Dissecting GAoP costume Part 1: Reade and Bonny

[Fox]

Detail from an early 18th century painting of Bristol Docks.

Engraving of a buccaneer which I had always assumed to be 19th century, but which apparently comes from the 1684 edition of Esquemeling's Buccaneers of America. However, the dodgy musket shape make me wonder about the accuracy of this picture.

Details from a French map of 1705 showing buccaneers in very similar dress to the Esquemeling engraving except with jackets over their hunting shirts.

Detail from the title page of Bartholomew Sharpe's South Seas Waggoner 1682 showing a buccaneer in very similar dress to the Tudor seamen of de Bry's engravings.

Detail from a map of Hispaniola from Van Keulen's Sea Atlas of the Water World 1682, showing a Caribbean seaman in similar clothing to that worn by the man in the Sharpe painting.

Detail from John Seller's The Sea Gunner of 1692 showing a junior officer wearing a very distinctive long land coat with mariner's cuffs.

Portrait of Admiral Sir John Leake (1656-1720) which I have included because it shows an interesting variant on the cuff in the Seller engraving. Here seems to be shown a traditional turn-back cuff, with a mariner's cuff incorporated, just the thing for a well dressed sea officer.

[dasNdanger]

No worries - I don't do polyester! *shudder* That's like wrapping yourself in plastic!

You should be careful with black if you're trying to be authentic. a sort of dirty black/dark grey kind of colour is fine, there are a number of different dyes for that, but if you're talking about true black, jet colour, then that was VERY expensive because in order to get that dark it had to be dyed over and over and over again.

No worries, there, either. Jet black would look too fresh and new (they aren't that dark anyway), and based on another pair that I have worn, I figure after a few washings, and a day or two in the sun, they will be nicely aged and faded to a dark grey kinda colour. Just not too sure HOW far I should go with them...do I cut and splice until I lose the pockets and have a button fly? And how much 'wear' should they have? Tear and mend them and such, or just wash and wear and see what happens naturally??

I will be looking for something else in the meantime - it's usually not too hard to find these rough cotton trousers around where I live...and I'll check a few on-line suppliers, too.

'Breathing' fibers or not, I am SO gonna die in a coat...gah. Thermostats can't be set highter than 62 degrees F. in my house or I faint. I SO wanna live in Scotland!! I love the cold and the rain... So - since I have this 'coataphobia' - any suggestions as to what would be the LIGHTEST weight coat I could buy/make/wear and still be accurate to the period? Would they all be woolen, or something else? Any good sites around to 'shop' at??

sheesh, I'm a pain in the arse, aren't I?

das

[Gentleman of Fortune]

NOW THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS HOPING WOULD HAPPEN!

this stuff is great guys!

EXPOSED BOOBS AND FLOWING HAIR

Well, remember, nobody outsideo of Rackam, Bonny and Reade really knew their true identity till after they were caught. So here again, the man who was employed by the the publisher of Johnson's book or a broadsheet etc was probably told, "paint us a picture of Reade and Bonny".

My bet is that the opened shirt is just to reiterate the fact that they are women and are show some sensational boobage.

And Long hair was in fashion. If you could grow it out long you could look fashionable without the incredible expese of a wig. If I were you though I would just wear it like everyone else wore it....

Of course, don't let me stop you from going to a pirate event with your boobs hanging out OR AT LEAST wait till i get there to do so

TROUSER COLOR

I think the natural linen/hemp/fustian color was probably the norm just because you stay cooler in lighter colors than you would in darker. Slops are work clothes too, so maybe not worth the expense and hassel of colored material....

The AXES

The thing is that these look more like normal axes than naval/boarding axes with the spike. Maybe I have not seen enough originals but maybe the artist had not seen enough either and is just drawing what he knows.

Keep it coming.... when we exhaust R&B lets do the frisking painting ok FOXE?

GoF

[kass]

Hey Das, ever heard the term "tropical weight wool"? This is wool used for men's suiting. It's very fine and breathes wonderfully. And the best part about it is that it doesn't wrinkle like crazy like linen does. If I were you, I'd search for tropical weight (or "summer") wool for your coat.

