The collapsed hull of the Golden Fleece after excavation
Posted on 07/04/2015 7:12:14 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
In 2008 while we were working in Samaná, renowned treasure hunter Tracy Bowden came to us for assistance in locating a ship that belonged to Capt. Joseph Bannister. Bannister wasn't just any captain -- he was a pirate. And, as we'd soon learn, he was a good one.
Bannister was once a reputable captain who spent years sailing between England and Jamaica. But in 1684 he decided to seek fortune and glory by commandeering the Golden Fleece, a ship of 30 to 40 guns with a crew of more than 100 men. The British dispatched a ship that found and captured Bannister, who was put on trial in Port Royal, Jamaica. He was acquitted of the crime but ordered to remain in Port Royal. Bannister escaped, however, and continued his pirating ways.
In 1686 Bannister was discovered to be hiding and careening (grounding his vessel for maintenance and repairs) in what is now called Bahia Samaná. The British sent two warships to capture him and bring him to justice. Bannister, however, was clever and had prepared for an attack. He had offloaded some of the cannons from the Golden Fleece and set up shore batteries. This strategic maneuver proved successful, and Bannister was able to hold his own against the Royal Navy, an astounding feat that no pirate had ever before accomplished. After a two-day battle in July 1686, the British were forced to sail away without their quarry, having spent all their ammunition.
Even though the British didn't sink the Golden Fleece, it was badly damaged and couldn't sail. Bannister scuttled the ship and escaped Samaná on a smaller ship he had previously captured. The British eventually captured and killed Bannister in early 1687, but the legendary pirate left behind his prized Golden Fleece -- right in our backyard.
(Excerpt) Read more at alertdiver.com ...
The collapsed hull of the Golden Fleece after excavation
Pirate treasure is real. Here’s how we found it.
By Robert Kurson
http://boingboing.net/2015/06/18/pirate-treasure-is-real-here.html
Wrecks Mark the Spot
http://www.wsj.com/articles/wrecks-mark-the-spot-1434137891
I found the Golden Fleecers. They’re in DC. It’s a cook book, cooked books!
Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!
Zeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!
Neat!
That's too small a crew for 30 to 40 guns.
"That's too small a crew for 30 to 40 guns."
More than a 100 runs from 101 to infinity.
Of course your are right in a literal sense. But if the crew were more than say 150, the author would have said "more than 150 men."
30 guns at 3.5 men per gun (an average from various references) would be 105 men, add in another 30 to run the ship and I can envision a crew of 135 to 145 as appropriate. This is a large crew.
I bet the reality was more like 100 men, and the guns were not fully manned. If the guns were loaded ahead of time and only primed just before firing, a crew of 4 could fire a gun and then secure it without reloading. They could then fire a second gun, possibly staying with it to reload. This would produce rapid initial fire with much slower sustained rates.
Also, keep in mind that 40 guns would just be 20 guns on each side, and most of the time you would only be shooting from one side.
Pirates made do. :’)
In "La Rabouilleuse," Balzac refers to the wool of the province of Berry as the golden fleece (the Descoings family made a lot of money trading in it).
Also in that book, one of the minor characters, Francois Hochon, is referred to as "un des cinq Hochons."
Typically, a ship only crewed one broadside at at time. If they have a four man crew per gun, and 30 guns, they only have to crew ~15 guns at a time(less if the gun count includes the chasers). So they would only need 60 men for the guns leaving 40 more to work the rigging or act as musketeers.
They would load both broadsides before they went into action and work the broadside facing the enemy. If they had to fire both broad sides, they would be able to do so - once. Then they would have decide which broadside they would re-load first.
Yea, along the lines of the one "How to Serve Humans".
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