Iron Jon

The Fort Zachery Taylor Pirate Invasion was a blast! Never made it to the Thieves Market, I was having too much fun at the fort...

Same here, we never made it outside of the fort location of the Pirates in Paradise/Fort Taylor Pirate Invasion since arriving Thursday until leaving on Monday. Many of those participating never even felt the need to go elsewhere since so much was available and going on within the fort grounds. Between the battles, photo shoots, cooking, eating, drinking, fellowship, partying, singing, etc, etc, etc, there was never enough time to visit the more civilian events outside of the actual PIP pirate invasion. We even had our share of period pirate vendors inside the fort and we made a point of getting something from each of them. It was great to see and talk to everyone again and many, many thanks go out to Fayma, Lily, the fort employees, and all the others Pyracy Pub members who help put the pirate encampment together and made the greatest part of the PIP festival possible.

I would think that he would go to the blacksmith to have a harpoon head made in any style that he wanted.

Anyone traveling down I-95 to Key West in the next few days and needing a rest is invited to stop by on the way. We're in the Melbourne/Palm Bay area and just a few miles off the highway and would welcome the company. There's a few extra rooms to spread out you sleeping gear if needed too. We'll be heading out ourselves early Thursday morning to arrive at the Fort hopefully around noon. It's a little over 320 miles and should be close to a six hour drive depending on traffic.

Once again I waited until the final deadline! Got mine ordered today.

I'm a bunny!

Click here to watch

A quick google search found this place - http://www.cannon-mania.com/molds.htm - with your size for $64. I'm sure there are more vendors available too.

A great time for all, thanks to Bilgemonkey, Captain Dan and the Scurvy Crew, Celtic Mayhem, Chrispy, and all the others for providing the music and entertainment all weekend!

I used some old Tyvek for a ground cloth with my backpacking tent. It's the stuff they use to insulate and weatherproof new homes. It goes between the plywood sheeting and what ever siding they cover it with. If you've never seen it at a construction site it's the same "plastic type" paper material they make those Priority Mail envelopes out of. It's waterproof, lightweight, packs really small, and nearly rip proof. Sometimes you can find cut-offs in the trash around new construction, or you might be able to offer someone on the site $5 or so for a big piece. One side is printed with the logos but you can use it white side up under your canvas and it blends in pretty good.

edit - (...and some people sell it by the foot on eBay too!)

Roll call for Ft. Myers! Calling all available hands! Yarr!!

That's pretty close to home, I'll probably be there for a day or two.

I signed up for a new online toy and started messing around with the "Picknik" feature on Flickr.

I edited this photo just now -

I'm planning on this right now, depending on if family plans to visit us that weekend or not. Is there a deadline for registering for the weekend camping and ball?

A little more of the Mercury was seen on board the Santa Maria -

There was no breeze but the Mercury flag "flew" at several locations on the Santa Maria over the weekend.

Here are some more pictures from my facebook album - My link

Oderlesseye gets press ganged...

Ahoy Eye. I fixed the link for ya!

Here's an old iron fleam set on eBay that they misnamed - antique old vet medical knife all chiselled rare 1700

Just stumbled across some new carpentry tools today, well new to me anyway.

Are you sure you didn't just stumble across my toolbox?!?!

Very nice! Is it going to be a rope bed for camp?

That's one of the things on my never ending list of projects.

Good ol' Priceline. Staying at the Hyatt again for $50 a night. I've decided that I quite like that hotel - and now that I know where it is I won't have to spend hours hunting for it.

Tried name your price on Priceline today and I ended up with the Holiday Inn for my $50 bid. Not quiet the Hyatt but less than 1 mile away from the ship!

Who else is going???

Do you have to visit the National Archives at Kew to see the documents or is there any place to view the Admiralty records online and is it a pay type service?

I thought I saw you earlier during the landing but wasn't sure it was you. When we talked to Willie later in the day he said you were there. It would have been nice to meet up...

I was looking through a copy of "Raiders and Rebels" by Frank Sherry today and found a description of Tew in chapter one.

For what it's worth, here's a short sample! He says Tew is "an easy going, social man in his mid fifties who dotes on his family. He claims he is clean shaven, slim, and of middle height and is known to wear his long hair in a beribboned queue, he prefers turkey and venison for dinner followed by a long stemmed pipe and noggin of rum..."

His footnotes go on to say that this description is a result of information from Charles Johnson/Defoe's work but I don't recall reading this there. I guess I'll have to dig out "A General History..." again.

You should be able to check it out here - Amazon.com "Look Inside"

ok, i know what a portmanteau is but just how big was this thing to hold a saddle as well as all the gear...

I think, at that time, portmanteau was used to refer to any size trunk or carrying case used to hold clothing and personal items while traveling. Later they were called steamer trunks or wardrobe trunks.

Maybe it goes along with the spurs!

PILLION, a light saddle without pommel or bow, especially a pad fastened to the back of an ordinary saddle, as a seat for another person, generally a woman. Pillions were also used to support baggage. They were in common use from the 16th to the 18th centuries.

EDIT

Here's a light dragoon pillion used to carry extra luggage on horseback -

I cut a rectangular slot through the original side plate then ground and filed that big tab on the back of the hook down quite a bit to fit it. Then I drilled and tapped the tab and screwed it on from the hidden side.