FLORIDA
Vol. 2 No. 4
Where old news is good news!
BUCCANEERS Plunder Florida Towns
Quiz
1. What was the lure for pirates in the Spanish Maine? 2. What two rivers come togetherin north Florida where a fort was built? 3. What was the name of the mission at present day Tallahasse? 4. What was Blackbeard’s real name? 5. What is marooning? 6. What did the pirates do with the commander of the fort at San Marcos? 7. What punishment did Pedro de
los Arcos.receive? 8. What is a Letter of Marque? 9. What is the name of the clay found in Florida? 10. What did women do to the clay for it to work? 11. When did the Ocala up-lift form? 12. How did native women create designs on their pottery? 13 Who killed Adam Paine? 14.How did buccaneers get their name? 15. What is a privateer? 16. How were bana leaves used for cooking? 17. What popular movie was filmed at Homosassa Springs?
INSIDE THIS ISSUE Events …page 2 & 3 Articles of Bartholomew Roberts & Out of State Events ..page 5 Homosassa Spring s…page 6 Fortress Louisbourg …page 7 Spanish Letter of Marque …page 8 Camp Bayou …page 9 Floating in on a Barrel …page 10 Adam Paine …page 11 Book Reiws …page 12 Florida Frontier.com …page 13 Haunted House…page 14 16th C. Chemise …page 15 Recipes ... page 16 Paradise of Provisions ...page 16
A pirate, or buccaneer, checks the edge of his blade in preparation for boarding the ship under fire. The first recorded use of the French word boucanier, referred to a person on the islands of Hispaniola and Tortuga who hunted wild oxen and boars and smoked the meat in a barbecue frame known in French as a boucan.
THOSE WHO SAILED UNDER THE BLACK FLAG by Elizabeth Neily
The placid cerulean waters of the Caribbean Sea, hide a menacing secret. Coastlines are scalloped with thousands of coves and bays, inlets and anchorages, bayous and hurricane holes - some with hospitable, gentle sloping beaches, many with murderous reefs lurking below the surface. More treacherous than a hurricane, pirate have gouged a great swath through these waters and coastlines for more than half a millennium, in search of the golden dream. This is a fool’s paradise for the unwary sailor. From the time that Columbus first intruded into his new found land, the people of this Caribbean basin were betrayed by gold. They welcomed the strangers from the East, were excited by the possibility of new trading partners, but too soon they found out that these were not of men of honor. These were ruthless men here to steal everything they could lay their hands
on. These men would, in short order, turn paradise into hell. And yet the Spanish conquistadors couldn’t hold onto the treasures they claimed. Others lay waiting their opportunity to steal their share. As England and other European countries gained maritime strength Spain had to struggle to maintain its grip on the riches it was funneling out of the Americas. There are enough stories about pirates and buried treasure along Florida’s shores to sink a Spanish galleon. Jose Gaspar, Blackbeard, Calico Jack, Anne Bonny and many others were all said to have made forays along our coast. Even as many of these stories are debunked, the rumors persist,—enough to send treasure hunters looking for easy fortune as they scour the beaches with a metal detector or destroy fragile archaeological sites in search for See Buccaneerss page 4
October-December 1999
PIRATES RAID ST MARCOS DE APALACHE
by Elizabeth Neily Pirates continued to attack settlements along Florida’s coast throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Documents show an ongoing struggle for the colonists with buccaneers. In 1683, ,just a short distance south of St. Augustine, the outpost at Mantanzas was attacked. A notorious French pirate, Agramont, also attacked the fort. But in 1706 a French buccaneer secured Spanish blessing and supplies in St. Augustine in order to carry out an attack on Charleston to the north. His expedition failed which made the Spanish even more concerned about their British enemies. In 1682, the fortress at St. Marks, was captured by a marauding band of French pirates. The story reads like a comedy of errors. In the wee early hours of March 20, three pirogues made their way up the river toward a vessel anchored further up the river. The fort at San Marcos de Apalachie was situated at the confluence of the San Marcos and Wakulla rivers. In the moonlight it was a formidable sight. In reality the wooden palisade was merely painted white to resemble a stone fortress at a distance. Oars creaked against the gunnels, straining to carry the boats against the current, closer to its prize. When they neared the ship they discovered that it was a small merchantman out of Havana, heavily laden with supplies. As the crew of one of the pirogues grappled to board her, the others waded ashore to attack the fort. Lieutenant Pedro de Los Arcos was in command of the fort. He was a Creole, born in Pensacola, and a professional soldier. Under him were only four soldiers and an ensign, Juan de Herrera. On the day of the attack the commandant had gone to Mission San Luis, in present day Tallahassee. He had left de Herrera in charge but returned later to resume his command and to lock up the fort for the night. Also in the fort were the visiting captain and two friars who had come to meet a third, Father Juan Angel. That evening after the fort was closed, Lieutenant Andres Pérez, the officer in charge of the Province of Apalache, accompanied by several enlisted men and Indians arrived. For some reason the commandant would not reopen the fort to let in the new arrivals. Pérez and his men had to find a bed in the bujío or lodging house and some huts outside the fortress. About four in the morning, the sentry on duty on the guard platform went down to the kitchen to warm himself over the fire. The substitute sentry looked out over the water and saw the three pirogues making their way up the river in the shadowy light of daybreak. He sounded the warning, but by the time the sleepy occupants were up and armed the pirates had managed to wade ashore and were attacking the fort and its surrounding buildings. The dry thatched roofs of the huts were See San Marcos page 5
EVENTS CALENDAR NORTH CENTRAL SOUTH
NORTH October 15-17 White Springs QUILT Stephen Foster State Folk Culture Center. SUWANNEE RIVER QUILT SHOW AND SALE. 9AM-5PM. Quilters from around theUnited States gather to display their magnificent quilts. Quilt mall, demonstrations and many other features. Sponsored by the Stephen Foster Citizens Support Organization. Park fee. US 41 N. of White Springs. (904) 397-2733. 16 DeLeon Springs FIBER ART Deleon Springs State Recreation Area. PIONEER FIBER ARTS GUILD. Members of the guild demonstrate traditional crafts of spinning, weaving and quilting with authentic period tools andmaterials. Park fee. Corner of Ponce de Leon Blvd. and Burt Parks Rd. off US 17. (904) 9854212. 16 - 17 St. Augustine, MUSKET SCHOOL, Castillo San Marcos, One South Castillo Drive, St. Augustine, FL 32084. (904) 829-6506 http://www.nps. gov/casa/expanded/home.htm 28-29 LIVING HISTORY White Springs at Stephen Foster State Folk Culture Center.RURAL FOLK LIFE DAYS. 9AM-4PM Quilting, cane grinding, syrup making, lye soap making and other farm traditions. Co-sponsored by the Department of State. $3 fee. (904) 397-2733. Website http://dhr.dos.state.fl.us/folklife/ rfd.html
Halloween Fun!
22-23 Dunellon, Rainbow Springs State Park. SPOOKY SPRINGS 6PM-9PM Beware of ghosts and goblins but have a ghoulish good time at this annual Halloween extravaganza. Park fee plus $1 per person age 6 and older. 3 miles N of Dunnellon on E side of US 41. (352) 489-8503. 30 Tallahassee at Wakulla Springs State Park SPOOKY SPRINGS 6:30PM-9PM The strange and mysterious come alive with ghosts and goblins from the past. Share the park and the river with ghastly goblins, if you dare. Adults $8 and children $4. Sponsored by the Friends of Wakulla Springs as a park fundraiser. (850) 2245950
November 3- 6 White Springs at Stephen Foster State Folk Culture Center.RURAL FOLK LIFE DAYS. 9AM-4PM Quilting, cane grinding, syrup making, lye soap making and other farm traditions. Co-sponsored by the Department of State. $3 fee. (904) 397-2733. Website http://dhr.dos.state.fl.us/folklife/ rfd.html 5-6 Marianna LIVING HISTORY Florida Caverns State Park. 2nd Annual RURAL LIFE in NORTHEAST FLORIDA 9AM-3PM Traditional craft demo including candle making, cast iron cooking, syrup making, and much more... Bring a picnic or enjoy a lunch purchased at the park. Nov. 5 is school education day. 3345 Caverns Road. (850) 482-1228. 13-14 Ocala at Silver River State Park. OCALI CRACKER COUNTRY DAYS. Step back into a pioneer village in early “Cracker Florida” Talk with costumed
interpreters and craftsmen as they carve, weave, quilt, make soap, demonstrate blacksmithing and more. Old cars and toys. Guided walks. Crafts and food vendors. Sponsored by the Silver Rover Museum and Environmental Education Center, a facility of the Marion County School District. $3 ages 6 and up. E. of Ocala off C-35, 2 miles S. of SR40. (352) 236-1827. 20 St. Augustine, Siege of 1702, Castillo San Marcos, (evening event, free to public) One South Castillo Drive, (904) 829-6506 http://www.nps.gov/casa/expanded/home. htm
December TBA Tallahassee, HOLIDAY
Alfred Maclay State Gardens, CAMELLIA CHRISTMAS. The historic Maclay House is decked for the holidays with greenery and flowers from the gardens. Carolers sing at several locations and cookies and hot apple cider are served. Donation is requested to help offset the costs of preparing the event. 3540 Thomasville Rd. approximately 1 mile N of 110 on US 319. 4- 5 St. Augustine, 18th C. British Nightwatch , encampment on the north green, One South Castillo Drive, 32084. (904) 829-6506 http://www.nps.gov/casa/ expanded/home.htm 5-6 Marianna HOLIDAY Florida Caverns State Park. Fourth Annual CAVERNS CHRISTMAS.6PM-10PM Over 50,000 lights will light up the park. Christmas Tree and refreshments in the visitors’ center. Donate a cangood or toy or funds in lieu of normal entry fee to support the Jackson County Christmas Fund. 3345 Caverns Road. (850) 482-1228. 10-11 Pensacola HOLIDAY Big Lagoon/Perdido Key. CHRISTMAS IN THE PARK. Celebrate the “Spirit of the Season” with the magic of over 1000,000 twinkling lights and glowing luminaries. Entertainment, hayrides, food, Santa, children’s activities. 10 miles SW of Pensacola on SR 292A. Contact (850) 492-1595 10-11 Cheifland HOLIDAY Manatee Springs State Park. 8th Annual CHRISTMAS AT MANATEE. 6PM - 9PM Herald in the Christmas Season at this winter wonderland aglow with over 200,000 lights. Tree lighting ceremony at 6 PM and Santa at 6:15 PM. Boat parade on the Suwannee River, carols, puppets, and light refreshments. All proceeds go to the Tri-County area and Help our State Parks. Entry Fee is donation of canned goods and toys. (352) 493-6072 11 White Springs HOLIDAY Stephen Foster State Folk Culture Center. CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS. 9AM-4PM The park lights up and follow the annual Town of White Springs parade to the park. Donations of food and toys for the needy. Lights on display through Dec. 23. until 8:00 p.m. Park fee. (904) 397-2733. 18 St. Augustine, 18th Century Christmas open house Castillo San Marcos, (evening event, free to public) One South Castillo Drive (904) 829-6506 http://www.nps.gov/ casa/expanded/home.htm 18 Point Washington, HOLIDAY Eden State Gardens, SOUTHERN CHRISTMAS. Features tours of historic Westley House by ladies in period clothing. Luminaries light up the garden paths and Civil War reenactors set up camp. (850) 231-4214.
January 2000 8 St. Augustine The 12th Night’s Ball (tickets required, 18th century attire only) One South Castillo Drive, St. Augustine, FL 32084. (904) 829-6506 http://www.nps. gov/casa/expanded/home.htm 5-8 Tallahasee, 16th Century De Soto’s 1539 Winter Encampment, Hernando de Soto State Archaeological Site, 1022 De Soto Park Drive, C.W. .Smith/Shirley Deal, (904) 922-6007
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CENTRAL October
9-10 Jupiter LIVING HISTORY 11th Annual SEAFARE ‘99, Carlin Park, 11am- 7pm, Family festival of entertainment, arts & crafts, & gourmet seafood. Florida History Center & Museum Inc.805 N. US Highway One. Contact: Joan Hudiburg or Roz Wood (561) 747-6639 12 Bradenton, 16th Century De Soto National Memorial Living History /Calderon Compay, 9-5 Visitors can reach the park from I-75 or I-275 - exit 42, follow State Road 64 west, for approximately twelve miles to 75th Street NW. Turn right (north) onto 75th Street NW, and proceed two and five-tenths miles to the park. (941) 792-0458 16-17 St. Petersburg SPAN/AM Fort DeSoto Park, 2nd Annual Spanish American War Weekend.
their homemade goods. Enjoy pioneer and Victorian craft demos, live entertainment, a petting zoo, historic house tours and delicious food. (727) 582-2123 24 Sarasota LIVING HISTORY Oscar Schere State Park Day Cultural Festival 10AM - 5 PM. A celebration of the many diverse cultures that have contributed to the greatness of America. Native song, dance and dress of many cultures as well as information booths, craft exhibits and sales. Food. Family fun! Contact (941) 483-5956. 24 Orlando LIVING HISTORY Pine Castle Center for the Arts, PIONEER DAYS. 10AM-6PM Sat. & 10AM-5PM Sun. Antique show and sale, smoked barbeque, 1st person living history and hands on demos, antique tractors, boats and cars, hit and miss engines, fly wheelers, music, children’s games, Abe & Mrs. Lincoln, Native American Dancing and Storytelling, Arts & Crafts Community outdoor circuit rider church service on Sunday. $2 ages 6 years and older. 731 East Fairlane Ave. (407)855-7461.
