Misson

A guy at a place I used to work had a card listing the officers of a graduating class at his kid's school. They had all signed the card. He brought it in because one of them had the same name as me. The weird thing was, the kid signed his name almost exactly like I did when I was about the same age. (Perhaps there are two of me on different time paths?)

Somewhere I recall reading that only about 1/3 of the patients survived amputations due mainly to infection. But don't quote that as I don't recall where I read it and I'm not certain whether it applied only to sea surgeons or included land surgeons as well. They didn't really start keeping statistics on such things until the mid/late 18th century and many of those records came primarily from hospitals. Surgeon's journals usually recorded deaths, but they weren't really an enforced record until 1703. On top of this, many of the journals were not preserved. I believe this requirement was only for naval surgeons, so it is not reflective of the whole. (In other words, there are no reliably comprehensive records. Means 'no.')

You'll probably need a large college library to get hold of Yonge. I paid a princely sum for that one...

One fictional character shares your first name. (Personally, I think your name is extremely cool...) There are 34 people with my name. I wonder if that includes me or not? Did they subtract one for me asking? They must have as Duchess got 0 responses... or am I overthinking this?

Mostly I'm just interested in seeing if folks going to PiP are interested in doing this. The way it worked for me was really simple. (And it could work for blacksmithing as well). 1. I laid out all the tools I had with me on the table and let people approach. 2. I would say, "Hi there!" (brightly) and the conversation would be opened. 3. Someone would usually ask "What's that for?" (Usually in reference to the trepan, the bullet extractor or the clyster syringe) and I would give the spiel about that item. 4. They would then _4a) ask about something else _4b) leave or _4c) Just stand there. ___4c1) If they stood there, I started explaining something else (bleeding/cupping jars was a good one) ___4c2) I would then pause to see what they would do after that. If they stayed, return to step 4 and repeat. This way they regulated their own info intake. 5. When there was a large crowd, I would usually just go through my 5 or 6 favorite things and people could stay or go as they pleased. 6. After explaining the 5 or 6 things I would stop because I needed a breather. Some folks would then move on, others moved forward, I would turn around to get some water, turn back and...return to step 2. Nice and simple. Now, if you're doing something like sewing an item or some other activity, you just look up, smile and say, "Hi there!" (brightly). They will then ask questions or watch you for awhile or just move along. Again, you just let them determine how much info they want to take in. (Note: To give credit where it's due, I learned this while taking a fellow re-enactor/LARP person from the Netherlands to Greenfield Village about a month ago. This is exactly how the professional re-enactors did this almost every time. I figured if anyone would know how to work this, they should. ) Whatever we call this (they call it "Living History" and the ever popular "History Come to Life!" at Henry Ford Greenfield Village here in Detroit which has been in operation in one form or another since 1929), it's an easy thing to do, especially if you have a particular area of interest. Even if you don't, reading one book on a topic that might interest you enough to talk about it will probably give you enough info to operate for two hours time. The question is (for those of you who have made it this far): Is anyone interested it doing this besides Michael? I figure we need at least five stations to make it worthwhile.

I've mentioned it before, but the neatest book on period disease I've found so far is Guy Williams The Age of Agony (1986). It deals more with land medicine than sea, however. There is no outstanding comprehensive book on sea surgery specifically for the GAOP period IMO (which is part of the reason I'm writing one), but a pretty good book is Zachary Friedenberg's Medicine Under Sail (2002). Thrower's book can be a trifle pricey and I have my issues with him as I've noted, so I suggest your local library. You can probably get it through inter-library loan if nothing else.

I don't have the book handy, nor did I underline the quote, but in The Journal of James Yonge, 1647-1721, Plymouth surgeon he mentions a lighthouse in the Mediterranean. (Not much help, is it?) If you're really curious, I could try and find it again.

