Bow and arrow aboard? Do or dont?

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by CascadeThumper

A 'must avoid' area is Wash. D.C. It's a swamp full of pirates.

Isn't the White House in Washington DC?

Pete

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by boatman61

I may have gotten the name not quite right but he was a legendary barge man who worked the Mississippi long before engines.. they would pole and haul their way up with cargo then come back down with goods from the opening territories.. a sort of Davy Crocket of the water.
It is getting on 60yrs since I read those books..

Not trying to argue just find this interesting and I grew up reading the same stories.

Though I've never hear Huck Finn described as Davy Crockett of the water. Great stories but might be time to re-read them. Huck was a kid/young man prone to getting into trouble and tricking his way out of it. Direct confrontation was not his style. He would be more prone to run from a fight. Davy was a man's man who would meet any confrontation head on fighting indians and wrassling bears with his bare hands.

The standard practice was to build a raft from local lumber. Load it up with goods (Furs, farm produce, etc...) and float down to New Orleans using poles and oars to control but not really propel the raft.

At that point, you would sell the goods, disassemble the raft to sell as lumber and walk home.

Goods coming up river early on were very limited and really took off after steam ships came into regular use (Huck was from around the time of the transition). Rafting down still continued for a while as it was mostly bulk goods downbound and smaller finished goods going upbound but the steam ships eventually drove that rafting market under.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

Not trying to argue just find this interesting and I grew up reading the same stories.

Though I've never hear Huck Finn described as Davy Crockett of the water. Great stories but might be time to re-read them. Huck was a kid/young man prone to getting into trouble and tricking his way out of it. Direct confrontation was not his style. He would be more prone to run from a fight. Davy was a man's man who would meet any confrontation head on fighting indians and wrassling bears with his bare hands.

The standard practice was to build a raft from local lumber. Load it up with goods (Furs, farm produce, etc...) and float down to New Orleans using poles and oars to control but not really propel the raft.

At that point, you would sell the goods, disassemble the raft to sell as lumber and walk home.

Mike Fink (see earlier link) was a famous "keelboat" captain. He did indeed pole upriver
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keelboat

There are also stories about him and Davy Crockett together including the Disney movie Davy Crockett and The River Pirates.
And this tall tale MIKE FINK - KING OF THE RIVERS

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by StuM

Mike Fink.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Fink

Good one StuM.. thanks.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

Not trying to argue just find this interesting and I grew up reading the same stories.

Though I've never hear Huck Finn described as Davy Crockett of the water. Great stories but might be time to re-read them. Huck was a kid/young man prone to getting into trouble and tricking his way out of it. Direct confrontation was not his style. He would be more prone to run from a fight. Davy was a man's man who would meet any confrontation head on fighting indians and wrassling bears with his bare hands.

The standard practice was to build a raft from local lumber. Load it up with goods (Furs, farm produce, etc...) and float down to New Orleans using poles and oars to control but not really propel the raft.

At that point, you would sell the goods, disassemble the raft to sell as lumber and walk home.

Goods coming up river early on were very limited and really took off after steam ships came into regular use (Huck was from around the time of the transition). Rafting down still continued for a while as it was mostly bulk goods downbound and smaller finished goods going upbound but the steam ships eventually drove that rafting market under.

Never did finish Huck Finn.. it was like War and Peace for children.. never finished War and Peace either.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by newhaul

And FYI the dynamite on the arrow does work just not to accurate.

And just exactly how would you know this?

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Never did finish Huck Finn.. it was like War and Peace for children.. never finished War and Peace either.

You should give Huck Finn another go. I reread it every few years and it still makes me laugh.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by skipmac

And just exactly how would you know this?

really officer I don't know nuthin about no moonshine still behind the barn

[a64pilot]

The astonishing thing about dynamite is just how little it does if not contained. If you lay a stick in the yard and blow it up, it won’t even kill the grass, makes a heck of a noise and that is about it.
Tie a stick to a baseball bat sized tree and blow it up, it does not knock the tree down.
However bury it under a stump so that when you blow it up, all it does is make a “whump” sound, that stump may be loose enough to pull out with a tractor.
I learned pretty quick if your clearing land, for God’s sake don’t cut the tree down first with a chain saw cause the stump is really difficult to deal with, dig around the tree with a backhoe and then push the tree over, then cut it up.
A Backhoe will take more trees down faster than a similar sized Bulldozer

As a kid I used to drive around town with a 12 Ga and a 30-06 in the truck and go to the hardware store and buy a case of dynamite and caps, and park in the school parking lot, and I’m not that old.
Can you imagine doing that today?

[goat]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

As a kid I used to drive around town with a 12 Ga and a 30-06 in the truck and go to the hardware store and buy a case of dynamite and caps, and park in the school parking lot, and I’m not that old.
Can you imagine doing that today?

I couldn't imagine leaving a box of Tide detergent tabs in a car at a school parking lot these days.

goat

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

I'm confused? Are you saying you don't like to watch crap but are into doing crap?

FYI: In the original show, they didn't blow up gas can's, they weren't allowed to have guns due to probation rules so the strapped TNT to an arrow and fired it. Lots of improvisation and knockoff stuff though all about as silly as your exploding arrows idea. (don't get me wrong it's funny but about as believable as a viable solution to the OP's concerns)

And I would not be too critical of the effectiveness of exploding arrows, Rambo took out about three divisions of NVA troops using them in one of his movies. If they are as effective as his you should be able to take out a missile cruiser let alone pirates in a small boat.

[belizesailor]

A friend of mine used to carry a small cross bow mounted on a bulk head like a decoration. If officials asked he said it was just decoration and didnt work. Hidden in full sight. Never a problem.

Of course, he never had to actually use it...there is much debate about weaponry, but it mostly overlooks the issue of what do you do after using your weapon of choice. In many venues, if you kill a local, justified or not, you are in deep doo doo.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

A friend of mine used to carry a small cross bow mounted on a bulk head like a decoration. If officials asked he said it was just decoration and didnt work. Hidden in full sight. Never a problem.

Of course, he never had to actually use it...there is much debate about weaponry, but it mostly overlooks the issue of what do you do after using your weapon of choice. In many venues, if you kill a local, justified or not, you are in deep doo doo.

Wipe the bolt down and wear gloves.. or if you've a freezer make and use ice bolts..

[RPZ]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

A friend of mine used to carry a small cross bow mounted on a bulk head like a decoration. If officials asked he said it was just decoration and didnt work. Hidden in full sight. Never a problem.

Of course, he never had to actually use it...there is much debate about weaponry, but it mostly overlooks the issue of what do you do after using your weapon of choice. In many venues, if you kill a local, justified or not, you are in deep doo doo.

This is true, but it depends greatly on whether you can prove that your life was in danger. On the high seas piracy, or attempted piracy is pretty cut and dried.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by RPZ

This is true, but it depends greatly on whether you can prove that your life was in danger. On the high seas piracy, or attempted piracy is pretty cut and dried.

Im many venues it does not. In Guatemala for example, you, and anyone else foolish enough to be near you at the time, are going to jail. Not a good life experience. And, you will stay there until someone pays to get you out.

I know folks this has happened too...they were just at the scene of the crime and played no role in it. Any gringo foolish enough to still be standing there when the cops show up is going to jail....because they are assumed to be able and more than willing to pay. Locals actually comitting a crime may never even be arrested...because they have no ability to pay to get out...what good is that! 😆

Thinking about for a moment, I know folks this (or similar) has happened to in Jamaica, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Panama...and it is what I would assume in any Central American country. Proof, or lack thereof, is not even relevant in many cases.