Name was Bullman; which yet I could not effectually do, after much scarifying [making small incisions and then drawing blood from them using heated bleeding bowls placed on the skin to create a vaccuum] and fetching off a great part of the Skin." (Wafer and Winslow, p. 136-7) There is an interesting point here - Wafer has been describing tattooing by the Indians and this other fellow has gotten tattooed by "Negroes" somewhere else. So that lends a bit of credence to a wider variety of tattooing opportunities available to seamen. Three points against this being common come to mind, however. First, Wafer goes to great pains to describe the tattooing process which suggests that it was uncommon enough to rate two pages in his book. Second, even among the indians, Wafer notes that "scarce one in forty of them is painted this way." Of course, this doesn't indicate why this practice was rare; it could have been because it was too time consuming (although time wasn't something the indians seemed particularly concerned about as Wafer notes elsewhere) or there weren't a lot of "greater Artists." Still, all of these are points against sailors having great opportunity to be permanently tattooed. Third, the fact that Bullman wants the tattoo removed is an indication that it was not a desirable thing to have, as I noted above. Of course, it was on his cheek, which would be frowned upon even today when tattoos have gained more popularity. As a side note, this suggests to me that Bullman may have been drunk when he got it, although this is pure conjecture on my part. Sailors seem to have tried to spend a great deal of their time drunk based on various medical journals I have come across (mostly discussing the variety of opportunities for men to injure themselves in novel ways due to drunkenness on ships.) Even today, many people I know who have "suffered to be tattooed" got their first tattoo in just such a manner. All in all, Wafer's comments suggest that tattooing of sailors happened during the GAoP, but it was neither common nor generally acceptable. This corresponds to other things I have read on the topic and discussed on forums elsewhere. It doesn't seem to support the idea of sailors running around all over the seas wearing tattoos unabashedly as might be inferred elsewhere.

A foot of the stuff in my driveway. I gotta' fix my snowblower...

Usually I don't much care about celebrity deaths (who are they to me?), but Gygax's products altered my imaginative sphere dramatically. I heard a few years ago that he was all but broke, although I don't know if that's true or not.

I spent the better part of a month looking for Woodall's book. You can buy it for $5000 at a rare bookseller's on-line. The only place I found it for download was on a database called Early English Books Online. And the only place I found that was at large universities. So I joined my alma mater's alumni club to get access to their computers. (Large universities have become really fussy about who can access their computers around here.)

I already have a small medicine box; Mary Diamond's father made up the one you see below in my signature in the lower left corner. I do want to eventually make a proper ships surgeon's chest, but descriptions suggest to me that it would be much, much larger than that. John Woodall's period manuscript (The Surgeon's Mate) recommends over 280 different items for making pills, salves and potions, most of which would be housed in the chest. I've also read that the chest was sometimes used to hold up one end of the operating table in the "operating room" (often located in the Orlop deck) during action, which suggest to me that it would be large, like a seaman's chest. So that's my next personal medicine chest goal... I just saw the one on eBay and thought it was neat and decided to share it. As for books, I have not come across that particular title, although I got access to a database that had loads of books from period available for download and currently have 15-20 surgery titles in pdf form. I do have two volumes specifically related to sea surgery and I plan to make my way through those. The problem is that I am finding them very slow reading because of type-styles, occasionally poor copying, arcane wording, odd lettering (two "v"s to represent w, "f"s to represent s's and so forth) and just general language variants. However, new info is always welcome. What are the general contents of the home physick's book?

I found a ship's doctor kit, complete with provenance dating it to the early/mid 1800s on eBay. It's too pricey for my collection and it's a little too far from GaOP, but it's still really neat. It gives a small insight into how ship's surgeon's kits were designed. Check it out here.

That's kinda' neat, but...$20 worth of neat?

Ok, someone please post a new quote...

To visit Harry.

Too cool (Er, turn down your speakers...) Guess I'll have to visit the movie theater soon... I haven't been to see a movie in the theater since Pirates 3 came out.

I'd just as soon have a car as pay to take the bus, provided I know it won't cost to park the car. (I have this thing about paying to park. I could never live in Manhattan.) If you watch, you can get car rentals if FLA pretty reasonably priced. (Plus, taking a bus seems complicated and you can never rely on having a decent seat mate. Besides, who knows what would then happen to my beloved Patrick Hand original planter's hat? I shudder to think of it.) I must confess that the ferry has always interested me as a new experience. I'm always on the lookout for new experiences that fall within my scope of interests while in Key West. Maybe I'll consider that one... BTW, the cost of taking a direct flight in as of yesterday from Detroit according to Travelocity was $520. Now, I would have paid $408 to fly into MIA without the credit, and I'll probably wind up paying $100-$200 for a week's car rental (admittedly not a convertible). I confess, I don't know the price of taking a bus, having never looked into it. Still, I find it often ends up being pretty much a wash by the time you add in the extra transport from MIA to EYW (not to mention the hassles of dealing with the monolithic MIA airport compared to the teeny EYW airport), so flying direct in is still my recommendation.

Ok...now please post a new quote!! :angry:

Nobody? It's from a remake of another film...

I personally think the best way is to fly in direct and take a taxi from the airport into the fort, myself. (You'll probably need help finding the fort if you've never been there anyway.) Driving down the Keys has it's charm, but it's 3-4 hours from Florida City no matter how you slice it. I only flew into Miami because I had a credit on an airline that was wayyy too expensive to take direct in. (The cheapest rate was over $1000, compared to a little over $400 into Miami. I lose the credit if I don't take it soon. I figure for the $600 difference, I could rent a really nice car. )

Ok, I'm invoking the "too long to post a quote" rule we made up a few months ago and posting a quote so the topic doesn't die. "The likelihood of one individual being right increases in direct proportion to the intensity with which others are trying to prove him wrong."