November
Co-coordinated by members of Company E, 2nd US Infantry. This 1898 event will include daily battles over an enlarged battle area with Spanish defenses! The schedule will include infantry drill, skirmish drill, bayonet drill, firing demonstrations, candle light tours of the battery, fashion shows, and a 1890’s baseball game. Contact: Joe Erdmann. Email: jle130@aol.com. 23 Largo LIVING HISTORY Heritage Village. Pinellas County Historical Society Annual COUNTRY JUBILEE. 10AM - 4 PM Over 125 craftspeople display and sell
5-7 Tampa, SECOND SEMINOLE WAR at Hillsborough River State Park, Fort Foster Reenactment, the only standing replica of a Second Seminole War Fort in the United States. Come see Army, Navy, and Militia Reenactors garrison the fort. Period crafts and living history demonstrators. Approx. 20 miles NE of Tampa, 6 miles SW of Zephyrhills on US 301. (813) 987-6771 6 Sebring, LIVING HISTORY Highland Hammock State Park, Annual Civilian Conservation Corps Festival, 8:30AM-4PM Highlighting the hard work and dedication of the young men who, in the 1930’s and 40’s, helped clear the way for the beginning of Florida’s State Parks. Activities include clogging, folk music, arts and crafts, live animal displays. come see the new CCC Museum. Approximately 75 miles S. of Orlando,
Vol.2 No.4 Oct. - Dec. 1999
Published Quarterly by Neily Trappman Studio 5409 21st Ave. S. • Gulfport • FL • 33707 Phone (727)321-7845 E-Mail tocobaga@floridafrontier.com Web Site http//www.floridafrontier.com
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3 Coming 1st weekend in January 2000 Bushnell at Dade Battlefield State Park. The battle that touched off the Second Semiole War. Seminoles waiting to attack U.S. army at the Dade Battle.
November continued 6 miles west of Sebring, off U.S. 27-98. (941) 386-6094 6 St. Petersburg “The Century on Central” walking tour sponsored by Preservation, Inc. The tour will begin at the Williams Park fountain (1st Avenue, North at 4th Street in St. Petersburg) at 10:00 am and will visit 30 historic buildings in 1 1/2 hours. A $3.00 per person donation is suggested. For further information call SPPI at 824-7802. 20 Gulfport, LIVING HISTORY Veteran’s Park on Boca Ceiga Bay. NARVAÉZ LANDING, 10 AM-9 PM Sponsored by Florida FRONTIER GAZETTE, City of Gulfport & 16th C. Company of La Cruz. Meet living historians as conquistadors and their wives, servants, clergy and Tocobaga Indians they conquered. Donation. Corner of 54th Street and Shore Blvd., (South Pinellas County), Interstate Exit 5 & 6 off I-275, West on 22nd Ave. S. which becomes Gulfport Blvd. to left on Beach Blvd. Info contact Elizabeth Neily (727) 321-7845 or E-mail: Tocobaga@ floridafrontier.com. 20 Myakka City, TURKEY SHOOT, 10-4 Sponsored by the Singing River Rendezvous Assoc. Public is invited but it is a black powder event (bring your own or for an extra $2.00 you can shoot one of ours) The entry fee is $5.00 for 5 shots. Wishful Thinkin’ Farm located between Hwy 62 and Hwy 70 off the Wachula Rd. on Juel Gills Rd.
December 5 Ellenton HOLIDAY Gamble Plantation State Historic Site, CHRISTMAS OPEN HOUSE, 1PM5PM Enjoy an afternoon tour of the mansion with its lovely period decorations, ladies & gentlemen in period dress, and entertainment on the grounds. No Fees. 1 mile west of I-75, Exit 43, on Hwy U.S. 301. Contact: (941) 723-4536. 11-12 Pinellas Park CIVIL WAR County Fair Grounds next to Wagon Wheel Flea market, CIVIL WAR REENACTMENT, Battles, Sutlers, Children’s’ Activities, Storytelling, Barn Dance for adults. Sponsored by 79th New York Volunteer Infantry, Co. D. and Explore Post 479. This an opportunity for Explorer Scouts to learn re-enacting. The Fishing Rancho Village site of craft demonstrators. Contact Ed Smith (727)526-2851. 12 Bradenton, 16th Century De Soto National Memorial Open House and Overnight Encampment, Living History /Calderon Compay, 9 -5 Visitors can reach the park from I-75 or I-275 - exit 42, follow State Road 64 west, for approximately twelve miles to 75th Street NW. Turn right (north) onto 75th Street NW, and proceed two and five-tenths miles to the park. (941) 792-0458 18 Inverness, HOLIDAY Fort Cooper State Park, NIGHT OF LIGHTS 6PM - 9PM One can good or a new toy admits you to this event to view the park lit with luminaries, lights and Christmas displays. Local choirs will sing Christmas carols. Located 3 miles south of Inverness on Old Florida City Rd., just off Hwy. US 41 (Take Hwy 44 off I 75) (352) 726-0315. (Right) A family brings a picnic to papa in a Tampa Spanish American War camp in 1898 .
FORT FOSTER DAYS
November 5th, 6th, 7th...
2ND SEMINOLE WAR
Early check in on Nov. 2nd.
Rendezvous
2 skirmishes...powder ration, showers, firewood, water, chili pot dinner Friday night & a ice cream social Saturday night. Sutlers and traders welcome, registration and fees apply. Need Soldiers, Militia, Civilians, Craftsmen, Seminole Reenactors, Sutlers, Traders etc. Period camping at the site, modern campers contact the Ranger Station. NO PETS PLEASE. Contact Quartermaster Sgt. Ralph Van Blarcom (813)-996-3847 Hillsborough River State Park, Ranger Station: 987-6771 Check our web site:
Http://fortfoster.homepage.com
Fort Foster State Historic Site, Hillsborough River State Park, on Hwy 301, Thonotosassa, Fl. Troops carrying ammunition box during a raid at Ft. Foster. Other activities include • Living History Camps • Storytellers • Period Crafts & Traders
Major Francis Dade marches his troops along the Ft. King road.
SOUTH November 6 & 7 Naples, LIVING HISTORY 11th annual OLD FLORIDA FESTIVAL, The Friends of the Collier County Museum present MILLENIUM IN MICROCOSM CELEBRATE 1000 YEARS OF FLORIDA HISTORY! on the Museum grounds, Sat. 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sun. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Southwest Florida’s premier living history event! Featuring authentic Native American camps, Spanish Conquistadors, Cracker Cowboys, Pirates, Seminole War Soldiers, musket and cannon firing, and a cast of characters to entertain and educate you and your family! Music, magic, storytelling, and knee-slapping, foot-tapping fun! Indian fry-bread, old-fashioned kettle corn, food and drinks. Located at the corner of Tamiami Trail East, (US 41) and AirportPulling Road, in the County Government Center. Adults $5.00,Students $2.00, Children 8 andunder free. Contact: http://colliermuseum.com/ 30-31, Aventura CIVIL WAR The South Florida Reenactors Group takes great pleasure in extending to units and individuals an invitation to participate in “The Everglades Raid,” an event depicting one of the numerous Federal incursions into Florida during the war. Features new larger riverside battlefield and camp areas, the usual amenities, ladies tea social, period church service, free Saturday evening dinner for reenactors, tactical and scripted battles. Federal Navy & USMC impressions eagerly sought! Ten pound powder bounty for each cannon (mountain howitzers & scale pieces welcome). One pound powder bounty for each of the first 50 Federal infantrymen. Dedicated civilian impressions, authentic period craft persons, Sanitary Commission, etc, sought for civilian camp/period life displays. C’mon down and help make a good event even better! Contact: Ted Moss, 12850 W State Rd. 84, Davie, FL 33325, (954) 475-4517.
Next Event
February 11-13
Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
A Call for Reenactors, Sutlers, Demonstrators
ALAFIA RIVER RENDEZVOUS Coming in January, 2000! Brandon/Plant City FLORIDA FRONTIERSMEN homel.gte.net/haddo/frontier.htm
SINGING RIVER RENDEZVOUS. January 31-February 6, 2000 Bradenton, FL.
Pre-1840’s Mountainmen. Opening ceremony, February 2 The fees for SRR are; Campers (modern, primitive or trader)$30.00 Open to the public February 3 - 6 Day visitors Adult $5.00 and Students $3.00 Located at Camp Flying Eagle on Upper Manatee River Rd off of Hwy. 64 east of Interstate 75. Contact Karen and Bob Lamb: e-mail: kslbopeep@aol.com
NEW!
February 2000
18th Century TRADE FAIRE Mayors of Merchant Street Rick and Susan Haven
18-20 Tallahassee at Bradley’s Trading Post, on an 18 acre site, rich in history, with two acre lake surrounded by live oaks. Native American and military camps across the lake, civilians under the pines. Trade faire features Early Spanish, French, Scottish, and Southeastern Indians. ALL participants will present themselves in period attire and conform to period habits and social graces meaning NO modern jewelry, eyeglasses, cigarettes or rubber soled footwear and NO public drinking. NO modern tenting or merchandizing permitted.Wood, water, straw and ice provided. Preregister up to Nov. 15, 1999. Exit 30 o I-10, go north o Thomasville Rd., turn right o Capital Circle to Centerville Road. Turn left, go approx. 12 miles to Bradey’s and Faire. E-mail janleroy@aol.com.
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Mountainman Clint Hasagan and Revolutionary War couple, Melanie Dillon and Steven Metcalf attend a rendevous in Florida.
“Uncover the Past, at http://www. floridafrontier.com
Buccaneers...continued from page 1 gold. Occasionally a sunken galleon from one of the Spanish treasure fleets surfaces after painfully long years of scientific research and the raising of venture capital to finance the project. (See Spanish Treasure Fleet Sinks, Florida Frontier Gazette, Vol. 2, #1, 1999.) Who were the Pirates? Most pirates were professional seafarers, brought up in a family tradition of the sea. They were either former navy men or worked on merchant ships. Some had served as privateers on privately owned ships which were licensed by a government during wartime to attack and capture enemy vessels. Sir Francis Drake was just that sort of man. Drake was born to the land, on the family farm near Tavistock, England in 1540. But fate did not have farming in mind for him. He was raised by his Uncle William Hawkins in Plymouth. As a boy the young Drake would play with his older cousin John Hawkins, along the docks and quickly became familiar with the ways of seafaring men. The Hawkins family, like many who sail before the mast, found that from merchant to pirate was a lucrative step especially in the slave trade. Then as now, a pirate was a mariner who robbed from the ship of another mariner. And there were varying degrees of piracy. When a pirate stole from the ships of an enemy of his country, authorities usually looked the other way. In fact historians have used the term privateer to describe Hawkins and his associates, But that term invests these sixteenth-century rascals with more dignity than their contemporaries were usually willing to give them. In reality William Hawkins and his sons were successful merchants who did a pretty good business as part-time pirates. Depending on who is telling the story, Sir Francis Drake was the heroic defender of English soil or a savage predator of innocent Spaniards. Certainly the citizens’, in the new colony of Saint Augustine, blood ran cold when Drake’s fleet of 2000 men was sighted in their bay in 1596. By then, Drake had fairly earned the title of El Dragon in the Spanish colonies. Drake once left a message for the passengers and crew who had abandoned a ship he was looting on the Ithmus of Panama. It clearly shows his crass disdain for his enemies: CAPTAIN AND OTHERS OF THIS SHIP.
on the tiny town of St. Augustine. On May 27, Drake’s fleet reached St. Augustine. He began the attack on the following day. The town had been evacuated after the governor Pedro Menendez Marqués had received a warning messages from Santo Domingo. Seventy of eighty men held the fort. Drake remained in town for several days. They put the town, the wooden fort and the surrounding fields to the torch. The pirates stripped the place of guns, tools, hardware and everything else of value including a chest with 6,000 ducats that was payroll for the town. When Drake finally defeated the Spanish Armada, in 1588, buccaneering became an unholy war against the Spaniard in the New World.
Buccaneers
At first buccaneers were an independent breed of men who led a relatively peaceful existence hunting cattle and pigs that ran wild on the islands of the Carribean. Many of them were French squatters on the island of Hispanola, which at first caused no problem for the Spanish.. These solitary settlers would cure meat on racks which they called boucans which is how they earned their name, boucaniers. But as time went by more and more men arrived until the Spanish settlers began to complain. The Spanish authorities began to hunt them down and the buccaneers formed a brotherhood of resistance. Soon they found that capturing a passing Spanish treasure ship could be very profitable. As the numbers of buccaneers grew, they found governments willing to legitimate their piracy. Most often they were licensed by the Governor of Jamaica, an English colony, but a French or Portuguese island could just as well serve as their home base. Captain Henry Morgan, whose image can been seen on the label of a popular brand of rum, was the most famous of these buccaneers. He was ruthless, once attacking the rich Spanish fortress at Porto Bello by sending captured priests and nuns up the scaling ladders, to be slaughtered in the first wave. He had the churches burned, the women raped, and the priests and city officials put to all sorts of unspeakable tortures. Like drake before him, Morgan was rewarded for his assaults on Spanish colonies by being knighted. He was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica and later Governor. Grappling hooks were used by pirates to board a prize.
