Iron Jon

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

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

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.

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"

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.

Got the belt hooks and installed one today - it's a bit smaller than I thought it would be.

I've seen them on eBay for about $20-25 each. Right now there's a set of 35 on auction for about $2,300!!!

Here's an eBay listing (not mine) for Diosa and others who might be interesed. It's in the neighborhood so I could pick them up and deliver to PiP for someone. I'm not sure if they're complete, usable, working, etc, but I'm sure you could probably combine/rebuild them to get one working model. - Three Wooden Antique Spinning Wheels from Europe

I agree. Out of the 3 "period type" pistols I have I believe that this one is the closest to appearing correct, even though it doesn't have a screw off barrel. That doesn't mean I won't bring the Kentucky and the heavy Dragoon pistols out to shoot, but, I will carry the Queen Anne more often as I try to get my kit closer to PC. Both of my muskets are later type Brown Bess reproductions and I still shoot them for now until I can replace them with something closer to PC. If I go somewhere where they require an exact replica of an 1680-1720 weapon I guess I'll have to sit on the sidelines until the battle is over!

I just started reading... Memoirs of a Seafaring Life - The Narrative of William Spavens - Pensioner on the Naval Chest at Chatham - Edited and Introduced by N.A.M. Rodger - Containing - An Account of a great Variety of such Incidents as the Author met with in the Sea Service - also - A descriptive Account of the Discipline, Allowance, and Customs of His Majesty's Service, the East India Company, and other Merchant's Service - To Which Is Added - A short and plain Introduction to Astronomy and Geography; with a brief Description of several Countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, and Tables of Latitude and Longitude, &c, &c. - and - An Explanation of Nautical Terms - The whole Made Easy and Adapted to the Capacity of Youth. ... actually, I just got through the title tonight. I'll start reading it tomorrow!

I heard rumors that you wear a period chemise under your kit, not drawers.

Whew!, I was getting worried my contribution to the living history demo was to be press ganged as a footrest...

Thank you sir. I just ordered one of each!

I just picked up a brass barrel Queen Anne, new in the box, on GunBroker for $285. I was a little curious as to accuracy for our period but it's definitely a lot closer than the other pistols that I have. I also was wondering if anybody knows where to purchase (or does anybody have for sale) a belt hook to fit the side plate of the Pedersoli?

Although after out time period, there was a good depiction of this type of inoculation or variolation for smallpox in the HBO series John Adams. In the movie, Abigail decided to get smallpox inoculations for herself and her children during an outbreak when Adams was overseas. As described in one review of the series - "Back then it was a gruesome and crude process that required smearing puss from an infected sore onto a thin blade and cutting it into the patient’s flesh — and one child contracts the disease anyway."

Click on the "use full editor" button and then use the "insert image" icon. Your picture needs to be online somewhere and you link to your http://

This has nothing to do with this thread but I thought it fit better here than elsewhere. It's a set of fifty trading cards from a British tobacco company from 1888. They are said to depict "famous/infamous pirates of the Spanish Main from the mid-17th to early 18th centuries." Here's a few links to the original images - 1888 cards (1) 1888 cards (2)