Mythbusters: (ARRR! It be the Pirate Special!)

[tucsoncoyote]

Tonight, me Buckos, The Mythbusters become Pirates! ARRRRR!
So Dip ye tongue in silver, me buckos cause we're going to unleash a booty of Myths! But as always....

Disclaimer: Don't try this at home... Ever! These folks are trained Professionals....


Adam Savage... Jaime Hyneman... these two guys have close to 30 years experimence in special effects between them, and every week on the Discovery Channel they put urban legends and myths and heresay to the test with Known scientific tests and experiments (and sometimes they go a bit crazy here with the science and love to cause mass destruction)!
Along with Kari Byron, Grant Imahara, and Tory Bellachi they put science and urban legends to the ultimate test!





They are the:





.http://members.cox.net/aerodyne2/Mythbusters.jpg


Aye, Tonight we unleash a bountiful booty of Pirate Myths, and some of these include:


In a Swashbuckling fight of Ships, is it the cannonballs that can kill you or can it be the splinters from the impacts that can kill you.. tonight we see if it's a Case of "Shiver Me Timbers" or "Blow me Down"...


Then of course do those Eyepatches really make you see better or is it that this be a load of bunk?


and of course there be Sail Cutting as we watch Tori, Grant and Kari show us how to slice that sail with a knife..


So it back put your pet parrot on yer shoulder and grab the booty of popcorn as we open up.. Mythbusters: The Pirate Myths...


(Move Over Capt. Jack Sparrow, here come the new Pirates!)


So let's grab ourselves an ale and talk about these myths..

Edited Note: Some rather interesting Surprises in this episode... For example, the Can an Eyepatch make a pirate see better in the dark? myth is perhaps the biggest surprise here.. it's very Plausible... though I think the Rum myth is busted..(Have to go back and look at this episode again later tonight..



:coyote:

[ShadowGUN]

I was surprised that the eye patch one work. Here I thought that they use it only for hidding their injure eye.The cannon was cool too expecially when the cannonball when through the pigs and fake Grant.

[ctomasi]

Ggreat show! Just watched it last night. I wasn't too surprised by the eye patch. We did an audio interview with Grant at the end of September for our podcast http://www.chuckchat.com/technorama/?page_id=129.

Once he explained what it was about I realized it could happen because I've don't similar experiments as a child (minus the costumes.)

I have to admit I WAS surprised by the amount of wood shrapnel from the small cannonball.

[tucsoncoyote]

I was surprised that the eye patch one work. Here I thought that they use it only for hidding their injure eye.The cannon was cool too expecially when the cannonball when through the pigs and fake Grant.

Well for the Eyepatch one, I didn't realize that this was based on the idea of the "Cones" and "Rods" in the back of your eye..(It's the "Rods" that help you see better in the dark.) so when that bit of surprise came down, I'm starting to wonder if I should start Wearing an eyepatch over my left (Worse) eye...for better night vision..)

as for the Cannonball and Splinter test, I had a feeling that even with a high muzzle velocity (The Real Cannon Fired at an astonishing 1,430 feet per second (or 975 MPH which is really Mach 1.25 to 1.5*) it really makes you realize that splinters are not the thing that is going to kill anyone..(But it'll leave quite a stinging feeling having to pull wood out of your skin).. But then I feel the test wasn't really fully justified either.. after all Not all Ship Cannons fired "Solid Shot". I did further study and a lot of Pirates (actually Privateers) used a variety of Weapons, and one that comes to mind is perhaps "Grape Shot" or "Canister" (Canister shot) is much like a shotgun shell and "Grape shot" is really a Hollowed out cannonball with buckshot inside.. now if this had been one of those items, I feel that this would have been a different stories for the Pigs... (Canister shot is worse because of the fact that it's like I said, A giant Shotgun shell, with hundreds of buck shot inside..

So I feel the Cannon test really was biased and not fully busted.. (Maybe I should let them know about this.) but as for the other tests? I feel that each one is in fact quite realistic (and the Rum cleaning clothes? Yep it's not Vodka and it doesn't clean clothes.

(*Edited Note about Mach: Mach Speed is variable due to pressure, Temperature and Air density and at Sea level the velocity of Mach 1 is around 760 MPH; at 40,000 feet the Mach number decreases to about 640 MPH. So that is why I gave those figures but the real values would be right around Mach 1.2 rather then 1.5).
:coyote:

[Fifi Fanatic]

Well for the Eyepatch one, I didn't realize that this was based on the idea of the "Cones" and "Rods" in the back of your eye..(It's the "Rods" that help you see better in the dark.) so when that bit of surprise came down, I'm starting to wonder if I should start Wearing an eyepatch over my left (Worse) eye...for better night vision..)

as for the Cannonball and Splinter test, I had a feeling that even with a high muzzle velocity (The Real Cannon Fired at an astonishing 1,430 feet per second (or 975 MPH which is really Mach 1.25 to 1.5*) it really makes you realize that splinters are not the thing that is going to kill anyone..(But it'll leave quite a stinging feeling having to pull wood out of your skin).. But then I feel the test wasn't really fully justified either.. after all Not all Ship Cannons fired "Solid Shot". I did further study and a lot of Pirates (actually Privateers) used a variety of Weapons, and one that comes to mind is perhaps "Grape Shot" or "Canister" (Canister shot) is much like a shotgun shell and "Grape shot" is really a Hollowed out cannonball with buckshot inside.. now if this had been one of those items, I feel that this would have been a different stories for the Pigs... (Canister shot is worse because of the fact that it's like I said, A giant Shotgun shell, with hundreds of buck shot inside..

So I feel the Cannon test really was biased and not fully busted.. (Maybe I should let them know about this.) but as for the other tests? I feel that each one is in fact quite realistic (and the Rum cleaning clothes? Yep it's not Vodka and it doesn't clean clothes.

(*Edited Note about Mach: Mach Speed is variable due to pressure, Temperature and Air density and at Sea level the velocity of Mach 1 is around 760 MPH; at 40,000 feet the Mach number decreases to about 640 MPH. So that is why I gave those figures but the real values would be right around Mach 1.2 rather then 1.5).
:coyote:

Yeah, I think you should drop them a line about this. They might redo the test with grape shot and canister shot. As a Civil War reenactor, I primarily know about canister shot as "the infantry killer" - the ammo that was used when the attacking infantry was right on top of you. There was also "Double Canister", which was extra lethal. Getting back to pirates, there was also chain shot, which was two cannonballs linked by a chain. This was used to tear through a ship's mast and rigging. Chain shot was actually seen in the first POTC movie, by the way. Pintel and Ragetti fire a round of it that shreds The Interceptor's mast.

I felt sure that the eye patch myth was plausible. But having said that, pirates and sailors of the time wore the eye patch because they really were missing an eye. There were a lot of things aboard ship that could cause a sailor to lose a piece of their body - which is why hooks and peglegs are also associated with pirates.

Anyway, great show all around. I want that T-shirt that Adam was wearing that said "Am I missing an eyebrow?" :D