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"Boarders Away!"


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B)   :)  B)

'Tis none other than Meself  be Captain of the "Scorpion", mates, or have ye forgotten me so bloody soon?! And if Monty's Wench be who I think she be,  I ask her: "How's all our shipmates in beautiful Olcott Beach?" Ye Pyrate Brotherhood sends warmest regards.

B)

B) Well, Captain Davies, so glad to hear ye all made it back to the Long Island way, tip your tankard this way an' I be fillin' it fer ye. Olcott Beach will never be the same after the stormin' the Ye Pyrate Brotherhood hath givin' us fer the last few years. Ye all make 'Piratin' a whole new 'sperience'. Give them all a big 'AHOY' fer me. I guess I be the one you think I yam! B)

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Since so many o' ye all are re-enactors, can ye tell me if swinging aboard on a rope is actually a practical way to get on board the other ship?

Where do you anchor the rope you're swinging on? Do you throw it onto your own yard, or the other fellow's yard? It seems to me that if you stood at the gunwale you'd almost have to throw the rope onto the other ship's yard, because otherwise you'd swing backward instead of forward.

And if you don't swing aboard, how do you do it. Jump from one gunwale to the other? Get down in boats and use ropes to climb up the hull? Throw planks down from one gunwale to the adjacent ship's gunwale and charge across?

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Give me my Kaber knife n' "Ma Duce" wit 3000 rounds, n' I'll sink the queens "Ship of the line" at 800 yards. ( the knife is ta clean me finger nails afterwards).

:huh: Black Jack

Ma Duece? I'd take a MK-19 if I had the choice, with HEDP.

Pushing the limits means getting out of my comfort zone and giving more when I don't think I have any left.

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Daniel,

I can't say for sure that no pirate ever utilized such a tactic: but I think that it could be lumped in with buried treasure, or walking the plank: things that probably happened on some occasions, but were probably NOT typical practices.

Another boarding technique that I really don't believe EVER occurred: the use of boarding axes hurled into the side of the enemy vessel to create a ladder for climbing aboard!

:huh:

Capt. William

"The fight's not over while there's a shot in the locker!"

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Since so many o' ye all are re-enactors, can ye tell me if swinging aboard on a rope is actually a practical way to get on board the other ship?

Where do you anchor the rope you're swinging on? Do you throw it onto your own yard, or the other fellow's yard? It seems to me that if you stood at the gunwale you'd almost have to throw the rope onto the other ship's yard, because otherwise you'd swing backward instead of forward.

And if you don't swing aboard, how do you do it. Jump from one gunwale to the other? Get down in boats and use ropes to climb up the hull? Throw planks down from one gunwale to the adjacent ship's gunwale and charge across?

Aye Daniel,

Les' see here...

Swingin' across.... could be done from yer yard arm, ye gotta be close in wi' th' other ship... might have happened... not common...

Oh and ye wouldn't swing inboard, unless ye anchored yer line at th' mast...

Other ways ta get aboard...

First iffn' ye throw o'er grapnels, ye can then pull th' ship ta be boarded close, even hull against hull... then, ye jump o'er, drop boards across, even cross on yer yerd arm, switch ta theirs, n' come down th' riggin'...

Mind ye, tha' ye do this thru a hail o' bullets, grape shot, etc, from the ship bein' boarded...

And Aye, there never was th' 'boardin' axes used as a ladder' thing... not gonna happen....

Now, this is on'y for a boardin' action... many tymes the attacked dhip would hove to wi' out a fight... an' th' longboats would be lowered, a party come over, ta take charge....

There ye be....

Truly,

D. Lasseter

Captain, The Lucy

Propria Virtute Audax --- In Hoc Signo Vinces

LasseterSignatureNew.gif

Ni Feidir An Dubh A Chur Ina Bhan Air

"If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me." Deuteronomy 32:41

Envy and its evil twin - It crept in bed with slander - Idiots they gave advice - But Sloth it gave no answer - Anger kills the human soul - With butter tales of Lust - While Pavlov's Dogs keep chewin' - On the legs they never trust... The Seven Deadly Sins

http://www.colonialnavy.org

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As most pyrate vessels tended to be smaller, albeit faster and more manueverable, than their prizes, it's hard to imagine how pyrates would manage to swing up onto and over the railings of larger ships. However, according to one method I've read about, grapnels were used to draw the two craft together. At that point, a sail could then be lowered, and the yard, extending over the prize's railing, used as a gangplank to board the prize ship. Of course, this would only work on a square-rigger. For the most part, I think pyrate boarding operations were done either by stealth, as practiced by early buccaneers from dugout "piraguas", by subterfuge, or under open threat of annihilation by the pyrates, who tended to be numerically superior to the crews of their prey.

: B)B)B)

Capt. Ian "Mad Dog" Davies,

Ye Pyrate Brotherhood

"The Code of Our Brotherhood is Better than all the Lies of Nations!"

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The grappeling hook was used widely in the Caribbean as was stealth. Either worked but both depended upon the target and the conditions as to which one was followed.

Pushing the limits means getting out of my comfort zone and giving more when I don't think I have any left.

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