Dutchman

hey gang. just a couple pictures of my finished rigging belt. I've had the belt and knife for a while but when Adam presented me with a knew marinspike i had to make a new sheath. Darn the luck!

this is only the first year of the jubilee so we are hoping for more folks next year . we have been there for about five years in november for the memorial service and have been working on this for a while. WE are excited that kevin duffus (lookingglass here on the pub) will also be on the island with copies of his books. We are doing a conference call tomorrow with the island staff. I'll have housing details for visiting folks after that!

ahoy hawkyns, the frizzen can be hardened and a new main can be made... for a price, of course. The side sear has rounded at the end so it won't hold the lock back. Seems its soft too. Since that is worn a new one would need to be made or ordered then installed. Its just so many bloody little things it may be easier and cheaper to order a new one. He was giving me a price around $200.00 to repair it. Just to give you an idea of the quality here- one of the pins on the inside is a nipped nail.I had never taken the lock off till after a couple of years of owning it. The importer said I had diddled with it and wouldn't take the lock back to work on. edit* I'll take the lock off the stock this weekend and get a picture up.

hey gang, Gun problem. Lets begin with I don't want to badmouth an importer or manufacturer. A few years ago I got an english fish tail and I have never been rally happy with the lock. Its frizzen is soft and the main spring is weak. Its gotten to the point where can actually stop the cock from falling with just a bit of resistance. Obviously the "shower of sparks" the manufacturer touts non existent. Thats IF I can get the mechanism to actually cock. Below is a link to an image. http://www.middlesexvillagetrading.com/MEL.shtml I have had the lock looked at by a gunsmith that deals with BP weapons and his repair/rebuild price is more than a new lock. Can anyone provide a source and model number for a replacement?

Ocracoke Island! October 27th, 2012 Party on the Island of Black Beards banyan with Steede Bonnet. Blackbeards crew will be hosting the one day event in company with the Devilmen of Cape Fear and Meka II. Unfortunately there is no walk on camping but there are hotel and B&B rooms a'plenty as well as several of the Island reataurants are doing deals or packages for pirates. We hope to see everyone there. http://www.ocracokecurrent.com/41450

i'm afraid to paint it............................ I don't want to ruin it.

great video guys! the exhibit is great. I was fortunate enough to spend the duration of her Norfolk visit on board portraying Capt. Bellamy his self. Mr. Merryweather, the younger, was a dead ringer for the John King Nat'l Geo depicted. I do have to admit I still have dreams with the background music from the various galleries stuck in me head. "There are three types of sailors... those that are living, those that are dead... and those that go over da sea!"

and back to our regularly scheduled topic....................... I purchased a fur/felt mix hat blank from scarlet scarab at Beaufort this year intending to finally make my proper sailors flat topper when I crew on board Meka II. After lots of guidance and energy from Stynky Tudor himself, below is the finished product. The hat was able to be shaped with a mold as Patrick Hand describes and we spent lots of time pressing with steam and an iron. The hat was then placed in a hat press to keep the rim flat and has been stiffened with a mix of half denatured alcohol and clear shelaq. I have the inner lining and a chin strap to go, but I'm happy with what has turned out so far!

*bump* lots of good stuff connected with this thread. bumped so i'll remember to post a project picture tomorrow or next day!

GOONIES!, Captains coragious

this came up a couple years back as I remember. There is also a large pile coming in from Turkey. They look good at fifty feet then quickly become obvious modern "relics". The problem is that there used to be a nice supply of real pieces with copper scrolls, pearl inlays, etc... now its hard for newly interested folks to not be had. I'm afraid I know where a house full of these "antiques" are up for sale. I'll see if I can't talk nice to get some pictures as examples.

ahoy all, odorleseye posted this link in twill. I've copied it here in hopes that folks will add to this list. as more crews seem to be on the water with pulling boats, this may be a good repositry for us all to be able to learn each others commands and help out at events if needed. I'm not intending on making a definitive set of commands but make options available. http://www.shelburnelongboats.com/rowingcommands.html

what foxe said... tarred running lines would be an absolute mess to deal with. if you take a natural fiber line when its wet and twist it into itself the water will separate out- like ringing a towel. imagine trying to haul a line soaked in pine tar sweating out like that!

