Calico Jack

Without reprising nine pages of the thread, has anyone cited Hogarth? I've been going through Hogarth's paintings and engravings, in regards to costuming [1730s stuff, just-post GAoP], and note a couple of images with revealed tattoos. A tattooed child [a six pointed star upon the abdomen] in the Rake's Progress series, and a former criminal [cross and initials on the bicep] in the Four Stages of Cruelty series [the latter from 1750, the former from 1734.

Just post GAOP ['though involving a local favourite, and a "notorious" pirate, Ned Low], in 1722 Philip Ashton, merchant seaman and schooner fisherman, was impressed by Edward Low, and on his eventual escape and return to Marblehead, wrote an account of his experience. Yes, assuming one example to be a general trend is a very dangerous thing, and is NOT good history, however Ashton was (a) not navy, and (b)lower-middle class [if not lower class] and was in fact, it is strongly implied, able to write himself, as opposed to dictation. Now, that said, it is possible that his account was a fiction ['though unlikely], and it is possible that his account was dictated to a second party for the writing of it, however, it would appear that at least one lower-middle-class fisherman was able to write [and thus likely, to read]. Perhaps the exception, rather than the norm, but a possible example. Surgeons [see the surgeons thread] were of course also notoriously literate. Many of the accounts we have from the time are "memoirs" from surgeons [Alexandre Exquemelin, and a few others]. [Edit: additional, to cite "Wages" from the flags thread over in Plunder: "In history, it is usually safest to go with general practice than to postulate what "might" have been done that deviate from "normal," esp. when PERIOD sources make little to nothing on anything unusual. People tend to ONLY note things that are "odd" PRECISELY because they are DIFFERENT from norm." Exactly.]

Army surgeons would likely have had want of something somewhat portable, but I don't see that maritime surgeons would much have felt need. A surgery is not particularly portable, but men are. Rather than take the surgery up on deck, bring the wounded down to the cockpit... And how often would you be wandering off ship so far that you would need a "portable surgery" instead of that on ship? [Only, alas, when re-enacting]. For re-enactments, I usually stretch history so far as to allow for a quarantine/surgery tent ashore [cinematic equivilant being the self-surgery displayed in the film "Master and Commander: Far Side of the World], which gives an excuse to have a medical chest and surgery set up off-ship, even if admittedly not the best excuse. That seems to work, and gives an opportunity to explain how it would rarely have been used [the temporary surgery ashore would rarely have been used, not the quarantine tent, which would have]. Bleeding bowl and lancet appropriate to your period would be quite portable, 'though, I suppose.

Bad news in one regard - Barber surgeons were using chests of medicaments as far back as Mary Rose, in the early 1500s. See http://www.maryrose.org/visiting/tour5.htm for an image of some of the medicine jars and tools. Good news in another regard - those jars and tools should not be too difficult for you to acquire or recreate.

Ah, one of the good things about the Gutenburg Project - download in straight Text format, and you can use a word processing program to make it as pretty as you like - even to publish it in a book format, for good-looking reading [grins].

Ahoy, folks. Another odd request. If anyone is able to help me track down the text of the script to Farquhar's 1706 play "The Recruiting Officer" [a play which remained popular right through the Napoleonic era], I'd be much appreciative. I am looking to craft a prop copy.

Many thanks, gentlemen. I may in the end cave and simply build a stock, but the barrel-knot cravat and some others were still being used amongst the "non-coms" like the naval surgeons, in the Royal Navy even at Trafalgar, so I may still aim to do a cravat [2" by 30", and such]. The illustration is most helpful for the stock, however. That'll help when I get 'round to having the stock as a solid option.

More 1780-1812 than GAoP, but I'm interested in the civilian cravat of the period as an option to the military neck-stock . There's a wide variety of partial descriptions and partial instructions out there on "the internet," but I was wondering if anyone had dug up a concise description and instructions [both manufacture and tie] for a civilian cravat - yes, most likely white linen rather than black, being civilian rather than military. What would have been a likely knot for the post-Rev War period? Any help most welcome.

Just want to add my compliments to those of the crowd -- _beautiful_ work!

