Two recent books involved a teenager being mysteriously transported to the Golden Age of Pirates and becoming a pirate.
The first one, Pirate Freedom by Gene Wolfe is the better of the two. In it, a young American named Christopher leaves a monastery in post-Castro Cuba and finds himself in the 17th century. He signs on as a sailor, eventually becoming a pirate and working his way up to captain. The mechanics of time travel are never explained, they just happen. The book is very well researched, even if Christopher manages to attract more pirate women than Calico Jack (who had the only two known). The plot covers all aspects of piracy, even the cow killers. It has a couple of sub-plots that only become obvious over time. It is a good read.
The new one, Steel by Carrie Vaughn, just came out. In it, a 16-year-old girl named Jill goes on vacation to the Caribbean after a major fencing match. Jill finds the broken tip of a magic rapier and is transported back in time to the Golden Age of Pirates. She end up on a ship commanded by a woman pirate who is the arch enemy of the pirate who owns the rapier.
The book is ok and probably aimed at teenagers although Vaughn is best known for a series of books aimed at adults about a werewolf named Kitty. The book is a quick read and feels 50-100 pages too short. It has several missed opportunities leaving me wondering if Vaughn was trying to get it onto the stands before Pirates 4 comes out.
Vaughn went to some effort to research her pirates but I do have some complaints. The first one is central to the story - the use of rapiers. I am sure that she used rapiers because they have the closest modern equivalent, the epee. The modern foil and saber are so much lighter than their historic counterparts that the skills needed are completely different between them. The problem is that rapiers were weapons for private duels and nearly useless on a ship in a crowd.
My other complaint is Vaughn's use of women. Jill's captain is a woman and the book says that other members of the crew were also women but dressed like men. None of them are given names or personalities.
While Vaughn tries to present her pirates as historically accurate, they are not very effective. They spend very little time in actual piracy and they set free the slaves that they capture. Note that I have the same complaint about the Disney movies - the pirates spend very little time engaging in acts of piracy.
While the book could stand a rewrite, it is still worth reading as is.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Could Pirates Swim?
By tradition, most sailors cannot swim. I've checked around and I can find quotes saying this from the 16th century to the 20th century. Some could but most could not. I find this puzzling.
Swimming is a very useful talent if you are working in and around the water. Sometime things have to be retrieved from divable depths. Some emergency repairs at sea can only be done from the outside by divers.
I can understand why sailors who frequent northern Europe and New England would not know much about swimming. Even in the Summer the water in these latitudes is too cold for swimming and in other seasons it would quickly become fatal. But what about the Caribbean and other warm latitudes?
In some centuries swimming in general was thought to be unhealthy. These were periods when washing was thought to remove needed oils from the hair and skin.
There is also the theory that sailors did not want to know how to swim because it would just prolong their suffering if they fell overboard. There might be something to this. Even sailors who could swim never got in the water unless the ship was at anchor or becalmed. A moving ship would leave them behind quickly and they would be hard to spot in high seas. Then there is the problem with the cold that I already mentioned. In most months someone who fell overboard in the northern Atlantic would be dead from the cold before he could be saved.
The problem is finding a period quote to document this. Sometimes when "everyone knows" something, no one thinks to write it down until it is too late.
Swimming is a very useful talent if you are working in and around the water. Sometime things have to be retrieved from divable depths. Some emergency repairs at sea can only be done from the outside by divers.
I can understand why sailors who frequent northern Europe and New England would not know much about swimming. Even in the Summer the water in these latitudes is too cold for swimming and in other seasons it would quickly become fatal. But what about the Caribbean and other warm latitudes?
In some centuries swimming in general was thought to be unhealthy. These were periods when washing was thought to remove needed oils from the hair and skin.
There is also the theory that sailors did not want to know how to swim because it would just prolong their suffering if they fell overboard. There might be something to this. Even sailors who could swim never got in the water unless the ship was at anchor or becalmed. A moving ship would leave them behind quickly and they would be hard to spot in high seas. Then there is the problem with the cold that I already mentioned. In most months someone who fell overboard in the northern Atlantic would be dead from the cold before he could be saved.
The problem is finding a period quote to document this. Sometimes when "everyone knows" something, no one thinks to write it down until it is too late.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Captain Blood
I just finished reading Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini for the third time. I have been a fan of Sabatini since several of his novels were reprinted in the 1970s but this is one of his best. It has several of Sabatini's recurring themes - a noble and witty hero who is forced by circumstances to become an adventurer and a romance foiled until the last moment by bad luck and misunderstanding.
