tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876794033107456809.post9080367110113461995..comments2024-03-16T04:59:09.172-08:00Comments on Pauline's Pirates & Privateers: Ships: Huzzah For Brined Vegetables!Paulinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11730716060906158244noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876794033107456809.post-54854578646628091842012-09-16T08:32:30.329-08:002012-09-16T08:32:30.329-08:00Excellent! Thank you for adding so much to this po...Excellent! Thank you for adding so much to this post, Sean. I very much appreciate it.Paulinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11730716060906158244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876794033107456809.post-51580783884091906272012-09-16T07:33:51.109-08:002012-09-16T07:33:51.109-08:00Hallo Pauline. I hate to point out an error, but t...Hallo Pauline. I hate to point out an error, but the Pickle was actually built in Bermuda as a merchant vessel, the Sting. After the navy started buying up land in Bermuda, following US independence (640 miles from North Carolina, Bermuda was a useful replacement for the lost continental bases between Nova Scotia and Florida, and became the headquarters and dockyard of the North America and West Indies Squadron), it also began buying up Bermudian ships. Most Bermudian-built ships were single-masted sloops, which were superior in speed and nimbleness. The large sails, however, required more crewmen to handle, and they required a great degree of expertise. The Royal Navy, at that time, was famously short of seamen, relying on impressment (which Bermudian sailors were exempt from) to keep up numbers. The best sailors were kept in European waters where a vicious war for control of Europe, or at least its trade, was taking place with France. This meant that vessels and crews in the Americas were not of the highest rate, and the navy favoured multiple masted Bermudian designs as these could be handled by smaller, less experienced crews. The first vessels purchased were built for the Navy expressly to use against French privateers, built by Outerbridge and MacCallan's shipyard in Bailey's Bay, bermuda, near the first Admiralty House, on Mount Wyndham. The navy ordered more ships from Bermudian builders, and bought others up from trade. Other Bermudian built ships, which had been in foreign hands, were captured by the Royal Navy and commissioned. Over time, these Bermudian vessels became the standard "advice vessels" of the navy. They delivered despatches (look up HMS Whiting), important freight and passengers, they were used for reconnaissance, and picket duty (it was Bermudian picket vessels that gave warning of the approach of the enemy fleet at Trafalgar), and for hunting privateers, pirates, smugglers and slavers, among other duties.Seán Pòl Ó Creachmhaoilhttp://www.aquaticbermuda.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876794033107456809.post-16770937031996744482009-12-24T22:14:15.278-09:002009-12-24T22:14:15.278-09:00Ahoy, Timmy! Could not have said it better meself...Ahoy, Timmy! Could not have said it better meself.Paulinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11730716060906158244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-876794033107456809.post-32719333141203661772009-12-24T12:54:11.425-09:002009-12-24T12:54:11.425-09:00Ahoy, Pauline! Merry Christmas, Happy Yule, Festiv...Ahoy, Pauline! Merry Christmas, Happy Yule, Festivus, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Solstice (or whatever else there is to celebrate this time of year) to you and all your followers (and lurkers too)! I wonder if the HMS Pickle had anything to do with the expression "in a pickle", but even if she had nothing to do with that, at least she is the basis for "Pickle Night"... Yet another holiday for us to celebrate. I'll drink to that. Huzzah indeed!Timmy!https://www.blogger.com/profile/09902641426229272672noreply@blogger.com