Pirate Exhibition

[essayel]

Just to show off the rammer, wormer and sponge [sbwnj in Welsh]! Pictures below the cut:






Navigational equipment including octant, spyglass, timepieces, compass, and also a 'tuck stick' like a sword stick only it was used to prod into barrels and sacks and bales to see if anything was hidden inside. Also a Cat o'nine tails! Which I have NOT been allowed to swing at anyone - yet.



Pewter mug, 'onion' bottle and an 18th century stave made bucket that used to be used to carry water to the horses in my gt gt gt granpa's undertakers yard. Lord knows where he got it from.



Genuine naval binnacle compass, dating to about 1790 but of the standard pattern used throughout the 18th C. The rings on the sides of it are to lash it down so it doesn't tip over in heavy seas. I blagged that from Monmouth



My husband's model of the Pickle. Built about 1840, she was a Bermuda sloop, one of the most favoured vessels for piracy because they were fast and manoeuvrable and shallow in draught.



Pilot cutter model loaned by Swansea Museum, plus a 24lb cannon ball and a rigging cannon ball with the type of protrusions that bring tears to the eyes.



Cutaway model of a 3 decker, model of 32lber, bone model of frigate [I think] made by French POWs during Napoleonic wars.



Better picture of the bone model. It's so delicate. I had kittens watching Boss trying to get it out of the box.



Compass, lantern, candleholder on gimbals, bucket, mug and bottle, and flintlock musket that was too long to go in with the rest of the firearms.



Guns! Including very probably Nelson's sawn off musket. That little guy was such a bad-ass. Also a blunderbuss and some pistols. The big curly thing is a massive powder horn of the type used to put the priming in the firing hole of the cannon.



Better view of the sawn off musket. Or "mwsged cwta" if you want me to be bilingual.



Sharp stuff, including 2 cutlasses, a dress sword and a midshipman's dirk. The dirk is top quality.



Wormer, sbwnj and rammer! Below them some of the info boards and also a copy of a portrait of Sir Henry Morgan, the buccaneer, when he was about 20. Ooh boy, he was pretty. It's ad what too much rum will do to a man.



Can't have an exhibition about pirates without some treasure. In this case it's a lovely enamel box with naval bling in the form of bullion epaulettes!



The label reads "Chapeau de Napoleon". Make of that what ye will. If it did belong to vive l'empereur he had a little dinky head!



More bling, mostly fake for set dressing but the pearls, including some fantastic black ones, are real. And there's a cubic zirconia copy of the Star of Africa that lights up the room. The sad looking tiny coin on the edge of the info label is an actual 2 reale piece - a piece of 2!! - minted in Peru in 1720. :( I couldn't afford a piece of eight.



More treasure! A naval surgeon's tools of his trade. There are things in that box to make ones blood run cold.



More scary medical stuff. The probes are hollow with little holes at the end and were used to treat VD.



And finally a cat because one can't have a picture post without a cat in it. This is Elin, about to shiver the timbers of a fly.

Comments

[changeling72.livejournal.com]

Fascinating. Thanks for sharing.

[essayel.livejournal.com]

It's really fun stuff! :D

[ceitfianna]

It looks like a great exhibit.

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

Would you consider cross-posting to following sea? (Or maybe you have already?)

[megwolff.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the pictures of your exhibition. It is great to see the fabulous results of all the hard work! The bone model is incredible, not to mention the midshipman's dirk.

[mcgonagalls-cat.livejournal.com]

.

No fair!

You got to fondle some amazing historical pieces!


WOW!

.

[essayel.livejournal.com]

Historical and prehistorical. It really humanises our ancestors when one picks up something 300, or 2000, years old and find it fits ones hand as though made for it. Looking is no substitute for touching and I think it's a pity there's not more opportunity to handle objects.

[wulfila.livejournal.com]

The pirate exhibition looks really interesting, and I love the cat photo!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

you has museum cat! I want your job.

[essayel.livejournal.com]

Sadly no. The boss HATES pets. That is one of my cats. She enjoys that vantage point.

[joyful-molly.livejournal.com]

Absolutely awesome, thanks so much for sharing! I love the compass, and the bone ship model is wonderful. Wish I could have a look around the museum myself.

Oh, and you're absolutely right; no picture post without a cat. And Elin is a very beautiful one. :)

[essayel.livejournal.com]

She's a lovely animal and probably the most inelegant cat I have ever seen. No stealth about her, she clunks when she jumps down.

I wish you could see it too. Maybe the following_sea mob would enjoy a jolly to Monmouth sometime. There's a fantastic collection of Nelsoniana there courtesy of the Rolls [of Royce fame] family.

[stevie-carroll.livejournal.com]

Wonderful exhibits there. Thanks for sharing.

[marwanthefirst.livejournal.com]

awesome stuff! that must have been an unusually wealthy midshipman! And those epaulettes . . . *slobber*

[essayel.livejournal.com]

The box is as interesting as the epaulettes. It's made from enamelled steel, very tight fitting hinged lid, lined with red velvet and fitted inside so the epaulettes est one above the other without the fringes being crushed. There was a hat box too with a suitably Pellew hat in it, again beautifully enamelled and lined, but I knew it wouldn't fit in the case. Both boxes are scraped and dented and have been in the wars. They look REAL, and have fulfilled their function beautifully because the contents are pristine.

[aceofkittens.livejournal.com]

I thought I'd commented on this one... gorgeous exhibition! Well done!