[JoshuaRed]

Apologies if you've seen this one before...it was new to me.

[Gentleman of Fortune]

OT

ARGGHHHH!

I am trying to post a picture but i keep getting

Sorry, dynamic pages in the tags are not allowed

What does this mean and what am i doing wrong????

G

[kass]

Not sure. Is it by any chance not a static image? Can you copy it from the site it's on and upload it to your personal webspace and try from there?

Or you could send me the URL of the image as text and I will try. I have some super sneak powers here...

[Fox]

I don't think the spike is essential on an axe, it just happens that that was what RN boarding axes were made like in the 18th century. IIRC there were plain axes found on the Tre Krona, a late 17th century Swedish shipwreck. I've definitely seen them, and I think it was from there, but I'd have to check.

Das, how about an unlined canvas jacket? It would be lightweight and could be a light colour to make it cool. Apart from anything else that would be very sailory.

[dasNdanger]

Hey Das, ever heard the term "tropical weight wool"? This is wool used for men's suiting. It's very fine and breathes wonderfully. And the best part about it is that it doesn't wrinkle like crazy like linen does. If I were you, I'd search for tropical weight (or "summer") wool for your coat.

Yeah...I am familiar with it...though I must admit I love wrinkly linens!! But for a coat I guess wool would be the way to go - NOW, to find someone to make the bloody thing since I have a hard enough time staying focused long enough to sew a button on...

kass said that they would have worn coats all the time, except, perhaps, when working. That said - would that apply to EVERYONE, or just the 'gentlemen' - those who were better off, or those 'posing' for pictures? Regardless of fashion, many pirates were very impoverished - so would everyone, even the lowliest of all - go about in a coat? (Can ya tell I'm trying to wiggle out of wearing one??! )

K - now that I have the coat to worry about - what about the neckerchief? Would this have been linen or cotton - how long, what shape, what color, does it matter?

GoF - yeah - light-coloured trousers are what I usually see - but I REALLY hate to wear white, before or after Labor Day! IknowIknowIknow - wouldn't have had a choice way back when...but I'll figure something out. What about brown or navy blue?? Were those colors popular at that time??

About the axes, I wondered about them, too - esp. in the second set of pictures. I would think, perhaps, that not ALL axes were traditional spiked boarding axes...I mean, as pirates they would have scrounged around for anything they could use, so I suspect if they stumbled upon any sort of axe, it would go into the 'armory'. Mine, unfortunately, doesn't have the spike - it's a nice throwing hawk, though, and the size works well for me.

das

[kass]

Huge, great, sweeping generalizations here, Das: men were thought of as "undressed" when they had their coats off. All men. Slaves up to gentlemen. You simply weren't decently clothed.

Even around his own home, a gentleman wore his waistcoat, shirt and cravat, though he usually substituted a banyan for his frock coat for comfort. Men wearing shirts and wasitcoats alone are still not fully dressed -- like modern men going shirtless. It doesn't break any laws, but it's still not dressed enough to enter a convenience store. It was a different idea of what was acceptable and what was not.

Now that being said, Foxe has posted a number of pictures of men in their shirts. These are not "decent" men.

I guess the question you have to ask yourself is "where am I?" Are you in port? Put on your coat. Are you on board, working, or digging to burry that treasure , strip down all you like.

[Fox]

By the late 18th century definitely brown sails were fairly common - maybe earlier - so brown sailcloth trousers would be fine.

This whole thing about pirates being impoverished is, IMHO, twaddle. Beggars were impoverished, buccaneers who crossed the Isthmus of Panama on foot were tatty, but the average Caribbean or Atlantic seaman had a load of stuff:

"one gray coat, wastecoats and two pair of breeches, one pair of olave coloured cloath breeches ... one Pee jacket, one thick flannel jacket, four shirts, some flanel wastecoats, two pair of flanel draws, four pair of stockings, two pair of woolen mittens ... two new frocks [possibly seaman's smocks], one half worn frock one pair of thin canvas trowsers, one pair of blew and white striped cotton ditto, one pair of ticking breeches, one cotton cap, one woosted cap, one brown holland wastcote..."