We are surprised that you ran from us in that fashion and later refused to come talk to us under our flag of truce, knowing us, and having seen evidence of a few days past that we do ill no one under our flag of truce. We only wished to speak with you. And since you will not come courteously to talk with us, without evil or damage, you will find your frigate spoiled by your own fault. And to any who courteously may come to talk with us, we will do no harm, under our flag. And whoever does not come will bear the blame. And do not think we are afraid of those ships, nor of others. By the help of God it shall cost them their lives before they prevail over us. Now you have proof that it would have been better had you come to talk with us, for in the frigate you had not the value of four silver reales. Done by English who are well disposed, if there be no cause to the contrary. If there be cause, we will devils rather than men. Drake had no royal authority for his treasure hunting trip to the Spanish Main but there was little likelihood of his being punished. With his share of the 250,000 pesos he outfitted a small fleet. With so many bays in which the pirates could hide and so much coastline to cover along the Spanish Main, there was little the local people could do in their own defense. In the years to come, settlers along the Spanish Main would pale at the sound of El Dragon’s name, as he plundered for gold. Beyond riches, what pleased Drake the most was the sea and next to that, a good fight. In 1585, Drake made a series of raids in the West Indies including the one
The buccaneers did not limit themselves to any one nationality. The line between pirate, buccaneer and privateer is a tenuous one at best. One day these men were criminals and they next they could be heroes depending upon which way the political winds were blowing. But buccaneering virtually died out after England made peace with Spain in 1689. The buccaneers turned to piracy swelling their ranks with all kinds of discontented sailors looking to improve their wretched lot. In North America, the colonies too became a haven for pirates. The Navigation Acts passed by the English parliament
4
in 1651 helped to spur the colonies into encouraging piracy. The Acts ensured that virtually no goods could be imported into England or her colonies except in British ships manned by English subjects. American colonials balked at this attempt to control their markets and prices and began to use the pirates to smuggle goods to and from ports along the eastern seaboard. Pirates were drawn from men of the sea. Landlubbers need not apply, —except if he happened to be a surgeon or a musician. Some were deserters from the harsh, even sadistic, discipline of the Royal Navy or they drifted into piracy when they were retired at the end of a foreign war. “War is no sooner ended, but the West Indies always swarm with pirates.” wrote John Graves, the Bahamas’ collector of Customs in 1706. Other pirates were “forced”, usually specialist officers from a captured ship who is forced to sign the pirate’s articles or rules. Because of the physical demands of this life, the average age of a pirate was twenty-six years old. When a man joined the pirate crew he had to sign the pirate’s rules or articles, swearing over a Bible or ax to obey them. Although the articles may have varied from crew to crew, they were imposed to maintain the efficient and smooth running of the ship.
Pirates were vunerable while careening their ship on the beach to clean and repair it.
The fate of marooning was a death sentence which few survived. The offender was placed on a desert island and left to die. In fact , it seems that marooning was also practiced by some of southwest Florida’s Indians. In 1697, Fray López recorded that the Calusa, tiring of being proselytized by catholic priests who hadn’t offered a steady supply of provisions and gifts of clothing as compensation for their acceptance of baptism gifts, marooned the men on the Isle of Bones in nothing but their undershirts. Fortunately for the friars on the verge of starvation after being marooned a month, they were rescued by the ship that had brought them. Pirates did make themselves at home in the waters along Florida’s Gulf Coast. Juan Gomez is said to have been an acquaintance of Odet Phillipi founder
of present day Safety Harbor. According to Phillipi, he had been captured by the pirate and because he was found to be a doctor, he was forced to tend to the sick. He claimed that he settled in Tampa Bay on the recommendation of Gomez. Gomez is said to have started the stories about another pirate, Jose Gaspar, who is honored every year with a big bash in Tampa during Gasparilla. Key West to was a safe harbor for Cuban fishermen and pirates in the 18th Century. But after the American Revolution loyalist settlers from New England, Virginia, South Carolina and the Bahamas made the island their home. It was here that piracy began to take on an interesting twist. In 1823-24 the West Indian naval squadron, under the Commodore David Porter, patrolled the waters of Florida and Cuba to put an end to piracy. Porter overstepped his authority in the summer of 1824 when his “mosquito fleet” invaded a Cuban town in search of pirate loot. A court martial suspended Porter, whereupon, in 1826, he accepted the command of the Mexican navy as “General of Marine” From January until August 1827 the Mexican squadron used Key West as an advance base from which to prey on Spanish and Cuban naval and maritime traffic. Cleared of charges brought against him by the U.S. navy Porter had enough sense not to push his luck and removed his Mexican fleet from the Keys. He was credited, though, for putting a damper on piracy in Florida waters for many years. One of the most inventive types of piracy was that of “wrecking”. In the Florida keys, ships were driven onto the reefs by “paid-off” pilots guiding a ship through the treacherous Florida Straights. Sometimes false flares and beacons were lit to lead ships astray so that salvagers could take the cargo. The business of salvaging and repairing ships provided employment and fortunes to the citizens of Key West. So profitable was the business that in 1828 the federal government created a district court, with jurisdiction over south Florida. This court at Key West issued salvage licenses and ruled that a cargo belonged to the first crew to reach the floundering ship. Jacob Housman, of Indian Key, was the most notorious of these wreckers, whose career came to an end during a raid in the Second Seminole War. To this day, piracy continues to be a threat to sailor and shipping all over the world. Sailors are warned to be leery of the approach of unfamiliar ships which may be carrying drug smugglers or other unsavory types. The U.S. Coast Guard keeps of this kind of activity in check in addition to its others duties which keep our coastal waters safe.
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5
The
Out of State EVENTS
Articles of Bartholomew Robert’s Crew
“I. Every man shall have an equal vote in the affairs of the moment. He shall have an equal title to the fresh provisions or strong liquors at any time seized, and shall use them at pleasure unless a scarcity may make it necessary for the common good that a retrenchment may be voted. II. Every man shall be called fairly in turn by the list on board of prizes, because over and above the proper share, they are allowed a shift of clothes. But if they defraud the company to the value of even one dollar in plate, jewels or money, they shall be marooned. If any man rob another he shall have his nose and ears slit, and be put ashore where he shall be sure to encounter hardships. III. None shall game for money either with dice or cards. IV. The lights and candles should be put out at eight at night, and if any of the crew desire to drink after that hour they shall sit upon the open deck without lights. V. Each man shall keep his piece, cutlass and pistols at all times clean and ready for action. VI. No boy or woman to be allowed amongst them. If any man be found seducing any of the latter sex and carrying her to sea in disguise he shall suffer death. VII. He that shall desert the ship or his quarters in time of battle shall be punished by death. VIII. None shall strike another on board the ship, but every man’s quarrel shall be ended on shore by sword or pistol in this manner. At the word of the quartermaster, each man being previously placed back to back, shall turn and fire immediately, If any man do not, the quartermaster shall knock the piece out of his hand. If both miss their aim they shall take to their cutlasses, and he that draweth first blood shall be declared the victor. IX. No man shall talk of breaking up their way of living till each has a share of £1,000. Every man who shall become a cripple or lose a limb in the service shall have 800 pieces of eight from the common stock and for lesser hurts proportionately. X. The captain and the quartermaster shall receive two shares of a prize, the master gunner and boatswain, one and one half shares, all other officers one and one quarter, and private gentlemen of fortune one share each. XI. The musicians shall rest on the Sabbath Day only by right. On all other days by favor only.”
San Marcos...continued from page 1 instantly ablaze. The Spanish soldiers ran about in panic and the pirate captain soon recognized that this was no stone fortress he was attacking but one made of whitewashed logs which could be razed. He called for some grenades. The captain of the merchant ship cried out over the water to his crew that the French were upon them. And the friars, sensing that their hides were in imminent danger, began to plead hysterically. “Senor, cried Father John Angel, stretching out his arms to Ensign Herrera, “I want them to take me away and not kill me.” In the meantime another friar was on the parapet pleading mercy until finally, the pirate captain shouted back in dismay; “Go away, padre, let your captain speak for all of you.” But the commandant had been cornered by Father Leon who was pleading for him to open the gates. “But padres,” protested Los Arcos, “Take heed what you do. We must die rather than surrender!” Die? No-o-o, not them. The handful of soldiers did try to ward off the raiders but luck was not with them that fateful night. One of the guns broke loose and fell on the gunner injuring him. The captain of the merchantship ordered the other gun be fired at his ship, but it missed or fell short. The gunner called for ammunition which Los Arcos ran to the ammunition to get. When he returned someone had opened the gate and the pirates were already inside. Outside the walls Lieutenant Pérez and his men beat a hasty, if most inglorious, retreat. Perhaps this was a reproof for not being let inside the walls that night. Meanwhile the pirates took everyone prisoner, They stripped the fort of everything they could move, bronze guns, arms, ammunition, and supplies including 300 arrobas of grain which had been stored in the granary outside the fort. What they could not carry away they destroyed so that it was of no use to the Spanish. They sent some of the prisoners to San Luis with orders to bring back a ransom or they would go there and cut off everybody’s head. They also asked for more supplies. From the comparative safety of San Luis, Lieutenant Pérez sent word that he could not furnish a ransom with out the permission of his Governor. As for the friar who had been charged with getting the ransom for his fellow friars, he didn’t chose to return either. Well the pirate hung around off shore for a couple of weeks, running up the river occasionally to see if some ransom had been delivered. They even tried to set fire to the fort again. But when they finally realized that there would be no ransom, they released the prisoners with the exception
of Lieutenant de Los Arcos and an ordinary soldier by the name of Hernandez. They carried their hostages with them out to sea until they picked up three women captives in a raid along the coast of Cuba. Los Arcos and Hernandez were released unharmed and they made their way overland to Havana. On a steamy hot day in June the two hostages had an audience with Governor Joseph de Cordoba y Ponce de Leon and declared themselves survivors of the raid on San Marcos de Apalache. Their testimony was duly recorded with the hope that Los Arcos could tell the Spanish authorities something about the buccaneers. He didn’t know much . Only that the ship was one of a fleet of ten or twelve that lurked among the Florida Keys and that they may attack St. Augustine. When Hernandez was deposed, he gave almost word for word the same story. Governor de Cordoba sent the two back to Florida in the next ship that cleared for St. Augustine. Pedro de los Arcos was immediately arrested and whisked away to languish in the unfinished castillo. He was interrogated again and again, until his answers were reduced to three weary statements: • He had not opened the gate of San Marcos de Apalache to the pirates. • He did not know who had opened the gate. • Lieutenant Pérez was on the ground with the troops and could have given him aid and did not. There was no one to bear witness to these statements and Los Arcos was to take the blame and the punishment for the loss of the fort. “In St. Augustine, on September 21, 1682, the Governor, Juan Marques Cabrera, in view of the confession of Lieutenant Pedro de los Arcos, commandant of infantry and of the Fort of San Marcos [de Apalache] and his guilt as proved by all the testimony as given in San Luis, condemns the said Pedro de los Arcos to be banished, deprived of his rank and dishonored for his punishment and as an example to all others.” Lieutenant Arcos understood the meaning of this sentence and wandered away from the Presido across the fields never to be seen again. For some reason the testimony of a witness at San Marcos that one of the friars opened the gates was not taken into account. And as for the rumor that buccaneers were planning a raid on St. Augustine—it turned out to be true on March 30th the following year. • San Marcos de Apalache State Historic site is located in St. Marks, off S.R. 363 on Old Fort Road. Open 8 a.m. to sundown 365 day of the year.
October
1-2 Dauphin Island, Alabama 6th Annual “Colonial Isle Dauphine.” Pre-1840’s Rendezvous. A living history weekend exploring life on the Gulf Coast before the fort was built. Reenactors in pre-1840 dress bring the fort to life. Mountain men, trackers, buckskinners and their families with their colorful tents and tipis have come to the future site of Fort Gaines for a “rendezvous.” Women are cooking over an open hearth, traders are sitting by their blankets, the men are throwing hawks and knives. There will be a “Calumet Celebration.” Hosted by the West Flori-
da Republic Volunteers. This is a Dauphin Island Tricentennial Event. Contact: Fort Gaines Historic Site, P.O. Box 97, Dauphin Island, AL 36528, (334) 861-6992. Web site: http://www.dauphine.net/fortgaines/ 2, 3, Andersonville, Georgia Civil War Battles Saturday and Sunday at Pioneer Park (not at the National Park). Powder ration for artillery and infantry,
firewood, hot showers, campaign ribbons for units and troops. Period entertainment, authentic and modern camping (no hookups). Pre-registration preferred. Artillery by invitation only, limit of 8 guns. Sutlers by invitation only. Contact: Harry Robertson, 990 Grave Springs Rd., Leesburg, GA 31763, (912) 434-0318. 15-17 - Rome, Georgia The 8th Georgia Volunteer Infantry, Co. A “The Rome Light Guards” is proud to tell everybody in American Civil War reenacting that the 135th Battles For Atlanta is on. This event will be held along Hwy 411 East of Rome, Ga. It will be a three day event with five (and yes we said five) battles: Friday - Kolb’s Farm, Saturday - Kennesaw Mtn. & Peachtree Creek, Sunday - Atlanta & Ezra Church. We will have lots of things to do for the kids and civilians. Tour of homes in Rome and Cartersville for the ladies, and an ice cream social for the kids. Lots of other things like a tug of war, horse races, and tight rope contest. This event will be an annual event, starting this year. A ball Saturday night at Barnsley Gardens in Adairsville or Roselawn Mansion in Cartersville. We will have free shuttles to and from the ball!! Money from this event goes to the RomeFloyd Co. Museum & Bartow History Center. Call or email: Captain M. Shane Pinson, 337 Oakridge Drive, Cartersville, GA 30121, (770) 386-3471 or Email: pinsonshane@hotmail.com.
