Dutchman

a happy birthday with wishes of a full tankard to ye!

Ahoy all,

The past weekends have been a bit light around the yard as our family of volunteers spent time with their families. We hope all have enjoyed their time and are safe. In the quiet the shipwright and I spent some time with the blueprints and notepad in the workshop putting together this winters construction plan. Once the coffee was gone we headed out to the wood pile to identify what needed to come out and head to the cutting area. The next few weeks will find us on the following projects.

• The keelson beam and floor timbers are ready for the seascouts to begin work.
  
• Aft cabin decking to be moved and have a two man team begin closing in the captains cabin.
  
• Pine tree trunk has been skinned and dried. Start marking and shaping for bowsprit.
  
• New deck beams to be cut and placed in the cargo hold to begin decking forward of the engine compartment.
  

The last bullet is a noteworthy step. Except for the bow, or front of the ship, this is the first step of hull reconstruction forward of the engine compartment. In short- this is the half way mark of hull rebuild! I’ll get some updated pictures this week.

Please visit our blog to follow along with construction of Luna. New members and donations are always appreciated and welcome! If you have any questions or suggestions please drop an e-mail to jhcollamore@colonialseaport.org or visit our website at www.colonailseaport.org and use paypal to contribute!

tis looking like the weekend before Halloween, but please don't hold me to it.

From its inception, the Colonial Seaport Foundation has been a work in progress, a grand experiment in recreating colonial America’s rich maritime history through the construction of Luna our floating historical and environmental classroom. In preparation for Luna’s launch we continue to develop engaging educational programming. Every step along the way, we gain insights into what works and what falls short. We continuously improved our techniques, creating new programs to engage visitors and preserve America’s colonial maritime heritage. Getting it right enables us to have a beneficial and potentially lasting impact upon our visitors.

On board Luna construction is continuing with visions of sailing in her future! Our construction volunteers are tackling and completing projects each day we are on site and we have been met with a host of in kind and financial contributions. Mr. Pierre stepped forward and funded the replacement of the bow stem. As we began work on the new bow structure we soon realized the keelson, or the backbone of the ship needed to be reworked first. Our local Sea Scouts have volunteered their services to take on this project. Working on their Quartermaster projects, Joanna has taken on the keelson, and Brian is designing and fitting out the captain’s cabin windows. Our inventory of equipment is growing as well. Luna's first cannon was donated in honor of our dear friend "Taz" Crutchfield. "Taz" is light enough for us to take on the road for historical programs. A beautiful roll of Canvas arrived which will be turned into hammocks and various on board items. Luna's first sail was sponsored by Hampton Convention and Visitors Bureau and delivered in time for the Hampton Blackbeard Festival this past June. As fate would happen, a tall ship already in port has the same upper rigging as Luna will have and Meka II flew our sail with the City of Hampton logo proudly flying through the local War of 1812 Centennial events the following weekend. We simply cannot express our thanks to dedicated volunteers for their hours of work and you, our supporters for allowing us to continue bringing colonial maritime history to life.

The New Year is fast approaching and so is the opportunity to continue supporting the construction of Luna, our reproduction 18th century Bermuda sloop with a tax deductible contribution. By completing and returning the enclosed form or making a secure online donation you will ensure the continuation of our efforts.

Annual contributions can be made via Paypal to fundraising@colonialseaport.org

Checks may be mailed to:

Colonial Seaport Foundation

P.O. Box 204

Deltaville, VA. 23043

Best regards,

John Collamore

President/CEO

Colonial Seaport Foundation

Found this and thought it was worth sharing.

mystic has the only lathe on the east coast that i know of that can turn one. bloody big thing. I'd hate to see something spin free from it. rest are machine or hand planed down- still impressive to see. I'm hoping to find a couple of orphaned spars that can be reworked to fill our needs. I have a pile of oak drying from a previous storm myself.

Ahoy all,

The Colonial Seaport Foundation is in search of wooden spars to complete the rigging of Luna, our reproduction 18th century Bermuda sloop. In light of recent weather events there may be destroyed boats with wooden masts and booms remaining. We are also looking for stainless steel rigging. The spars we are looking for are a boom 35 feet long- most likely this will be a mast refitted, and a 27 foot bowsprit, again most likely a mast refitted. We can arrange for shipping anywhere on the east coast. If anyone has any leads please let me know.

Thanks,

Dutch

www.colonialseaport.org

anything of use would be of value.It's important to remember that region also led to the value of items, ie. Wool blankets wouldn't be of much demand in the islands... Also anything traceable such as fabric with the crown inked in or lines with a blue yarn was often scrutinized. Precious metals could always be melted into another form. Foods and liquids could be shifted to secondary containers, like ranchers branding a cow with an "O" into a "Q".

On the legal side. I have logs from Hampton that show some interesting events. A British inbound ran across a foreign neutral country ship and captured it without incident. Due to not being at war the British set the prize free after its hold was emptied and dumped over. The rationale for dumping was that it was possibly headed to a warring country and it prevented goods from reaching them. The crew and ship were not brought in as they were not at war. The British ship took onboard some rigging but dumped all else leaving enough on board for the prize to make it ashore. I'll have to look for the list of stuff dumped over. It's been a while since i've looked for those documents.

ahoy larry,

we fared well! The cover took a bit of stress but were fixing that. I went by to check on things and animals were lined up two by two waiting to board, a bit ominous. We were onboard this weekend working. I'm hoping to get a blog up shortly. how did you make out?

ahoy all. due to the nor' easter blowing in this week, the islands chamber of commerce has canceled the blackbeard Jubilee this year. Seems they are already planning on taking three weeks to get the roads cleared as it is. The good news is>>>> The Jubilee has been confirmed on the schedule for next year- now, will mother nature cooperate?

