"Freebooter" Jack, his story

[Jack Roberts]

I just recently joined the crew here at the pub but I've started to work on some elements for my costume and back-story. So what I’ll do is lay out what I have in mind and let everyone take a stab at it. Let me know what would be accurate or not. So here it goes.

My name is Robert Jack. I was born in 1684, Yorktown, Virginia. My father was a good man. Worked hard as wheelwright. He made a good living for my mother and me, for I was the only child they had been able to have.

I was schooled but only for a short while. My father always wanted me to follow him and become wheelwright. I never could get over my love for the sea. Every chance I would steal. I could be found on the shore.

As I grew older I realized I needed to become a sailor. My interests and passions would draw me to the sea. The Royal Navy came to my calling. I in listed as soon as I was old enough.

Ahhh, my first ship, no one ever forgets there first, ship. The Mordaunt, she was a forth rate ship, started out my career as a power monkey and soon worked my way into bell boy.

When I was old enough I became a Midshipman. As soon as I turned 19 I took my exams for a Lieutenant. I worked hard on those and was able to get the position on my first try.

Then I moved on to my second ship. The Devonshire, Aye that was a beautiful ship, 80 guns, 3rd rate. We started patrolling the Caribbean for the Spanish. It was at this time I got word that my father had passed away. I had no way of getting back to my family. I was on duty in the Caribbean.

I was soon promoted to Captain of the Falmouth, she was a wreck, being only a 4th rate ship with 50 guns. I hated the position. My crew was a bunch of misfits, without discipline. The previous Captain had no control. I tried to established command but alas to no avail. I was soon to be demoted if I could not control my ship. The Admiral sent us on a deadly mission. It was suicide. Our ship against one the Spanish flag ships. The battle raged on for hours. I lost many men. Not that I cared, for they were damn near mutiny.

While in battle, a chain shot missed its aim and hit the helm were I was trying to regroup and mass a last stand. When the shot hit I was blown overboard. I still to this day have no idea how I survived the impact. As I came to I found myself floating in the water. The ship was overrun, the Spaniards had won. They soon captured the ship.

I floated for days and soon a local privateer ship found me and hoisted me aboard. They nursed me back to health. The captain of the ship recognized me from a few months earlier. He kept my identity a secret till we could talk in private.

I told him all that had transpired. Now I needed to make it back to the Admiral and confess what had happened. My captain friend opened my eyes and made me realize that this was a new beginning. The Royal Navy thought I was dead. My crew saw me go overboard. Why not join him and his crew. He had just lost his 1st mate in a recent scuffle. I without anything left and fed up the Royal Navy, I agreed.

The first year or was extremely profitable. I was in and out of ports and sucking the marrow out of life. Soon we were charged with taking a 3 ship group outbound to Spain loaded with the spoils of South America. Little did we know that she well guarded. We attacked in the middle of the night. One of the bloodiest battles I have ever encountered ensued. Our ship was blown apart. I was in the middle of reloading a Swivel gun, and we were hit. It was the end, we were over whelmed and outnumbered. I jumped ship, saving my own hide.

I knew we were close to port, having attacked the Spaniards just a few leagues away. I grabbed a piece of wood and paddled my way to shore. Now, once again I had been reborn. I knew my fate. I became what I already had been. I boarded the first ship that would take me and began my life as a pirate.

Now I am a rogue looking for a crew, who will take me. My name is Freebooter Jack, but Freebooter is just fine. I’ll answer to both. Weather you need a blade for combat, or a Captain for ship, or a good shot by your side. I’m your man. Tally ho, and onward to the open sea. Only Neptune himself knows what lies ahead.

[capnwilliam]

Welcome aboard, Amanjiria! Glad to learn that you are working on a persona story: too many mates aren't interested in doing anything but posing!

I have me doubts that someone of your humble background could have been granted an officer's commission, and the idea of switching from enlisted man to officer was, well, not bloody likely in the RN of that era. It's not very common in the US Navy today, for that matter: although I do know someone who entered on duty as a Seaman and retired as a Captain.

Why not have him start life "better off", and enter service as a Midshipman?

