Longarm

I saw a documentory about Blackbeard afew years back that may explain some of his behaviors. For one thing he was supposed to have been in the habit of drinking a mixture of rum, gin, and gunpowder. He said it was to make a man more virile. Now I'm sure any woman can tell you that, when a man has to much to drink it may make him more randy but not very virile. The other thing is gunpowder has saltpeter in it which has a negative affect on a mans ability to raise his mast,add in the sulfer and charcoal and you,ve got a great way to irritate and tear up your stomach linning. Another thing that might explain his actions may come from the fact that when he blockaded Charleston his main demand was for a medicine chest. Most researchers believe that most of the crew had syphilis. The team that has found The Queen Anne's Revenge also found a medicine chest with a penis syringe containing traces of mercury in it. Mercury was a large component in some of the treatments for venereal deseases at the time. If Blackbeard had an advaced case of syphilis this could help to explain some of his eratic behavior, as the desease starts to effect the mind. Al Capone died of it and was said to have gone quite mad, well maybe more like an advanced Alzhimers patient. Anyway whether it was desease, alcohol, or he was just your everyday run of the mill pyschotic we will never know.

Well December 2nd and 3rd be the dates for Hornblower. And as much as I'ld like to watch them with you RumbaRue am afraid we're on opposite coast, you are on the west are you not? Anyway it looks like a good year for anything nautical or swashbuckling, What with movies like POTC, M&C, Hornblower also in Dec. The Return of the King will be out. I say things are looking up movie wise, bookwise as well.

There is no doubt that Blacbeard could and would fight. But in my opion Blackbeard died a fool. 1st. After blockading Charleston he heads straight for his favorite hide-out that everyone and his grandmother knew about. 2nd. By most accounts he delibrately grounded the Queen Anne's Revenge. If not delibrately than why would a man who knew those waters so well get stranded. 3rd. He delibrately abandoned most of his crew and took-off in a smaller ship, thus giving hemself fewer men to fight with. 4th. He goes to Ocracoke with it's shifting currents and sandbar basicly trapping himself on the island during lowtide. 5th. He waits for Maynards two ships to come in with the tide. If he knew the waters so well why not leave? 6th. When the battle starts all three ships find themselves grounded while trying to manuver, even Blackbeard and both sides had to do alot of work to get free. 7th. Blackbeard falls for one of the oldest tricks in the book, something he might have pulled himself at one time or another, that is he allowed Maynard into tricking him into boarding by pretending that he was less well manned, when he kept most of his men below decks. 8th. Maynard did this to protect his crew and deceive Blackbeard because neither of his ships had cannon and Blackbeard was suppose to have eight. So instead of sitting back and blowing the hell out of Maynard he chose to board. He had to know that any ship coming after him would not be carrying anthing of real value. 9th. What did Blackbeard fight for? 25 hogsheads of sugar,11 tierces these are cask containing about 304-330 lbs., 145 bags of cocoa, a barrel of indigo, and a bale of cotton. Not really a cargo to lose your life over is it. In my opion Blackbeard started to believe his own hype, that he himself helped to propergate in order to make himself more fearsome so his victims would be more apt to surrender than fight. All in all Blackbeards carreer as captian last only about 15 months. Bold he may have been but not very wise.

Thar be a new book out called " Patrick O'Brians Navy" by Richard O'Neil listed in the Barns & Noble catalog. It's listed as "This illustrated companion to the Audbrey-Maturin novels creates a vivid picture of 19th-century naval operations, with detailed diagrams of warships, a glossary of nautical terminology and slang, and a complete list of the series' major characters." Pub. Price $30.00, Member Price $27.00. I,ve not seen it yet but it is on my wish list, it couldn't hurt and it goes well with the rest of me O'Brian collection.

That is an amazine site to see. Can you imagine what it would be like to be on the exploration team when the money is raised? Great find Coastie! I've never seen a shipwreck in such great condition. It's almost eerie to see her sitting upright withe the mast and hull in such great condition, almost as if shes waiting to be rigged an set sail.