many accounts of coins and jewels sewn into clothing seams and liners for safe keeping

http://www.tallshipbounty.org/

we were aboard her at fells point two years ago and had a grand time playing games with the crew on shore in the camp. The captain at the time even took a cannon shot at her stern from the gun line. While under way grace was firing on the shore battery when a beautiful smoke ring came from one of the guns ashore. Everyone on board cheered as she realized I finally gave her a ring to go with her engagement cannon. (I know, I'm so romantic!) That was the same year the order of Leviathan was formed and the members were on board for photos. Anyone have any Bounty stories or photos they would like to share?

one of our folks talked to the williamsburg folks about shoes. IFFF they make them for you, its around $600.00 and they will start this winter when they are slow. On the plus side, prentise store in C.W. carries fugawees and buckles, so you can fit them in the store. It's on Duke of Gloucester Street close to the historic capitol. Will run around $125 or so.

On the cheap side, you can find some good one piece dress shoes at good will or thrift store. with a bit of creative stitching you can hide them in plain sight. one of my favorite and most comfortable pair is a four dollar pair of rockports i turned into latchetts.

EVENT IS CANCELED DUE TO THE UNKNOWN WEATHER FRONT THE EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED. THE POSSIBILITY EXISTS THAT IT MAY BE RESCHEDULED FOR NEXT WEEKEND. WE'LL KEEP YOU UPDATED.

pesky hurricanes! making calls now.........

*edit-update*

ok- here we go. it's now a hurricane themed pirate festival. It's still on! So here's the skinny. If we have to evacuate- you come first....... right after me.

Darn. a generic looking wheel from this angle im afraid. is there anything that would stand out about it??

......and an update for visiting pirates. below is the link for the legal stuff. in the rules for reenactors disregard the muster times. we will be setting up friday morning and afternoon, then breaking down sunday. If anyone is available, we would love the help! Saturday muster is at 0900- festvial opens at ten.

WEAPONS- Tis a weapon cary friendly venue, but the island is playing off our rules. Pointy things need to be in a scabbard. Sharp things need to not fall into others hands. Please mind your surroundings when doing pictures. BOOM STICKS NEED NOT RANDOMLY BOOM! No- flash guards needed though... sorry, couldn't help myself. Alcohol and weapons of any sort don't mix at any time! If you want to shoot, let us know. If we get a warm and fuzzy with your description of how you shoot, we'll check your weapon and issue powder. Hint, read the black powder manual located in the link below.

http://www.blackbeardscrew.org/Visiting_Pirates

"— Such a Day, Rum all out: — Our Company somewhat sober: — A damn'd Confusion amongst us! — Rogues a plotting; — great Talk of Separation. — So I look'd sharp for a Prize; — such a Day took one, with a great deal of Liquor on Board, so kept the Company hot, damned hot, then all Things went well again."

Plans are done and the crews are gathering! Hope to see all there!

hey silas, got youre message but the computer isnt letting me reply for some reason. can ya post some pics and a reference scale?

well you see matty, when the user CENSORED the computer and the CENSORED is CENSORED, CENSORED results and the images are BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING!

...... hope that helped :)

makin a ditty bag to contribute.

ah shipmates,

the next venture is always just around the corner. check out www.blackbeardscrew.org for upcoming pirate events. If you're ever this way and want to stop in, just call ahead. no worries. Sundays are workdays on Luna and we can always justify a trip to williamsburg any ole time.

ahoy all!

plans are well underway and this is looking great!We had a conference call last week to work on the particulars. The days activities include cannon fire, raids, seabattles, scallawag school, living history and roving acts of pyracy! Below is the events facebook site, which has listings for the islands hotels etc... there is also a camp ground on the island for anyone interested in that front. Several of the Island restaurants are cutting deals but I don't have info on the specifics yet. Also, there is only one grocery store on the island so please plan accordingly. The ferry schedule is also posted. Coming from the outer banks the hatteras ferry is what you need. If you're coming from the mainland, you want the swan quarter ferry, which also is the approximate course Blackbeard followed on his return from the mainland. If anyone has any questions, please let me know.

http://www.facebook....186552064811019

http://www.ncdot.gov/ferry/

from a research paper I ran across surveying various ships rigs up to 1720 , admittedly I can't confirm primary sources but this paints a pretty good picture.

" the mainmast, foremast and bowsprit were usually "woolded"; that is to say they were strengthened by being bound round with rope at intervals. The number of these woolding was variable.......Probably eight to ten on the mainmast and one or two fewer on the foremast will be a fair allowance. The wooldings were usually evenly spaced with the uppermost about half the height of the masthead, or a little more, below the trestle-trees and the bottom one two or three feet above the deck."

the technique......

what i'm able to piece together adds to what L. Silver has already described.

The woolding is served the same as whipping the end of a line with the exception of a woolding stick is used on the wrappings to create a mechanical lever to tighten them. The ends are then tied to block and tackle to tighten. The ridge is then beat down with the woolding stick and then secured as L. Silver described. I have also seen metal bands at the top and bottom of the woolding. These bands are not on every example, but are seen pretty often in dutch paintings. I have no documentation as to their purpose but can imagine to reinforce the finished woolding.

I'm hoping to do a pictorial this weekend to post.

ahoy hook,

ya really need to get yerself down here and see! The insurance is being worked out. looks like a whole new building instead of a rebuild- which is what is needed. the attitude of the museum and community is great. they are looking forward to luna being moved over once we get her keel bolted back on. The parts of the old town railway have been resurrected and installation will begin this fall hopefully.