Capt. William

[Jack Roberts]

Excellent info! How would someone of my age and stature get into a midshipman's position? Did they just start out in an apprenticiship? I didn't start out that way becuase it seemed to me that the boys on the ship started out low. Please enlighten me on the ways. All my research has been done on the internet and I really haven't read any books cartered to the topic yet. Thanks again for your input.

[Fox]

Nice story Jack!

Since you asked about accuracy...

If you really wanted to go for accuracy it would be possible to track down some real RN ships to use for your story, in the right place at the right time. Offhand, I don't know of any 80 gun ships in the Caribbean during the early 18thC, but I might be wrong. Most were under 50 though. For that matter, most captains would be damn glad of a 50 gun ship for their first command!

I would echo Capn William's thoughts about working your way up from powder monkey to captain, especially via lieutenant. First off, boys entered the navy as "boys": "powder monkey was just a job they did, same with bell boy (by which I assume you mean the guy who rings the bell), not an actual position. If you were going to start out in the ranks then you'd be much more likely to work your way up through the various petty officer rankings - having first gained your experience as a boy, seaman, able seaman... then into one of the different departments of the ship, maybe part of the coxswain's gang, or boatswain's mate, maybe gunner's mate. Then later on you'd maybe move up to being the boatswain or gunner, then if you were lucky (and damn good at your job) you might get a master's position, then, if you were really dedicated (not the kind of guy who'd swan off and become a pirate) just maybe you might get a captaincy by the time you're 50.

On the other hand, if you came from a slightly better family (not necessarily too high up, Nelson's father was a clergyman, Benbow's was a merchant etc) you might be able to get a post either as a "volunteer" or Captain's servant, then after a couple of years become a middie, then at 20 (and no earlier) get a lieutenancy. Some men remained lieutenants for years (some remained middies for years for that matter), only the very best could hope to be promoted without seniority - ie, being the longest serving lieutenant in the fleet, or at least on that particular station.

There are examples of people of humble birth getting into positions of command (I think it was Admiral Narborough's father who was a cobbler), but they were few and far between, and tended to come from earlier in the 17th century, having got onto the ladder of command by skill and determination during the years of the Commonwealth Republic (1649-60). They were retiring about the time you were "born".

If it's any help I have got the 1677 requirements for becoming a lieutenant somewhere. I'll root them out and if you're very nice to me I'll type them up for you.

In terms of the battle against the Spanish flagship - any captain worth their salt would have done everything they could to avoid such an encounter. Running away might look bad, but it would look better than hopelessly sacrificing their ship. No Admiral would have deliberately sent a ship into a battle it could not hope to win unless there was a very sound tactical reason for doing so. Let me know what year you want to portray and I'll let you know the name of the Admiral of the West Indies station.

From thereon in the story seems less historically based, so go with whatever feels good!

And welcome aboard! :)

[Daniel]

I think your choice of a birth year is a good one; you'll reach age 10, a typical starting age for a ship's boy, in 1694, the height of King William's War, so there's a better chance of landing a berth in a Navy ship. I think midshipmen sometimes started at 10 also.

It does pose problems for your hometown, though. Yorktown, Virginia wasn't founded until 1691. May I suggest Norfolk or Jamestown? Or if Yorktown is really important, there was a small farming village next to Fort York in your time period, very close to the site of later Yorktown.

Early career sounds plausible, provided you've been midshipman from warly on. Age 19 (or 20 as Foxe recommends) is 1703 or 1704, the early days of Queen Anne's War, so there might be a demand for lieutenants, assuming you had become midshipman early on. If you want to keep the age of 19 for turning lieutenant, you can get around Foxe's obstacle by just lying about your age to your superiors.

I have to agree with Foxe and capnwilliam that you have yourself becoming captain unrealistically soon , even if you don't work your way up through the enlisted ranks. Is it important that you have been a captain? It seems to me that the story could run the same way with you as a third or fourth lieutenant. Furthermore, that allows you to circumvent Foxe's valid statement that a captain worth his salt would do everything possible to avoid a suicide encounter; you could be serving under a captain who was alcoholic, incompetent, etc. Although, as Benbow could say, it was more common for incompetent captains to hold back cravenly from battle than to charge in carelessly.