vvvvvvvvvvv For more cool stories about pirates and privateers check out this WebSite:
No Quarter Given! http://www.discover.net/~nqgiven/index.htm
MICANOPY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
MUSEUM
Explore over 200 years of Micanopy’s colorful past at the Thrasher Warehouse Open Daily 1-4 p.m. Groups by appointment Wheelchair accessible
(352) 466-3200
Chief Micanopy 1-75 at Exit 73 or 10 miles Head Chief of the Seminole Nation south of Gainesville on US 441. 1835-1842 Visit us On-line! www.afn.org/~micanopy/
HOMOSASSA SPRINGS STATE WILDLIFE PARK 6
Celebrates Its 10th Birthday with a View to a Much Longer Heritage
by Susan H. Dougherty
Homosassa Springs has been a tourist attraction for most of this century. In the early 1900’s trains brought passengers to see the famous spring that attracted thousands of fish. It was called “the Mullet train” because its cargo carried fish, crabs, cedar and spring water. The tracks ran alongside today’s Fish Bowl Drive. A dock was built for train passengers to walk from the tracks, along the spring’s bank and our over the spring so they could enjoy a view of all the fish. As Homosassa Springs State Wildlife Park celebrates its tenth anniversary as a State Park, the staff is looking back to the early years of this century when the spring was already becoming an attraction to tourists. Following the Florida Park Service’s mission “to provide resource-based recreation while preserving, interpreting and restoring our natural and cultural resources” the park is undertaking a major cataloging and organization of an extensive collection of historical artifacts and information saved through the years. The goals of the project will be to make the history of the attraction and park easily accessible to anyone interested in research and to preserve the historical artifacts. In 1940’s Elmo Reed first opened a small attraction called “Natures Giant Fish Bowl.” In addition to the big spring and its many fish, this early attraction also included a small alligator exhibit. The original entrance was on Fish Bowl Drive in the building that is now the Children’s Education Center. In late 1963 Bruce Norris officially opened the Homosassa Springs Attraction also known as “Natures Own Attraction.” Norris had business holdings all over the world, but had fell in love with the beauty of Homosassa during a trip to Florida. An avid outdoorsman, he built an attraction that included exotic animals along with some native wildlife. Ivan Torrs Animal Actors housed animals here between television and movie appearances. Some of the stars included Buck the bear who played Gentle Ben, Clarence, a cross-eyed lion, Tiny and Freckles, chimpanzees, and the hippopotamus who still lives at the park and who has become an honorary citizen of Florida. Norris sold the attraction along with some other Homosassa holdings in the 1970’s to Canadian Pacific Ltd. The Canadian company later sold the attraction to a private businessman, Taylor Simpson, who renamed it Homosassa Springs Nature World. When Simpson decide to put Nature World up for sale in 1987 there were two parties interested in purchasing it for a RV Park or condominium site. Local residents formed a grass-roots group to gather signatures on a petition to present to the Citrus County Board of county Commissioners asking voters to decide by referendum if the County should purchase Nature World. The referendum passed by a slim margin and the County succeeded in interesting the State in purchasing the property through its Conservation and Recreational Lands program. It officially became Homosassa Springs State Wildlife Park on January 1, 1989. In its’ first ten years the park has focused on native Florida wildlife with a special focus on endangered species. Environmental education through programs and interpretive exhibits has replaced the commercial shows of the past. Wildlife habitats have been improved making the settings more natural and wetlands restoration and water quality improvements are now priorities.Nature trails winding
throughout the park encourage visitors to experience the hammock environments to discover a river otter or a manatee. The park is open 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily. The ticket counter closes at 4 p.m. Visit the Wildside Cafe for a snack and the gift shop for a specia souvenier. Bring a camera but leave your pet at home. Fees are $7.95 adults 13 and over, $4.95 children , under 3 free. Season passes and group rates are also available.
Buck, who played in the Gentle Ben TV series poses by a sign for Homosassa Springs Attraction.
Directions
The park is located 75 miles north of Tampa/St. Petersburg, with the entrance lovcasted on U.S. 19 in Homosassa Springs. For more information call (352) 628-5343 or visit the Florida State Parks website at:
(Left) Buck poses with Clint Howard, (2nd from left) his co-star, and some of his friends at Homosassa Springs. Scenes for many of the shows in this popular TV series were filmed here.
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/parks/
David Newell (left) operated a small attraction in the 1940’s. Here he greets a visitor.
A SPECIAL FAMILY REUNION
The park will be holding Homosassa Heritage Week, October 25 through October 30, 1999. During this week a special exhibit will encourage visitors to walk through the attraction and park’s history from the 1920’s until present, decade by decade. Displays will include many photos, printed and souvenir items and news clippings. You might even find a picture of your friends and family. Because of the attraction and wildlife park has always had close ties to the community of Homosassa, they are inviting former employees and their families to come to a reunion on Saturday, October 30. Participants can share their memories of earlier times. Interviews will be set up with visitors who have stories to share about the attraction and park’s past. There will be a barbecue dinner in the Garden of the Springs and a group photo will be taken of all who attend.
(Right) Karol Kelly, one of several “Indians maidens” who were the trademarks of Homosassa Springs Attraction feeds a hippotamus. Lucifer the hippo still lives at Hommosassa Springs State Wildlife Park.
(Left) Tiny, a chimpanzee, and Clarence the cross-eyed Lion from Ivan Torrs Animal Actors troup, made their winter home at “Homosassa Springs ...spring of 10,000 fish.” (Below) 1940’s view of the crystal clear waters of Nature’s Fish Bowl at Homasassa Springs where manatees still come to play and eat today.
...More of the Real Florida
Educational Programs Manatee
10:45 a.m. 1:00 p.m. 3:00 p.m.
Animal Ecounter
11:30 a.m. 1:45 p.m.
Alligator
12:15 a.m. 2:30 p.m.
All schedules are subject to change.
For fascinating stories about Florida’s Natural History and a Special Events Schedule visit the Florida FRONTIER GAZETTE online at
http://www.floridafrontier.com
The park serves as a rehabilitation center and refuge for endangered West Indian manatees that have been orphaned or injured in the wild and for those born in captivity. The park does not allow swimming with the manatees since these animals may someday be relaeased and would lose their fear of man, placing them at a disadvantage once they are back in the wild.
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A Spanish Letter of Marque Commission of a Spanish Guarda Costa for you to fill out.
16 April 1729 By Don Dionysio Martines de la Vega, Brigadier in His Majesty’s army, His Governor and Captain General of this city of the Havanna, and island of Cuba &c. Whereas Captain_______________________ hath made this request to me, that I would grant him/her liberty in the same manner as has been done to other Captains fitted out to sea in a warlike manner as privateers to cruise on the seas on the coasts, havens, bays, or anchoring places round the province of La Florida; Now know ye that by virtue of the power and authority granted unto me in a schedule of the 6th of June 1728, and a written order of the 20th of November 1727 from the most illustrious lord Don Joseph Palmo, of His Majesty’s Council, Secretary of State, Marine, and the Indies; Also having weighed the several good qualitys, as well of valour, experience, and practice, not only in naval but in military affairs conspicuous in the above mentioned captain; and he being actually in possession of a sloop now in this port called the Santa Rita, and the souls armed with six guns, six patereros, seventy musquets, with ammunition proportionable, carrying eighty men completed and victualled; By these presents, in the royal name of His Majesty, (whom God preserve), and in conformity to the above mentioned schedule royal and written order, I constitute and name the said Captain _______________________, and do hereby authorise him to arm out in a warlike manner the said sloop, whereby he may exercise that office or function in that sloop or embarcation, which he shall think necessary to depute or substitute against those who shall traffick in these seas, loaded or loading with logwood or other woods for dying, in the ports, and upon the coasts of our lord the king, and against any other embarcations who shall introduce or trade in prohibited goods, as well under sail as at an anchor, in the ports, bays, or other places frequented by any shipping in La Florida; And in the same manner, if he shall find upon the said coasts any notorious pirates that do infest the same, he/she has in that case liberty granted him to levy men in that same place, as well as in any other parts of this land, by publick proclamation in conformity to the usual practice; And having made capture of any prise or prises, he is either to send them or bring them to this port of the Havanna, having no lawful impediment to the contrary; and, after a judicial condemnation, the whole value of the prise or prises may be distributed between the captain and his people, and those at whose charge the privateer was fitted out; the enjoyment whereof I yield to them in conformity to the above mentioned royal orders; And for execution of the whole I grant unto them all necessary power and authority; And I do hereby strictly enjoyn all the men already levied for the above mentioned sloop to receive and obey for their captain, armed out as a privateer, the already mentioned Captain_______________________ and from this time forward, in the name of His Majesty, (whom God preserve), and by virtue of his royal authority I do appoint, and he is hereby appointed to use and to execute this his employ with all the essential privileges, enjoyments, and emoluments annexed thereunto, without the least diminution; And I ordain his orders to be obeyed, not only by writing, but by word of mouth, in the same manner as if they had been wrote or spoke to by myself under the penalty of severe chastisement to those who shall act anything to the contrary. And if by any accident of wind or weather he shall meet with any squadrons of ships of war of his Majesty, and if he shall arrive into any of the ports of his dominions, it is my request and desire of all general officers, judges, and courts of justice that they shall give all favour and assistance that may be asked and thought needful for the abovementioned Captain fitted out in a warlike manner, taking care that he may be supplied with ammunition and provisions at the currant prices at the places where he shall arrive. And having given, and being also offered for his security, ______________________, a substantial person inhabiting near this town, the same received before and executed in the presence of the principal secretary of the said captain, by virtue of this patent, may carry the colours usually carried by virtue of such a commission, which I have ordered to be delivered to him. Signed with my own hand, sealed with my own coat of arms, and countersigned by the secretary of the government and war, who is to enter a copy of the same in his office, and to make a remark at the bottom of it of the proffered abovementioned security, that the same may appear. Done at the Havanna, 16th of April 1729 N.S.
A Story to Tickle Yer Funny Bone. An able-bodied seaman meets a pirate in a bar, and they they take turns recounting their adventures at sea. Noting the pirate’s peg-leg, hook, and eye patch the seaman asks: “So, how did you end up with the peg-leg?” The pirate replies: “We was caught in a monster storm off the cape and a giant wave swept me overboard. Just as they were pullin’ me out a school of sharks appeared and one of ‘em bit me leg off”. “Blimey!” said the seaman. “What about the hook”? “Ahhhh...”, mused the pirate, “We were boardin’ a trader ship, pistols blastin’ and swords swingin’ this way and that. In the fracas me hand got chopped off.” “Zounds!”, remarked the seaman. “And how came ye by the eye patch?” “A seagull droppin’ fell into me eye”, answered the pirate. “You lost your eye to a seagull dropping?”, the sailor asked incredulously. “Well...” said the pirate, “..it was me first day with the hook..” ...arg!
This motley crew of privateers are putting ashore on some remote Florida key.
Don Dionysio De Martines De La Vega
This English Barkeep shares a bowl of punch with visitors.
Now you just need to have it signed and sealed by the Governor himself and presto you’re a privateer!
A French drum corp lead troops into battle.
- French soldier stands guards at the e EngA ed with th p m a c e r e sw governor’s palace in the backgound. . lish settler tress walls r o f e th These Eng e id rs just outs lish soldie
A youn g during lady supplies the bat water t tle. o thirst y
Fortress Louisbourg Grand Encampment ‘99
troops
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
Florida Frontier Gazette was there! iling against a ra h ts s re r e c ffi rt ted. This o or on theNo n e rb s a h re p e th re t s ll we d again Scots were ps silhotete ast. to f o ro a m Atlantic co ra with a pana
This is the old stomping grounds of our publisher, Elizabeth Neily. While visiting family in Nova Scotia, she dropped in on the French and Indian War reeactment at Fortres Louisbourg. Over 1600 reeactors showed up for the three day event at this spectacular replica of the early 18th C. French fort.