In this book, Peter Blood is a former soldier who has taken up the more peaceful practice of medicine. He refuses to participate in the Monmouth Rebellion against James II but is arrested and convicted anyway for treating a wounded rebel. Rather than being executed, he is sent to the Caribbean to be sold as a slave. Eventually he and some of his fellow slaves escape and steal a ship. Even then, Blood's first goal was to simply resume his career as a doctor. Circumstances make piracy his main choice and he proves a natural at it.
Sabatini's hero is not a typical pirate. Instead he is honorable, rescuing women and only raiding Spain.
One section of the book was lifted from Captain Morgan's real exploits. Sabatini explains this away by saying that they were really Blood's exploits and that Morgan later claimed credit for them.
Fortunately for Blood, he is opposed at every turn by opponents whose self-importance exceeds their competence. This makes the villains of the book easy to hate.
This is one of the best pirate novels ever written. Blood is believable as a pirate with principles and, unlike Treasure Island, the book has several sea battles. If it has any faults it is that it makes these battles seem too easy. A broadside or two and the battle is decided and any blood spilled is spilt out of sight.
It should be no surprise that the book is longer and more complex than the movie which, in itself, is one of the better pirate movies.
In this book, Peter Blood is a former soldier who has taken up the more peaceful practice of medicine. He refuses to participate in the Monmouth Rebellion against James II but is arrested and convicted anyway for treating a wounded rebel. Rather than being executed, he is sent to the Caribbean to be sold as a slave. Eventually he and some of his fellow slaves escape and steal a ship. Even then, Blood's first goal was to simply resume his career as a doctor. Circumstances make piracy his main choice and he proves a natural at it.
Sabatini's hero is not a typical pirate. Instead he is honorable, rescuing women and only raiding Spain.
One section of the book was lifted from Captain Morgan's real exploits. Sabatini explains this away by saying that they were really Blood's exploits and that Morgan later claimed credit for them.
Fortunately for Blood, he is opposed at every turn by opponents whose self-importance exceeds their competence. This makes the villains of the book easy to hate.
This is one of the best pirate novels ever written. Blood is believable as a pirate with principles and, unlike Treasure Island, the book has several sea battles. If it has any faults it is that it makes these battles seem too easy. A broadside or two and the battle is decided and any blood spilled is spilt out of sight.
It should be no surprise that the book is longer and more complex than the movie which, in itself, is one of the better pirate movies.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Searle's Raid
As Spain's northern-most colony, St. Augustine was a natural target for pirates from Francis Drake (in 1585) to Robert Searle (in 1668). Drakes's and Searle's raids are reenacted annually. This year Searle's Raid was held on March 4th and 5th.
There are actually two separate events. A military camp was set up at the Fountain of Youth park on Friday and Saturday with cannon demonstrations and other military drills. At 4:00 trolleys carried the participants to the site of the battle in the oldest part of St. Augustine. The forces were split into English attackers and Spanish defenders with the attackers having slightly higher numbers. Searle's actual force was only around 40 men against a garrison of 35 Spaniards.
The battle itself was a fairly long one for reenactors. It began at five o'clock when the English fired from a couple of locations near the Plaza. The forces met at the Plaza and the Spanish were eventually forced to retreat through the streets of the town. There was more firing at designated locations before the battle was rejoined at a redoubt near the Huguenot Cemetery. Eventually the Spanish were forced to surrender. The battle finally ended around six fifteen.
The combatants included musketeers, pikemen, small cannon, and swordsmen engaging in choreographed duels. Along the way a tavery was looted and three women taken prisoner for ransom.
This is an unusual event, straddling both pirate and 17th century military. On one hand, Searle was a pirate nominally he was a privateer but his commission had been withdrawn) and many of the participants are pirate reenactors. On the other hand, the historic event took place before the Golden Age of Piracy and the differences in the clothing are obvious. It was the only pirate event I have been at that included marching and pikes. Matchlock muskets were common. Pistols and blunderbusses were rare. During the fight, the English were cheering for King Charles.
Either way, I felt right at home.
Historic note - Robert Searles was a privateer and pirate during the time of Henry Morgan. He was arrested but released without punishment for the raid on St. Augustine. Later he was a sub-commander during Morgan's raid on Panama. His raid on St. Augustine was moderately successful. The Spanish silver he had hoped to steal had already been shipped to Spain but the Spanish paid him heads of cattle to leave. In addition, his men sacked the city and took hostages to ransom. This raid finally convinced Spain that the city needed better fortifications than a wooden fort and four years later construction began on the existing stone fort.
