corsair2k3

Greetings, I myself have yet to find a satisfactory bio of him--what was in THE LOST FLEET is pretty good, but, frankly, was targetted to the general reader. The bio in Marley's encyclopedia is next best--but that has a few errors in Trouble with "de Griffe" is not that there's too little primary source documentation, but rather too much (and a lot of it that's contradictory) To do a satisfactory and scholarly job of it, one would have to be fluent in French, Spanish (and ARCHIVAL Spanish--not just conversational Spanish!) as well as English. People with that kind of skill-set generally don't write about pirates. Just once--instead of some rehashed bio on Kidd or Morgan--I wish somebody would go at "de Griffe". Something else I wish for--that I've mentioned before--is that some ambitious and enterprising young'un would go after the pirates/privateers of the 1800's. Granted, it isn't as stylish to re-enact Charles Gibbs as it is Henry Morgan, but the raw material to do something fresh is definitely there. Again, I think the stumbling block is the matter of language aptitude. I wish to high heaven that I had studied French and Spanish in high school and college instead of all those mandatory sociology and psychology courses. The Corsair

Didn't think of this when the topic first came up, but if you're re-enacting a long overland trek on foot, hauling along a good chunk of suet (for frying) is considerably more in period than a can of PAM or bottle of Mazola. For some frontiersmen, it was actually a health issue. Depending on precise circumstances, living off game for prolonged periods sometimes led to malnutrition owing to insufficient fat and carbs. One of the priniciples that the Atkyns Diet's based on. The Corsair www.whydah.com

Beef suet can be found in supermarkets--it's used for bird food and is also rendered as fat for some recipes. I don't recommend eating it straight--basically it's unrendered beef fat. Potted meat product would NOT substitute in a recipe--but pork lard would. The Corsair www.whydah.com

Not much help for your problem, but Dampier is always talking about he and his pals cooked assorted critters and stuff they came across. Doughboys might work for your event. And boiled pease is certainly doable. The Corsair www.whydah.com Who is going to have some of his famous Fudge Pie as a light snack...

Greetings, The Prussian Zietenhussars used a death's head badge in the 18th century. The design was passed down through the years as the unit evolved until it ended up being the badge of the SS "Totenkopf" Division. Also--haven't got the reference ready to hand, but a unit during the English Civil War had the skull and bones as a banner. Am thinking it could well have used the device as a badge as well. Another thing that springs to mind is that it might be 18th century masonic regalia. Very nice piece--which leads me to think that it might not be military The Corsair

I even got out the magnifying glass...

The topic that will not die... I was having a look at some of Hogarth's work, hoping to catch a glimpse of earrings, but instead was quite please to find an nefarious sort wearing an eyepatch If anyone wants a look-see, let me know and I'll put up a jpeg of the darling feller over the weekend... Regards, The Corsair Who reckons we'll hit 10 yet on this thread...

All things considered, this probably the most amazing news report on piracy that I've ever read! [And that is saying something] While my first thought screams "Newpaper Hoax!", it would not be impossible to verify the incident and obtain "the rest of the story" (and start tracing the crew so see who the hell had been reading-up on the French Revolution). And, having, done that, it would not be hard for you to parlay this into an article for a research publication. Congratulations on your find! [And thanks for making my day!] The Corsair www.whydah.com

I didn't know that...about Davy Jones' daughter being a classmate... As for Davy Jones--I've never heard a satisfactory explanation for this tale. One theory has it that it comes out of Jamaica, where there is an entity called "Duppy Jonah" which has some of the same traits as Davy Jones... ...sans earrings, of course! The Corsair

Well, for one thing, there's no mention of Peter Tork, Michael Nesmith or Micky Dolenz among the rest of the crew... Seriously: There's a couple theories about the origin of "Davy Jones' Locker"--none of which are substantiated. My reason for ruling out the Roebuck DJ as the origin of the legend is because references to the legend put it in an underwater context. There's nothing in the story of the Roebuck's DJ with regard to drowning or catastrophic shipwreck or anything similar that would inspire the submarine aspects of this folk belief. Regards, The Corsair

You are indeed correct! . Davy Jones was indeed one of the leading lights of the Roebuck. He was, of course, no relation to THE Davy Jones. As to the article: Given my perverse urge to spin this thread out as long as possible, I'm going to see if I can get all possible references to earrings and sailors on it. To that end: If someone has access to "The Dictionary of English Folklore" I'd be most grateful if they would post what the DEF has to say on the topic. Regards, The Corsair "We'll sail as long as the beer lasts..." --attributed to Martin Frobisher Sometime Pirate