Here's something cool we could do that should be fairly simple to prepare in advance and yet still add depth to the event. I a living history display would be extremely cool at PiP. We could put something together at the event using the particular characters, roles and skills like we have been discussing in the Mercury Crew Thread. Something like this page that I put together on my website from a recent event: http://www.markck.com/images/Piracy/BB08/B...al_Ch_Fifth.htm It would not be scripted or anything that will require meeting in advance. It'd be more of a self-guided tour through an area where we re-enactors explain our roles and tools. There are various stations set up for various things that were important to careening and/or shipboard life. Some of the stations might include: My surgical stuff (a sample of which you can see on that link to my webpage), Capt. Sophia's spices, willie wobble has a beautiful cooking set-up, Silkie's Ordinary is already in the planning stages, William could talk about ship design (and show off his draughts) and Michael and others had been toying with a blacksmithing display. (These are just ideas, possibly suggestions, mind you.) There are several other roles people could explain such as making clothing, knots and ropes, sail-making and weaponry. It's actually quite easy to do - not only do you get to talk about your hobby, the people listening are actually interested! Now, Key West is a pretty casual environment, so my suggestion is to run it after the Sunday battle in the fort (when people are the most concentrated in the fort). Have it run for 2 hours max. That way, unlike the camp where people come and go and most of the public walking through are really on their way to the beach, we could have everyone there and ready (we'd probably have to set up before the battle). While it would be best situated in the camp for obvious reasons, sheer publicity and attendance suggest we should be set up in the Fort for the first year and see how it goes. (It may not go at all, but it's fairly low investment for most of us and thus is low risk IMO.) It would also give the pirates inside the fort a taste of the bizarre lengths we go to to try and recreate the period. Mostly of the prep work would be done by those showing off their skills, knowledge acquisitions before arriving in Key West. (Bone up on your period info.) Those who are interested could just volunteer to be involved in the area that interested them, bringing their own materials and skills. I learned that it also does help to think about how such would be set-up to best effect. (For example, I discovered that I need to get a piece of soft leather in light color to set my instruments upon and show them off to best advantage.) All we should require from the Fort is some tables set up, probably under the tent. Anyhow, there it is. I don't think it's at all too late to put something like this together. (If we're gonna do it, we should get it on the program, however. I think it'll take all the promotion we can muster.) This would be a chance to really show off the Mercury and Archangel crews period-correct stuff and it would only cost us some personal planning in advance and two hours or so plus set-up in the fort. Thoughts? Suggestions? Random notes of interest?

Now Dampier says being forced to eat seals could lead to mutiny! "The 15th Day we went ashore, and found abundance of Penguins and Boobies, and Seal in great quantities. We sent aboard of all these to be drest, for we had not tasted any Flesh in a great while before; therefore some of us did eat very heartily. Captain Swan, to encourage his Men to eat this coarse Flesh, would commend it for extraordinary Food, comparing the Seal to a roasted Pig, the Boobies to Hens, and the Penguins to Ducks; this he did to train them to live contentedly on coarse Meat, not knowing but he might be forced to make use of such Food before we departed out of these Seas; for it is generally seen among Privateers, that nothing emboldens them sooner to Mutiny than want, which we could not well suffer in a Place where there are such quantities of these Animals to be had, if Men could be perswaded to be content with them." (Dampier, p. 105-6) BTW, I said small impact, not no impact, and even then I qualified it by comparing it to the 'natural' impact (based on the environmentalist-espoused assumption that anthropomorphic impact is somehow non-natural.) We impact everything we come in contact with, even when we try not to. (In fact, we often affect things in the most dramatic ways when we try not to or try to undo what we think we've done. The records of the national park service are filled with astounding mistakes made in the effort to "preserve" a dynamic, ever-changing environment.) For an eye-opening look at what happens when we go about trying to preserve a species, check out In a Dark Wood, by Dr. Alston Chase. And, for the record, dinosaurs and man are separated in history by tens of millions of years. Sneeze to your heart's content.

