Maritime crew brings history to life

[michaelsbagley]

I'm going to have to agree with the others... I just re-read the whole four pages of the thread, and the Sea Rats have NOT been slammed, insulted, or put down, not even once.

They have been complimented (many times by many people in the thread), and they bloody well deserve the compliments, judging from the pics, they are a really sharp and really authentic looking group.

BUT, the two articles about them, those are a different story altogether. While I am happy one of the better and more authentic pirate groups is getting media attention, the media seems to have grossly misquoted and falsely represented the group... So yeah, it is fun to rip on those articles.

Flinter5, time to stop being so sensitive and stop looking for insults where there are none. I don't know you, but BOTH threads where I have seen you pipe up, BOTH times it was to take offence at things where no offence was being given. You seem passionate about pirate re-enacting, so please do stop by the pub more often and try and get to know us, someone as passionate as yourself would be a welcome addition here... But please do try and take what is said here at face value and please stop trying to read "dark motives" into our fun and light hearted banter.

The last example for those who don't remember

Cheers

[Flinter5]

hello gentleman

I have read once again the topic, and feel I did take comments out of context

I apoligize sirs. and sorry for that gentleman.

I just seen these guys get hammered by the old salts many times before and I thought that I might be seeing it again. I saw these boys grow up in the hobby and it might be a grandfather thing with me, I kind of still think of myself as a sea rat too.

i always have had a good friendship with them awhile back I was going to leave the hobby and be done for good the sea rats boys are the only people out there that defended me and they actually encouraged me and brought me back into the hobby and its the best decision i made in a long time. While i tried the pirate impression for the last few years and did not pursue fully, i found what i needed and I've been happy ever since trying all kinds of things, went back and forth with the pirates and , and still like pirates and do them a few times on occasion, just its for the young'ins

I think that it would be safe on saying, i was just too aggresive on this topic, i think you are correct i did get mad about other things in the past

I did blow up about the blackbeard thread when I wanted to come down and i was turned away, and I believe there was another 1 or 2 i got angry

I'd have to say I'm indeed in some ways a bad egg on the forum, again gentlman sorry

and for where the rats are the ones that I know are from the pocono's of Pennslyvania and I know they have more around other parts but thats were the most of them live not too far from myself.

but they do the events that they do on the shores of newjersey, and maryland from what i know.

i will tell them that there is nothing to worry about and that i jumped the gun on it sorry again gentlmen, I will let them know that the chaps here want to do events with them sorry sirs flint

[theM.A.dDogge]

damn man...your doin it again...stop defendin!!...no appoligies fer stickin to yer crewe is ever needed.....

and what does one expect from a guy named FLINT-y......hard , flaky and quick to spark....shoulda seen it commin....

so...ya can buy me a drynk next we meet....but i do drynk expensive...and alot.....

so heres to the sea rats...an' the others fer joinin our ranks....

an i do mean RANK....whooo....i might just be need a bath...it is nearly monthes end y know....

[hurricane]

So that's what I smelled this morning. The wind was coming in from the north and I picked up a whiff of wet Dogge... unmistakable stench it is...

-- Hurricane

[Capt. Sterling]

Aye tis a good thing Maddogge be such a wicked shot for he be one marine that has a hard time sneaking up on others... tis that dress of his...

[hurricane]

He looks smashing in a dress, too...

-- Hurricane

[Brit.Privateer]

I think I can answer some questions here posed earlier.

I had the fortune of actually participating at an event with these guys in July at the Lockhouse. Before this, I had only done Civil War, and was only approaching Pirates through historical study. I have to say, not only was it refreshing to get out of the normal Civil War community, but to see that the concept of trying to recreation (that is recreating the material culture of the period, in particular the clothing, and trying to present pirates for who they really were; mariners who had chosen the path of robbing fellow mariners to make a living) from the Civil War community has filtered through to other time periods. I was impressed with their level of accuracy (I have been trying to study, besides main history, the material culture of pirates for about 2 years now) these guys have obtained. I was more impressed that they had made most of this stuff themselves (those guns and swords look like they were from a musuem!), and in doing so have solved that dreaded problem faced by many who wish to become "hardcore" reenactors in any time period: how do I reenact if I can't get all the authentic gear right away? They solved it by making all this stuff, and they have a ton of stuff! I was talking with them about their gear, and they said that the stuff they had there was only a fraction of what they actually owned. If they had all their gear together, they could probably clothe over 30 or so people, and arm them too. Thats how I got on the field, was because they outfitted me. I will link you all a pic we posed for at the event I mentioned previously: http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/8505/pi...hebeach5jc0.jpg I am the one in the middle with the black hat, sword, and pistol. There were 7 or 8 of them total at this event. I enjoyed my time with them considerably, and look forward to doing more with them in the future.

Also, for their overall strength, there is between 40-60 active members, and 150 members overall according to their leader, Joe. A lot more of their active guys seem to be in New Jersey. They are under the press of high gas prices and restricted time just like the rest of us. Also, they are working hard to get their website and facebook group up as soon as possible.