I would suggest adding more detail at some point on how you joined your pirate crew, but maybe it's wise for the moment to leave that open until you find out who your crewmates are.

[Mission]

Isn't creating back stories fun? It gives so much more depth to a character. And when Ed and Daniel get involved, it can quickly become a research project of epic proportions...

Say, is that Daniel whom I remember from piratesinfo Daniel? (It sure sounds like it. )

[Daniel]

Say, is that Daniel whom I remember from piratesinfo Daniel? (It sure sounds like it. )

Arrr, I've been unmasked! Now I have only one choice. Dead men tell no tales, matey!

[Jack Roberts]

Excellent!! Thanks for helping me out. I'm still just learning the ropes. (No pun intended.) This is exactly what I was looking for. This is just a rough draft, so I’m willing to teak it. A few notes and my thoughts behind the motivations for some of the events.

The reason for not being a midshipmen is, I wasn't aware of how old you could start out as one.

As for captain, in my costume I wanted to wear one of the overcoats (justaucorps??) So I wanted be a captain to able to justify the costume piece, but my understanding might be off. Could I have one? I'm alsp trying to keep with my real age of 24.

As far as the pirate details, I think I just got tired and kinda glazed over it. Now that it’s a fresh day maybe I can work some details into it. Also my wife if working on her back story, so I’m waiting also to see what might happen with her.

Anyways just my thoughts and reason for writing what I did. Let go back to the drawing board and rework some of the details.

Anyone have listing of what ships were in the service in the Caribbean at the time? The ships I’ve used were in service, (at least according to this site, Ship List Linky ) but I would love to have some more info on actual ships in the area. I need to look up the naval wars for the time so I can have a better understanding.

Thanks to everyone for your insight, and whoever else might help. This is great.

[Fox]

I don't recall any official lower limit to the age of midshipmen. One could not become a lieutenant until the age of 20 and had to have served 3 years sea-time as a minimum, of which at least one year had to be as a middie.

A justacorps was just a type of coat, and while it is unlikely that many of the common seamen habitually wore them (they were not practical for working seamen who had their own fashion for short jackets anyway), it would be perfectly acceptable for an officer to wear one, not just captains. Of course, you'd have to take into account the fabric and level of decoration to a certain extent, but there were wealthy lieutenants and impoverished captains so it's not such a big issue.

Re ships: I'll be passing Bursledon, where the Devonshire was built, this evening.

If you can get the dates of your story down then we can probably find the right ships in the right area if you want to go for that level of accuracy.

If you're in the Caribbean in 1704 (just becoming a lieutenant) then you'll be around for the famous death of Benbow. The cowardice of Captains Kirby and Wade on that occasion is still remembered with shame in the service today, perhaps you could use that incident in your story to explain why you left the Navy and became a pirate.

[Jack Roberts]

Awsome!! Where did you learn the history of the ships, thats crazy. Then lets make myself born in 1684, joining as a middy in 1694, and becoming a Lieutenant in 1704. Let me know if any of the ships I've chosen would work. All i did is just look at that list, I found on the linky I posted earlier, and match some of the dates with my story. So I had at least some acuracy. Although nobody but us will know that it's that acurate.

As far as my costume goes. I plan on distressing it and aging it so it will look as if I've been wearing for years. (or at least months depending on how often they changed clothes, I assume it wouldn't be very often. And looking at how well clothes hold up in the ocean enviroment, I'm sure things would get pretty beat up.)So for my justacorps I will be working it to be somewhat aged. I love playing with the distressing of items. I've done just a few pieces and its been a blast.

My wife rocks and is going to make my next costume. Shirt, pants, vest, and coat, then I plan aging and distressing the pieces to give them a nice authentic, worn in look. So far I've been able to distress my waist scarf and my "dew rag". (for lack of a better term.) Looking forward to the rest of the costume.

Please let me know what books would be good for me to pick up and read or any websites I might be able research.

