Sport and competitions

[Elena]

Well, we know which kind of competitions are now at public fairs of all kind. But which kind of competitions were spicing a harbour town's holidays?

I know there were cockfights, dog fights someplaces, there were men brawling and the winner took a part of the bets (ancestor of nowadays boxing)... I had heard that in Scotland there were big logs to be lifted and thrown away by strong men. Which kind of sport competitions (ie showing the men's strength) were in the 1700s? Perhaps archery, I guess, but what more?

[Capt. Bo of the WTF co.]

Shooting. A.O. Exquemelling states that among the buccaneers their chief occupation between raids was target shooting and cleaning weapons. Buccaneers and pyrate types are often credited for their marksmanship over regular troops/sailors in period writing. The only way to be proficient with weapons is practice, and therefore competition is and was a key element in becoming so.

Bo

[Capt. Bo of the WTF co.]

OK, so I'll add horse racing to the mix. Depending on the cultural base of the citizens, horseraces were popular in many coastal settlements as well as interior. Spanish people were very much into the horse culture, while the French much less so. English also enjoyed the sport of horse racing very much. Finding references will be interesting though. I cannot remember reading of any horse racing in the period accounts of pirates and privateers off-hand, but there is R.H. Dana's Two Years Before the Mast from a much later period ca. 1830's of the California coast hide trade. He gives good accounts of the festivities which include horse racing, both as part of the festivals, and also impromptu ones instigated by drunken sailors ashore for liberty. If there are horses, men will race them!

Bo