8
of donated time. Louis Tesar produced wonderful drawings of the stamped pottery patterns. We think of decoration as an almost natural state of things. The world which produced these potters was a very different one from our own. Their relationship with the world was a shared give-and-take venture. Most environmental systems offer a time of feast and famine. The time and effort required to create the paddle and the The image of an eye frequently appears in ancient design tell us that they were important. The Native American motifs. One explanation I have wonderful complexity of the Block-Stern been given by an Indian acquaintance suggests that pottery patterns tell us that there was a shared understanding of these marks. it is symbol of cosmic intelligence. A complicated stamp pattern Humans are really the communications From the Block-Sterns site. Drawing by Louis Tesar found in a site near Tallahassee. animal. How can we ever read the meaning of those varied imprints? For the next three thousand years, women experimented with tempers to make pottery thinner, stronger, and more capable of holding water. They used little bits of limestone, tiny fragments of broken shell, and then sand. The stamped patterns grew more complicated as well. Geometric designs began to appear about 1650 BC. Plain sand tempered pottery became the standard pottery of Florida from about 400 AD until about 900 AD. Six miles east of Tallahassee, the Using a paddle to stamp patterns on a still wet clay bowl, a native of Block-Sterns Site turned up an amazing ancient Florida leaves behind a work of beauty and a message for the variety of stamped pottery designs. Archaefuture. ologists B. Calvin Jones and Louis Tesar worked on the site. Salvage excavation began under the direction of B. Calvin Jones using volunteer labor in late march Understandings modeled from the earth of 1994. Archaeologist, Jones, worked 50 From the Block-Sterns site. by Hermann Trappman to 60 hours a week at the site. Both Tesar Drawing by Louis Tesar and Jones logged in hundreds of hours Four thousand years ago the women of extends the time that the clay is workable Florida reached down into the rich earth. in the modeling phase. Once the bowl is They pulled up an amazing material. It shaped, it is set aside to dry. As the montcould be formed into a variety of shapes morillonite dries, it shrinks. Because the which could hold food for storage or it shrinking is never even, and there is a lot colud be placed over an open fire to cook of it, the clay begins to crack. In the end, food. This earth, this clay was not easy to the potter is left with a lot of broken pieces work, it held many secrets, and the women of dry clay. This just won’t do. would have to learn its complicated nature What the native women learned in that to control it. From their hands sprang one The paddle depicted distant past, was to mix plant fiber in with of the most beautiful art forms to make it the wet clay. When something is added to above is called check down the generations. clay to increase it’s drying consistency, it’s stamp. Check stamped The women who made the pottery called a temper. Fiber tempered pottery has pottery is one of the more which litters many archaeology sites very thick walls. Because the fiber burns common kinds of surface treatment. In our age throughout the State were faced with a out in the firing, the pot is left with a netmystery from Florida’s origins. There are of technology we must keep in mind that every work tiny tunnels all over inside the wall places in the world where clay, as it comes of the pot. It will not hold water very well. paddle was handmade. Were they passed down out of the ground, can be modeled into Still, it worked well enough to encourage from mother daughter, or were they returned to beautiful shapes. There are clays which further efforts. I have heard it suggested the earth as the grave goods of the owner? naturally lend themselves to firing evenly that after it was fired, the women may have into wonderful colors. Florida’s clays are coated the inside with pine pitch to make usually not like that. it water tight. Long-needlepine cut across its side grain and carved flat, emphasizes the Florida spent much of its geographic Early pottery seems to have been dark and light banding. The dark banding is primarily sap. If the paddle history beneath shallow ocean waters. fragile stuff. It suggests that people settled is heated over an open fire the dark bands melt away leaving the raised Ancient islands strewn out into the Atlanlong enough to make the manufacture and tic Ocean were separated from the rest of use of pottery worthwhile. light colored wood. Now, all the artist has to do is carefully cut across North America by the Suwannee Strait. The surfaces of fiber tempered pottery the paddle to make the check stamped pattern. The check stamped paddle The Gulf Stream did not coil back then, but proved to be ready space for artwork. The made using this method is fairly narrow. Although most of the pottery swept into the Pacific waters through gaps pottery which has made the long journey fragments, I have looked at, containing check stamp have been wider, I in Central America. The muds and clays to us has a pattern which is reminiscent of have seen pieces which are definitly reminicent of this paddle making which were deposited here had a mix of holding two sticks and striking the outside origins. Soils heavy in iron and flaked with of the still wet pot. The marks are worked method. Other simple stamp methods are, wrapping the paddle with cord mica, which had choked the prehistoric into the surface in a variety of patterns by or using a corn cob. rivers of Georgia and Alabama, swirled moving the directions the sticks strike the along the coast and settled along the inland bowl. Smacking the still wet surface of a The handdrawn Weedon Island period side of barrier islands and in the swampy pot with a stick or paddle to create a pattern pottery fragment below is on exhibit at lagoons. Ocean minerals like aluminum, is called a stamp. the Crystal River State Archaeological nickel, along the spicules from sponges Site. What do you think it means? added their unique difficulties to the muck. Possibly bumped into place by the Post your answer at floridafrontier.com Caribbean plate to our south, about 25 million years ago the Ocala up-lift started our above water connection with North America. The changing landscape mixed the muds into fresh varieties. Somewhere between three and two and a half million years ago the Isthmus of Panama finally closed and the currents changed directions. New concentrations of muck began to build up. Then, about 4,000 years ago women learned to mine the clay and shape it into bowls. The clay they used was laced with montmorillonite. Named for an area of These complex symbols either had to be carved in wood or modeled France, it is the smallest of clay particles. These tiny particles hold a lot of water. It in clay and then transfered to the surface of the pot. Drawing by Louis helps make a clay body plastic so that it Tesar, a pot and an example of the stamp which decorated it. can be easily molded. Montmorillonite also
REACHING ACROSS TIME
9 4th Annual
Atlanta Spirit of America
Native American & Wildlife Art Festival Atlanta’s Premier Indoor Art Show.
Camp Bayou
The Dream for a New Natural History Park
CALL FOR ARTISTS For a prospectus contact:
by Hermann Trappman
Linda Holtz, Festival Producer Phone: (727) 347-0426 Email:
Embraced by the entwining arms of the Manatee River, Camp Bayou holds a precious hope for tomorrow. Once an RV park, the land was purchased by Hillsborough County. Local folks at the Ruskin Community Development foundationn got together and asked that the new greenspace be dedicated to natural history and the county agreed. I visited the park on the Sunday bordering Tropical Depression Harvey. Reflective gray skies and a mild breeze turned the river’s surface to brushed silver. Laurel and live oaks shaded its banks. Moonflower vines snaked along the water’s edge and up into a Sabal palm. The wide white flowers drooped from their spent night. I strolled the wild paths with Turtle Woman a.k.a. Wynne Tatman , Red Bird, Elizabeth Neily, and Johnny Shaffer. Turtle Woman and Red Bird are dedicated to the story of Florida’s people before the coming of the first Europeans. Johnny works at Mission San Luis, a Spanish period historical site in Tallahassee. It was a heady walk with educators, lovers of nature and dreamers. We had wrangled our way through the historical and archaeological possibilities over breakfast. Now we settled down to marvel at the landscape. Great spicebush
Turtle Woman of HOTAO grinds corn, while reflecting on her new found home in Ruskin on the Little Manatee River. swallowtail butterflies drifted by on dark wings flecked with golden spots. Here and there tightly bound bouquets of orange and yellow lantana attracted smaller butterflies. Behind the river, rose an uplands community defined by sand pine and turkey oak. There, hidden behind the weave of thorny cat brier and the low writhing trunks of palmetto, was a sandy patch which hinted at a gopher tortoise borough. A black racer, its cool dark body in perfect motion, slid quietly into the brushy shadows. The beauty of this piece of land cast its spell on our little group. In hushed delight we remarked on each discovery. A sink-hole once opened on this property. You can see the filled-in scar —a scar which suggested dark caverns beneath our feet. The earth, largely unseen, holds her deep secrets. And what of the ancient people who wander past this very scene five hundred years ago? Where is their song, their laughter, their hunger for this future? What a beautiful place this is to tell their story. HOTAO hopes to be open for school and private group tours by January 2000. For more infomation about Camp Bayou contact the Ruskin Community Development Foundation at 315 Tamiami Trail, Ruskin, FL 33570 or call Donna Portas, Membership Corrdinator at (813) 641-2832.
Parrish, FL Civil War Weekend
Rosann G. Garcia, Inc.
November 13 & 14th
CUSTOMIZED HISTORIC TOURS & EVENTS
Santa Train & Winter Fest December 11 & 12th
Bring the Kids!
Florida Gulf Coast Railroad (See Adverisement below)
SPECIALIZING IN HERITAGE ITINERARIES
(813) 247-6692
1320 E. 8th Ave. Ste. 3 • Ybor City
For a link to Heritage of the Ancient Ones or Camp Bayou visit the Florida Frontier Gazette at
http://floridafrontier.com
the first floridians no longer live here…
…but we know quite a lot about them, thanks to scientific examination of the mounds and other artifacts they left behind. This book is fascinating for all ages, has lots of sidebars, photographs and illustrations, and is organized by county. Do you live on an old Indian mound? b
Size 51/2” x 81/2”, 320 pages, paperback, $14.95 at your local bookseller.
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who was the first black man in america?
Estevanico, a Moorish slave, was perhaps the most lively, charismatic member of the 16thcentury Narvaéz expedition, but he’s completely unknown to most people. Read this historical novel to learn how he prevailed over early Florida’s hazards (and captured the hearts of Indian maidens!).
Size 51/2” x 81/2”, 256 pages, papeback $9.95 at your local bookseller c
CALL 727-525-6609 FOR A FREE CATALOG OF FLORIDA BOOKS
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Floating in on a Barrel ...and a Prayer THE FAMILY PIRATE STORY: AN ORAL HISTORY OF THE MELVINS
By Ginger Melvin Young The May/June 1997, issue of Archaeology reported the find of “Queen Anne’s Revenge”, flagship of the infamous pirate Blackbeard in 20 feet of water less than 2 miles off Beaufort, NC. The ship was discovered by a Florida salvage firm, Intersal, while working under a permit from North Carolina’s office of Archaeology. As a fifth generation Florida native and great-granddaughter of a southeastern Indian, it seems fitting to me that a Florida based venture would tie me and my family to our European heritage in North Carolina. Never having ventured north, even as far as Atlanta until my senior year in high school, I knew mostly of the creeks and bays and wild Gulf Coast beaches of Florida’s Northwest Panhandle. I knew nothing of the coast of North Carolina, until I married and traveled with my husband to Beaufort, NC in the summer of 1993. There, we explored the waters, under which lay, unbeknownst to us, the wreckage of the famous Blackbeard’s ship and a connection to my family’s past. It was not until my father’s passing in November of 1994 that I first heard the family pirate story, written by my brother, Mac, in our father’s eulogy, read by the minister in our small panhandle town . Since then, I’ve come upon a story written in 1976 by a North Carolina relative. Lionel Melvin writes: “If Blackbeard was a cold-blooded murderer and scoundrel, ...then the possibility of my existence may have hung by a thread. According to family tradition, my immigrant ancestor, Daniel Melvin, was a prisoner on Blackbeard’s pirate ship when he arrived in America. Born in Scotland in 1708, he was placed on a sailing ship from Skye to serve as a cabin boy when he was only 9 years old. The ship was seized by Blackbeard; and the crew, including the cabin boy, were taken as prisoners aboard the pirate ship. One night, when they drew in near the South Carolina coast, a seaman by the name of Tom Bones and one other, silently lowered an empty cask overboard, then stripped off their clothes and followed, taking the boy,
Daniel, with them. Bones and the boy succeeded in reaching land, but the third seaman drowned in the effort. It seemed that strand of the beach where they found themselves was used as a highway and the nude man and boy were forced to hide in the bushes when
girls. Daniel died around 1794 at a ripe old age of about 86 and was buried on his own land. The gravesite is lost. The story first came to me in Florida in 1931 from Mr. Gaston Sutton, an elderly relative who was living in the Coral Gables area. Mr. Sutton told me many other things about the family as if it had happened only yesterday, and when I asked him how he knew so much about them, he replied, “It came through my two grandmothers [grandmother and aunt?]who were the daughters of Daniel Melvin.” Many years afterwards I found very much the same account of this story in the published history of the Reeves family entitled, “Family Sketches,” compiled by LeRoy Reeves. Still later I found the same in a published history of the Mercer family located in the North Carolina Room of the Greensboro City Library. Draw your own conclusions about the story, and don’t strain your conscience, for I find it a little fanciful myself” —Lionel Melvin, Pleasant Garden, NC. Some years later a group of Florida Melvins, responding to a general request for family history, wrote the following: “Daniel Melvin’s great-grandson, Andrew Jackson Melvin, of Holt, Florida, passed down the story of Daniel’s arrival on American soil to his grandson, Elijah Melvin (now living in Milton, Florida). This is the story as Elijah remembers it being told to him: Daniel Melvin was a very young boy aboard a ship traveling from Ireland bound for America. The ship was captured and pirated. Daniel found
Blackbeard’s Fierce Reputation
Blackbeard was a giant of a man with a emormous capacity for food and drink. He cultivated a nasty temper, cruelty, filthy language and a ferocious appearance. His black beard was so long that he braided it and tied the ends with ribbons. In time of action he wore a sling over his shoulders, with a brace of pistols, hanging in holsters like bandoliers. He would put smoldering lighter wood under his hat and the smoke would give him the appearance of a “Fury from Hell”. It is said that he kept his wifeand children in London but that didn’t stop him from bigamously marrying fourteen different women (one in every port?) the last of whom was a Carolina girl of fourteen.The man obviously had charm. He kept his crewin check by making sure they stayed drunk. a few months before his demise he wrote in his Journal: “Rum all out; Our company a’ plotting— Great talk of separation—so I took a prize... Took one with a great deal of liquor on board, so kept the company hot, damned hot. Then all things went well again.” His other method of maintaining controll was to occassionally shoot one of the crew “or they would forget who he was”. Legend has it that it took five pistol shots and twenty sword thrusts before Blackbeard was brought to ground. It wasn’t nearly that colorful. When he saw that the kings men were about to board his ship, he “took up a bowl of liquor and, calling out to the officers of the other sloops,drank damnation to anyone that should give or ask quarter, and then discharged his great guns loaded with partridge shot, which killed and wounded 20 of the King’s men who lay exposedto his fire without any barracade or other shelter; he resolutely entered the first ship which boarded him, nor did anyone of his menyeild while they were in a condition to fight. His orders were to blow up his own vessel. if he should appear overcome, and a negro was ready t set fire to the powder, had he not been luckily prevented by a planter found on board the night before and who lay in the hold of the sloop during the action of the pirates. Teach with nine of his crew were killed and three white men and six negros were taken alive, but all much wounded.” - Governor Spotswood of Virginia. Teaches severed head was displayed at the end of the bowsprit to serve as a warning to all other pirates. •
“In the Commonwealth of pirates he who goes the greatest in length of wickedness is looked upon with a kind of envy amongst them” - such was said of Edward Teach or Blackbeard. “He was of most bloody disposition and cruel barbarity.”