- clothing mentioned in the will of Thomas Powell, a foremastman in 1736 and quoted from the thread "Gear" on this board.

Now since most pirates were seamen for most of their lives and pirates for a short time, and since during the time they were pirates they went around stealing MORE stuff of other people, I think it's fair to say that in the absence of any contrary evidence most pirates were probably well provided for clothing.

Kass, assuming you're talking about the buccaneer pictures from Esquemeling and the French map I'm not convinced that those are men in their shirts either. I wonder whether they are long over-shirts, ie a sort of Caribbean hunter's equivalent to a coat. If you look carefully at the man from van Keulen's sea atlas it looks like he's got a second shirt on underneath which can be seen just poking out from under his left cuff. Even if they are just shirts, those men are clearly not in typical clothing, some have got no breeches on! I think they are wearing specific working clothes and when they went back to Port Royal or wherever they probably got into their normal togs.

[Master Sully]

Here's a thought. My take on a pirate crew is that they were a "gang" of sorts sailing the seas. They had a loose brothership with some basic rules for one another. Most of the "gang" members I have seen or met, tend to dress rather flashy, and they dress in a way to make them noticable. I wonder if this holds true for pirates three hundred years ago?

[kass]

Kass, assuming you're talking about the buccaneer pictures from Esquemeling and the French map I'm not convinced that those are men in their shirts either. I wonder whether they are long over-shirts, ie a sort of Caribbean hunter's equivalent to a coat. If you look carefully at the man from van Keulen's sea atlas it looks like he's got a second shirt on underneath which can be seen just poking out from under his left cuff. Even if they are just shirts, those men are clearly not in typical clothing, some have got no breeches on! I think they are wearing specific working clothes and when they went back to Port Royal or wherever they probably got into their normal togs.

I'm in complete agreement with you there, Foxe! Whether they are wearing shirts only or long over-shirts, they weren't something they would be seen wearing in "town". We have to always remind ourselves that our modern tendency to start discarding clothing when we're hot was just not done. Doesn't matter if you were an outlaw or a poor man or a respectable gentleman.

[kass]

Interesting idea, Studley, and one to ponder.

I suppose the only way to prove it is to find a pirate's journal wherein he talks about dressing flashy so as to be noticed.

We have to be kind of careful about putting out modern ideas onto people 300 years ago without some kind of substantiation. As I think Foxe said in another thread, today we strive for individuality, but back then, you strove to fit in.

But I'd buy it if someone of the time wrote that this was their intention, to be flashy and get noticed.

[Rumba Rue]

Nope haven't seen that picture. Great though.

I'm loving this wonderful information here. It's fascinating other people's take on things.

My question though is, anyone who does sailing would know, it can get pretty darn cold out on the sea. I find it hard to believe that sailors still went around in the simpilest of clothes, especially in storms. Anyone care to answer that?

Rumba Rue

**I'm not cold, yet...**

[Red Maria]

In the Snelgrave captivity narrative I've been reading there is an account of the three pirate captains: Davis, Cocklyn & Le Boofe (Le Bouche) taking 3 coats from Snelgrave so they would look good for a night on the town with the Ladies:

" Amonst my Adventure of Goods, I had in a Box three second hand embroidered Coats. One day the three Pirate Captains, comong aboard the Prize (Snelgrave's ship) together enquired for them saying. 'They understood by my Book such Clothes were in my ship'. I told them, 'They were in a Box under the bed place in the State-room.' So they ordered them to be taken out and immediately put them on. But the longest Coat falling to Cocklyn's share, who was a very short man, it almost reached as low as his Ancles (ankles). This very displeased him, and he would fain have changed with Le Boofe, or Davis : But they refused him saying, 'As they were going on Shore amongst the Negro-Ladies, who did not know the white Mens fashion, it was no matter. Moreover as is Coat was Scarlet embroidered with Silver, they believed he would have the preference of them, (whose coats were not so showy) in the opion on of their Mistress."

