Subject:
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Re: My pirate lexicon.
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.pirates
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Date:
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Wed, 26 Apr 2000 05:21:37 GMT
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Viewed:
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2669 times
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In lugnet.pirates, Jeffrey Watts writes:
> Want to hear a mindblower? I didn't really start to read up on Carribean
> or pirate history until the mid-nineties. It wasn't until then that I
> read about Sir Francis Drake and the buccaneer raids on Panama.
Ack, yes. I wrote on the Circumnavigation (1577-80) as a
lowly undergraduate. ;) I've always wondered if Drake can
be considered a true "buccaneer" or pyrate; he was operating
under marque from Elizabeth, and was a privateer very much
in the mould of his mentor and friend, John Hawkins. After
all, he did end up formulating the harassing strategy against
Philip's Armada of 1588.
> What's interesting about that? In 1991, while with the National Guard, I
> went to Panama to build roads and bridges and repair schools in a poor
> area east of Colon. Our compound was in a thicket near a circular bay,
> which was necessary because the heavy bulldozers and earth movers had to
> be amphibiously landed. There was a nice little town on the shore of this
> bay, near the compound. We would buy sodas and other goods in this town.
>
> I remember the name of the town quite well, given that I was acting as
> translator for my company and I really liked the unique name this town
> had, "Name Of God". I had wondered what those ruins at the tips of the
> bay were.
>
> What was the Spanish name? Nombre De Dios.
*SMACK* in the face with the Halibut of History! Wow,
I'm sorry you didn't take a truck into Portobelo too,
and/or check out the fortifications. I would have
loved to hear *that* story! Field trip, anyone? I've
got the quinine! ;)
> I wish to this day that I had driven one of our deuce-and-a-halfs out
> there. I do have a decent shot of some fortifications along the coast
> about mid-way to Colon, taken from the bus. Get this, I think they were
> at Portobelo. *sigh*
So long as you didn't stub your toe on any Morions.
(You'd need a tetanus shot!) Wow. That's pretty cool.
My "Drake Near-Miss" is a little less heady--I was
walking near Southwark Cathedral (in daylight, lest
you concern yourself for my safety) and around a corner
*wham* (halibut!) there's the spitting image of a teeny
tiny 16th-century privateering vessel floating in the
water. It turns out this is the reproduction of
_Golden Hinde_ (with or without the E, take your pick)
built in 1977 to commemorate the quadrucentennial
(tetracentennial?) of Drake's departure. I spoke with
a very nice but obviously very harassed girl from Perth
(Aus.) who was working the summer on the ship as a guide
(in period sea-dog costume, which I must say looked rather
spiffy! A living Pirate Babe!) and she gave me the low-
down on it. It's a must-see if you happen to be in
London, even if it's a loose interpretation because only
written descriptions of Drake's ship still exist, with rough
dimensions. In any case, that thing was *absolutely friggin'
tiny*, about the size of a double-decker London Transport
bus, and they sailed it around the globe! It makes
Drake's exploits all the more amazing.
best
Lindsay
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: My pirate lexicon.
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| (...) It's kind like politics: to the English he was a national hero, to the Spanish he was a pirate. :-) Since he had direct or indirect sanction from Elizabeth ("Oooo, I'm sorry about that sea-dog Mister Spanish Ambassador, I'll punish him (...) (25 years ago, 26-Apr-00, to lugnet.pirates)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: My pirate lexicon.
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| (...) Want to hear a mindblower? I didn't really start to read up on Carribean or pirate history until the mid-nineties. It wasn't until then that I read about Sir Francis Drake and the buccaneer raids on Panama. What's interesting about that? In (...) (25 years ago, 25-Apr-00, to lugnet.pirates)
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