corsair2k3

Snelgrave says that, on Cocklyns ship, that if there were hammocks for everyone aboard then everyone slept on the deck..

The Corsair

Okay, so if I don't want to reek of aqua-velva or irish spring when I strut my stuff among the masses...

I reckon a pirate might have doused himself with captured "stinkum"--if for no other reason but the novelty

Does anyone have any links to sites that provide period perfume/cologne formulations?

Thanks in advance...

The Corsair

According to "The Letter of the Law", most colonial produce was supposed to be sent back to England before it could be re-shipped to another colony during the 17th and first part of the 18th-century.

This obviously was honored more in the breach than in the observance.

Nonetheless, Virginian tobacco could be "run" into New England. Other fairly mundane commodities as well--sugar, cacao, any kind of manufactured cloth.

There was export smuggling as well--some New Englanders made an awful lot of money running wool up to French Canada, even in wartime.

Pirates were just one conduit in moving contraband from point A to point B

And smugglers could likewise be a nice target for an enterprising pirate.

Corsair2k3

What are you looking for?

I have some saved files.

The Corsair

Greetings,

Though not strictly related to matters of pirate scholarship, I will be grateful if the moderators would allow this to go through.

As the result of an "event" over the weekend, the entire contents of the hard-drive to my computer--including my address book--is gone.

For those on this forum with whom I correspond--I'm not ignoring you. I'm in damage mitigation mode and will be for some time.

Regards,

The Corsair

"...a lesson to be learned..."

Greetings,

I'm by no means an ordnance expert, but the weight markings on the Whydah guns are along the breadth of the gun and are separated by either dashes or spaces.

OTOH I can't ever recall seeing a dated gun that did not have the maker's name/mark.

Hawkyns, Foxe, what say ye?

The Corsair

We have 3 hilt/grip pieces--no actual blades.

We have one partial molding of a degraded blade--it was what's commonly known as a "hunting sword". Very cheap knuckle guard--also degraded. And a very simple small wooden grip.

Thin pieces of iron/steel fare very poorly on the site. Electrolytic damage appears to proceed more quickly than on other wreck sites--possibly due to a combination of oxygenation together average annual water temperature.

Corsair

Greetings,

The person to contact re legirons and shackles--especially those used on slaves--would be William Scheer, the blacksmith at Mystic Seaport.

My hope is to keep the price low--and the format simple--so that we can update editions of these booklets frequently as we bring up new material.

For example, we had unusually good recovery of coins last season--and an unusually nice example of Akan gold jewelry.

Good!

This is exactly the kind of feedback that I was looking for--the more responses we get like this, the better the chances of getting actual production!

Again,

Thank you!

Greetings,

The Whydah (Captain Sam Bellamy) is the first pirate shipwreck ever discovered and authenticated.

It was discovered in 1984 by underwater explorer Barry Clifford.

[see www.whydah.com for more information]

To date, an estimated 200,000 objects have been recovered. While most of these are coins and shot, there are many artifacts which cast light on 18th century life in general, as well as the lives of pirates in particular.

A updated edition of the project artifact catalog has been stalled for a number of years due to cost/benefit issues.

[FYI: The per-copy COST of the first edition Artifact Catalog--not including shipping--was recently quoted as in excess of USD 80.00]

It has been suggested that sale of interim reports on artifact categories and/or individual artifacts might prove both more feasible and more useful.

In order to gauge what is of most interest to re-enactors and other scholars, this thread is intended to gather information on what types of artifacts you would like to see covered, and in what order of preference.

For example:

Small Arms (#1)

Cannon

Clothing

Coins & other specie

Comments on format, and suggestions as to retail price, are also welcome.

Many Thanks in Advance!

The Corsair

Greetings,

The first pirate shipwreck ever discovered and authenticated was the pirate ship Whydah, Captain Sam Bellamy, which went down in a storm in 1717 off Cape Cod.

[see www.whydah.com for more info]

The wreck was discovered by underwater explorer Barry Clifford in 1984 and an estimated 200,000 artifacts have been recovered to date in an ongoing archaeological excavation.

In lieu of selling artifacts, the Project is considering the sale of artifact replicas as a means of funding its future work.

This thread is intended to gauge what artifacts, or artifact categories, are of most interest to potential customers--whether as souvenirs, or for purposes of re-enactment.

Please list as many as are of interest to you, but it would obviously make the survey more "scientific" if you mention each artiact only once.

If you mention more than one artifact or artifact type in a post, we'd be grateful if you would list them in order of interest. For example:

Shot pouch (#1)

buttons

buckle

grenade

Many thanks!

Many good things to ponder in these postings...

The last time we did an exhibits catalog we lost our shirts--in one respect it was not mass-market enough, but, from another POV it was TOO mass-market.

Staff time resources and cash are in short supply at museums around the country. In order to make a case to my superiors for the kind of efforts talked about, I have to show interest/feasibility.

To that end, I'm going to post a couple of artifact report/replica polls at this site, and the Whydh's, to get some gauge of actual interest.

I encourage all reenactors and other scholars to participate

Thanks for the input,

Ken

Was that YOU?

