An amazing pirate collection!

[M ELEY]

Well, folks, all i can say is I am humbled. The following collection of maritime weaponry and sundry items is on par with most museums. Steve Bunker at China Sea Trading was kind enough to send me pics of his private cache (which also reminded me of my own meager stockpile- :( :o Hope you pirate enthusiasts out there enjoy! And you know who you are! ;)

First off, two early 18th c. sextants. Note the ivory inlay and lack of a securing screw found on later examples.

[M ELEY]

Ahhh, old Caribbean cuphilt rapier, a main gauche, early plug bayonets, a nice early spike ax with brass tack haft, and who can miss the grenado in the corner!
All pics copyright China Sea Trading

[M ELEY]

Telescopes, rare jugs, mugs, plates and such, all dating to the era...

Note the onion bottles, Dutch Delph pottery and the single pull octogonal telescope mid-18th c.

[M ELEY]

A fantastic Sincaire-type saber, just like that one we discussed from that fellow in St. Augustine. Also, a Danish cutlass, several Dutch hangers and a double disc 'Figure 8' Brit or Amer cutlass! Baltimore pattern???

[M ELEY]

Don't forget the importance of long guns, which were popular with the Royal and US marines up in the tops. The blunderbus were great for 'discouraging mutiny' and for ripping apart boarders. Note the priming flask gun, a rarity.

Note the caltrip, an item affiliated with boarding, a spontoon/pike, an old belay pin and a Corsican?? dagger.

[M ELEY]

Broadsides and articles dating to the Age of Fighting Sail and piracy!!

All pics copyright China Sea Trading Company.

[M ELEY]

Lantaka, Portuguese petrarro? Nice swivel/rail gun! A small coehorn cannon. Note the bar shot, chain shot and ultra rare spike shot (17th c. back to Elizabeth's sea rovers!)

Thanks again, Bunker, for allowing me to post these!
All pics are copyright China Sea Trading Co.

[M ELEY]

Manacles and restraints from Age of Sail, both a hint at the slave trade and the Pirate Round.

Note some of the goodies in front of this rack of long guns. I see a nice Chinese dau, a Kybele rifle, several eagle head Amer swords.

[fernando]

Bravo Captain ... but:

... Note the priming flask gun, a rarity...
Do you mean the powder tester ? :o.

... and, by the way:
Have you missed the multi barreled handcannon ? ;) .

... Or are my eyes tricking me ? :o
.

[corrado26]

it was very, very interesting and a great pleasure to look at all these pictures showing items of a very long gone time, telling stories of old sailing ships, pirates and great dangerous adventures.
Thanks a lot
corrado26

[CutlassCollector]

Great post Mark, thanks.
Love that boarding axe and those cutlasses!

Regards, CC

[M ELEY]

Hello Fernando! Yes, a powder tester it is. I just couldn't remember the title for the thing!

No, 'Nando, that isn't a multi-barrel handgunne. It's just an antique curling iron! :D :rolleyes: Thought you might like some of his swivels and iron barrel guns. In particular that long 6 sided barrel standing upright in pic #13. What do you think? A handgunne or simply a barrel from a large musketoon?

[M ELEY]

Hello Corrado26, glad you like it. This collection does indeed bring back maritime memories of shadowy characters, port taverns and old sea yarns.

[M ELEY]

Hello CC,

Glad to hear from you and I knew this one might draw you in. Still waiting for our other 'pirates in the wings', Broadax and Jim McD. You just know those scalawags are around here somewhere- ;)

[fernando]

...Lantaka, Portuguese petrarro? ...
Portuguese ? maybe not; we made them, they made them ... you never know, if not marked. But certainly not a 'petriero', the Italian term for 'pedreiro', a term used for earlier guns that shot stone projectiles; sorry being a brainpicker ;).

... No, 'Nando, that isn't a multi-barrel handgunne. It's just an antique curling iron! ...
A curling iron ? :confused:; can you elaborate ? The shape is so similar (to my eyes) to that in picture #12 ...

...Thought you might like some of his swivels and iron barrel guns...
Oh, i like several things in there; the cannons, the barrels, the shackles ... you name it.

In particular that long 6 sided barrel standing upright in pic #13. What do you think? A handgunne or simply a barrel from a large musketoon?...
Good question. Easier to identify if pictured in different angle/s. Maybe something in between ... like an haquebut barrel ...


