Matty Bottles

Oh, don't worry! The ring shall be got!

Thanks! There is a local branch of the Classical Fencing Society Scuola di Arma here with the cheapest rates at fifty bucks a month. I considered that, but it was a little steeper than I expected. I plan on being engaged by the end of the year, so I'm saving my money for other things; namely an engagement ring and historically accurate shoes. But mostly the ring. I think I'll check out my local SCA chapter; if I let things like cost or engagements keep from starting, I'll never get anywhere. Actually, my girlfriend suggested that we could take lessons together after we're a little more settled (meaning I have some medical debt paid off and have bought a ring for her. She'd be cool without getting a ring - but not if I was spending fifty dollars a month on fencing lessons!)

Thanks, Monterey Jack!

You can see them from Bilgemunky's site. http://www.bilgemunky.com

I've seen this one before, but I didn't think it was because he was impatient. Something about the way he kept hitting the 'escape' key, and the fact that no parent came over to slap his face, made me think that perhaps the computer had frozen while he was looking at a site he wasn't supposed to, if you cath my drift, and the kid, in a blind frustrated terror at getting caught, flipped out.

I thought it might be nice to get some opinions from those on the board who are familiar with using swords. I do not have experience with fencing or swordplay, and when I explore the possibility of talking lessons, I find a cacophany of conflicting opinions. It seems to me that there is Olympic Sport fencers on one side, classical fencers on the other, and SCA-style fencers on yet another. If anyone has good reccomendations, endorsements, or warnings, I'd be glad to hear them. I'm in Milwaukee, but I'm sure that others have similar questions, so I want everyone to feel free to chime in.

Awesome! My kit is a little shabby for a big Pirate Dance, however...

By they way, that 'shifting lands' page you linked to is incredible! that's always the kind of stuff I wish I could do.

I used to build structures ans stuff like that when I was about thriteen years old. My favorite technique was paper towels soaked in Plaster of Paris. I didn't know anyone else who was interested in that sort of stuff, so I drifted out of it (although I just found a box of my old minatures.) Actually, you know what got me into it? Not wargaming, or roleplaying, or anything like that. It was a game called Fireball Island. I got that when I was maybe eight, and that's all she wrote.

Thanks, Cap'n Bo... that was going to be number 6!

Is anyone going to participate in the pirate costume contest? Or is that for kids? Or, would it be so dang unfair that we shouldn't even consider it? Mateys, I am really looking forward to this...

What is the percentage of Spanish shipping in the Caribbean in general? That, I think, will give us a greater idea of understanding the Spanish influence (or lack thereof) in pirate/sailor dress. I'm not saying it will be greater or less, necessarily, I just think that is the number we should watch.

That's interesting, but do we see the same sort of reluctance between British and French sailors? After all, although a haven of seularism now, for many years France was regarded as the champion of Catholicism. You just have to read the works of Francis Parkman and Robert Leicke to see a very real religious bias still active today. And Spain, as a rival in the seas, really isn’t much of a player by the time the GAoP rolls around. Oh, yes, they were still quite active in the new world and therefore quite susceptible to piracy, but the Armada's back had already been broken for quite some time. There could be larger cultural forces at work, of course, but I think the mere Catholic v. Protestant claim is a little too pat for me to buy. Sorry, didn’t mean to hijack.

GoF, Foxe, Hawkins, Kass, Cap’n Bo, I appreciate your efforts for authenticity, and I am grateful that we have such resources on the site. But I am going to make a list for people who are either too lazy, too miserly, or otherwise do not have an authentic kit (myself included…for now.) 1.) Black Oxford Shoes. After your Confirmation and high school graduation you thought you’d never have to wear them again, didn’t you? Well, now you can wear them for fun! So dig ‘em out of the closet. 2.) Brass buckles for your shoes. Attach them to your shoes with the black twisty ties that come with your stereo gear. They will cover up your laces. 3.) Black and white striped high socks. Look, people will argue back and forth about bucket boots and so forth, but really, if anything says PIRATE! it’s striped socks. Really. You can fake so much of the rest of your kit if you have striped socks. I own two pairs of striped socks, a maroon pair of high socks and only one pair of bucket boots (and those’re for LARPing anyway.) 4.) Tan trousers from Goodwill that were intended for a much fatter gentleman. You just get super baggy pants, cut them off about three inches below the knee, boil them with some tea until suitably distressed, and go. What’s that you say? The waistband is a fifty-two, and you’re only a thirty-eight? Fine. Tie two of your belt loops together in back. Trust me, this’ll work. 5.) Either a really long scarf or an actual sash. You might have to bite the bullet and make a sash. Or make a friend make the sash. If you’re thin enough a long scarf will work. Otherwise, sash away. Now, tie the sash around your waist, making sure to cover the tied-up belt loop and other modern features of your ‘slops.’ These are all in the top five because if you wear these, you can wear whatever you want up top – a white shirt and a cardigan with the sleeves cut off, a blue blazer with the labels flipped up and smoothed flat, a Rolling Stones shirt – and EVERYONE will know that you are a pirate. STRIPED SOCKS are the key.

