Capn Bob

Nay, I be back dirtside indeed, but what be me reward for bein' an honest passenger, instead of highjackin' a Bahamian patrol vessel (as I was tempted to do)? Why, the day after I get home, I come down all sick. So me traveller's lies...errr...tales...will have to wait til I'm a bit better...

On Oct 17...just a couple days from now...I'll be taking ship on a cruise to the Bahamas. Despite my Pyraticallness (now Officially a word), I've never been on the ocean before. (Been *over* it, flying to Germany and back). The thing that has me most worried isn't seasickness (I been on Lake Erie in a bit of a chop, and wasn't bothered at all), its getting thru customs. Fie on them lubbers! Anyway, I'll be on the Carnival Pride, with an official shore excursion lined up for Epcot during the Port Canaveral port of call (so's I can go to the Food and Wine Festival), and Nassau I'm a-doin' on me own...hitting the Pirates museum, seeing the site of the 1695 Old Fort Nassau (they got a dirty big hotel there now), and just seeing what I can see. Hope to bring back lots of photos to share. Trouble is, I'm torn as to which book to take with me. Should it be "The Pyrates", George MacDonald Fraser, or should it be "Republic of Pirates", Colin Woodard?

Seems like Red Lobster be the place to go, assuming there's nothing better...or more piratey...in yer area. Strangely enough, I didn't see anyone else (an' it were crowded, belike) wearin' so much as a pirate t-shirt. Bunch o lubbers wearin' suits and them silken nooses about thy necks...no pyrates them, ye may lay to that...

I took me mivver out to Red Lobster to celebrate the day, and I'll be getting into a touch of the ship's rum after me shower... I actually had the day off. They *fear*, at the library (where I woik), for they know I'm a top notch pyrat talker...tis me pix bein' used on the slideshow screen for TLAP Day...

Why, now, that's a very simple question to answer...tis the sword I can't afford, of course! Yeah, okay...I got me cutlass...couple of them, actually...nothing much to boast about, but I use them in parades, so I'd have to say...cutlass. But... Got me some other blades I'd like to lay me dirty paws on, if'n I had the plunder and loot to do so...like... The Greek kopis...a real slasher and hacker, that, good for all sorts of limb cleaving Or the sword that won an Empire, the Gladius...thrust, twist, find another barbarian, do it again... Or for sheer mean-ness, how about something a bit...Mexican? Didn't really work on the Spanish, though...

Since medical procedures are always popular, here's something from way back...a long way back. And when they start talking about how sharp obsidian flakes are...trust me, they *are* sharp...you hardly notice you've been cut until your hand starts sticking to the stone... The Obsidian Spirit gets thirsty from time to time, I guess... Really old brain surgery

The ship in question is La Belle, which went down to Davy Jones in 1686, Matagorda Bay. In an attempt to effect preservation, the boffins came up with... Freeze Drying. Thats right, the same process from which you get "Space Ice Cream" How to Freeze Dry a Ship

Oy gevalt! (facepalm)

Since I'm playing "France 1914", as mentioned in another thread, I have already read "The Marne, 1914 : the Opening of World War I and the Battle that Changed the World" (it's all Bulow's and Moltke's fault...) And I'm currently reading Ernst Junger's "Storm of Steel" And I'd have picked up the library copy of Pratchett's "Making Money", but some lubber snatched it...

Aye, that be the trouble with them old time books...the titles are often longer than the book itself...

If that means "kim chee"...my father told me horror stories about the stuff from when he was in Korea... Do you like 소주 ?

I be a plain man...bacon, eggs, and that...that be why, when me ship comes into the Old Dominion, I favor Chownings...good simple food, such as a hot and filling potato and leek soup...oh, and they got something called Rum Cream Pie...

My avatar? Just me at the base of Mt Everest... Oh all right...spoil me fun, why don't you...it's just me, on the bridge that overlooks the Expedition Everest ride in the Asian area of Animal Kingdom, Walt Disney World...

Just this minute, I am celebrating my victory at the Battle of Liege (playing France 1914). Tricksy battle...have to punch thru the ring of forts around the city and thrust into the town center...in this scenario, you don't have the big Krupp and Skoda siege guns, so you can't take on the forts... Kampf fur Mutter's apfel strudel!

What rum goes best with long pig, anyway? page 81 in the "BATAVIA'S GRAVEYARD" by mike dash (a large 1600's east indiamen) "Jeronimus and a half a dozen other distinguished passengers were shown to a warren of little cabins on the deck above (over the great cabin), where the quarters were smaller and more spartan". Good research! I thought that maybe the poop could be used for passengers, but I wasn't sure. Of course, in the case of the Batavia, you could equally call the passengers' quarters storage for spare rations.

Can't rightly say...might'a been that one kiddie book from when I was 6 or so...back cover had that classic woodcut of Black Bart Roberts at Whydah...the interest's just always been there. off and on...

Currently playing "France 1914" by HPS Sims...classic wargame type. I'm going thru the Battle of Liege right now...as Germany, fighting for "Mutter's Apfel strudel..."