.

[M ELEY]

Ha ha! Got you, my friend! I was just kidding about that multi-barrel handgunne. You were correct in identifying it and I was just having some fun.
Petriero, eh? I don't know my cannons so well.

So what are your thoughts on that ivory handled dagger with wedge shaped blade? I was thinking Corsican or Venetian, like the vindetta daggers. :shrug:

[fernando]

...Ha ha! Got you, my friend! I was just kidding about that multi-barrel handgunne. You were correct in identifying it and I was just having some fun...
My turn next time :rolleyes:.

...So what are your thoughts on that ivory handled dagger with wedge shaped blade? I was thinking Corsican or Venetian, like the vindetta daggers. :shrug:
I wouldn't know Mark, but as i see it, it could even be an old sailor's knife; a senior sailor, judging by the handle ... which could be bone and not ivory, anyhow !

[broadaxe]

That small dagger/knife is a generic west-Mediterranean dirk, carried by both sailors and land people along the shores of Spain, France, Italy and the islands nearby.
The two objects in the 1st photo are not sextants but its direct forefather, the octant (with apparently original cases, very cool!).

[M ELEY]

Opps! So you are right, Broadaxe! Octants they are. Thanks for the dagger info. Fernando and you both astutely identified it and makes sense it would be in his collection. Thought you might like the pics.

Now...where's Jim? :confused:

[colin henshaw]

[QUOTE=M ELEY]Manacles and restraints from Age of Sail, both a hint at the slave trade and the Pirate Round.

Hi Mark, thanks for posting this interesting thread.

The shackles with the long bar, third from the left, are the type that were often used in the West African slave trade.

Regards.

[M ELEY]

Thank you, Colin, for that clarification. I suppose the others still fit in with the imprisonment of said rascals when the pirates were caught! :D

[Norman McCormick]

Maybe me and my old oak coffer will take to the high seas once more. :D ;) Weapons obviously later than the above but maybe some bits have seen service at sea. :) Coffer once had a lining of period written documents but mostly gone now. :(
Regards,
Norman.

[Rick]

Portuguese ? maybe not; we made them, they made them ... you never know, if not marked. But certainly not a 'petriero', the Italian term for 'pedreiro', a term used for earlier guns that shot stone projectiles; sorry being a brainpicker ;).


A curling iron ? :confused:; can you elaborate ? The shape is so similar (to my eyes) to that in picture #12 ...


Oh, i like several things in there; the cannons, the barrels, the shackles ... you name it.


Good question. Easier to identify if pictured in different angle/s. Maybe something in between ... like an haquebut barrel ...


.

That 3 barreled item may be out of place.
A antique dealer friend bought a half dozen of those at the Brimfield flea market 2 years ago. :)
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15632&highlight=hand+cannon

[fernando]

That 3 barreled item may be out of place.
A antique dealer friend bought a half dozen of those at the Brimfield flea market 2 years ago. :)
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=15632&highlight=hand+cannon
I wasn't registering such an inconsistency, Rick. Apparently its owner sailed the China seas; might have bought a few in a Macau ... flea market ;) .

[M ELEY]

Nice old chest, Norman! The perfect coffer for your treasure trove!

[fernando]

Very nice ark, Norman ... and promising contents :cool:.
No doubt it would be worth the double, if the lining with the period handwritten documents was all still there :shrug:.

[Jim McDougall]

Ahoy Cap'n Mark and fellows of the Brotherhood!!! Its great to see everyone gathered here on deck!
This is a breathtaking assemblage of piratical stuff!!!!and I have looked in numbers of times, unable to even find words or focus enough to compose anything lucid.
So my apologies for being late, with my only explanation as the good ship lollipop (aka bookmobile) has been careened here in the port of Albacrocko for much needed repairs.
Looking at these makes me desperately want to re chart my course to St. Augustine and N.C.!!!!

It is always fascinating to watch you guys exchange such knowledge and detail on all of these things, and while I cannot add much to the firearms and ordnance, I wanted to at least throw in a few shots on some of the other items. While naturally always obsessed with the swords, I can only note how magnificently untouched and well represented these are here...great assembly of the shell guard sabres....which were as I have understood termed colloquially by the pirates, a 'shell' rather than the term cutlass.

