Gentlemen Brethren

Avast! I feel like such a poser after reading all the information at Gentlemen of Fortune and Ye Pirate Brethren. My kit is definitely in the fantasy pirate category but I've got to start somewhere... and it's plenty fun too. I'll keep an eye out for more authentic period pieces though. It would be nice to put together a kit that is GAoP correct. A ten page post on the YPB forum about shoes tells me project will be a lot of work to get right.

Voyageur Flask

Aha! This be the one! 75$ will fetch this copper flask from Goose Bay Workshops. Aside from the flask they also make a wide range of copper period reproductions.

Priming Flash Illustration

Below is an illustration by Jacob De Gheyn II of a powder flask from the Historic Jamestown website. Hmmm.... I wonder how hard it would be to make one of those things?

17th Century Powder Flash

Searching for 17th century powder flasks I came across this little critter at Send Armory for $33. This would make a nice addition to one of the English charge bandoliers.

Bandolier and powder charges

After reading the Pirate and Buccaneer books it appears that I'll be needing an appropriate bandolier with wooden powder flasks. Upon further research these things are really hard to come by. I've found three vendors constructing sets for English Civil War reenactment and they aren't inexpensive. Considering the amount of manual labor involved in crafting the leather strap, pouch and wooden flasks I suppose the prices are appropriate.

The Gatling Gun produces a handmade set in the U.S. composed of leather bandolier, 10 wooden charges, 1 wooden priming flask and leather shot pouch for $275. A small oil bottle would have to added to this set.

Tattershall Arms, another U.S. vendor, produces a set including a leather bandolier, 10 wooden charges, 1 wooden priming flask and a leather shot pouch for $135. Their website is very undeveloped so I'm not sure if they are still in business.


Bandoliers in the UK produce a variety of bandoliers and charges. The charges can be had in plain wood, painted wood, leather wrapped, and wood with metal cap. Prices range from $135 - $245. I converted the price from UK pounds to US dollars. They also have accessories for the bandolier sets including oil bottles. I'd love to get a set of the leather wrapped charges.

Buccaneers 1620-1700

Finished reading Buccaneers 1620-1700 by Konstam and McBride. I suppose I should have read this before Pirates 1660-1730, but one can't always be chronological. Again, a good quick read with great illustrations by McBride. I can't help but laugh at how geopolitics really haven't changed all that much over the past 400 years.

Pirates 1660-1730

Finished reading Pirates 1660-1730 by Konstam and McBride. Good, quick read typical of the Osprey books. McBride's illustrations are wonderful. I just wish there were more of them. Capt. Grimstock lent me the book so as to set myself firmly in the piratical world.

Huge Anglo-Saxon gold hoard found

Tis a day i be wish'n me a farmer than a pirate! Landlubbers plunder a farm field for ancient booty.

The UK's largest haul of Anglo-Saxon treasure has been discovered buried beneath a field in Staffordshire.
Experts say the collection of 1,500 gold and silver pieces, which may date to the 7th Century, is unparalleled in size and worth "a seven figure sum".

Portland Pirate Festival 2009

Many a plunder'n and merry making to be had at the Pirate Festival. So many pirates to be found that you couldn't toss a stone without hit'n one! Such a sight was to be found that the gentlemen of the Guinness Book proclaimed a record to be had as evidenced by the 1651 pirates. Beat'n the bloody english record of 1,467 pirates in one place.

Portland Pirate Festival

Plunder at the 2009 Portland Pirate Festival

My complete kit from the 2009 Portland Pirate Festival is listed below. I have some regrets about getting the Pirate style holsters from Ravenswood as the large amount of leather covers the pretty pistol. In retrospect I probably should have selected the buccaneer style with the open end. Ah, but I'm sure I'll be needing additional holsters in the future. This would definitely be classified as a fantasy pirate kit in the vein of a swashbuckling gentleman rat bastard, which is fine with me. I'm more interested in having fun with the period for the time being.

