Then & Now

[Matusalem]

I figure I'd try to get a thread started about places relevant to the Golden Age, with some pictures just to get a visual. I don't know if this will work but I hope the idea would be to have a "then" and "now' pictures, though a 'then' picture might not always be readily available.

here is the location of Captain Wm. Kidd's residence at 119-121 Pearl St, New York City, the Drawing here is called "Watergate at Pearl and Wall Streets 1691", and here is that location today. Pearl Street used to be where the East River came up to, and where all the ships docked. Now it is filled in and populated:

Kidd also had a house on 52-56 Wall St. where the Deutschebank is now. Very nearby is the famous Fraunces Tavern, which this building was built in 1719, could it be possible that maybe some of Kidd's crew were ever in this building?:

Fortunately today, there are still a few mastheads lingering nearby:

Edited October 11, 2008 by Matusalem

[Matusalem]

Colonel & Governor Samuel Cranston...every pirate's friend....for a slight fee.

Dad John Cranston too...1680:

Edited November 4, 2008 by Matusalem

[withoutaname]

Fortunately today, there are still a few mastheads lingering nearby:

I was down at Southstreet on Pioneer, on Oct 11th when you took the photos. Lettie G. Howard is now rafted next to Ambrose, spars are down on her, Pioneer and Wavertree- but still interesting to see. Let me know if you are going to visit the area again on Sat- I am usually down there doing stuff.

[Matusalem]

I was down at Southstreet on Pioneer, on Oct 11th when you took the photos. Lettie G. Howard is now rafted next to Ambrose, spars are down on her, Pioneer and Wavertree- but still interesting to see. Let me know if you are going to visit the area again on Sat- I am usually down there doing stuff.

I really want to sail on the Lettie G Howard, and get some experience. This is closest to me at this moment. Any advice from your experience would be greatly appreciated!

[Matusalem]

The places...the people

It's amazing when books make such a good read when you know the people and places mentioned in the book:

Pg 206 reads:

"The first recorded case of Rhode island privateering occurred in 1653, when two local merchant mariners, Edward hall and Samuel Comstock Sailed from newport in a bark named the Swallow, bearing a commission from Governor William Dyer to harrass the Dutch trade. the bark returned some months later, wherat a prize commission was duly convened. The government recieved £56 for it's troubles--a respectable but not princely sum. Colonial records indicate the prize was purchased by one Christopher Almy, merchant.

This is his newphew below, Captain Christoper Almy, who died in 1746

Pg 215:

The Dichotomy between the dubious legality of the privateering commissions and the reality of Rhode Island piracy became painfully apparent during the war of the Spanish Sucession. Commissions were once again lawful, and Governor Cranston gave them out readily. The recipients, which included the afformentioned Want and Lawrence, were 'pirates' without exception. Thumbing their noses at the board of trade, the R.I. Assembly declared in june 1705 that they "have had, and still ha the power and authority to grant commissions to privateers. Yet these bonds were a legal fiction of the flimsiest sort, as Customs Officer Peleg Sanford testified:

"Such men are here [in Rhode island] counteneanced, entertained, and concealed, and will appear by the evidence enclosed, that for such as are seized and committed, bonds to the amount of £2000 or £3000 are forthwith given for them; and having thus obtained their liberty, they gave notice unto their wicked companions, whereby they know how and where to secure themselves"

Below is Customs Official Peleg Sanford's wife Sarah who died in 1726:

Governor Cranston had his own tailor brought over from London, who is buried nearby Cranston himself (see the flag in back): HERE LYETH INTERRED ye BODY OF NOAH LOYD, CITTISON & DRAPr OF LONDON, AGED 74 YEARS, HE DEPARTED HIS LIFE SPT 20 1703, AGED 74 YEARS....noticed how the stone mentioned his age twice:

Edited November 4, 2008 by Matusalem

[Salty]

a grand idea lad.....great pics and info