On the small dagger, Broadaxe is spot on in this being a Mediterranean dirk, used collectively for these daggers in nautical use by sailors in and from the regions throughout ports there. With these daggers it is hard to distinguish specific identity to region in many cases, so the broader identification is usually better than the much romanticized 'Corsican vendetta' (which it could very well be).
In any case, the 'Mediterranean dirk, in another interesting and much romanticized incarnation, was actually the ancestor of the famed 'Bowie' knife, which is hard to believe when seeing the comparison to this much smaller knife.

I was intrigued by the multi-spiked item in post #5 (which looks like a Mercedes logo in this image). This is as noted , a 'caltrap' (I found interesting detail in "Brevertons Nautical Curiosities" , Terry Breverton, 2013).
Apparently these 'thistle' like devices were fashioned from scrap iron, and into four sharpened spikes. Sailors often went barefoot on deck to avoid slipping, so these devious things were devastatingly effective when strewn out before boarding. The term 'caltrip' derives etymologically from Latin and Old English words such as 'calketrippe' (OE= any plant which tended to catch feet).

The pragmatic 'belaying' pin, was of course to secure rigging and was emplaced in pin rails along the deck sides, however, these very hard wood pins quickly became a 'weapon of opportunity' used to severely club a victim.

Absolutely magnificent collection, and Mark, thank you for sharing it with us and extend deep gratitude to Steve Bunker!!!! a hearty extra ration of grog to him!!!

[Norman McCormick]

Hi Mark and Fernando,
Although the contents mostly date to the 18thC the coffer itself by the style of construction, locks and hinges etc sits very comfortably in the 17thc, right in the thick of the buccaneering days. It's a shame the document lining is mostly gone as it might have made some fascinating reading, a treasure map!!!! or maybe not :( :D
My Regards to you Both,
Norman.

[M ELEY]

Ahoy yarself, Cap'n Jim!

I was hoping you might see the thread and have comments! As always, a great pleasure to hear from you. Hope the
U.S.S. BookMobile is soon 'seaworthy'! If you're ever this way, let me know and we'll share a bumbo (real pirate beverage made from fermented fruit sans cocktail umbrella) and salmagundi (a dish only a sailor could stomach!)

Great information on the items, especially on the 'calketrippe'. I hadn't thought about the barefoot factor. Makes total sense!

Steve has shown an interest in possibly joining the Forum. He is a self-confessed Luddite, as I am. Still working on him to join. We'll see. He's got a long nautical history and would be a great asset for us maritime fellows

[M ELEY]

Hi Norman. I think the collection is perfectly on par for Age of Piracy. One of my biggest pet peeves are those who say piracy ceased after 1717 (the end of the Golden Age). This is simply not the case. Piracy existed ever since the first cavemen threw a log into a river to fish from while some other scoundrel floated out to rob him. It was alive and well into the 19th c. and of course still exists today. Don't mean to get on my soapbox, but the facts prove piracy went on.
I personally believe that some of that 'piracy is over' thing was created by aristocrats in the Indies that wanted to downplay its continued existence. It was the same type of ballyhoo about every pirate being a murderer, rapist, torturer, etc. While most were brutal men and thieves, some gentlemanly, well mannered, educated and had families. The infamous Edward Teach, who supposedly murdered by the score, has no historical documentation that he killed anyone save Lt. Maynard's men when they stormed his ship. Sorry about the tirade. Perhaps I'll stir up a little debate with that one! :cool: :eek:

[Jim McDougall]

Thank you so much Mark!
As always, the discussion of pirates is fascinating, fun, perplexing, intriguing and a host of all sensations, so we owe a great deal to the writers on them who have provided us with such adventures........there lies the treasure!

I do hope you get Steve to join us.....and uh.....'luddite' (?) ...I still have a Fisher-Price keyboard!!!

Regarding Blackbeard, the quintessant figure in piracy......he was only 'on account' for just over a year, and its true, he actually never killed anyone (as far as recorded). An absolute must is the recent book by Kevin P. Duffus, "The Last Days of Blackbeard the Pirate", which reveals well researched accounts of the true character of him.
The reality of his final battle with Maynard is astounding, and far from the creative embellishing of Hollywood.

Norman, I neglected noting that wonderful chest!!! These sea chests were of course far different than the almost cliche' 'treasure chests' with hump back lids characterized by Pyle and Wyeth in their renowned illustrations. This is more like that which was of that of Cap'n Billy Bones in Stevenson's "Treasure Island" , which actually was situated in the mid 18th century, long after the 'Golden Age' had uh, 'ended' (?) NOT!

