Attacking Forts and Camps

One thing that bothers me about pirate reenactors, even the good ones, is that they tend to use close-in weapons for battles. You see a lot of pistols and blunderbusses being used beyond their effective range. I've said before that there should be more long guns.

Pirate Radio

My wife and I saw Pirate Radio (aka The Boat the Rocked) over the weekend. There are no actual pirates involved although there is a ship and a couple of guys climb a (transmitter) mast. Also, two actors from the PotC series are in it (Bill Nighy/Davy Jones and jack Davenport/Norrington).

The movie is a period piece about 1966 when half of England listened to Rock and Roll transmitted from ships anchored just beyond the three mile limit. This was the height of British Rock but the BBC only played it for around an hour a day.

Pirate Radio is great fun. Most of it takes place on the ship operated by Radio Rock. The DJs and crew lived on the ship, pumping out Rock, amusing themselves between shifts, and looking forward to alternate Saturdays when women were allowed to visit.

The movie is an ensemble piece. There isn't much plot except for the British government's efforts to shut down the pirate radio stations. There are plot threads, mainly around the rivalry between DJ Gavin and the Count and Young Carl's efforts to lose his virginity.

I do have one quibble. 1960s Rock was a young man's game but several of the DJs are in their late 30s or early 40s.

Regardless, it's all good fun with a killer soundtrack.

Swords and Candles

This is really about Hollywood swordsmen but movie pirates are always champion fencers so it sort of applies.

How often has this scene been shot - two swordsmen are about to fight. The villain turns and cuts through a candlestick. The hero makes a swish and appears to miss. He stomps his foot and the candle falls.

So, can this be done? I experimented with this years ago. I discovered two things. First, you cannot cut through a regular candle. The sword is stopped by the wick. There just isn't any way around this. It is difficult to cut a string with a sword. If it is under a load and you have the right stroke then you can do it but it takes a slicing stroke. You can't do this with a candle because of the wax. You have to cut the wax with a straight cut. If you try slicing it, the wax will stick and the candle will go flying.

So, you have to have a special candle with no wick. If you make one of these then it is possible to cut through the candle with one stroke. Thinner blades work better. A machete worked better than a sword.

So that's the first part. The second part is - can you slice through a candle so well that it will not show the cut? This part is impossible.

Think about the physics involved. No matter how sharp your edge is, the rest of the blade takes up space - up to a quarter of an inch. Two solids cannot occupy the same space at once so the candle has to move enough to let the blade pass through. If you could do this very slowly then gravity might pull the top half of the candle back in place but then the sword would not have enough energy to slice the candle in the first place. Instead you have to make a very fast strike. That is going to send the top half flying. There just isn't any other possibility.

This is also true when cutting people (although I have not tried this). The movies Equilibrium and Underworld both have sword fights where someone's head is cut but he doesn't realize it until his face slides off. It can't happen.

Sea Shanties

If you are reenacting pirates then some sea music seems appropriate. Sea Shanties seems like a good place to start. These were working songs. When many men had to work together hauling lines or working the capstan, they had to synchronize their efforts. The shanties had a strong beat timed for specific jobs.

Unfortunately, finding period shanties is not as easy as it seems. There are lots of sea shanties but most of them are from the 19th century. You don't even have to research them. The subject matter is a either about whaling or shipping. Sometimes historic events or people that post-date the GAoP are mentioned.

For example, any song that mentions Australia is too late. It wasn't settled until 1788. South Australia was founded in 1836. This eliminates the song South Australia, also known as the Rolling Kings.

Haul Away Joe starts with a verse about King Louis XVI who was executed in 1793.

Donkey Riding refers to a steam winch used to load timber onto ships.

The Bonnie Ship the Diamond is a whaler.

It goes on like this.

I've heard but can't confirm that the sea shanty as we know it wasn't really common until the 19th century. Prior to that musicians, especially fiddlers, kept time.

We've eliminated sea shanties as period music. What's left for pirates? There are some songs with sea themes. Also, there are two that I know of the specifically mention pirates. The first one was written by a young Ben Franklin about Blackbeard's death. It is called the Downfall of Piracy. Unfortunately only the words survive.

The other one is My Name is Captain Kidd. This one includes music and you can find versions of it on YouTube.

Talk Like a Pirate Day 2009

How to really live up Talk Like a Pirate Day...

First, we had a pirate weekend on the Santa Maria. We had around 30 pirates including kids. Saturday (the official TLaPD) had perfect weather. We had two attacks on the ship from boats. This time we had a ladder hung so that the attackers could actually climb aboard. I also provided a couple of foam swords so that the first pirate on deck could fight with one of the attackers. We decided that we would base the success or failure of the attack on this. We had two boats to use - my Whitehall, Firefly, and a smaller canoe that belongs to the ship. Since the canoe could maneuver around the ship better we had the attackers on it.

The first time the defender won. The boarders surrendered and Firefly called off our attack. The second time the boarders won.

There was a pirate-themed wedding that evening. The "real" pirates left the ship so that the wedding pirates could have it. The bride had a white gown with a small white tricorn pinned at an angle. The bridesmaids were in red corsets and black skirts. The men had piratish outfits and cutlasses.

A few of us were included in the ceremony. The minister asked if anyone objected. One pirate did and a second shot him. No one else objected. I fire my swivel gun when the ceremony ended and a howitzer on land also fired.

After that we went to the "R Bar" which became the "Arrh Bar" for the night where we had a fundraiser for the Santa Maria. The bar was quite happy with the pirate turn-out and added $500 to the money raised.

In all, it was a great day for the ship's finances. Attendance was the second higest of the year, right after the Spring pirate event plus the fundraiser. We will follow up with an auction on Ebay.

Most of us spent the night on the ship. A few of us had slept there on Friday night as well.

Sunday started cloudy and started raining in early afternoon. We skipped the battle and just let people fire small weapons, instead.

There was an arts festival going on across the river. A few people went over in the canoe and some others walked across. I got together a crew for Firefly with the idea of stealing it and towing it back but they got back to it too soon. We had to console ourselves with racing past it. We had two people rowing and the canoe only had Micky.

In all it was a good weekend for pirating.

PotC 4

Pirates of the Caribbean 4, On Stranger Tides has been announced with a summer of 2011 release date.

The title may come from Tim Power's novel by the same name. I don't see much of the plot being usable for a new Disney movie. The novel follows a puppeteer named Jack Chandagnac as his ship is taken and he falls in with pirates. Jack rises in the ranks to become Captain Jack Shandy and win the girl. Along the way he witnesses Blackbeard immersing himself in a mystic fountain and gaining supernatural powers.

I've read several of Tim Powers' novels. His cosmology is consistent between this book and the Anubis Gate which is set in the England of Dickens. The Anubis Gate is a sprawling novel and possibly Powers' best although On Stranger Tides has its own following. Many people consider it to be the pirate novel.

According to Ron Gilbert, On Stranger Tides was one of his inspirations for the Monkey Island games along with the Disney ride. This could bring the creative cycle full circle.

The Lost Coconut

This is a neat ship. It has a foam base covered with lumber salvaged from a back porch. It is 30 feet long and looks like a real ship.

More pictures here and a video here.