Capn Bob

Since it was found in Austria, it's hardly piratical, but it *is* treasure (gold...GOLD...**GOLD**!!!), and it was buried, so here's the news story (I wonder if he's any relation...): Austrian Man Digs Up $150,000 in Buried Treasure in Backyard Published May 02, 2011 | Associated Press A trove of medieval jewelry and other precious objects found by a man working in his backyard includes pieces made for a royal court and may be worth as much as 100,000 euros ($150,000) government experts said Monday. The officials from Austria's department of national antiquities and the Academy of Sciences said they were only at the beginning of their investigation into the provenance and other details of the find. "We have in front of us high-end products (made) for the highest consumer class of Central Europe" of the Middle Ages, academy member Thomas Kuehtreiber told reporters as security guards lifted a black velvet cloth from a glass case to reveal some of the rarer pieces. The Federal Office for Memorials said the trove consists of more than 200 rings, brooches, ornate belt buckles, gold-plated silver plates and other pieces or fragments, many encrusted with pearls, fossilized coral and other ornaments. It says the objects are about 650 years old and weigh about 6.6 pounds (3 kilograms). Some of the more stunning objects on display Monday included a delicately formed brooch adorned with pearls and coral and a ring inlaid with an amethyst-like semiprecious stone. A media statement said the find was tentatively valued at tens of thousands of euros. Employees with the memorials office told The Associated Press they could be worth as much as 100,000 euros or nearly $150,000. They asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak to media. The memorials office said the man, who did not want to be identified, came across the objects in 2007 while digging in his back yard to expand a small pond. But he did not report it to authorities until after rediscovering the dirt-encrusted objects in a basement box while packing up after selling his house two years ago. Officials presenting the pieces did not say when the finder first came to them with the ancient trove. They said that investigations into the find had only begun. They speculated that the objects could have been plunder from a conflict or owned by a trader who had buried it for safety ahead of approaching potential customers to make a deal. The location of the find lies on an important medieval trading route that ran between Poland and Italy, they said. "We will probably never find an answer" to the treasure's origins, said Nikolaus Hofer of the memorial office.

Gape! Hey, I have that "King of the Pirates" book! That's *you*?! Well, scupper me hide, I just never made the connexion (old sp). An enjoyable read, that is, and when I was visiting Nassau last year on the Carnival Pride, viewing of what is today called "Paradise" Island, I thought to meself, "So that's where Long Ben dumped the Fancy..."

I remember when you could get a decent pressured firkin for a couple of pounds (obscure movie quote)

Since I've re-loaded HPSSIMS game "Punic Wars" onto my computer, I picked up yesterday Juvenal's Satires, "Rise of the Roman Empire" by Polybius, Barry Strauss's "The Spartacus War" (my birthday present to meself), and I'm re-reading, yet again, the SPQR series of books. Oh yes, and since I'm planning my second cruise for October, I've been reading the Cruise Critic site, but that doesn't really count.

Speaking of period slang, I found an online edition of the "Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue", 1811 edition. 1811 the edition might be, but it covers the words and phrases used by gentlemen of fortune, cheats, rouges, and other assorted ne'er-do-wells from back in the good old days, the glorious 18th century. And its downloaded onto my Coby, so I can take it anywhere without printing a big think paper copy.

I really should start reading "White cargo : the forgotten history of Britain's White slaves in America", by Michael Walsh, since I got the library's copy... But instead, I've been reading the Newgate Calendar, a collection of the crimes and punishments from the 18th century, compiled by the various Ordinaries (Prison Chaplains) of Newgate Prison. I got a copy of it downloaded onto my Coby Kyros...

You mean...you're *not* a pewter-smith?! I work (in disguise) in a local library, and we have a "young adult" anime club. One of the girls in it has an interest in pirates and has gravitated to me, and I've been directing her to books like "Treasure Island", "Empire of Blue Water" and the like...eddicating her, as it were, look'ee, since most of her knowledge comes from, guess what, the PotC movies. I got nothing against them, but they're entertainment, not history.

And now...reading the second volume of Joel Baer's "British Piracy in the Golden Age" This volume contains accounts of various pirate trials, including that of Stede Bonnett. Also planning on putting an online copy of "Beggars Opera" onto my Kyros device...