The on-line journal relating the events at the events at the Blackbeard Festival as seen through the eyes of Mission the Surgeon is up. You can view it starting here. (And, on the off chance that you enjoy that and you haven't read Mission's PiP '07 Journal, you can check that one out here.)

I am still playing with the Hampton page. (No one gets to see it until it's done.) However, the PiP '07 journal can be found here: http://www.markck.com/images/Piracy/PiP_20...al_Ch_First.htm All the page navigation links are at the bottom. It runs 9 pages, so take it in bites. (Not to get too far OT in Twill, but PiP is an absolute rollicking blast. Everyone should experience it. Like Key West itself, it is much slower paced than Hampton, however.)

Mission the surgeon fishing. Can we do it in period kit? I am a wholly inexperienced and distracted fisherman. This means the last time I went fishing with friends, I caught the most fish. (It was in the Florida keys...hint, hint, Dutch...off Looe Key, I believe.) Yellow fin something or another, mostly (not tuna, though). The guide started the trip by asking who was the least qualified fisherman - naturally it was me. So he announced that I would catch the most fish and, by George... Those yellow fin somethings or other were really good - we had a local restaurant prepare the third of them that we didn't give to the guide. Funny, I was just writing about you in my web page for the Hampton event, Dutch. It looks to be about 7 pages long, which surprises even me. There was just so much going on at that event...

When I was at the Hampton Blackbeard festival I was chatting with Greg from Weeping Heart and asked him about the folding knife. He had one under the counter and I told him I wanted to buy it for the chest auction. "I'll donate it, then." So my donation for the auction is now Greg's donation for the auction. I'll bring the knife with me to PiP. So now I have to think of something else to contribute...

They may have eaten them, but they didn't think much of them as food. From Dampier's New Voyage Round the World, where he's speaking about an indian who was stranded on Juan Fernandez island for three years: "With such Instruments as he made in that manner, he got such Provision as the Island afforded; either Goats or Fish. He told us that at first he was forced to eat Seal, which is very ordinary Meat, before he had made hooks, but afterwards he never killed any Seals but to make Lines, cutting their Skins into Thongs." So it doesn't sound like we're missing much. (More species became extinct before the arrival of man than currently exist on this planet. We've actually had a remarkably small impact on species extinction as a percentage of the total. In a related note, the polar bears - which were recently placed on the US Endangered list - have actually doubled in number in the last 40 years. Talk about the politics of perception. )

I found another reference to this. It's from Dampier's New Voyage Round the World. Captain of the voyage John Cook died of an illness in Mexico, leaving the position vacant. Dampier comments: "The Day before we went from hence, Mr. Edward Davis, the the Company's Quarter-Master, was made Captain by consent of all the Company; for it was his Place by Succession." (Dampier, p. 88)

Since I'm foolin' around with the photos for the Surgeon's Journal web pages that should only take a day or seven to finish, I decided to list and label the pub photo from the Hampton Event rather than do what I'm supposed to be doing. 1. withoutaname 2. Kate Souris (Mercury/Archangel) 3. Sean Merriweather (Archangel) 4. Aminjiria (Jack) (aka FB and "I hate that guy") (Archangel) 5. Silkie McDonough (Mercury/Archangel) 6. Abbington Normal (Archangel) 7. Edward O'Keefe (Mercury/Archangel) 8. Cheeky Actress (playing Mistress Lilly McKinney - Archangel) 9. Captain Sterling (aka Harbourmaster - Archangel) 10. Joshua Merriweather (Archangel 11. Mission (aka "What the heck is that big syringe for?", Mercury/Archangel) 12. Michael S. Bagley (aka. Micky Souris - for fun, look up Souris, Mercury/Archangel) 13. Mad Mary Diamond (Archangel) There are some people notably missing from the photo which include 14. Lily Alexander (of Haunting Lily fame -Mercury/Archangel) 15. Duncan McGuyver (Vigilant Crew) 16. bcddutchman (Dutch of the filthy slops - Blackbeard Crew) 17. Spike (Bone Island) 18. Scarlett Jai (Bone Island) 19. callenish gunner 20. saltypots (whom I'm sorry I didn't know where there or I'd have gone to meet them!), 21. The Royaliste 22. 1st Mate Matt 23. Greg Hudson(vendor extraordinaire) 24) The Black Fox Did I miss anyone who missed the photo op? Holler and I'll add you.