Thanks Foxe and Daniel. You guys rock, I'm so glad I've found this site. Its exactly what I was hoping for.

[Fox]

...So I had at least some acuracy. Although nobody but us will know that it's that acurate.

Ah, but that's the beauty of doing the research well! If we only ever bothered about getting to a level of accuracy that other people were at then we'd never learn anything, and wouldn't be able to teach anything.

As far as books and suchlike go, there are a million. There's a good thread here on interesting books which might be worth looking out (it's "New Books for the likes of us" or something like that). The difficulty is finding which books are reliable - sadly there are a lot of books out there which are badly researched, sloppy written, or have some kind of agenda which clouds judgement and reason. The key things to look for include:

-Is the book well sourced? Have a look at the notes and bibliography at the end. If there are plenty of endnotes giving sources for the stuff mentioned in the text that's a good indication. However, if those notes appear to mostly be other modern books then it perhaps is not so trustworthy. Same with the bibiliography, but less so. If the bibliography contains a good number of period sources then that's a good sign.

-Does the book have a tagline including the words "Amazing New History" or something similar? If it does then you can bet your bottom dollar that what is contained within the pages is probably not amazing, and definitely not history. It'll be someone's bright idea to "re-write" history and get their name in print. The writer's and publisher's main aim with the book is to sell copy, not write good history.

-Does the book have an obvious agenda? Is the author trying to tell history or prove a point? If the former then go for it, if the latter then read for the sake of interest, but do not rely on it as a decent work of history.

Good luck with the outfit, if you need help with the authenticity of it then this is the place to ask. If you're making more of a fantasy type outfit then go for it and enjoy! Either way, post some photos so we can all enjoy it

[Jack Roberts]

AYE, that I will, post ye some portaits of me outfit.

Its probably more of the fantasy type, but hey its a start. Besides I love the bucket boots and paid good money for them and I can use for both the Faire or pirate fest. I also love the costumes from PoTC. So I may lodel after them a bit.

I at least want to have a good background thats based on history than speculation.

But back to the topic...

I found some info about my first ship i used that may make everything a little easier.

Portrait of the Mordaunt, Fourth-Rate 48-Guns, Built 1681. Bought from Lord Mordaunt 1683, wrecked 1693

By: Willem van de Velde the Elder (1611-93)

Date: c. 1681

Repro ID: PZ7281

Willem van de Velde the Elder was born in Leiden, Holland in 1611. He began his career as a seaman and went on to become one of Europe's leading marine artists. Indeed, he became so popular that the States General of Holland gave him a small ship so that he could witness the sea battles of the First and Second Dutch Wars first-hand and record the action. The privateer Mordaunt 1681 was a fourth-rate 48-gun ship built by William Castle on the Thames at Deptford for Lord Mordaunt. The ship was purchased by the Royal Navy in 1683 and was sunk off Cuba on 21 November in that same year.

(www.nmm.ac.uk/site/request/setTemplate:singlecontent/contentTypeA/conMuseumAsset/contentId/1787)

I had to search it in google and read the cache.

Source 2

SO maybe I can just have my character just work on that ship and start my pirate life off on the right foot (or wrong, depending on how you look at it)

Just a though anyways, and as I learn more about the period then maybe I can expand the story abit more. Thanks again to everyones help. I'll post some pics soon.

[Jack Roberts]

well you asked for some pics. So here they are.

For PiP in Key West, I plan on having the coat and vest, with more pistols and swords. Planning on going with a gray color sceme for the outfit. I think it will pop more, but for now I will use my ren faire costume. Still working on the backstory.

(PS That's my wife in the pic with me.)

[kass]

You're a lucky man, Amanjiria. Your wife is lovely! And you're quite a handsome devil yourself!

Personally, I'd lose the bucket boots and get yourself a good cocked hat instead of the leather hat, but do a search in this forum on "boots" to read why.

And have your darling make you a nice, white linen shirt. Coloured shirts aren't really seen yet, and once you have a real linen shirt, I guarantee you that you won't go back. :)

But justacorps, definitely... And I even know where you can get a pattern. Click below...