Many thanks Master Hawkyns. The more I follow the threads here at Captain Twill the longer my wish list gets. My good wife wont be liking living in a pirate museum but if I get my way she just might hve to.

Did anyone else notice in the storm scene that they had some poor soul sitting on the head. I only noticed because everyone else seemed to be very busy and this guy was just sitting there with both legs over the side. A quick look showed that his pants were around his ankles and after remembering where the head was that I realized what was going on. You have to pay close attention to see him, and if it were not for his lack of movement, or maybe because of his movement that I noticed him at all.

Thanks to you both, Deacan and Hawkins, Your advice is most helpful. I don't have any real BP experience exept for whatever I can pick up at any renactments that include cannon. Being in S.C. I'll more than likely have to get intouch with one of the Civil War groups. This really isn't my favorite time of study but there are more groups here. The best one I've talked with so far renact the German mercinaries who manned the cannon for some of the southern regements. They are very good, very authentic when it comes down presenting themselves. All orders and commands are given in german, as well as the ranks of it's men. They are the group who fired the salutes for the first two crews of the Hunnley when they were reburied. They will also be the ones to attend the last crew when it comes time to lay them to rest. In fact their horses who pull the cannon came from Arlington Cemetary in Va. So I guess if I plan on learning properly in a precise and proffessional manner they'ld be my best bet. Unless one or both of you decide to move yer home port to Charleston so not only will I learn proper gunnery but, proper seamanship and piracy as well?

I'll comment fer ye mate. Last friday me brother an I took me yungest hellion to see it. It was enough to give any sailing and fighting dog, wood and I'm not taling about legs either. And from the reactions of some of the wenches in the place thar was many whyo left wet between the knees and I ain't talking about spilling drinks in their laps either. This be one movie that truly got me hellion into thinking about sailing. When the Surprise be going around the horn at 12 knots and the capt. wanting more, twas a sight to see. Me hellion be a rollercoaster nut so's I leaned over to him as that ship be flying thru the storm and I asked him how would he like to be onboard and didn't that look better than any coaster he's every seen. The grin on his face said it all. In truth I have never seen a movie that conveyed so much feeling of being there and what life might have been like in all me life. Without haveing to show closeups of blood and gore and special effects, you feel and see the true brutality of combat aboard ship. And the sceens when the doctor was doing surgery on the crew and later on himself had the whole audience sguirming in their seats. And still they didn't really show anything, it was just the way the whole scene was set up. From the music to the lighting and the acting, you got the feeling that you were watching something really gory and bloody. I could go on an on about this movie, it truly is one of the best I've every seen. I intend to see again and again to try and catch every detail. Hows that for a comment?

Apparently there seems to be plenty of different opinions on cannons and gunnery out there. Is there a place or an organization out there where someone, not unlike myself, can go to be sure they are getting the proper training in useing a cannon? Secondly with all these fool terrorist running around what kind of license does one need to purchase and store enough gunpowder to operate a cannon. < And yes I know that pirates could quailify as terrorist, just in case there is some smart-aleck out there who may think I need reminding.>

Longarm rushes back in remebering something he had read. If God had wanted man to lower the seat, He also would have given us mats to wipe our feet. Oh wait! I guess he did. I'll just quickly and quietly close the lid. Leaves quickly still thinking about tweezers.

Longarm strolls in starts reading, thinks to self " If this keeps up we'r gonna need a bigger privy." Shurgs "Oh well, When in Rome..." Pulls out dagger. Thar my ship lies at anchor, For getting me here I must thank her. Surrounded by pirates full of rum, I hope I don't get splinters in me bum! Strolls out wondering where he put those damn tweezers. <Note to self> " Next time bring a holy stone just in case."

I was wondering if this cannon had been submerged under water for so long wouldn't the gunpowder have been ruined. I know wet gunpowder can be left out to dry if caught soon enough but, after being soaked long enough wouldn't some of the componets dissolve?

