4444 Kanonensegler

[playmofire]

Thanks for the review, andi, and the photo of the custom, cachalotte.

Though I'm not into ships (well, not now that I've got rid of all but one of mine) I still appreciate what I see.  I like the ability to carry three cannon, and the bowchaser especially.

Hopefully, more versions, by PM or customs, will quickly appear.

[CountBogro]

I am terribly sorry - I love the ship; but HATE the canons. I just love the old red cannons; the newer ones are just so-so - but those new ones - YUCK !!!

Still in love with the ship though 

Bogro

[Pyrrhus]

What a marvelous picture you got, Cachalote!!!

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think morion helmets were used by the times by most European nations, so they seem to be well in these Portuguese soldiers. You are right in that the caravel was a larger ship... He, he, I would give the lil' ship to the pirates and the old 3550 pirate ship to the Portuguese...

I prefer to see the Portuguese crew with rapiers than with sabers, I think that by the XVI century (where I think this customization better fits) sabers were not yet as known, and double-edged swords were thin-bladed.

And talking about cannons... do you know of any pirate-line cannon without crests on the interior (for the grooves on the balls) and without the old shield with a cross in the outer surface (typical of the old pirates and Nuremberg mercenaries). That would be the perfect playmobil pirate cannon for me.

Do the "crest-on-cannon-and-groove-on-ball" arrangement proved to be less dangerous to kids than the old smooth cannon balls? I suppose that just making the metallic spring less powerful was sufficient if they wanted to desacelerate the shoot (and we would have more realistic cannons).

[cachalote]

i would put this triangular sail caravela in the xv century instead of the xvi pyrrhus. 
bartolomeu dias used it to go as far as the cape of good hope (south africa) in 1488 but after that, they were just to small and fragile to go any further just by themselves.
they were still used in the xvi and even in the xvii century but the main navy boats were, by then, the naus.
although xvi century portuguese civil architecture is one of my areas of study i know very little about armament or military dressing from those days.
one thing i know, very litlle separated portugal from spain in clothes and weapons.
both countries even had the same saint as their patron in war - santiago (saint jacques) - causing a lot of confusion when both armies had to fight eachother shouting the name of the same saint. 
portugal then decided that its army should have 2 saints as war patrons - são jorge (sait george) when fighting the spanish, and santiago (saint jacques) when fighting everybody else (mainly the moors). 

[Pyrrhus]

Right, Cachalote, the triangular "latin" sails resemble more the caravel than the XVI century "square-sailed" ships as galleons. I was led to my "diagnosis" by the morions, though I really don't know if were common in the XV century.

I did't know Santiago meant "Saint Jacques" in French, I knew there is the name "Thiago" in Portuguese (which I think is likely related to the Spanish "Diego"; in Spanish both names are common, "Diego" and "Santiago"). So Thiago must mean Jacques, I suppose? (and, I know I am quite off-topic now, but it is a long time doubt to me... is Jack a diminutive for Jacques? is the name Jacques used in English the same as in French?)

[cachalote]

2 difficult question pyrrhus... 

the portuguese name "tiago" descends form the hebrew "jacob".
from "jacob" you get "iago" (still rarely used in portugal and spain).
when the saint with this name "santo iago" becomes famous, you use only one word to name it - "santiago".
later, when you decide to separate again the "santo" from "iago", the "t" stays added and you get "tiago".
as far as i know the same root - "jacob" - makes several names in several languages:
- "jaime" and "jacó" in portuguese;
- "jaime" and diego" in spanish;
- "giacomo" in italian;
- "jacques" in french;
- "james" in english.

from what my wife tells me (she's half english) "jack" is used in america as a diminutive for "john" (although i fail to see how in can diminute a name maintaining the same number of letters). 
maybe another form - "jake" - has some link with "jacob", i don't know. 

[Gustavo]

as far as i know the same root - "jacob" - makes several names in several languages:
- "jaime" and "jacó" in portuguese;
- "jaime" and diego" in spanish;
- "giacomo" in italian;
- "jacques" in french;
- "james" in english.

from what my wife tells me (she's half english) "jack" is used in america as a diminutive for "john" (although i fail to see how in can diminute a name maintaining the same number of letters). 
maybe another form - "jake" - has some link with "jacob", i don't know. 

It's a common form to make -- not diminutives, but -- nicknames, in many languages, Cachalote. For example, Gustavo, in Portuguese, can have Guga as nick; Veronica is commonly called Nocas. And so on.

As for the forms of James, in many languages, here we go:

Iakob, Jakob, Jacob (Hebrew)

Yakov (Russian, & Slavonic languages)

Jacobus, -i (Latin)
 and from this
Iago (Italian, Spanish, through Shakespeare ...)
Diogo (Italian)
Giacomo (Italian)
Diego (Spanish)
Santiago (Spanish), in the names of cities
 (note here that the "t" belongs to the first word: Sant Iago
 but later became part of the name, after all: San Pedro, San Tiago ...)
Tiago (old Spanish form, & traditional Portuguese)
Tiago, Thiago (modern Portuguese; until the mid 1990s, Portuguese law didn't accept the form with an "h"; I don't know how things are nowadays ... It is very common in Brasil, but it's somewhat new (i.e., from people of my generation, 30 years old, and younger))
Jacó (Portuguese)
Jacques (French)

Jakob (German)
Jacob (English), nick: Jake

The forms below either come from the Italian name Giacomo
 or are an evolution in the same way of that name, in which
 "b" became "m" in prononciation
James (English) [almost forgot an important nickname: Jim]
Jaime (Portuguese)

These many forms in different languages happen with names widely used since the Christianization of Europe; there are different forms for some of the apostles: Peter, James & John, mainly; Thomas and Philip are also very frequently used, but their forms don't vary as much as the other three. (...)


The boat (4444, coming back to the subject ) is very pretty, Cachalote ... Thanks for the pictures! Looking forward to getting one ... Simple, and has many uses!

 
G.--

[Pyrrhus]

Wow, thank you, pals!

It seems weird so many different derivations from the Hebrew Jacob, names as different as James, Jaime and Diego having the same root...

I think you are right Cachalote in that Jake is a diminutive for Jacob, because in English Jake sounds as the first sillab of Jacob. I heard also that Jack comes from John, does not seem to be a diminutive, but may be a nickname as "Chuck" is from "Charles".

To the list, there can be added:

"Giacoppo" (Italian) and "Jacobo" (Spanish). Santiago is also a common name for persons in Spanish-speaking countries.

Thank you and good luck.

[BlackPearl2006]

I just noticed that this 1st release of the 4444 style boat comes with 2 sets of flags:  it can fly a standard black jolly roger pirate flag, AND it also comes with a flag that has a blue field and white cross, centered over a a blue small blue shield with 3 golden fleurs-de-lis:  a FRENCH MERCHANT SHIP'S FLAG!!!!




INTERESTING!

I always thought the captain of this boat seemed more french than anything to me.  (He is my favourite pirate clicky so far)

[WarriorOfToys]

One of my favorite Pirates as well...
That is a very interesting fact...
Very cool too! I will use it as such from now on.