Here you go!! Shana (withoutaname) took some pictures of the Susan who was the apothecary at the Hampton Blackbeard festival. I have been going through everyone's pics and lightening them up (it was sunny which makes the subjects of photos dull. Web page photos must pop, Pop, POP!) and I found these shots. You can see one of her apothecary boxes toward the back of the table. Be sure and thank Shana. (Mission is a hopeless loser when it comes to taking photos.)

Apparently you don't quite understand PiP yet...

Mary Diamond's father made mine and I thought the price was pretty reasonable for the quality of the box. I don't know if he's still available to make one for you or not, but I think mine is beautiful. I actually sent him the bottles I had and he custom-made the cubbies to the bottles. I am also looking to get more spices for my Apothecary and have been scouting around for uniform, square-bottomed, corkable bottles. The one's on this webpage are a trifle small, but I like the look of them. The round-bottomed Port line on that page also look very good, and they're reasonably priced. This past weekend I worked the surgical area at the Blackbeard Pirate festival with Cutter, another surgeon and Susan, an Apothecary. She explained spices and had a wonderful set-up complete with two small medicine chests. The really nice one (about 15" x10" x10" or so) had a hinged top and side opening. The top was a shelf for bottles, below which was another shelf or drawer if I recall it correctly. Boxes with both top & Side opening boxes seem to be pretty standard for period, although mine is different and opens like a book. Incidentally, an apothecary is much more likely to have been in the West Indies than a spice trader. Woodes Rogers had an apothecary on his privateering voyage. From a product education standpoint it would be closely related to spice traders...just a thought for you. (Nicholas Culpepper's Complete Herbal from period is still available as a reference to herbal medicines.)

I am typing in material from W.R. Thrower's book Life at Sea in the Age of Sail and this quote is just too priceless not to share. It's going in my book wholesale. I just wish I knew where Thrower got it from. All he says, it that it's " from the journal of a surgeon in a merchantman" in the early 17th century. (Where can I get it, W.R.? I hate your poor documentation skills, sir!) ‘In the month of June, almost two-thirds of the white people were taken ill. Their sickness could well be characterized by any denomination commonly applied to fevers: it however approached nearest to what is called a nervous fever, as the pulse was always low and the brain and nerves seemed principally affected. It had also a tendency to frequent remissions. It began sometimes with a vomiting, but oftener with a delirium. Its attack was commonly in the night; and the patients, being then delirious, were apt to run into the open air, I observed them frequently recover their senses for a short time by means of the heavy rain which fell upon their naked bodies. But the delirium soon returned: they afterwards became comatose, their pulse sank, and a train of nervous symptoms followed; their skin often became yellow, bilous vomitings and stools were frequent symptoms. The fever reduced the patient’s strength so much that it was generally six weeks or two months before he was able to walk abroad. A consuming flux, a jaundice, a dropsy, or obstructions in the bowels, were the consequences of it. Of 51 white men, being the companies of four ships which were at Catchou one-third died of the fever, and one-third more of the flux and other diseases consequent upon it; and of these not one was taken ill until the rains began. ‘I believe on the whole face of the earth, there is scarce to be found a more unhealthy country than this during the rainy season; and the idea I then conceived of our white people was by making a comparison of their breathing such a noxious air, with a number of silver-fish put into a stagnating water; where, as the water corrupts, the fish grow less lively, they droop, pine away and die. ‘Thus some persons became dull, inactive, or slightly delirious at intervals; and, without being so much as confined to their beds, they expired in that delirious and comatose state in less than 48 hours after being in apparent good health. The white people in general became yellow; their stomachs could not receive much food without loathing and retchings. Indeed it is no wonder that this sickness proved so fatal, that recoveries from itwere so tedious, and that they were attended with fluxes, dropsies, the jaundice, ague-cakes [a curious condition of the spleen] and other dangerous chronical distempers. It seemed more wonderful to me that any white people ever recover, while they continue to breathe so pestiferous an air as that at Catchou during the rainy season. We were, as I have already observed 30 miles from the sea, in a country altogether uncultivated, overflowed with water, surrounded with thick impenetrable woods, and over-run with slime. The air was vitiated, noisome and thick; insomuch that the lighted torches or candle burnt dim, and seemed ready to be extinguished, even the human voice lost its natural tone. The smell of the ground and of the houses was raw and offensive, but the vapour arising from putrid water in the ditches was much worse. All this, however, seemed tolerable, when compared with the infinite number of insects swarming everywhere, both on the ground and in the air; which, as they seemed to be produced and cherished by the putrefaction of the atmosphere, so they contributed greatly to increase its impurity. The wild bees from the woods, together with millions of ants, over-ran and destroyed the furniture of the houses; at the seam time, swarms of cockroaches often darkened the air; and extinguished even candles in their flight; but the greatest plague was the musquettos and sandflies whose incessant buzz and painful stings were more insupportable than any symptom of the fever. Besides all these, an incredible number of frogs on the banks of the river made such a constant and disagreeable croaking, that nothing but being accustomed to such a hideous noise could permit the enjoyment of natural sleep. In the beginning of October, as the rains abated, the weather became very hot; the woods were covered with abundance of dead frogs and other vermin, left by the recess of the river. All the mangroves and shrubs were likewise overspread with stinking slime.” (Thrower, p. 167-9)