Bearing in mind, of course, that the original post wasn't asking after GAOP appropriate gear -- it was a query as regards "all sorts of brass instruments and suchlike" found in popular images of "photos" of naval charts on rough-hewn table, and such like. All those "geometry" instruments are not GAOP back-staff but rather typically (a) sextant, ( dividers, © sometimes parallel ruler, (d) sometimes chronometer, (e) often compass. It's usually mid-1800s-era stuff in such illustrations. As all this appears not to be for an "authentic reenactment" ... ... Should there perhaps be a thread dedicated to the appropriate navigation instruments of the GAOP? http://pyracy.com/forums/index.php?showtop...4&hl=navigation http://pyracy.com/forums/index.php?showtop...3&hl=navigation

http://science.msfc.nasa.gov/ssl/pad/solar...untime/expt.htm - build a simple sextant [depending on period, you could be building an octant or quadrant instead, but hey...] http://boatsafe.com/navigation/intronav.htm - dividers and parallel rulers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronometer - and finally, a Wikipedia page on the history of the ship's Chronometer. That should be most of the tools you find scattered about "on top of" images on nautical charts. Occasionally an actual compass as well. Most rarely: http://www.navyandmarine.org/planspatterns...ns/speedlog.htm - the chip log.

Ahoy, folks. Whilst there's plenty of piratical history up here in Eastern Canada [running from 1602 through 1844], there's not so much in the way of Pirate Crews. Looking to touch base with crews from Eastern Canada or Northern New England ... shopping 'round, like. So, here's the hook.... Any takers? Or am I down to jigging without bait?

A quick note as regards "which clothes did they wear?" Yes, admittedly, this is once again stealing notes in part from later periods [but my focus is admittedly on the 1812 period, with the Lafittes et al], but here is: Whilst Grania "Grace" O'Malley may have been noted as famed for "shaving her head" and leading from the fore [even being once captured on a boarding action], those ladies aboard later, Naval vessels were more of a mixed bag: Thanks to those aboard Victory at Trafalgar, there are a number of accounts of that ship and that battle. Not only do we know that several individuals were _born_ aboard those vessels during the battle [thus a strong acknowledgement of the Warrants' wives aboard ships], but we know for certain and by name of at least a couple of Warrant Officers' wives aboard Victory herself. One, the wife of a Gunnery Officer, switched to men's slops during the battle of Trafalgar so as to act as Powder Monkey [and then as Loblolly Boy]. This suggests that (a) outside the battle she did _not_ wear slops, and that ( during the battle, even though everyone knew she was a woman, she dressed and acted the part of a Ship's Boy. No, this does not guarantee any such occurance during the Great Age of Piracy, but it does mean that those pirates active during the War of the American Revolt and the War of 1812, and the Napoleonic era, do have this to fall back on, should the ladies wish to dress the Boy's role...

The game is, in essence, "Perudo," a "Liar's Dice" game which dates back to the mid 1500s [perhaps farther, but why speculate?]. As such, if the dent to your coin seems a bit much, try searching up Perudo on ye olde internette to find some rules, gather one cup and five dice per player, and have at 'er!

Bein' as I work at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, NS, we're doing a full "talk like a pirate day" theme at the museum for the full day. That evening, it being a Tuesday, I'll be in full cinematic pirate regalia [as opposed to historical pirate less-regal-ia], for my Ghost and Folklore Tour of the museum. Earlier in the day, I'm at a local elementary school, so I figured I'll just stay in costume and find piratey-type stories for the library "classes."

The implication in the "British Frigate" service in 1740 reference, is that rather than being a Pirate, she instead may have served legitimately aboard a British Warship [likely originally as the wife of any of a number of lesser officers], but acted in a direct role during some combat engagement. For other examples on record, consider the wife of one gunner aboard Victory at Trafalgar, who served during that engagement first as Powder Monkey, then as Loblolly Boy... So she _may_ not be a pirate at all ['though I've no information of certainty either way]. You might do best to look up the frigate by name, and see what _she_ and her crew were up to in 1740....

And of course, there's a new book out looking at trying to patch together a biography of the brothers Lafitte - most definitely criminals and pirates rather than American Patriots - who were distinctly French in origin, but not GAoP [more late Napoleonic/War of 1812].

Ahoy folks. As a related aside, does anyone have the location of an e-text of the Lionel Wafer book [english or french, I care not which]? Would be most welcome.

In fact the identity and origin of the Voodoo Queen [Tia Dalma] seems to raise most of my curiosity. She was obviously [in her capacity as "pirate movie voodoo queen"] the means of raising Barbossa, and likely the hat [found by Jack during the first visit] and the monkey [and its coin?] likely played a role in her crafting his return. As noted above, 'tis not the _ring_ Jack steals, but rather the pendant on the necklace next it, being apparently identical [or at least oddly similar] to the music-box pendant sitting on Jones' organ.... My own pet theory is that Tia Dalma is that "woman as changing as the sea" from her version of the story. But we'll see. Overall, parts of this film were slightly better than the first film, parts of it were worse, but it averages out as almost as good as the first movie, in my mind. Fun.