Benjamin Hornigold, who had engaged Teach as a commander of one of his sloops.Blackbeard terrorized the Carolinas and Virginia coast between 1716 and 1718. These dates support this story. - Editor travelers came along, but in time, a lone man on horseback approached and Bones, a Mason, stepped out in the open and gave a sign indicating that he was of that order. The stranger understood since he, also, was a mason. Daniel and Bones were taken to the home of the stranger, outfitted with clothes, fed, and later given money to see them on their way. Daniel wandered around until he arrived in the vicinity of what is now Fayetteville, NC, where he was taken in by a couple who reared him to manhood. Eventually, at around the age of 40, he married Jane Thomas, daughter of an established family in Bladen County, and settled on a tract of land granted him in 1752 on the south side of South River. There, Daniel and Jane reared their family of three boys and four
safety hidden in a barrel. When the ship came close to the coastline, two men and Daniel waited until nightfall and escaped by swimming ashore.” Lionel Dane Melvin, family historian, native of North Carolina, then penned the following footnote, “The above splinter of the Daniel Melvin descendants have had no contact with the Bladen County, NC Melvins for more than 170 years, but as shown above it carries the legend of Daniel Melvin’s arrival in America very similar to those legends still found among the Bladen families.” Though it felt rather strange to
Treasures in the Surf & Sand by Elizabeth Neily
Florida’s still holds a certain romantic lure in the imaginations of young people. I remember when I first thought of coming to Florida. The winter in my home in Atlantic Canada offered little escape that year. The moderate wet climate of the past couple of winters suddenly plummeted to a record 40ø below zero. Palm trees swaying over endless sandy beaches, seemed a distant impossible dream. My boyfriend at the time was a self-employed cabinet maker and refrigeration engineer. On frosty winter nights, we would each plug in our car batteries to electrical outlets supplied for that purpose, and snuggle before the fireplace to dream of selling ice-cream over the sides of a sail boat in Florida. As week after week
discover that our family had been “out of touch” for 170 years, this band of Florida natives is richer for knowing that our oral history holds up and is verified by our kin to the north. • **Dedicated in appreciation to the work of Lionel Dane Melvin of North Carolina, author of “Lest We Forget” and “Remember our Melvins and Kin.”
of crackling air that stole your breath away settled in, Florida began to look more and more like an option until finally it was settled - we would go to Florida to explore the possibilities of moving the business there. That was eighteen years ago and now I snuggle next to an air conditioner and dream of frosty winter nights in Nova Scotia. Dean Iverson had a similar dream one night as he warmed his blood a bar in Pennsylvania. He remembered the times his Dad would bring him to Clearwater Beach for a winter vacation and he remembered the pirate ship there...the Captain Memo. Arg... an idea was beginning to roll See Treasures page 11
Pirate crew , left to right, Richie Morrison, Olga Iverson, and Capt. Dean Iverson will gleefully “force” you to sign their articles on board the Royal Conquest.
Buccaneer Adventure Cruises & The Pier at St. Petersburg present... The Pirate Ship Royal Conquest Afternoon Delight Cruise 1 Hour at 1, 3 and 5 PM - $10 Sunset Champagne
90 min. - 7 PM Late Night Boogie 90 min. - 9 PM. $15.00 Adults, $13 Junior (13-17), $13 Seniors (65+) $12 Children (4-12) 10% off for groups over 7. Private Charters for Birthdays, Weddings, Corporate Parties and more... Call toll free at 1-877-BRIGAND (THAT’S 1-877-274-4263) Web Site at RoyalConquest.com
Medal of Honor Recipient ...
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Adam Paine
Private, Seminole Negro Indian Scouts 4th U.S. Cavalry Staked Plains, Texas 20 September 1874 Officially Accredited to the State of Florida
by Robert Hawk
Very little is known of Adam Paine’s life. Records indicate he was born in Florida in 1843 and his real or official name was Adam Payne. He was probably a member of a group of Seminole Negro Indians forced to leave Florida during or shortly after the Second Seminole Indian War (1835‑1842). There were several groups of Seminoles who, after migrating to Indian Territory, today’s Oklahoma, left that location and migrated to northern Mexico. Payne’s family was almost certainly part of that secondary migration. Following the Civil War, groups of Black Seminoles returned to American territory in southwestern Texas where their men were much prized for their fighting and scouting abilities. One group of Black Seminoles settled near Fort Clark and one group near Fort Duncan. We do know that Adam Paine or Payne entered US military service at Fort Duncan as a ‘Seminole Negro Indian Scout’. The failure of the Quaker‑run Indian reservation programs in the Southwest led to a major outbreak of violence by Indians against civilian settlements by the Comanche, Cheyenne and Kiowa in 1874. Five columns of US troops set out in the summer to stop the Indians and return them to their reservations. One of the columns, the 4th US Cavalry led by Col. Ranald MacKenzie, fought a series of actions against the Indians on the Staked Plains of the Texas Panhandle, somewhere near the Canyon Blanco tributary of the Red River, which, in combination with the other groups of converging US troops, caused the Indians to give up. The leaders of the rebellion were imprisoned for a time in the old Spanish fort in St. Augustine, Florida. The Letter of Recommendation submitted by Col. MacKenzie read in part; 31 August 1875 ... (1) “ have the honor to designate the men of the 4th Cavalry who particularly distinguished themselves during my late campaign against hostile Indians, with the particular act of gallantry of each and to whom Medals of Honor were suggested to be awarded, as follows: (There follow seven names and acts, the eighth and last being)
“Seminole Negro Adam Paine for Gallantry on September 20th (1874) when attacked by a hugely superior party of Indians. This man is a scout of great courage.”
The actual records of the action where Paine earned the medal are a bit more detailed and impressive. Paine, with two other Negro Seminole scouts and two Tonkawa Indian scouts were sent out to by Colonel MacKenzie to locate the hostile Indians so the cavalry engage them. Paine and his group found the hostile Indians and were promptly attacked by a very large hostile war party. Escape for the five scouts was problematical at the time. But Adam Paine was known for his aggressiveness and bravery. He was nearly six, feet carried a pistol, shotgun and large knife. He was famous for wearing headgear with buffalo horns. During the action, Payne put himself between the hostiles and, fellow scouts and, in a running fight that covered fifteen miles, he managed to keep the pursuing Indians from catching or inflicting injury on him or the other scouts. The medal was officially issued 13 October 1875. Adam Paine had been discharged from the military on 19 February 1875 having completed his enlisted contract. He was shot and killed at a New Year’s dance in Brackettville, Texas, 1 January 1877, by a Deputy Sheriffi. Paine was a fugitive at the time, being wanted in connection with the murder of a white soldier on Christmas Eve 1875 in Brownsville, Texas. Although arrested at the time of the incident, Paine had escaped to Mexico and was visiting family and friends in Brackettville when killed. The deputy who fired the fatal shot was a former Black Seminole Scout and himself the recipient of the Medal of Honor. This is the only know incidence where one Medal of Honor Recipient killed another. Adam Payne was interred in the Seminole (Negro) Scout Cemetery in Brackettville, Texas.
Treasures continued from page 10
aroundin his skull - warming his thoughts. Wouldn’t it be great to spend the rest of your life as a pirate? At the time Dean was still a student of marketing at Leigh University. PA. He approached his father with the idea. His father agreed to back him and found others to invest in the pirate ship. Two years later his dream has come true. Marina on Gandy had built the Nemo and so already had the expertise to design his ship and also meet United States Coast Guard regulations for a tour boat. At about the same time Dean was planning his venture in Florida, he met Olga. She had pretty much been marooned at Spring Break in Daytona Beach when her friend’s car had broken down.
Desperate for a ride home, she met Dean outside on the beach. A shy blond from St. Petersburg, Russia, had originally come to America to study English in Virginia, then she moved to Tampa when she enrolled as an Economics major at the University of South Florida. Cautious at first Olga pleaded her case to this would be pirate. Like a true swashbukler, Dean swept the lovely damsel in distress off her feet and to life on the high seas... well on Tampa Bay. Romance is Florida’s middle name. She can be a hard mistresss and take you for an intersting ride if you’re not careful, but if you open your heart to her she too will sweep you off your feet. Shipboard you can look out across Tampa Bay and let your imagination run wild back to
DUNEDIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY Andrews Memorial Chapel c. 1888
Sunday Tours
2 pm - 4 pm Available for Weddings, Concerts, Tours. 1899 San Mateo Drive, Dunedin. Dunedin Historical Museum Railroad Station c. 1922 341 Main Street, Dunedin, FL Exhibits related to Dunedin and Florida History
Museum Programs
1890’s Vintage Baseball Games at Otten Field, Dunedin November 13 at 12 Noon and December 12 at 12 Noon DUNEDIN CENTENNIAL EXHIBIT Till November 23, 1999 Museum Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 10 am - 4 pm For information call (727) 736-1176
Safety Harbor Museum of Regional History
A Florida History and Archaeological Museum October 9 November 13 December
Antiques & Collectibles Show 9a.m.-4p.m. at Bayshore Linear Park next to Safety Harbor Marina Sweet “Chair”ity Auction at Museum Preview 5:00 p.m. Florida Cracker Holiday gift shop and exhibit
329 Bayshore Blvd. S., Safety Harbor, FL
Phone: (727) 726-1668
Tuesday — Friday 10a.m. - 4p.m. Saturday & Sunday 1p.m - 4p.m. the times when real pirates cruised these waters. When the U.S. military took over Ft. Brooke in the 1830’s, they occupied an abandoned pirate lair. Spanish caravels looking for the elusive fountain of youth and gold sailed here too in the 16th Century. British cartographers mapped the bay in a ship much like the Bounty in the 18th Century. Cuban fishermen trolled the bays and bayous for mullet. Federal navy ships blockaded the mouth of the bay in the mid nineteenth century. In 1898 a flotilla of troop transports formed a mile long on their way to “liberate” Cuba. Today oil tankers plow stoically through its channels while privately owned day-sailors flash their colorful spinnakers in the dazzling sunlight and wave-runners race across
the Bay’s sparkling surface. Do children still sink their feet into the warm wet sand at Shell Key and dream of discovering Captain Kidd’s lost treasure? •
A Call To Party! If you’d like to sign on with Ye Merry Crewe here at
the Florida Frontier Gazette to sail on the Royal Conquest, then e-mail us: tocobaga @FloridaFrontier.com or call (727) 321-7845. Festive attire and fun-loving obligatory. All others will be made to walk the plank. Lets make a date for the Narvaéz reenactment at La Cruz Day on beautiful Boca Ceiga Bay, Gulfport. Boarding fee -$10.00
BOOK REVIEWS
Beechers, Stowes, and Yankee Strangers The Transformation of Florida John T. Foster, Jr. and Sarah Whitmer Foster University of Florida Presses Cloth $24.95 ISBN 0-8130-1646-0 After the American Civil War, Florida began to attract more and more transplants from the northern states. Opportunities abounded for enterprising Yankees looking to make a new start in Florida. Although some of these folks would be branded unscrupulous scalawags, others brought with them a vision of a new society, one where everyone would be able to live and work happily side by side. The second half of the 19th century saw Florida become the focus of several utopian social experiments, in which Harriet Beecher Stowe and her brother, Charles, were the most renowned of a group of Yankee reformers. The Fosters unravel the complex story of the Beechers and their friends. Harriet was the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a book which had far reaching ramifications for the war. When she took up residence in Magnolia in 1867, Harriet began to lure others to Florida by writing about its magificent weather and rich soil. As part of the work of the
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Reconstruction, they dreamed about creating a haven for former slaves and progressive northerners. The worked with Chloe Merrick Reed to establish Florida’s first education system and to improve the economic and racial climate. This group was responsible for transforming Jacksonville from a small backwater seaport into a vibrant bustling city. The optimism that fired the group in the beginning gradually began to be undermined by corrupt partisan politics. Reforms were slowed and eventually stopped by conservative Florida planters like David Levy Yulee. “Presidential Reconstruction created unexpected difficulties for social reformers, altering their fortunes before the arrival of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Problems also arose from traditional southerners who returned to their homes at the end of the Civil War, bringing vastly different experiences and ideas, harboring a wide range of sentiments. Some had merely endured the war and only wanted to be left alone to rebuild their lives. Still others sought to restore the old social and political order and told freedmen that they would ‘still be slaves in some way.’ As former Florida Senator David Levy Yulee explained, the south must have “some form of compulsory labor” or be ‘Africanized and ruined.” This beautifully written book helps to sort out why reconstruction was such a dismal failure in the south and in Florida and why when there was such promise for equal rights it took another hundred years for it to begin to emerge. While Florida still nurtures its pockets of racism, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Chloe Merrick Reed would be astonished at how much we have grown since those years when “Yankee Strangers” first came to plant their dream in our soil. This book earns a much deserved place with both African American and Women studies literature.
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Florida’s First People by Robin C. Brown Pineapple Press, Inc. ISBN 1-56164-032-8 Who were the first people of Florida? “Traces of early human history in Florida, like so many things in Florida, are different from those found in other states. The people who lived here prior to 1500 A.D. left a record that is, in some places, barely visible, and in others, unbelievably detailed. Their adaptations to Florida’s environments were as varied as the environments themselves. Their story needs to be told.” So starts Robin Brown’s adventure into the folks who first came to our Eden. Brown’s connection with the subject and its landscape is not academic, its personal and its stimulating. That’s what makes this book come alive. Filled with beautifully descriptive photographs and a sensitive personal writing style, Brown’s book is the obvious first book for your discovery of Florida’s ancient people. I am often confronted by folks who still believe that dopey caveman stuff.