I noticed that no one said anything about covering the touch hole when loading to prevent air from being pushed thru and faning any embers that may still be inside. I'm no cannon expert but the few demonstrations that I've seen and the couple that I was allowed to participate in, some one always hand to put their thumb over the hole. In fact I was allowed to do this in one of the demos. A stout leather glove is worn while doing this to protect against burns. Wasn't this common practice when using cannon? I also met a gunner who used pantyhose to make his loads. Not good in wet weather but they burned up completly when fired leaving no tinfoil or paper or smoldering canvas to clean up.

If ye be looking for a way of interperating Patrick O'Brain's nautical terms, ye have to go no further than Dean Kings book " A Sea of Words: A Lexicon and Companion for Patrick O'Brain's Seafaring Tales" . It covers everything nautical as well as everthing that Maturin study and talked about, and just about everything in between. King also wrote " Harbors and High Seas: An Atlas and Geographical Guide to the Complete Audrey-Maturin Novels of Patrick O'Brian ". This covers just what it says in the title. It starts with the first book and shows the places and conditions and some of the history of every voyage that Audbrey and Maturin take. It can be slow reading sometimes but both books can come in might handy when ye get stuck in an O'Brain tale.

At the first site with me real name I'm Mad Dog Bonney With me pirate name I be The Lone Drinker At the second site I be Black James Kidd Like anyone confronted with the harshness of robbery on the high seas, you can be pessimistic at times. Even though you're not always the traditional swaggering gallant, your steadiness and planing make you a fine reliable pirate. Arr! Is it just me or is there a kindof theme running here? Few of the names are that original, and the sayings are pretty much the same. All in all it is kindof interesting. Not as good as picking your own name or persona but still kindof interesting all the same.

Sorry I am to have missed yer birthday mate, as well as the strippers. But, heres wishing you fair winds and fat merchant ships fer making it one more year without the hangman getting his scurvey mitts on ya. And Rosalinda, what can I say? Your art work is truly a treasure unto it's self! Skull be a lucky man to have such a talented mate such as yer self to create such a wonder for him. Good on ya lass!

As for working knives I was lucky enough to spend time with a knife maker by the name of Sam Cox. He had been commisioned by the S.C. Maritime Heritage Foundation to produce a historicly acurate rigging knife for the (hopefully soon to be built ) Spirit of South Carolina. When I asked him why the knives had no points I was given a couple of answers. 1. Having a point on a moving deck can be dangerious to yourself as well as your shipmates. One good swell and you could end up sticking yourself or some one else. This will not make you very popular among the crew. 2. A rigging knife was mainly a chopping blade. The back of the blade was alot thicker than most knives. The reason being that the sharpe edge would be placed on the rope to be cut and then the rigger would use a wooden malet to strike the back of the knife to cut through the rope. Over time the vibration this causes in the knife, ends up weakening the metal of the blade, especialy the point where the metal is the thinest. This weaking of the metal soon leads to the point breaking off. I also had an old time sailor tell me that to discourage fights among the crew, the captain would delibratly break the points off a sailors knife when he boarded the ship. I tend to believe this man because he had the look of someone who could have sailed with old Noah himself, and had alot of experiance with sailing and the sea. If anyone is interested in seeing some of Sam Cox's work or the rigging knife I spoke of go to: www.samcox.us or www.scmaritime.org.

When I was a wee lad growing up in Nevada, Texas and Arizona, I always wanted to be a cowboy. Me parents tho said that me feet were to wide to be fitting in the boots being made for children so I never had a pair. Can't be a cowboy without a good pair of boots so I gave up on the idea. Now I be full grown with a good pair of pirate boots that fit like a glove, several sturdy swords, and a taste of the salt air. I tell ye now thar be no looking back for this rogue. Give me the sea and ye can keep the deserts and prairies.

Forgive me spelling I meant Trafalgar not Trafaga. Blame it on the rum or me lack of attention in me schooling , both work just fine.

I found a fine screensaver at www.johngroves.org. It consist mainly of paintings by the artist of ships and seafaring life. There are not many of pirates but, his Battle of Trafaga is quite well done. It's worth the look just for this guy's painting ability alone.