The Corsair

Hawkyns wrote:

I understand about not selling the artifacts (not happy about it but I understand it ).

I've been to the museum a couple of times in the past year and a half or so. I think my biggest disappointment in the store is that it seems so targeted at the average 7 year old. Tshirts, toys, and kids books, in my opinion works against you.

>Believe me, what's in there causes me to cringe as well...When we first opened we had only books and a couple of souvenir shirts. And found we were rapidly going broke...

Sure, you'll pick up the catchpenny tourist money, but in doing so, I think you lessen the image of a serious archeological endeavor.

>Unfortunately, there's a sort of Gresham's Law in effect at the P-Town location (it probably applies to other touristy places as well). Bad Stuff is preferred over the Good Stuff. The number of times when I've seen people buy 4 pieces of crap totalling 20 bucks instead of something half decent for $10 is uncountable.

And the serious scholarly stuff simply does not sell at a rate that justifies the space it takes up--although we carry some of it anyway. Personally, I'm mortified by the fact that we have yet to sell a copy of Arms&Armour in Colonial America, Villains at Sea, The Pirate-Hunter to name a few.

I understand the work needed to produce the books neccesary, but why does it all have to be in one or two large hardbound volumes? How about something more like the Royal Armouries Monographs, 60 or 70 pages, softbound, dealing with a particular group of items.

>Well that might be a thought. The costs of doing such monographs used to be horrific, but, with self-publishing, are getting more reasonable. And the website offers a wide enough exposure that we might actually sell a few. That's something we will consider. Thanks for the suggestion!

The pottery, for example, or the firearms finds. The Mary Rose Trust does quite a nice job marketing and selling single sheets, about 11x17 on stiff paper, that are the archeological drawings of a particular item, with a brief description and history.

>That's another idea. What do they sell for?

Many Thanks!

The Corsair

Greetings,

I'm not going to comment on this specific case, but more to general considerations.

In my experience, underwater archaeologists are generally extremely reluctant to identify a wrecksite unless an artifact with the vessel's name is recovered, or something with the name of one of her crew

(and sometimes not then).

The Corsair

...while I am thinking of it:

Should it happen that we keep the artifact gallery presently on the site, is the info/format useful to re-enactors. Or, for example, would additional technical information about the artifacts be desired?

The Corsair

Greetings,

Greetings

>Weren't they going to build a replica of the Whydah at one time... till the NAACP nixed the idea?

It was a little more complicated than that, but you are, in essence, correct. A major facility including a replica was planned for Tampa

>Sadly, for me though, coming from Germany... its hard to include (read: convince the wife) that a trip to an out of the way place to visit a museum is the best use of limited time....

Ironically, just prior to 9-11, we were in negotiations with a German firm for a tour of our travelling exhibit Europe--including several sites in Germany. So perhaps the Whydah may yet come to you!

>Oh well.

>We will see what we can do digitally in the meantime.

The Corsair

Who enjoyed our exhibit in Bremen immensely

GoF

And, with luck, the Project might well acquire a larger, and less desolate, location in the future...

Regards,

The Corsair

One of the problems of the Whydah Project is that it doesn't sell artifacts.

As a consequence, income is always [unfortunately] an issue--especially since the Museum is only open from April through October.

As a consequence, the project's website has--and probably always will have--a commercial component. Unfortunately, it appears that website sales are not going to be a meaningful component of Project income.

Priority over the past few months has therefore been placed on the creation of a volume of historical source material. It's hoped that said volume will be done by mid-May.

Once that's out, work will resume on the artifact gallery. This material will be either uploaded to the site or sold as a CD--possibly multi-media in Powerpoint.

Owing to a variety of technical reasons, the other two Final Report (First Phase) archaeological volumes are going to take awhile to convert to pdf.

Regards,

The Corsair

The advantage of getting old--one can say pretty much anything one pleases, and others simply chalk it up to senile mumblings...

There's a couple of theories extant re pirates and marriage:

One argument is that nearly all sailors--and most officers--stayed single during the active years of their career on account of their work kept them from some of the er-ah "appurtenances" of settled life.

The other theory is that pirates feared that married men would be more likely to desert.

Regards,

The Corsair

...which is why Maynard's little visit probably came as a relief to the poor feller...

The Corsair

Who is not aware of any authentic wedding vows specific to pirates, but who imagines that they were something along the lines of the 18th-century equivalent of "My tent, or your hovel?" and who will now be quiet again...

Greetings,

In the GHP, there's a chapter on a pirate named "Christopher Condent" In researching his activities from primary sources I've found corroboration for many of his activities as related in the GHP.

But one thing I have not found corrorboration for is, oddly enough, his name. "Christopher Condent" appears to be used only in the GHP. In other sources the last name is given as Condon, Congden, Condell, etc. while his first name is given as William, John, or Edmond.

Has anyone seen a primary source I might have missed where he is referred to as "Christopher Condent"?

Thanks!

The Corsair

www.whydah.com

Whydah

The ones I have seen are wood.

Regards,

Corsair

www.whydah.com