Don't Forget next month on September 19th is international talk like a pirate day.

Smuggling in England started about 13th century. Edward I placed a customs duty on the export of wool because it was in great demand in Europe. This was the first permanent customs system established in England. The initial duties started quite small, but as the Hundred Years War progressed, so the tax went up. The usual image of smuggling in England comes from about the 18th and 19th century, when the high taxes led to a dramatic increase in illegal imports.

When I was a kid my Mother used to tell us that we were descended from the vicar of Appledore on the Devon, Cornwall border, near Bideford. Occasionally when he went to collect his horses in the morning he would discover they were tired as if they had been out all night. On those occasions if he searched the stable carefully he would find a bottle of brandy.

I am assuming here, that Ma Kettle's Tavern being part of the pirating world, the spirits would get smuggled in and the beers brewed on the premises. Foaming beer can be achieved from both kegs of beer and bottles of beer. But if large amounts are being consumed beer will probably be stored in kegs. We put some beer on about two months ago and tried it last night. I had forgotten how hop-y Caroline beer tasted. Although the fermentation process takes just over a week till it is ready to bottle, home brewed beer/live beer tastes better after all the sediment has fallen out, which takes a minimum of three weeks, but two months after brewing started is better.

During the Richmond Lending Library talk I asked Justin Somper about Bartholomew (Bart) Pearce and apparently he is based on Bartholomew (Bart) Roberts was a Welsh pirate who raided shipping off the Americas and West Africa. He was the most successful pirate of the golden age of piracy, capturing far more ships than some of the best-known pirates of this era.

To work out speed, sailors could throw a piece of wood with knotted piece of rope attached overboard. Then time how many knots passed by in a set amount to time, and therefore work out how many knots and hour they were going.

Privateers were employed by governments and merchants to plunder the opponents treasure. They owned a document called a Letter of Marque to prove it.