While I am thinking of it, I'm going to repost the following here for the benefit of posterity as well as 17th-century reenactors: In 1635, the ROEBUCK, under Captain William Cobb, was attacking shipping of the "infidells" in the Indian Ocean under the authority of a specious commission issued by King Charles I. In a deposition, a victim of their robberies took note of "the leftenant Franglee [=Franklin] who hath a ring in his left ear" [from PIRATES OF THE EASTERN SEAS by Charles Grey. 1971 Kennikat Press edition. London p.97] The Corsair

Maybe I'll have to take that back--here's two sailors who were buried WITH their earrings... http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2004/01.../pf-316404.html [poor bastids could only afford silver though] More to follow... The Corsair

Actually, this brings up a theory which might keep this thread going another couple of pages. Maybe sailors thought of earrings as their version of "Charon's Penny" Until relatively recent times, many of the dead were buried with pennies on their eyelids. Not only was this to keep the eyes decently shut, but some of the more rustic types saw it as "payment for the Ferryman" Since sailors were buried at sea, pennies weren't practical. Perhaps the earring was a solution? And it's been said before that earrings were worn as "paying it forward" to anyone who might find a drowned sailors body and give it proper burial... The Corsair (who's now going back to his web-work)

I do too... Easy pickings at night for me and my filet knife... :) The Corsair www.whydah.com

Don't feel bad--I got nigh on 20 on ya and am in the same [sinking] boat... The Corsair www.whydah.com

Now this manual (from 1691) mentions both http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Weaponry...1691)_p157.html [you might have to cut and paste this into your browser] The Corsair www.whydah.com

Greetings, I looked at the inventories of two captured pirate ships that I could get at handy for mention of crows or handspikes. The inventory of one sloop mentioned neither--the other had two crows, but no handspikes, listed. In my considered opinion, neither vessel would have carried anything larger than a three-pounder (and not one of those mahulkin-big three-pound chase guns either!) I will see if I can find anything in my other inventory-type stuff. The Corsair www.whydah.com

Foxe, me lad! No truce, no modus vivendi, no compromise, no middle ground! I'm all for running this thread up to 10 or 15 pages at least! The Corsair www.whydah.com

If they were found then they would be subject to the same interpretation as I suggest above, though perhaps less conclusively. If there were a hundred then it would be very indicative, on the other hand if one or two were found alongside a large pile of coins then it would suggest that they were part of a hoard rather than adornment. However, I think instead the complete absence of them is far more indicative and is, in my humble opinion, much less open to interpretation. >That might be true if one were dealing with the Mary Rose or Vasa, but in the case of both the W and the QAR you are dealing with wrecks that have been put "through the blender" For example, in the case of the W, less than 40 cannonballs have been recovered. Commonsense tells us that statistical inferences from a wreck subjected to the kind of trauma inflicted on the W are meaningless. As another case in point: absolutely no pottery--and very little glass--has been recovered to date from the W site. "Absence of evidence" arguments can always cut two ways. Somebody will undoubtedly argue that the failure to recover earrings from the Whydah site must mean that the pirates had them (literally) on their person when the 70-80 carcasses were washed ashore on Marconi Beach--and other beaches north and south distances up to 10 miles. [snipped] *wasn't it you who gave me that list years ago in the first place? Credit where it's due and all that. >If I did, I must've been drunk... Greetings,

Greetings, This is from Jeffrey Bolster's book BLACK JACKS--the painting was done in 1822 and shows that hoop earrings were worn by seafarers prior to the Gold Rush. http://www.geocities.com/corsair2k3/BlackCaptain.jpg As far as pirates with earrings during the period 1689-1725, I haven't got a single reference to a pirate wearing an earring during that period. I do have an early 17th century reference to such--but since it's already established that "that doesn't count" I'm not going to drag that back out. Nor am I going to bother fishing out documents logging the presence of earrings among assorted captured pirates--since it cannot be demonstrated that they actually wore the earring found in their possession. I'm not aware of any earrings having been found at the Whydah or QAR sites--and, if there were, they'd be subject to the same objection. How can one tell if said adornment was simple loot, or was actually worn? I have seen evidence that pirates during the GAoP did wear gold chains, but that's about it. Regards, The Corsair

Responding to Foxe: The tradition of earrings began much earlier than the Gold Rush. Evidence to be supplied later this evening. The Corsair

I know.... [Adds a whole new dimension to the thread on earrings, don't it folks?] The Corsair

Can't vouch for the story about the composition of the sound, but the facts given about the circumstances of the raid, are pretty dead-on. Regards, The Corsair

No period artwork here, but for a version of Kinkor's article that Red Maria, have a look at: http://www.whydah.com/page.php?id=exp0244 There were *plenty* of pirate captains of at least partial African heritage prior to 1725. IMO, the last thing that 18th-century upper-class Europeans wanted to publicize was that there were armed, angry, blacks on the high seas working in tandem with armed, angry, poor whites. Regards, The Corsair Who had a crappy Valentines and is downright crabby this evening