There are actually two separate events. A military camp was set up at the Fountain of Youth park on Friday and Saturday with cannon demonstrations and other military drills. At 4:00 trolleys carried the participants to the site of the battle in the oldest part of St. Augustine. The forces were split into English attackers and Spanish defenders with the attackers having slightly higher numbers. Searle's actual force was only around 40 men against a garrison of 35 Spaniards.
The battle itself was a fairly long one for reenactors. It began at five o'clock when the English fired from a couple of locations near the Plaza. The forces met at the Plaza and the Spanish were eventually forced to retreat through the streets of the town. There was more firing at designated locations before the battle was rejoined at a redoubt near the Huguenot Cemetery. Eventually the Spanish were forced to surrender. The battle finally ended around six fifteen.
The combatants included musketeers, pikemen, small cannon, and swordsmen engaging in choreographed duels. Along the way a tavery was looted and three women taken prisoner for ransom.
This is an unusual event, straddling both pirate and 17th century military. On one hand, Searle was a pirate nominally he was a privateer but his commission had been withdrawn) and many of the participants are pirate reenactors. On the other hand, the historic event took place before the Golden Age of Piracy and the differences in the clothing are obvious. It was the only pirate event I have been at that included marching and pikes. Matchlock muskets were common. Pistols and blunderbusses were rare. During the fight, the English were cheering for King Charles.
Either way, I felt right at home.
Historic note - Robert Searles was a privateer and pirate during the time of Henry Morgan. He was arrested but released without punishment for the raid on St. Augustine. Later he was a sub-commander during Morgan's raid on Panama. His raid on St. Augustine was moderately successful. The Spanish silver he had hoped to steal had already been shipped to Spain but the Spanish paid him heads of cattle to leave. In addition, his men sacked the city and took hostages to ransom. This raid finally convinced Spain that the city needed better fortifications than a wooden fort and four years later construction began on the existing stone fort.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Commodores
Someone in a piracy forum started calling himself "commodore" so I decided to look up the title. I remember it from McHale's Navy and, of course, Pirates of the Caribbean.
The term is used for someone between the rank of captain and rear admiral who commands multiple ships in a squadron. It came into use at the end of the 17th century. The US stopped using the rank by the end of the 18th century although it was revived during World War II. The British and other countries kept the rank.
From the viewpoint of the GAoP, commodore was not an actual rank. It was a posting. You remained on the list of captains and you were a commodore only as long as you commanded a squadron. Once your posting changed, you reverted back to captain. apparently the British did this to reduce the number of admirals on the payroll.
By that measure, Norrington was never a real commodore. He only had two ships and he lost the Interceptor. Granted, the other ship was a ship of the line but it was still a single ship. We never saw him commanding a squadron. The only time multiple ships were assembled under a single command was at the end of the third movie under the command of Beckett who was always referred to as "lord".
As far as I can tell, being a commodore did not entitle you to a big hat.
The term is used for someone between the rank of captain and rear admiral who commands multiple ships in a squadron. It came into use at the end of the 17th century. The US stopped using the rank by the end of the 18th century although it was revived during World War II. The British and other countries kept the rank.
From the viewpoint of the GAoP, commodore was not an actual rank. It was a posting. You remained on the list of captains and you were a commodore only as long as you commanded a squadron. Once your posting changed, you reverted back to captain. apparently the British did this to reduce the number of admirals on the payroll.
By that measure, Norrington was never a real commodore. He only had two ships and he lost the Interceptor. Granted, the other ship was a ship of the line but it was still a single ship. We never saw him commanding a squadron. The only time multiple ships were assembled under a single command was at the end of the third movie under the command of Beckett who was always referred to as "lord".
As far as I can tell, being a commodore did not entitle you to a big hat.
Friday, February 11, 2011
The Doctor and the Pirates
The upcoming season of Doctor Who will include pirates. Here is an article about it complete with pictures of companion Karen Gillian on a ship.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Time and The HMS Victory
A new survey of Nelson's flagship, the HMS Victory, shows that the ship is in poor shape. The problems are that the dry dock is warping the timbers and it has significant rot from rainwater. See here for more details.
None of this surprises me.