[theM.A.dDogge]

theys don't look so tough...i think i can take em!!!!!

[Capt. Sterling]

Yeah... we can hold the "Great Stynk Off" which of ye smells the worst and looks the dirtiest...

[Dutchman]

huh, they look kinda clean.

[michaelsbagley]

I still have HUGE reservation about believing a group of 100+ members exists with 50+ active members... It would take a group photo of at least 30+ of said members for me to even consider giving that claim any credance... Not that I don't wish such a group exists, I am just too much of a realist to believe it without seeing it.

[Capt. Sterling]

Geeze we have 45...some aren't up on the website yet... problem is getting them all to the same damn event...but we're working on it...

[Capt. Sterling]

huh, they look kinda clean.

That's right...ye haven't met Maddogge yet... remind me to place you down wind of him come Beaufort..

I gave him brand new kit at Lockhouse a couple years back, nearly had a nervous breakdown after all that sewing and he had it "aged" in less than an hour... scary really.... Honestly no one in our crew has washed anything in over three years except the officers' shirts as we do have a laundress on board... my turtlehead lace hasn't been washed in over three hundred years...snigger.

[michaelsbagley]

Geeze we have 45...some aren't up on the website yet... problem is getting them all to the same damn event...but we're working on it...

I believe that from you Sterling, I've met around a dozen members of the Archangels, and have seen pictures of many that I haven't yet met...

Until Brit. Privateer posted that picture, I hadn't seen an image of more than 4 Sea Rats... Now I have seen a picture of 7 or 8... That isn't a very good indicator of there being as many as the claims. I had originally thought the claim of the huge numbers was an exageration of the newspaper article, but if the group is actually claiming those kind of numbers... I'm just not sure what to say or think about that....

[hurricane]

I guess it depends on how you define members, loosely or tightly.

I just checked our applications for our group and by that definition we have 119 members. But we've only let 26 play with us. We kicked another 10 out over the last four years for various infractions and just general inactivity.

Some groups are just loose on what is considered a member. That's not a bad thing. Just it skews the numbers since they don't go through a thorough process. We have erred on the side of being selective and thorough, hence the smaller number.

-- Hurricane

[Matusalem]

I saw the Atlantic Sea rats in the 'Habberty Grace' maritime festival on saturday , tho rather briefly. There looked about four or five of them by their tent not far from the Chesapeak canoe co. and a black 52 chevy pickup.. They had an array of weapons on display, some of them being native american, like a thing that resembles an axe handle (which I call a "King Philip's hammer") with a ball on the end, only this one had a one inch animal tooth protruding from the ball....not something that would feel too comfortable on the ol' noggin. Costumes great...and dirty.

[Brit.Privateer]

Oh, just to note, they did have Native American stuff, plus other stuff, out there at that event as stated above, BUT, they were on sale. These guys were raising money for repairing one of their boats they have, and they happened to have made those items themselves too (hey, how many people you know also make/do stuff with other time periods, I bet you know many that do, I myself am significantly American Civil War as well). As for their numbers, like I said before, a lot more of their guys are up in New Jersey and in several other places in the U.S., and I think I even heard overseas too. I happened to have another pic of them at a different event (I think in MD too, but not sure): http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/6117/im...imgp8741jx0.jpg.

Also, for being clean, while it is true that people over state how dirty they are, if you could zoom in on that pic, you would see the stains of my waist coat and on my my coat sleeve. While the clothing isn't "rolling in mud" dirty, the clothing isn't clean either.

[Capt. Sterling]

Hey we like dirty... you should see Bess's teeth! We are hoping these guys will come out and play more often... do they have fighting pairs for hand to hand or sword to sword?

[hurricane]

I've already stopped washing in preparation for PiP in December and all my foodstuffs are set aside to rot. Should be a jolly good time. Just hoping for the Pox before I head down.

- Hurricane

[Cheeky Actress]

Hey we like dirty... you should see Bess's teeth!

Lilly looks over at the Captain.

"Yer giving me a fright!"

[Kenneth]

They look great in that pic!! Can't wait to see more of 'em...

[Capt. Bo of the WTF co.]

Our ACW unit had 62 registered members along the Mo./Ks. area within 100 mi. radius of each other. we have had a hard time getting enough to form a minimum of 10 to form an independent unit on the feild and we also have a complete full scale six-pounder with limber which requires six artillerymen TRAINED to operate. Often enough we have to combine units to make things right, and I have had to work the #4 gun position too many times to count.(and I HATE artillery re-enacting on CW battles, but would love to try naval though!) Not so hard to believe they have that many registered really. Heck, even at our monthly meetings with food and booze, i never saw more than twenty show up, and mostly always the same ones. I never met half of the registered members. Same problems exist in all venues.

Bo

[Kenneth]

Been in contact with one of the lads from the Sea Rats.....These guys are hardcore.....And really nice to talk to! Can't wait to see more....

[casketchris]

amen kenny glad we are able to get ahold of tem and ready to start working with them... soon... i hope

[MrSnailGrave]

i think it would be great to work with them. always good to learn new things.