Sending them to the academic material is not really going to happen. So, Florida’s First People is the best choice for the new or general reader. To understand Florida’s first people Brown entered their world. He reached out and experimented with local plant fibers. Using the fiber from a sabal palm he actually wove cloth. He shows you how. Whether it’s his photographs of hand built pottery or beautifully presented native fruit, the book is very appealing. This hands on approach is something you can try with your kids. People were never dopey. Those who were, didn’t usually have a long life span. Brown brings the excitement of ancient technology into truly intelligent human terms. Everything we are today was built a little at a time. The relationships between people and cultures unique from each other has a wide variety of interactions. Although war most often takes on a paramount feature in tales of our human adventure, trade is a long term process which offers great change. We not only exchange products and skills through trade, we exchange ideas, viewpoints, and the language to support them. I particularly enjoyed Brown’s holistic approach to the people who once lived in and loved the land we now call our home. “FLORIDA ABORIGINAL TRADE The peninsula of Florida, which dips toward the warm waters of the Caribbean, provided its people with sea-related products that were unique in eastern North America–products ideal for trade with landlocked cultures to the north. From
Pirates and Buried Treasure by Jack Beater Great Outdoors Publishing ISBN 0-8200-1019-7 Paperback $ Pirates have captured the mind of many a poor landlubber since Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. When Pirates and Buried Treasure was first published in 1959, author Jack Beater joined the ranks fanciful yet intriging tale spinners. The exploits of most of the better known roques who sailed under the black flag are written about in this pot-boiler serise of short stories. What young person could resist On the Trail of Pirate Treasure or even The Curse of Clara Pelau ? Even if most of these stories are difficult to prove as real life happenings, they are still delightful stories to dream upon. Beater has helped to perpetualte the myth of Jose Gaspar, the notorious pirate said to have plied Florida Gulf Coast waters in the early 19th century. Based on heresay from another nebulous pirate, Juan or John Gomez, Gasparilla is celebrated even today
by Ye Mystic Crewe in Tampa. Beater frequently quotes from unsubstantiated resources... “An old story tells us that, ‘Gasparilla was a man of sudden rage, and retaliated by the letting of blood. On one occassion a Spanish maid of good family spit in his face when he tried to remove the golden rings from her ears. Gasparilla then ordered her head be bound to a mast by the long braids of her hair, after which he took his sword ad sliced off both her ears in order to secure the trinkets without further insult to himself.’”
“...You can make a lot more out of pirate treasure by writing about it than you can by digging for it.” While Beater writes an evocative and sizzling narrative, he illustrations the book with amusing home-spun art. This book raises your eyebrows and stirs your imagation. It gives you that lost sense of adventure that was once left to tall ships and the high seas.
the beaches and bays came myriad shells: useful shells that make bowls and dippers, thick shells that could be cut and ground into ear spools and plummets, polished shells that made handsome necklaces, and shells so beautiful that they were prized for themselves alone. From shallow coastal waters came sharks whose white bladelike teeth were shaped just right for a multitude of tools. From the bottoms of rivers and streams came gleaming saw-edged fossil teeth of huge sharks that swam the ancient seas that once covered Florida. All of these marine items were bartered, and they can be traced up the continent, fanning outward from the rivers that formed the trade routes of aboriginal America. Gulf coast shells
and the beautiful objects made from them made their way as far west as Oklahoma and as far north as Wisconsin. But besides these hard goods, durable objects that survive in the remains of ancient cultures, there must have been a great trade in soft goods, things that vanish without an archaeological trace. Things like Florida seafood: high-protein fish, turtle, and manatee that could be dried, smoked, and salted for export. Things like shark skin and tortoise shell, and plant products like the caffeine -rich cassina that grows only along the southern coasts. From evaporated seawater came salt, a precious commodity to people living in salt-poor parts of the country. These must have played a part in the buying power of Florida traders.”
Check out our LINK to amazon.com at http://FloridaFrontier.com
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Welcome to our new home on the WWW
FloridaFrontier.com
We have some exciting news to share with you. The Florida FRONTIER GAZETTE is boldly exploring our newest frontier - the World Wide Web. We have procured a large web site where we hope to be the Premier source of Florida history information on the web. We have some really neat things planned for the site...
FLORIDA HISTORY EVENTS Complete and comprehensive listing of all history related events in Florida, including maps, driving directions, and info request forms. You can even LIST YOUR EVENT on-line!
The FLORIDA FRONTIER GAZETTE WAS THERE! Pages showing photos of events that
we attend throughout the year. Folks will want to come to our site to see pictures and reminisce.
La Cruz Day
Reeactment of the Panfilo de Narvaéz, 1528 Entrada into North America. Veterans Park, Gulfport, Florida
11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Saturday Nov. 20th
THE CATAWAMPUS
FLORIDA FRONTIER FORUM - Discussion groups where the mysteries of Florida’s history can be discussed and blossom into a rich image of all our shared ideas.
Sponsored by 16TH CENTURY COMPANY OF LA CRUZ FLORDIA FRONTIER GAZETTE CITY OF GULFPORT
CHAT WITH FLORIDA PERSONALITIES
Scheduled chat sessions with different characters from Florida’s rich historic past. Scheduled personalities include: • Maria Velasquez - a woman who sailed with the Narvaéz expedition in 1528. • Kit Watkins - war corespondent during the Spanish American War in 1898. • Juan Ortiz - Spanish youth tortured by Hirigua, saved by his lovely daughter. • Turtle Woman - a Timucuan Caciquein the time before European contact. • Hernando deSoto - 16th Century conquistador • Billy Bartram - Florida’s first “investigative tourist” • Many more including acclaimed authors and writers involved with Florida History.
Tocobaga Camp • Spanish Camp • Moor Camp
Kit Watkins spills the beans on Tampa in 1898. Make an appointment to talk to her live on our Web Site.
STORIES FROM FLORIDA HISTORY & NATURAL HISTORY
We have many wonderful artists and writers who contribute on a regular basis. Join us for some of the more controversial issues that have somehow failed to make it into our history textbooks. Learn where Florida was during the Age of Dinosaurs.
Meet the nasty conquistador, Panifo de Narvaéz. Hear the amazing tales of the expedition survivors through the memories of Maria Velasquz, Estibanico, the Moor and Juan Ortiz. Turtle Woman’s clan will tell you about her people’s customs. See multicultural crafts demonstrated and smell the food sizzling on the barbacoa.
Landing at 1:00 p.m. Cannon Firings on the Hour Demonstrations throughout the Day Storytelling at 7:00 p.m.
Meals and overnight camping provided for Reenactors. Camp Set up Friday evening and Saturday before 10. Reeactor Registration: 9:00 a.m. Maria Velasquez, storyteller. Call Elizabeth Neily at (727)321-7845 or E-Mail tocobaga@floridafrontier.com Local historical preservation and environmental groups invited to set up a table.
FLORIDA HISTORY IN THE NEWS
Coverage of current events and activities related to Florida History. This is the place to send us your latest discoveries . A new archaeological discovery, a forgotten book you have dusted for information, family insights, travel with Florida history in mind - share your adventures here!
HISTORY QUIZ
A regular feature will offer a new challenge to our readers with every issue. Questions are based on content in the stories. Just like on the cover of the paper but more...
RECIPES
Featuring food from throughout Florida history. Our favorite: “Cabbage Palm Stew” Johnny Shaffer , dressed as a 16th C. gentleman. Visit him on our Story Teller’s SHEILA’S LOOT AND PLUNDER Page. Marketplace for exchange, sale, and barter of merchandise for the history buff in all of us. Featuring, historic fabrics, costumes, accessories, reproductions, etc. NOTE: We will not accept advertisements offering historic genuine artifacts without proper documentation.
Venture Crew 479 will helpthe 79th New York V.V. bring history alive as hosts of a
Civil War Reeactment at the Pinellas County Fairgrounds on December 11 & 12th. This group of enterprising teens are members of the 79th New York Cameron Highlanders. They will fight for Union victory at both the Saturdays and Sunday battles against the Confederate South (2 P.M.). A living history Pioneer Village on the grounds will demostrate how early settlers and fishermen survived in this harsh landscape. A ball to be held in the pavillion on Saturday evening while storytellers cast a spell over the youngsters in camp. There will even be a Court Martial! Sutlers Row will sell period crafts and food. The Postal Service will have a Commemerative Cachet available. Scouts in uniform admitted FREE. Admission is only $1 with young’uns 6 and under free. The Union and Confederate camps will be open to visitors from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. All proceeds to benefit Living History Scouts. For information call Ed Smith at 526-2851. Photo by Fritz Kirsh.
THE COSTUME PAGE
One of Elizabeth’s great loves, we want pages devoted to discussion of period costumes with patterns, LINKS, and chat room. Discussions about how to join a reenactment group and how to get started.
MANY MANY MORE FEATURES
With the resources available to us now with an “on-line presence” we hope to build a community united for the cause of promoting and understanding Florida history. We have the ability to offer free email accounts within our domain to help our contributors establish an identity with Florida History. Email accounts can forward to existing ISP or be setup as a fully functional POP3. If you are interested in participating, please send email to: tocobaga@floridafrontier.com
Open a window to the past. Discover the World...
Red Cloud
THE OLD HAUNTED HOUSE
Transcribed from conversations taped with Mattie Lou Cherbonneaux. (circa 198788.) by Hermann Trappman. In 1899, as a child, Mrs. Cherbonneaux, moved to St. Petersburg, Florida. She grew up on her father’s farm near Coffee Pot Bayou.
It was my thirteenth autumn. I had grown up now to having an upstairs bedroom all my own. My brother Bud’s room was just across the hall. His bedroom was his domain. No one was allowed in there. He would tolerate me standing at his open door to visit with him, but when I left, I’d hear him close the door. The thing that most caught my interest in his room were the stacks of hunting and fishing magazines. Bud and I shared the same love of the great outdoors. He had bought a harmonica with the money he had earned from his chores. Sometimes growing up is hard and confusing and Bud could play a wonderful sadness on that harmonica. A while back Uncle Bradley and Aunt Lou lived between our place and G. Perry Snell’s new subdivision. Uncle Bradley had killed a young man in the [Civil)] war. He was a sensitive man and the memories of the battles haunted his life. Sometimes there was a look of fugitive desperation in his eyes. Finally we were warned to stay away from him. Apparently the weight of his visions were too much and Uncle Bradley took his own life. Aunt Lou sold the place to Mr. Ludwig, the city engineer at the time. Mr. Ludwig rented the big old house out. Some of the families were nice and on my horseback rides, I’d get acquainted with them. Most stayed about a year. All the different families that came and went said that the house was haunted. They all agreed on several things. They could hear soft footsteps running around the porches all night long. They didn’t dare open their doors until daylight, and then they saw nothing on the porches. Well my answer to that was that the house was close to a bayhead and lots of coons and possums lived in there and could be out on a nightly prowl exploring. They also heard funny sounds and rattlings in the attic — Rats? And certain nights they would hear weird moaning in the eaves — wind? But, no one stayed there long and word got around the old Bradley place was haunted. Mr Ludwig couldn’t rent it anymore. It stayed empty quite a while. Town boys used to meet there to spin wild imaginings and taunt each other with haunted dares. The old place finally caught fire and burned completely to the ground, leaving
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WANTED: SALES ASSOCIATES ALL OVER FLORIDA We are G-R-O-W-I-N-G at an breath-taking rate. Ms. Elizabeth can’t keep up. She needs help! Our circulation has exploded to cover most areas of Florida. So if you love history, museums, parks and special events and would like to make a little extra cash here and there, we sure would like to talk to you. Territories in Pensacola, Tallahasee, Jacksonville, Orlando, Gainesville, Miami, Naples… Please contact Florida Frontier Gazette, 5409 21st Ave. So., Gulfport, FL 33707 or Email tocobaga.gte.net. or call (727) 321-7845. nothing but the chimney standing stark and tall. There were two holes for the fireplaces upstairs and two for the fireplaces downstairs. The grape arbor had gone to ruin and the citrus grove was in a pitiful stage of neglect. The place breathed a sad mood. One night when I was sound asleep, I heard mumbly voices in my room, and woke up to find Mama and Grandma peering out of my window into the night. I heard one say softly, “Well, I never saw the likes of that before,” and the other agreed. They tiptoed quietly out of my room as not to wake me. I was puzzled, but so sleepy that I went back to sleep and forgot all about it. However, the next night they
brought in big sister Fannie. They tiptoed past my bed and up to the window. Peering out they whispered, “Did you see it, Fannie?” Sister answered, “Yes, ma’am.” My curiosity was aroused. As not to scare whatever they found so fascinating away, I slipping quietly out bed and moved carefully up behind them. “See what?” I asked. They all three screamed and jumped a foot, they were so strickened. After breathing returned to normal and hearts stopped racing they pointed toward the mystery. There, in the second story fireplace on the old chimney, was a light. They told me that every night at dark that light appeared just there. So the next night there were four at my window, and we watched the chimney and sure enough, at dusk, the light appeared in the fireplace hole in what was once Uncle
The Chemise of 1st Conquest
by Elizabeth Neily
The Chemise/shirt was always worn by both men and women as an undergarment until the past century. While the length of men’s chemises varied, it normally fell to the top of the thigh hanging in loose folds from the shoulders. In men it had side vents with the front and side panels of equal length. Sometimes the vent could appear more to the front, indicating a fuller back panel than front. In other cases the vent was in front. It showed at the neck and in puffs at the shoulders and elbows and through slashes in the sleeves of the doublet or bodice. The neck and cuffs were embroidered with gold thread and red and black silks. This decoration, of ancient Persian origin, came from Spain and was known in Europe as Spanish blackwork. Sometimes a small frill was added to the neckline but by the end of the century it became the ruche, then the ruff. With the introduction of the steel needle by the Moors, embroidery became finer and more elaborate. The front of
the chemise was frequently embroidered, the beautiful needlework shown off by leaving the doublet open. After 1510 the neckline started to creep up to around the neck, finished with a narrow embroidered band. By the middle of the century lace had been invented using from two to fifteen strands of white linen twisted together. The men’s chemise sported side vents while the women’s did not. While men’s chemises usually reached to the lower thigh women usually wore them to the floor. Fabrics: Fine 100% linen or cotton muslin. Some noble classes could afford fine silk.. Peasants wore heavy linen or canvas. White or Natural were the most popular but there is evidence of other colors in historical records. DIRECTIONS 1. Gather shoulder seams and neck front and back seams with cartridge pleats or Sew 4 Neck Facings to the neck seams of the front and back and to the shoulder seams of the sleeves.