Coat, vest, medium dagger, pouch, powder horn were gifts from Capt. Grimstock
Baldric, holsters and dagger frog - Ravenswood Leather
Small dagger- Realms and Empires
Cutlass - ???
Pistol - ???
Shirt and tricorn hat - Dress Like a Pirate
Head scarf - Arrow Leather
Feathers - ???
Belt, breeches (black jeans), boots (motorcycle boots) - My closet

4th Annual Portland Pirate Festival 2009

Letter from Sir Stephen Evans

To: Captain Patrick Fyre

From: Sir Stephen Evans
Governor General of the Hudson Bay Company

The HMS Sandringham has surprised a French Privateer off the coast of Oregon. The captain, an English traitor named Lewis Grimstock, is now in custody in the stockade at Fort Vancouver. We are currently ascertaining the validity of his papers. Clearly he is a supporter of the King James and thus Louis of France.

However I am not inclinced to further an international incident. I am releasing him and his crew and vessel. With the condition that you, as a loyal subject of His majesty, secure his departure the the area.

Yours Sincerely,
Sir Stephen Evans

Letter to Capt. Grimstock

Capt. Grimstock

Please accept my profound apology for my most tardy response to your letters. We were sacked by the British frigate HMS Serapis at the delta of the great rivers Willamette and Columbia. The ball-buggering bastards commandeered my ship and clapped my crew in irons, leaving me with nary a copper to my name. Your gracious gift of the gentleman's surcoat and vest was most opportune as I escaped their prison wearing neither a stitch nor skin upon myself. The rendezvous planned for 19 September will provide a suitable host to refit a hale ship and hearty crew.

As you are in the tropical climes of the southern hemisphere I would strongly advise you to procure a cache of beans from the coffee tree either by fair trade or frenzy as the natives in these parts are most taken with the black drink brewed from the beans. Such a shipment would fetch you a handsome prize.

The time of the great gathering draws near. Make haste along the Pacific Coast for this time of year the winds shall be to your favor, but take heed when you reach the estuary of the Columbia as its mouth is most ravenous and swallows whole fleets without satisfaction. So foul are the waters that even Davy lets lost souls sink to the bottom of the Pacific Graveyard without toll. Study the breakers and watch for shallows. Beware the fog as it will roll upon you no forewarning. Wait for slack waters then stay true to the deepest channel.

Once in safe waters you may wish to refit at Tongue Point Village thirteen miles past the bar on the south bank of the river. From there continue upstream sixty-five miles to the Multnomah Channel to the Willamette River. Avoid the Main Channel as the British have established a fortification on the north bank of the Columbia in the towne of Vancouver, where they patrol the Main and exercise a tax upon vessels commuting to the Columbia and beyond. Instead take the smaller Multnomah Channel which on the starboard side sits amid Suavie Island and the mainland. The island heaves into view as a massive foul swamp covered with every manner of rough bird and beast. Loose your ballast, draw in your sheets and set your keenest helmsman to wheel as the channel is narrow, twisting and shallow but overlooked by the British. Once past the channel you have a mere two miles for the rendezvous at the great green cathedral. There I shall look forward to spilling a great draught of rum with you.

Yours sincerely,

Capt. Patrick Fyre

My dear Capt. Fyre

My dear Capt. Fyre

The weather gauge has been firmly in our favor as we have just today made landfall at Valpariso. This town is far superior in size, quality, and decency compared to that hell hold of Punta Arenas. We received good news a this port that we shall be accompanied by Captain Alexander Steel. This most viscous, yet entirely gentlemanly personage, will afford us added strength to our numbers at the rendezvous. He is rumored to have a female companion. Some call this femme fatal, Slaughtering Sally, the living Gibbet of Cornwall, the lady of the lake of blood, Death Merchant of Scandinavia, Brutal Bess the butcher of the seas, or simply Jessica.

On a sadder note. We were attacked by three pathetic sloops that defended the port. We were well prepared to give them leave to pass but they insisted on suicidally attacing us. We easily crossed the "T" and dealt each a tatal wound to their sterns. One escaped only to be later wrecked on the jetty. The two vessles were sunk. Being so small they most probably had little in the way of booty. So no tears were shed. The mayor of Valpariso has given us a royal welcome now that his "fleet" is destroyed.

We will make sail in two days hence and make for San Diego. These waters are ill omen but we care not for superstition. I shall contact you again as God in his mercy doth allow.

Yours Sincerely,
Capt. Lewis Grimstock