Commodore Swab

The info on the load was already posted, no lead loose poured.

7 .50 cal. barrels that are fired at the same time. The lock fires the central barrel which in turn fires the remaining 6 barrels. After test firing yesterday it was determined that there was no noticeable delay in any barrel ignition will all firing perfectly. The weight is just under 15 pounds and the charge was 40 grains per barrel loose poured with no packing. We started out at 40 grains and determined that was about perfect for demonstrations, no kick nice solid boom and we can get roughly 30 shots per pound of powder instead of 15.

Haven't checked this week but as of last week nothing had arrived.

I used a picture of an original as a loose pattern.

Opinions?

Am I one of the 4?

oooooo let me be his recipient :)

Every night when we go to bed we rely on our anchors to keep us where we are and thus are set well. Our anchors range vary from bruce, danforth, and even the good old fisherman the anchor most closely resembling a traditional wood stocked anchor. As far as bottom conditions the bruce sets best in mud, the danforth in sand, and the fisherman on rocky bottom. That all irrelevant though as we are talking traditional anchors so I will only talk about the fisherman. Once a fisherman anchor is set due to the design the scope can often be shortened up considerably to as little as 2:1 as it has "hooked" on the bottom. Sailors keep an anchor like this on hand for that emergency where they might be getting blown onto the rocks as it very well might save their boat. So in answer to your question depending on conditions a min of 3:1 scope that is 3 times as much anchor line as the depth. Here in the Florida Keys working on salvaging some of the fleet that sank here in 1733 I can tell you that most of the anchors that were used in attempts to save the ships are sitting in 20-60 feet of water. On anchor recovered was 14 feet from fluke to fluke with a ring large enough swim thru.

Anybody know anything about the parade??

As mentioned if I fire I will follow their rules even though i disagree. It would be intestering to see what kind of frizzen stall they suggest for a wheellock or match lock both of which I have seen used at the park before. Patrick I guess you will be flying into KW and not MIA. If it was MIA i might have been able to loan you something for the weekend

It is begining to look like the new musket may be a real possibility as I got the steel for the barrels yesterday. The musket is a reproduction of a Nock Volley Gun which was made for the royal navy. The backup plan is to go bucc. wth the snaphaunce musket and wheellock sidearm.

I understand that there has been no relaxing on the recently set forth standards involving flash guards and frizzen stalls on small arms despite the historical precedance. By that I mean that there is no historical precedance regarding flash guards. Due to the turnout last year of small arms (I believe it was 1 or at least thats what I heard by spike who was on the field sunday last year) I will not be bringing my tent and tools to tune flintocks this year. IF I manage to finish the gun IM working on I plan on bringing it and modifying it with an un period correct flash guard and an un period correct frizzen stall so I can fire her

come and talk to me as for the first pictures they havent showed up

On average here in the keys we have around 2 foot tides. I have been thinking about ways to redo my bottom but have been at a loss with a 39 inch draft without hauling the boat. If there is anyone that can give me a heads up it would be apperciated.

I missed last year, this year it would be nice to be a part of . . .

We will not be camping this year for sure, still undecided about comming.

There is a good bit translated by Mr. Haskins dealing with the 1733 fleet that wrecked in the FL keys and was salvaged. If you would like to read his translations of the logs/letters involving the storm and salvage they can be found here http://maritimearchaeology.org/Appendix.pdf

El Galeon is actually a steel vessel that has had planks added to the exterior of the steel hull.