As for Blackbeard (or whatever his real name was), it is believed that his naming of his captured French slaver the Queen Annes Revenge was most telling...and that he was actually a Scot, and professed Jacobite.

Along with Blackbeard, the history of the much maligned Captain Kidd, crafted into notorious and feared pirate, is revised with a much different view in various books revealing the unfortunate treatment resulting in his unjust execution. The very document which would have exonerated him was found I believe in around 1911. There have been countless searches for his 'treasure', which of course was as fabricated as most of the rest of his case.


PS. wanted to add one more title which gives dynamic perspective to piracy, its artifacts and the true image of what these pirates were like.
"X Marks the Spot: The Archaeology of Piracy", R. Skowronek and Charles Ewen, 2006.

[Norman McCormick]

Hi Mark and Jim,
The chest is a decent size 4 ft 4 inches wide 2 ft 1 inch deep and 2ft 5 inches high. These were used for everything from linens to silver and of course storage of armour and weapons. The English Civil War period is notable for this type of chest. I have attached a photograph of another item from my 'bitsa' collection which would be essential for travellers/sailors/soldiers of the period, a leather costrel. This one is dated 1721. I have researched these and naming and dating is not unusual. As usual unscrupulous dealers have been known to 'enhance' an item by adding names and/or dates but I am as sure as I can be that this one is period done. Nice to hear from you both.
My Regards,
Norman.

[Jim McDougall]

Hi Norman,
Thank you so much for sharing this 'costrel'!! I never stop learning with you guys, I had never heard this term before, and honestly was unaware of this type of 'luggage'.

This does remind me a great deal of the kinds of baggage seen in much I have read on the land going version of pirates (though usually single operators)...the highwaymen. Apparently these also much fabled and romanticized 'scoundrels' also had a 'golden age' similar to the arbitrary period set for pirates....in their case about 1660-1714. These kinds of bags it seems I saw in many illustrations of the coaches in references to these instances of highway robbery.

Also much as with the sea going bunch, the highwaymen often came from the ranks of ex soldiers (English Civil War) now misplaced without means, as were the privateers.

I was going through "Treasure Island" again and in finding the passages about Captain Billy Bones and his 'sea chest', where the treasure map is found....in the lining!! of course.

[Norman McCormick]

Hi Jim,
These leather bottles, costrels, were an essential piece of kit for carrying water, beer etc in the days before mass produced pressed tin etc. Early colonial, American, frontiersmen would have been very familiar with this type of vessel. If you look at Austrian village/town bands you will normally find women marching alongside with a wooden costrel filled with ??? presumably to slake the thirst of the band members and probably in days gone by armed followers when on the march but really nowadays just part of the costume I suspect, see girl in bottom right of picture. Leather bottles are a good idea if you think about it lightweight and not easily broken unlike glass which would have been too expensive anyway and irreparable if broken. Leather drinking vessels, jacks, were also made in a similar fashion with double rows, of I think, saddle stitch and covered in a type of pitch and wax inside and out to make them waterproof. Anyhow enough of my ramblings
My Regards,
Norman.

[M ELEY]

Jim, I see you read Dufus' book on Blackbeard. Excellent resource book, as he went into minute details most never learn of. (I like his theory about Teach's smoking beard. He surmised that it was possibly an accident at first. The isles the sea dogs used to hide were off the beaten track, mosquito infested marshes, inlets and tributaries. The biting insects and malaria were widespread. A good smoky fire kept the critters at bay and it's possible ole Edward put the smoking fuses in his beard to drive them off. Any one of his crew who say him would have said he looked like 'the devil himself!' Just a theory of how he might have come up with the tactic. I can attest that Okracoke Isle has many marshes and biting pests) I hadn't heard of that other volume you mentioned ('X marks the Spot'), but it's now on my want list!

Norman, thank you for presenting this item! I had never heard of one before outside of the mug/blackjacks seen in taverns. Now that I know, I'll have to throw one into my pirate novels! Interesting to know that leather items went to sea as well!

[Norman McCormick]

Interesting to know that leather items went to sea as well!


Hi Mark,
There have been leather costrels recovered from the Mary Rose so definitely this type of container used at sea.
My Regards,
Norman.