What about Billy Bone's proclamation? "Rum! Rum, by thunder! Rum! It be food and drink to the likes of me!"

Toasted...mostly... But inquiring pyrats want to know...what cheese goes best with goat?

May not be Golden Age but it'd surely work for the buccaneering era...hey, wanna go sack Panama?

As representatives of the Pyrat community, we should demand these cannons be returned to us! Along with whatever shiny bits of metal that might be down there... If I were younger, fitter, had the time and the money...or could get corporate sponsorship...recreating the March to Panama (Old City) is one of those things I'd like to do...(watch out for the snakes)

Well, *I'm* disappointed! I wanted to find out how the East India Co could possibly be made into a luxury *bra*...indeed, not wearing them as a rule, I wanted to know what a luxury bra is... Well, there was that one infamous Sat. night back in me college days, but I *was* under the influence of powdered drinking chocolate...

First and seriously...during the Golden Age and in the Caribbean theater of action...I can't really think of anyone that would qualify as a pirate "king"...especially since most pirates had too much experience of being under kings and other autocrats in the first place... Now, not so seriously...one very good way to p**s Sir Henry off was to call him a pirate. He might say something like, "How dare you impugn my honour, boy!". Aye, he'd to far worse that fire a broadside into you, or make with the woolding (sp? I'm at work)...he'd set his (gasp!) lawyers after you! (The horror!)

Let me know how that acquisition of "Pieces of Eight" by John Drake goes...to be sure, many of us would like to lay hands on it. John Drake...wasn't he a Secret Agent Man?

Reviving an ancient thread here, I've currently plunged meself into: "British Piracy in the Golden Age: History and Interpretation 1660-1730 ( 4-volume set)", Joel Baer, ed. Currently reading Vol 1, obtained thru interlibrary loan (no way I be payin' more than $600 for it, without knocking over a plate fleet). Full of all sorts of primary documentation, including articles from the Boston News-Letter. "Celestial Navigation", by Tom Cunliffe. Been wanting to learn a little something of how to Do It, and I was recently given a Davis Mk 3 sextant by a friend that is monastery bound. Ordered an artificial horizon which just came in today, so I can work on it dry-side. Then I can take the sextant with me if I go on cruise this October.

Just took me a peek at the Godwin shoes, but now I be all conflicted! What should I get...the all-purpose or the 17th century?

I can tell ye for a fact how difficult scrimshaw can be, especially to get that level of detail. I was trying out stippling with some good effect afore I stopped scrimshanding. Still got that callus on me finger from it, and I stopped in the early 90's. Odd thing is that many former scrimmers went on and caught the flintknapping bug, as happened with me. However, I have not tried knapping in the winter, not even to experience firsthand what the ice age must have been like. At the moment, here, we seem to have entered an "inter-glacial period"...means we're thawing out.

I'm savin' up me pennies for a pair of proper shoes, instead of the boots I currently have, made by M. le Cheepe... Oh, aye, and I be savin' up me dollars for another cruise, belike...

I think its more of a Bunny Raunch, actually... And, y'know...Bugs Bunny looked pretty hot in drag... (Maybe that's why they call me "Mad"!)

I enjoyed the cruise so much that I'm likely to do it again. I see that the tour bus company I travel with is offering the same cruise, same ship, again this coming Oct, and I'm planning on being on it. *Might* even take some pirate togs with me this year. Aye, the living is easy on one o' them fancy cruises...I rememeber seeing some officers on their rounds and thinking, "Well, I suppose *someone* has to work today..." That were a Tuesday, it were, second day of the cruise. As for the clothing of the time in tropical climes, well, that's what the Brits were doing in Jamaica...basically just a total transplanting of the culture to the island. So, the "better sort" at least, were wearing heavy clothes, eating heavy meals, and were generally being sick all the time. But you don't have to go back to 17th cent. Jamaica to see the results of that. Consider that at the Battle of Monmouth NJ during our Revolution, the temps soared to the 90's or 100 degrees, and most of the casualties were from the heat. Wearing wool broadcloth in conditions like that...sheesh.

Now opening in Port Royal...the Pink Pussycat Pyrate Club!