Black Sails

I just finished watching Black Sails for the second time.

If you're a pirate lover and haven't seen it you must be living under a rock. 

 Check it out on Netflix right now, or buy the DVD box set.

Louis Vuitton Cup Final Race 9 Recap | Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli vs INEOS...

It's been fun the past couple of weeks watching highlights of the Louis Vuitton America's Cup races. 

Right now the British team has been taking on the Italian team to see who will go up against the defending champions, New Zealand.

Mexican Fan Palm

The Mexican Fan Palm, a most iconic “skyline” tree, is also the most common palm in the beach areas of Santa Barbara. A native of the canyons of Sonora and Baja Mexico, it is now common throughout Southern California and has become associated with the image of sun-drenched coastal communities, including Santa Barbara.

Its common name describes its homeland and its glossy green fronds, which are shaped (somewhat) like the human palm, scientifically “palmate”, but more truly resemble a 4-foot long and 3-foot wide pleated paper fan.

Its botanical name is Washingtonia robusta. The genus name, Washingtonia, honors our first president, George Washington; the specific epithet, robusta, is from Latin and means hardy and strong.

When the Mexican Fan Palm is young, its trunk is slowly covered with depleted dried fronds, which gardeners usually trim off, leaving the frond bases hugging the trunk in an attractive basket-weave pattern. Untrimmed, a young palm retains these dried fronds, which then accumulate against the trunk to form a thick thatch called a “skirt”. Dried fronds should be trimmed, because otherwise they can be a fire hazard and do become home to rats!

When trimming, it is best to remove only the brown and yellowing fronds and to leave the green fronds intact, so they can continue to provide the palm with photosynthesized plant sugars. When working with these fronds, beware, each has a 3-foot stem (or petiole) which is armed on the margins with stout, recurved spines, ½ to ¾ inch long, that can leave nasty scratches. In an older and taller palm, the fronds in the higher trunk area may be entirely whipped off by high winds.

As the palm ages, its trunk, 8 to 12 inches in diameter, turns a soft gray color and bears rings of frond scars. An older palm can develop a bulge at the foot of the trunk, where exposed, adventitious roots may grow out seeking water.

The black, ovoid-shaped, fruits, called “drupes”, with one seed in each, are ¼ to ½ inch long. Propagation by seed, which will germinate within 2-3 months, is fairly easy.

A Mexican Fan Palm can grow to over 100 feet tall, adding 2 to 3 feet per year when young and slowing to about 1 foot or less per year near maturity. Research on native stands shows that they can live up to 500 years.

This lovely palm is hardy and extremely drought tolerant when established – and can grow in almost any soil, including sand. It does best in bright sunny conditions, but will tolerate some shade. Because of its ultimate height, it should not be planted in a confined area or under power lines. It is cold-hardy to 20 degrees for short time periods, but foliage can be damaged at that temperature. It is also very drought tolerant when established.

They are frequently planted in clusters of two or more, to create a fuller canopy and a more tropical look. They are also planted singularly, in long rows, for a stately formal effect.

https://sbbeautiful.org/mexican-fan-palm/

The Palmetto tree - South Carolina's State Tree

On January 28, 1861 the General Assembly at the time adopted the current version of South Carolina's flag—which prominently displays a palmetto tree--to symbolized Colonel Moultrie's heroic defense of the palmetto-log fort on Sullivan's Island against the attack of the British fleet on June 28, 1776.

The triumph at Fort Moultrie was largely accredited to the ability of the palmetto tree fort to absorb the force of British cannonballs. The palmetto became a symbol of liberty and safety in South Carolina. The palmetto tree was first included as a decorative element on the South Carolina state seal in 1777 and then added to the state flag in 1861. The flag design has remained in tact since then and has become a symbol of pride for many South Carolinians. June 28th is remembered, each year, as "Carolina Day" and celebrated in Charleston each year, with images of the palmetto tree depicted throughout the city.