Problem being that 99% of the police wouldn't notice either and would still be stopping folks and asking questions and then without a sword to show them....horrors... Yeah, but you can't get in trouble for what you don't have. Think of it, you get to tweak the police. Besides, pirates should be used to trouble with the authorities. Just as I was warned not to "brandish" my amputation knife for fear of the 'thorities taking it away in Hampton. You must be a PC pirate... (and that doesn't stand for period correct.)

What kind of flowers are in it?

Ah yes...the childbed fever problem. Astounding, isn't it? Alas, it's not period. (Oh, these shackles I've willingly adopted for my book...) I haven't found a period account explaining that the more gory your apron looks, the better a surgeon you must be. Of course, it's sort of a marketing ploy and has the airs of vanity, so surgeons probably would not be wont to write about such if it were true in any event.

I don't remember them all...the best one was my '82 Delorean; the worst was my Isuzu Vehicross (which was really cool-looking, but, among many other things, I wound up replacing the engine - and it only had 42K miles on it when I sold it!) Currently I drive a company truck because I'm cheap - it's '05 Chevy Silverado, dark blue. When you're not paying for the vehicle, you don't care what you drive. BTW, we once had a topic related to this that you might find entertaining - Christened Cars?

You people and your weapon problems are so cute. Truth be told, you could just wear your scabbards and 99% of the parade audience wouldn't know any better. (Of course that's not as fun as being a scofflaw, but there you go.) "War's over, man. Wormer dropped the big one." "Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!" "Germans?" "Forget it, he's rolling." "And it ain't over now. 'Cause when the goin' gets tough...............the tough get goin'! Who's with me? Let's go! [runs out, alone; then returns] What the f--- happened to the Delta I used to know? Where's the spirit? Where's the guts, huh? 'Ooh, we're afraid to go with you Bluto, we might get in trouble.' Well just kiss my ass from now on! Not me! I'm not gonna take this. Wormer, he's a dead man! Marmalard, dead! Niedermeyer -" "Dead! Bluto's right. Psychotic, but absolutely right. We gotta take these bastards. Now we could do it with conventional weapons that could take years and cost millions of lives. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part." "We're just the guys to do it." Now all we need is a 1964 Lincoln Sedan,,,