Bradley’s bedroom. The three grown women folks told Papa and he told them that they were crazy. Papa had always told me that behind everything there was an explanation, if only you took the time to explore it. This was weird and called for me to go to my thinking place. There with the sky and the trees and the cloud shadows rolling over me I came to the conclusion that for my peace of mind I had to go and find out. In the late afternoon I went looking for Dandy my horse. He was grazing close by. I jumped up onto his wide bear back, rode over to the spot between the hole in the chimney and my bedroom window and waited for dark. As darkness chased the sun westward ghost stories and phantoms raced through my head. The darker it became the more I frightened myself with my own imagination. That was a weird desolate spot caught in the twilight’s stillness. My fear was transmitted to the horse, for the muscles in his back began to tremble. I believe if a screech owl had wailed at that moment, we both would have died of fright. Each hair on my head stood up like a red hot needle as I stood up on Dandy’s back to see into the chimney. The revelation swept over me in an instant—first I could see clear through the chimney to Beach Drive, and then Mr. Snell’s street lights came on and one was in direct line to shine through the chimney to my upstairs bedroom window. I oozed back down on Dandy’s back. The cool, refreshing feeling of a dip in our swimming hole rushed over me. I began to relax with the comfort that Uncle Bradley had really been completely laid to rest. I turned Dandy toward home. Back home gallantly galloped the brave warrior on her white steed. “Weren’t you scared?” they asked. “Who is scared of a street light shining through a hole in an old chimney,” I answered. No one would ever know how frightened I really was.
Little rogues easily become great ones.
2. Sew sleeves to front and back by 1/2” Seam Allowance. 3. Sew 4 Neck Facings together with diagonal seams for about 1/2” to 3/4”.
4. Match facing to edge of neckline using cartridge or smocking pleats to take in fullness.
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FRONTIER GAZETTE 4 great issues per year! Only $8/1 yr or $14/2yr Make check payable to: Neily Trappman Studio 5409 21st Ave. So. Gulfport, FL 33707 (727)321-7845
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Old Florida Cracker Saying.
Cut 2” wide strip to fit Wrist
12”Square Neckfacing
5. Pleat or Smock Shirt Sleeves to fit wristbands. A 2” to 3” ruffle can be left on smocked wrists.
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The Smoke and Fire News The International Newspaper about Living History Events
Tells you where Living History Events are happening.
Listings of Battle Re-enactments: Civil War, War of 1812, French and Indian War, Revolutionary War, 17th Century, Napoleonic Wars. Scottish Highland Games and Concerts Rendezvous, BlackPowder Shoots Pow-Wows, Native American Studies and Conferences Medieval Events, Renaissance Faires Museum Exhibits, Special Events and Classes
Monthly Newspaper by Subscription $18 per year Send $2 for a sample of current issue
Smoke & Fire News
Published 12 times a year. The one newspaper that covers all living history periods on a regular schedule supplying Living History Participants with events dates, articles, recipes, updates, information resources, cartoons and much much more. Everything you need to know about the world of Living History. Subscription Form: Name_____________________________________________________________ Address___________________________________________________________ City______________________________State_________Zip+4______________ Credit Card Number_______________________________Exp. Date__________ (We accept MsterCard, Visa, Discover and American Express) Rates are $18 for 1 year and $34 for 2 years within United States, $29 (USfunds) for Canada and $49 (US funds for overseas). For a sample copy send 42.00. Return the payment to Smoke & Fire News, P.O. Box 166, Grand Rapids, OH 43522.
Smoke and Fire Trading Co.
Offers a Free 56 page Catalog of 18th Century, Scottish and Medieval Clothing Patterns Books and Historic Camp Gear New Historical Costume Books for our Customers HCB-21 Tidings from the 18th Century Gilgun. Collected articles from Magazine. 285 pages of patterns and information. $24.95
Scottish Sketchbook by Linda Byrd Fully illustrated sketchbook of 18th century Scottish clothing and weapins. $8.50
HCB-24 Everyday Dress of Rural America 1783-1800. By Merideth Wright. Describes common clothing, icludes scaled drawings. $8.95
Coloial French Dress For Judy Forbes by her friends and family. Newly re-illustrated and updated version of this classic book on French Colonial clothing. Includes a new Justacorps pattern. Great new illustrations. $12.00
Smoke and Fire Co. P.O. Box 166 Grand Rapids, Ohio 43522 (419) 832-0303 1-800-SmokeFi(re) 1-800-777-5334 Fax 419-832-5008 www.smoke-fire.com
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A Paradise of Fresh Provisions
“Ah Har Me Maties ... A Pirate Feast” Salamagundi
Salamagundi was a favorite pirate food. Determine how large your crew will be and how much salamagundi you will need. Milk and crackers usually accompanied the salamagundi. 1 huge pot with cover 1 quart of cold water salt, pepper, and garlic - to taste
Recipe #1
Fish, crab, wine, spices, anchovies, cabbage, hard-boiled eggs, 8oz oil and vinegar dressing
Recipe #2
Beef, pigeons, wine, spices, fruit or cabbage, hard boiled eggs, onions. Directions: Dice the ingredients from either list and place in the large pot containing the cold water. Turn the heat to low, and allow to cook for three hours. (If you prefer, you can use a covered cooking dish in the oven on low (325 O) for three hours.
Pocket Soup
This is the ancestor of the modern bouillon cube and a close cousin of the Glace de Viande used in French cooking: a stock based on meat bones with a few vegetables and herbs, first browned, then simmered a long time, then strained, skimmed, and cooked again for a long time, until it reaches a very high degree of concentration and a correspondingly low volume. Once it cools and congeals, the final product of 10 gallons of stock is a small brown rubbery slab about 6 by 12 by 1 inches, with an intense meaty taste. (It is a wonderful flavoring agent for sauces and gravies, but it is notparticularly good on its own — and must have been considerably worse 200 years ago, after many months or even years of imperfect preservation.) How long is a long time? William Gelleroy (1762), says to boil the soup until “the meat has lost its virtue;” Hannah Glasse (1747), from whom he copied his recipe, says until “the Meat is good for nothing.” (Of course, theloss of virtue in a piece of meat is a highly subjective matter; we ourselves have never yet succeeded in boiling all the virtue out of any meat.) Mrs. Beeton (1861) says thefirst boiling should be “12 hours, or more, if the meat be not done to rags,” and suggests 8 hours, stirring all the while, for the second. 30 lbs. very meaty bones (any combination
of beef, pork, and veal - shin, neck. 2 pigs’ feet or 1 lb. ham 6 large onions, peeled and cut in half 6 large carrots, peeled and cut in half 6 ribs celery with leaves, cut in pieces large handful of parsley large handful of thyme large handful of hyssop large handful of marjoram 1 tablespoon mace 12 cloves 3 tablespoons peppercorns salt &water Note: Quantities given are for fresh-picked herbs — for dried herbs, substitute a smaller amount. The ratio is normally about 1 to 3.] In a large stewpot (several stewpots, actually), brown the bones on all sides, a few at a time, in their own fat. Return all the bones to the pot, and add the vegetables, herbs, spices, and water to cover. Bring slowly to a boil, skimming off any scum that forms on the surface. Cover, but not too tightly — leave a little room for steam to escape. Reduce heat and simmer at least 6 hours. Strain and skim the stock, discarding the bones. (At this point you must determine for yourself whether or not the meat still has any virtue... if not, discard it too.) Put the stock in the widest pot or pan you can find. Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Cook, uncovered, skimming occasionally, until the liquid is reduced to about 1/8 its original volume (this will take at least another 6 hours). Pour the reduced stock into a shallow pan and refrigerate until firmly set. Now you’re ready should you be marooned on a deserted island.
For buccaneers of the 16th through 18th centuries in the Caribbean and Spanish Main it was usually a “catch as catch can” affair, with periods of feast or famine - often the latter. Now not always enjoying a healthy diet by our current standards, the typical buccaneer ate much better than the salt pork and moldy biscuits laced with worms and maggots that was the fare aboard naval and merchant ships. When buccaneers put in at secluded anchorages for water or provisions, or for longer stays, to careen or repair their ships their food supply was bountiful. Other than supplies raided from settlements or subdued ships, the buccaneers had to find their food on the hoof. There were yams, bananas (plantains), pineapples, papayas, guavas, dates and other fruit growing on the islands. Plantains, were found to be useful on shipboard as they did not ripen and spoil, but remained hard. Yet, when tossed into the hot ashes, they would bake into an delicous and nutritious starchy delight. Buccaneers often hunted the cattle and wild boar that flourished on the islands as they
9th Annual “A Symphony of Trees”
Festival to benefit Florida Adventure Museum and other local non-profit organizations November 26 - December 5, 1999 Open daily 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Admission: $1 for adults; 50 cents for children 12 and under Punta Gorda-Port Charlotte-North Port Association of Realtors building, 3320 Loveland Boulevard, Port Charlotte, Florida Display of trees and wreaths decorated by non-profit organizations. Trees and wreaths are available for purchase through a bidding process. Each non-profit group receives the proceeds from their tree or wreath. The festival also features “Santa’s Workshop and Sweetshop”, Holiday Gala to benefit Florida Adventure Museum,Thursday, December 9, 1999, 6p.m. $40 per person; $320 for reserved table of eight Best Western Waterfront Inn, Punta Gorda, Florida Buffet dinner; entertainment; specialty raffle. Frosty’s Holiday Fun Fair Saturday, December 11, 1999, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Punta Gorda-Port Charlotte-North Port Association of Realtors building, Port Charlotte, Florida Fun event for all ages: Craft area where kids can create their own gifts for giving; craft sale; bake sale; face painting; refreshments and more... Contact: Elissa Frank, Florida Adventure Museum, 941/639-3777.
Fried Plantains
Peel and cut lengthwisein thi slices. Sauté in an iron skillet in butter. Turn frequently sprinkling a little sugar and lime juice on them each time they areturned. They will become caramelized as they cook. Serve with your barbequed fish or meat.
Baked Guavas This dessert should be as easy in an open firepit as in your oven. Select good ripe guavas. Add a little cinnamon and sugar for flavor. Wrap in banana leaves and place in the hot coals. Bake until tender. Can be serve with sweet cream or ice cream if handy. Try this out with persimmons too.
Sweet Sage Coffee Café & Two Crows Garden
HOURS M-TH 11am to 9pm Fri & Sat. 11am to 11pm
Lite Bites Served All Day Seating in the Grey Fox Room or Garden Catering/Private Parties • Custom Gift Baskets 16725 Gulf Boulevard North Redington Beach, FL
ran wild. From the local Indians, they had learned how to smoke the meat over a boucan. This was a cooking rack made from straight twigs, cross-layered to a height of six inches. Imagine a couple of buccaneers capturing a young porker, and cooking it luau-style, by building a deep fire pit to roast him. Seasoned with spices and herbs looted from a Spanish treasure ship, and wrapped with the abundant large banana leaves, the firepit emminates a mouth-wateringly aroma. Banana leaves could also be used to cook fish. The sea yielded up an immense variety of food. Clams, conchs and coquina were gathered along the shores, and they found their way into much of the cooking. Local greens plus the juice of some lemons or limes added variety and flavor to these tasty dishes Much of today’s Caribbean cuisine comes from buccaneer experimentation and inventiveness. In South Florida the juice of the gumbo limbo tree added flavor to a potpourri of fish and spices mixed with tubers, wild garlic and onion created the popular dish gumbo.
Open Daily 7:00 A.M. - 3:00 P.M. Phone/Fax (727) 391-0453
Recommended by USA Today & Voted Best Cuban Restaurant in Tampa Bay. Traditional Hand Prepared Cuban Favorites Including:
a Bay Tamp Days!!! 808 r e v o for
Reservations & Take-Out Welcome
Chicken Picata • Picadillo-Palomilla Steak • Roast Pork Chicken & Yellow Rice • Cuban Sandwiches • Shrimp Ajillo Shrimp Boracho • Grilled and Fried Fish • Black Beans and Rice Salads And Many Freshly Prepared Desserts
All Entrees Include White Rice, Black Beans, Plantains & Cuban Bread
Catering/Private Parties Beer/Wine/ Sangria/Liquor Se Habla Español Totally Smoke free inside Upstairs Dining in our locally sponsored Art Gallery