Found more history on the game - a thread on sailors' games [including Liar Dice] and their provenance is also current in Captain Twill. http://pyracy.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7956 And quick notes: losing dice changes the odds for _everyone_, although yes whoever is still in the lead now knows for certain a _slightly_ higher percentage of the total dice, compared to someone who has lost one or more of theirs. That changing ratio is a part of the game mechanic, and one of the things I like about it is that it is not exclusively a betting game [and adding poker chips instead _would_ make it exclusively a betting game]. Also, bidding five "5s" means exactly that - that amongst the total dice on the table [known or hidden], at least five of them are showing the number 5.

Aha! So, current theory on the origins of Liar Dice, according to a number of at least semi-reputable sources [that is to say, better trhan Milton Bradley or Wikipedia]: Sometime roughly around 1530, a dice game was brought to Spain by sailors from their "American Trade" [as it were]. This _may_ have originally be a Native American game, as it holds some similarity to Incan dice games, but this provenance is speculative. What is known is that it spread amongst the Spanish-speaking peoples [probably including sailors, as it was brought from North America] as the game "Perudo" - forms of this game also appeared thereafter ['though when is uncertain, the multinational nature of ships' crews until the end of the 1700s at the least, makes transfer from one culture to another by sailors reasonable] amongst French and English, in English known as "Bluff" or "Liar Dice." Perudo is what the Liar Dice game in PotCDMC was based closely upon. Note that a number of other bluffing dice games are _also_ called Liar Dice, but seem to have no direct relation to Perudo. So it _seems_ that Disney and company may well have got it right. If Perudo or Liar Dice did originate in MesoAmerica and did get adopted by the Spaniards there, it likely made it to the Spanish Main amongst sailors, and thus would spread by the multinational nature of ships' crews.

Lady Barbossa, Just checking that the Fool's Gold got there past the border guards [grins]. It was posted over a week ago -- any sign yet? Also, thanks to a wide assortment o' folks, the ships and crew I'm looking for is becoming a shorter and shorter list. At this point, it's largely becoming the historical personages from the first set or three. The fictional pirates I've lots of. The historic ships and crew are a [to me] much more interesting theme. That said, I'm quite envious of Mr. Straw for pulling a successful Monkey Island theme - haven't the Sea Monkey yet, myself. The marketing switch with the current movie and all is, however, quite understandable.

Ahoy all. Here at the Museum, we regularly show off some Sailors' games, knowing their history and how far back they go in the British Navy and merchant service, etc etc. Games such as quoits, Nine Men's Morris, and Hazard. With this Disney film showing off Liar's Dice, I expect it to have a sudden soar in popularity, as well as visitors telling _us_ about it, whenever we're talking about Hazard. A quick search back through a number of text sources indicate that just about everybody seems to be quoting each other in that it is supposedly "centuries old" in the Royal Navy, but no one seems to supply dates or sources. Anyone know how old Liar's Dice [or its variants] actually _is_ in the Royal Navy? The Spanish Navy? Whomever? What's its actual history? Yes, I know that gambling aboard ship even in the Great Age of Piracy often included dice gambling, but that may well have been Hazard [which is similar to Craps, but at _least_ as complicated in its rules]. What's the skinny on Liar's Dice?

Ah, Winston, but p'raps Bob isn't looking for something on the computer, but rather for something a wee bit more .. tangible. Or perhaps something involving sociability -- and thus miniatures gaming [toy soldiers] and roleplaying gaming [uh .. roleplaying] can be an excellent pass-time. The rules for Wizkids' Pirates series are fast and loose. Whilst there are a few internet communities who discuss said rules, it seems that just about everyone changes 'em. Which is fine. Take 'em where you will. I also concur that _if_ you are looking for a "d20" based Pirate Role Playing Game, _Skull & Bones_ by Green Ronin is your best. For a non-d20 system, the old 7th Sea system by Alderac captures a very cinematic and swashbucking experience. Or of course, just _adapt_ whatever role playing rules you already know [Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu rules could work well, Risus is a free and very flexible rule set available on-line...]. Like any Board Game, these games are about sociability. Individual Pirate scale miniatures [15mm to 28mm] are enjoying a resurgence. Reaper makes a bunch, Wargames Foundry in the UK makes loads, even Privateer games makes a few undead pirates. They're cropping up all over. For a combination of geekery and piracy, the current Disney movies have created a renaissance.

Been away from the forums for a while, and so only just noticed this thread. Myself, I was a trombonist for years, and technically I suppose I still am, with a specialization in blues and jazz, but a fair hand at marching band stuff as well. Play the trombone less these days, but a good eight years of regular play and performance. In 1990-or-thereabouts I roomed with a now Anglican Priest who was a fiddler, and introduced me to the traditional irish frame drum (bodhran); since played properly [so say the Irish I know] the mostion is much that of the trombone slide hand, I took to it quickly and easily. Now it's the one as gets the most practise. A right rousing sound the beast has, too.