We went through the Victory last May. At the time I was surprised at how spartan the dry dock supports were. Ships are built to float. This puts an even pressure against the entire hull. A ship that spends any significant time in dry dock will not be supported evenly and will warp. In this case, the ends of some of the beams are now 10 centimeters (about the length of a cigarette) from touching the hull. During the last restoration the knees were only attached to the inside layer of the hull. (This ship has planking on both the inside and the outside of its timbers.)
I remember a talk during the preservation of the USS Constellation. The hull was hogging (drooping at the ends) and they were combating that by stacking pallets in the center and running cables to straps around the ends. This put more pressure on the center and held up the ends. Someone asked why they didn't just put it in dry dock. The answer was that if it went into dry dock for any significant length of time it would never float again.
I had this problem in miniature with my Whitehall boat. The trailer I had used rollers to support the boat and these were leaving marks in the hull. I replaced it with a bunker trailer.
The problem with rainwater is universal. The Santa Maria has leaked for 20 years. Re-caulking stops the leaks for a few day or week then the seams open up again. I have asked around and most other ships have the same problem. The Mayflower II had to make serious repairs in the 1990s. The metal fasteners that fastened the outside hull to the timbers had rusted away leaving holes. Rainwater got into the holes and rotted the timbers. They had to remove a lot of the hull in order to get to the timbers to replace them. It was a major project that took a couple of years and disrupted their first-person interpretation program.
It is amazing the the Victory has survived as long as it has. It was begun 1759 and launched in 1765. She spent 13 years in storage and was eventually ordered to be converted to a hospital ship. After the loss of the HMS Impregnable in 1799, it was decided to refit the Victory. There were already many problems and the refit took four years. She was finished in 1803 and served as Nelson's flagship in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. She ended active service in 1812 but was used as a signal ship and barracks until 1904. After that she was mainly a tourist attraction.
By 1922 the Victory was in poor condition and needed a major restoration. This is when she was moved to her current location in Dry Dock no. 2 in Portsmouth - the oldest dry dock in the world. The latest restoration was in 2005 for the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar. At that time she was made to look as much as possible like she did in Nelson's time.
(most of this history was condensed from Wikipedia)
Note - while the HMS Victory is the world's oldest commissioned warship, the USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship still afloat.
None of this surprises me.
We went through the Victory last May. At the time I was surprised at how spartan the dry dock supports were. Ships are built to float. This puts an even pressure against the entire hull. A ship that spends any significant time in dry dock will not be supported evenly and will warp. In this case, the ends of some of the beams are now 10 centimeters (about the length of a cigarette) from touching the hull. During the last restoration the knees were only attached to the inside layer of the hull. (This ship has planking on both the inside and the outside of its timbers.)
I remember a talk during the preservation of the USS Constellation. The hull was hogging (drooping at the ends) and they were combating that by stacking pallets in the center and running cables to straps around the ends. This put more pressure on the center and held up the ends. Someone asked why they didn't just put it in dry dock. The answer was that if it went into dry dock for any significant length of time it would never float again.
I had this problem in miniature with my Whitehall boat. The trailer I had used rollers to support the boat and these were leaving marks in the hull. I replaced it with a bunker trailer.
The problem with rainwater is universal. The Santa Maria has leaked for 20 years. Re-caulking stops the leaks for a few day or week then the seams open up again. I have asked around and most other ships have the same problem. The Mayflower II had to make serious repairs in the 1990s. The metal fasteners that fastened the outside hull to the timbers had rusted away leaving holes. Rainwater got into the holes and rotted the timbers. They had to remove a lot of the hull in order to get to the timbers to replace them. It was a major project that took a couple of years and disrupted their first-person interpretation program.
It is amazing the the Victory has survived as long as it has. It was begun 1759 and launched in 1765. She spent 13 years in storage and was eventually ordered to be converted to a hospital ship. After the loss of the HMS Impregnable in 1799, it was decided to refit the Victory. There were already many problems and the refit took four years. She was finished in 1803 and served as Nelson's flagship in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. She ended active service in 1812 but was used as a signal ship and barracks until 1904. After that she was mainly a tourist attraction.
By 1922 the Victory was in poor condition and needed a major restoration. This is when she was moved to her current location in Dry Dock no. 2 in Portsmouth - the oldest dry dock in the world. The latest restoration was in 2005 for the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar. At that time she was made to look as much as possible like she did in Nelson's time.
(most of this history was condensed from Wikipedia)
Note - while the HMS Victory is the world's oldest commissioned warship, the USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship still afloat.
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