A new Account of Guinea... by William Snelgrave published 1734 pg. 255-256 (narrative toke place in 1718)

So it seem even a pirates liked to dress up for their lady friends! I get image on a Bob Hsoskins size pirate captain in an oversize but fancy coat!

[kass]

Tee hee! Oh Maria! What an image!!!

[Gentleman of Fortune]

RED MARIA

That is soooo cool and alone worth this thread!

Keep up the good work guys!

FOXE

What did the GAoP sailor put all that stuff in? A box, bag. Can you post an image (repro or otherwise?)

GoF

[JoshuaRed]

Red Maria - post the part about how some of the pirates got into the powder box (for wigs) and emerged from Snelgrave's cabin covered from head to toe in white powder, pretending to be dandy fops, to which even Snelgrave himself had to laugh!

(I hope I'm not confusing this with Robert's account...I don't think I am)

[Red Maria]

I think that's Roberts. The closest thing to what you mention is this:

"When night came on, I had nothing left of what had been bundled up, but a Hat and Wig. ...The Hat and Wig I had left, being hung on Pins in the Cabin, a person half drunk came in about eight a clock at night, and put them on; telling me, "He was a great Merchant on Shore and his name was Hogbin" ...

[Fox]

Maria, I love it! Not only is it very humourous, but it illustrates an interesting academic point (God, Foxe, you're soooo boring, you have to find the boring bit in everything!)

If Cocklyn was going ashore and wanted to look his dandiest, but the best he could do was a terribly fitting coat, it just shows the status of clothing he was used to. IE, if he had loads of finery anyway he'd just have worn a posh frock that did fit.

GoF, now you're beginning to tax me! I can find you photos of Tudor sea-chests (from the Mary Rose, or Francis Drake's), 17th century sea-chests (got a picture from the Vasa somewhere, or maybe the Tre Krona), later 18th century sea-chests (check out the one in the boat in Hogarth's Idle Apprentice for example), but can I think of a GAoP one? Nope. I'll keep thinking, but for now I reckon the one in the Idle Apprentice (1747) is gonna be as close as you're gonna get. Having said that, it's simple in the extreme, and very similar to 17th century ones I've seen so I just can't imagine there being a huge change.

[Fox]

Chests

Oh when you're good, you're good!

There we go, a picture of chests used at sea from a map drawn in 1700. What's more, it's a map of the West Indies so even the location is right.

The chests are very simple rectangular boxes with flat lids, a handle at each end and a bit of decoration on the side. On the chests being carried on the right of the picture we can see hinges on the inside, a fact born out by the lack of visible hinges on the other closed chests. Note, apart from the decoration these chests are more or less the same as that in the Hogarth engraving, and are very similar to earlier chests as well.

Since I seem to be on a roll today I'm gonna get all smug for five minutes and wallow in self-praise then book my tickets to Scotland and go and bring Nessie in

[JoshuaRed]

Not only is there a chest, but the captain is wearing a saaassshhhhh

That's great! Now I have some reference to begin making my own chest! (Though I'm gonna try cranking out a couple belaying pins first)

[Fox]

If you're interested in sashes you might like to note too that one of the figures from the 1705 map I posted is also wearing a sash. In both cases though they seem to be fairly small with a knot at the fron and short ends, not the great big things with 2 foot long dangly ends so beloved of pirate re-enactors.

Actually, I'm more interested in the figure to the left of the captain in the chests picture who seems to be wearing the same style hunting-shirt shown in the esquemeling and 1705 engravings. The engraving depicts people trading in the West Indies so it's quite possible that he is a local rather than a seaman. Either way that's three independent sources showing those long shirts - I'm going to make one!

[jessie k.]

Earlier, Foxe, you mentioned mariner's cuffs in a picture you'd posted: what's the difference between mariner's cuffs, and cuffs that, well, aren't mariner's?