thanks for your concerns and well wishes. still no official word about what happened but its pretty well pieced together. the good news is its most likely accidental. there were about a dozen small deadrises being built of juniper under the pavilion. once it started there was no stopping it and it spread to the main building before the trucks got there. there were also half adozen historic boats on the hard that were lost as well.

ahoy all, i'm sad to report that the Deltaville Maritime museum is currently on fire and it looks like the main building and pavilion will be a total loss. This is the home of the Explorer and where we base a lot of our activities out of. They have drained both town pools and are pulling water from the creek to work the pumps. will keep you posted....... we just can't catch a break this summer!

just for clarification, constable, matty and i got out of the ball just before it hit. I was delayed getting into the parking deck due to a tent that landed in my flight path. of course if cross hadn't been protecting the mighty sterling by sacrificing himself as a shield in the basement of the parking deck, he may have seen it. *snickering* good stories all around. in the end we were all safe and accounted for- thats all that mattered at the time!

ahoy all.... checking in, finally! SOOOOO, if your story of Blackbeard 2012 doesn't start with "no kidding- there we were.........." you weren't there! The tornado hit at 8:10, by 8:30 we knew all were safe- that took a while as we were spread out over ten blocks of canvas and party. We reentered the camp around 9 and began the clean up. we endured a couple downpours but the crew captains reported in and said they would continue with what was left. The festival committee and city officials met, and lamented, and met, and cried. at 0100, they looked at the two pirates on the committee and asked if it could be done...... they were told we were going to plan for a festival until they told us to stop. at 0900 the camp was half way up, city works was clearing the downed trees and debris, Dolphin Laundry mat showed up to take our wet clothes, sand came from a local contractor to fill the pond in the middle of camp. and the fire marshal proclaimed the site safe.........and by 1500, the rest is Pirate history! Thank you all for your calls, prayers, offers of help and support. Thank you to our reenactors who came to me as were still hunkered down in the parking deck who said they wanted to continue. We had three vendors leave and one group had to leave due to a personal emergency saturday evening, otherwise all remained and we had one of the largest visitor turnouts in the events history. I met with sallie, the city festival boss this morning and on behalf of the city of hampton- HUZZAH! well done mates. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU one and all! I'll chime in again after some rest. I'm off to bed now, its been a long weekend. ...dream sequence begins here " but aunty Em, we're not in kansas any more!" *edit* just saw the tall ship concerns. Wolf was not in port yet, they are arriving tomorrow and all are safe. All the small boats were fine and the three large boats remained at the dock for safety due to possible floatsom damage. Pride of Baltimore II took a knock on her bowsprit when a loose boat hit her, but she is already repaired.

thanks for letting us know. i just passed it on to the organization sponsoring the ball

damnation my arse! grace was on the shellphone while i was typing and the contract was changing as i was typing.

well okey dokey then! pirates camp is full! the last vendors spot in the pirate hunters camp just filled up. no room left in the inn, as it were. the pirate hunters camp has ended up with some really cool vendors this year. volunteers getting lined up. event meeting on thursday making final plans. here we go! *edit* well now, looks like hat maker extraordinare (damn-*edit to the edit till he talks to his wife*) will be on hand to replace Sterlings frumpy old one. Hats will be available in time for purchase Friday for the ball!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boatswain's_call of particular interest is the one from atocha. one was dug up in jamestown, va. as well.

maybe they floated,were seaworthy and available?

shameless marketing plug- if anyone has a desire for ottoman weapons, please PM me. one of our members is an oriental and ottoman antiques horsetrader dealer. he travels to turkey a couple times a year and is always bringing back things for people. If there is interest, i can see if he has any on hand he would be willing to sell now and post pics in the market thread.

sutler who????? hey mate, good looking work. how ya doing?