What's so great about the palmetto tree? Well, the trunk of palmetto trees are not comprised of wood but a fibrous material that allows the tree to bend in the strong winds common along the South Carolina coastline. They endure salt spray and sandy soils and stand tall and beautiful throughout the year. In the United States, the native range of the palmetto tree is the coastal plain of the lower East Coast from southeast North Carolina southward to Florida and west along the Gulf Coastal plain to Texas.

The main difference between palmettos and palm trees are their size. Palm trees can top 80 feet tall, while the largest palmetto grows only about 30 feet tall. Palm tree trunks grow vertically, while the main stem of most palmetto species generally stay on or just below the ground and grow horizontally.

https://www.cedarlawnandlandscaping.com/blog/palmetto-pride-a-brief-history-of-our-state-tree

The Sunken Pirate City of Port Royal

(amusingplanet.com)

Port Royal was a city situated on the end of an 18-mile long sand spit known as the Palisadoes, at the mouth of the Kingston Harbour, in south-eastern Jamaica. Founded in 1518, it rapidly grew to become the most important trading post in the Caribbean Sea due to its strategic position on the trading routes between the New World and Spain. When England officially appointed privateers to raid enemy ships in the Caribbean, as a part of its defence strategy, pirates from around the world congregated at Port Royal to legitimize their trade. Soon Port Royal became a notorious hub for pirate activity, gambling, prostitutes, and booze leading it to be branded as "the wickedest city on earth".

Port Royal’s glory days didn’t last long. At the height of its glittering wealth on June 7, 1692, a massive earthquake shook Jamaica. The sea swallowed the town killing 2,000 people and wounding 3,000 others. The local clergy ascribed the destruction of Port Royal as God's punishment on the people for their sinful ways. Today, the area is a shadow of its former self with a population of less than 2,000 and little to no commercial or political importance.

The first Europeans to land on Jamaica were the Spaniards under the leadership of Christopher Columbus in 1494. Spain maintained control over the island for 146 years, until the English invasion of 1655. As a solution to their defence concerns, the then Governor of England invited pirates to Port Royal giving them official “letters of marque” to go after Spanish ships and settlements. The strategy proved to be so successful that Spain was forced to continually defend their property. With ships frequently looted, it struggled to provide its colonies with manufactured goods on a regular basis.

Port Royal meanwhile flourished. Between 1655 and 1692, it grew faster than any town founded by the English in the New World. At its height in 1692, the town had a population of 6,500 and 2,000 buildings densely packed into 51 acres. Its free-spending inhabitants threw away their money in gambling, whoring and drinking, and the town developed a reputation as a den of wickedness and godlessness. 

When Charles Leslie wrote of Port Royal in the 1660s, he included the description: “Wine and women drained their wealth to such a degree that... some of them became reduced to beggary. They have been known to spend 2 or 3,000 pieces of eight in one night; and one gave a strumpet 500 to see her naked. They used to buy a pipe of wine, place it in the street, and oblige everyone that passed to drink.”

Port Royal’s extravagance came to an abrupt end on June 7, 1692 when a massive earthquake and tsunami struck causing two-thirds of the town to fall into the sea. A series of fires and hurricanes followed and the town was never restored to its former glory. Port Royal lived out its days as a British naval station and today remains as a small fishing village. However, the part of the town lying at the bottom of the shallow sea is considered the most important underwater archaeological site in the western hemisphere, yielding many 16th–and-17th-century artefacts. From UNESCO’s website:

Many of the materials found in the underwater city of Port Royal, are perfect expressions of authenticity, found just exactly as they were originally being used or where they were stored. Cast-iron skillets and pots were still in the hearth with charred wood from the fire concreted to their surfaces. Stacks of pewter plates were found as they fell from their storage space under the stairs in what is surmised to be the serving area of one building. The remains of children were found among the broken walls of their home. Also, uncovered were the remains of barrels containing the trash of the day, including the trimmings of a man's beard and hair in a yard area. Many ceramics were found intact or broken where they fell.

Many of the items recovered over the years from the bottom can be seen at the Museums of History and Ethnography at the Institute of Jamaica in Kingston.

https://www.amusingplanet.com/2015/02/the-sunken-pirate-city-of-port-royal.html