Thanks for the update, Kass!

What's the status of this group order? Is it still on? Is it over? Are people waiting for more orders? Because now I have a real job!

I was hesitant to mention the prison population because they aren't so isolated from family as a pirate would be, but I think that is an excellent example. You know, I think it would be hard, but for the GAOP things were ridiculously hard all over. These people had hope by the barrelful. They also had rum. I think those things together helped prevent outright breakdowns. This is probably a spectrum as in all things, there were some people under hard conditions who broke down, and some who didn't. And people who were abnormally sensitive (and let me say that a pirate's normal sensitivity was probably absurdly obtuse) were probably preyed upon by their companions. So, Patrick Hand, I tend to agree that yes, it was exceedingly hard, but for the most part pirates were hard men.

If you preyed against ships from your own nation, it seems that you could be labeled a pirate within the course of one or two cruises. (This is just an impression I've gotten, however; I would be hard pressed to name specific sources other than Johnson.) If you were outcast as a pirate, it can't be more traumatic than, say, fighting a war: when you're in the mix, you can function, even though your actions might seem incomprehensible to others in 'mainstream' society. As a friend of mine who served a few years in Iraq before mustering out of the Marines said: "When you're there, you're like 'That's the way it is,' but after you've been out of it for a while you're like 'Wow, that sucked. That was really, really awful and I never want to do that again.'" In situations like that, people don't have the luxury of examining their situations impassively. (And, as another friend of mine who served in an Army Recon unit in Vietnam said, "People like that died.") When you can self-medicate to the level that pirates were able to (and, for example, the child soldiers of Sierra Leon) I imagine they could cope pretty well.

GP13, have you tried to age it? I'd like to know how it turned out!

Let me just say that cheerful New England has churned out some weird cats. H. P. Lovecraft, anyone? Let's not forget Amityville, either. And M. Night Shamylan from Philly seems really well adjusted, too. Perhaps there is more unexplained activity there...

Sweet Cheese! I just saw yer coat on the 'Plunder' boards! That's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen! For my first pirate birthday party, I borrowed a costume from my mother's collection (with a Master's in textile science, she used to manage the custoime collection for Door County, WI) and it was a clean, quality, luxurious coat such as that! Actually, that was the party that really got my friends and I into piracy. We had so much fun in rented/borrowed customes that we realized it was worth the investment to buy/make our own! I look more like Don Maitz's "No Prey, No Pay" fellow. I look forward to seeing you in Port!

Piracy is in the heart, mateys, not the look (although a hell of a look can warm the heart!) On my account page there's a sample of my crew (with me in the middle with me arm around the wench): not realistic, but who needs realism when you're pirate christmas caroling for christmas rum? It'd be an honor to meet you all; I've been sailing all by my lonesome up here in Brew City. There's other pirates up here, by gum (I think the bilgemunky himself!) but I haven't met any o' them yet.

I will! I don't know if the rest of my crew will, tho. They live in sutherland of lake county, Il.

Ahoy there! Now, it has been months and months since I've last posted, and I'm sure you've all forgotten about me. Well, I don't blame you. But it turns out in those months I've been slowly but surely working on my kit, and although it is not a historical depiction by any means, it is a "pyle-style" kit that I am quite satisfied with. And I've been pirating in my absence from the boards, with pirate three pirate themed birthday parties and a regular gig dressing liek a pirate and taking the pontoon out to other people's boats and demanding bratwurst. Goodtimes, goodtimes. Would it be too impertinent to wonder if we could meet for drinks sometime and somewhere at this little shindig? I've been a lurker, but not a stranger, and I'd be pleased to get a chance to meet all of you.

Gosh, I don't know about the accuracy of labeling religion as 'works' vs. 'faith' based. I know Catholicism maintains salvation through Christ and irresistable grace, with the caveat that no one can circumscribe the merciful nature of God (meaning that it is possible for people to be saved directly through God's will, rather than through accepting Christ. It doesn't say if any one ever was, though.) To say that Catholicism claims one can earn one's way into Heaven doesn't seem to jib with what I remember from the catechism. Works are important, yeah, because eveyone has an obligation to follow Christ's directions in the Beatitudes, but merely following the Beatitudes doesn't necessarily get you anywhere.