The Pirate's Lair: no cheesy reproductions here, only cheesy sailors!
January 11, 2020 7:20 PM Subscribe
The Pirate's Lair is a vintage-feeling website, first online circa 2005 (Archive.org), with U.S. Navy China tableware, silverware, antique naval and nautical furniture, but since has become home to hundreds of restored antique trunks, and a photo with information on steamer factories of the 1880s and 1890s, and even more information on antique rum and water kegs. There's more treasures to be found, happy hunting!
Maybe, but blimey the scrimshaw without author attribution.
posted by clavdivs at 8:05 PM on January 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by clavdivs at 8:05 PM on January 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
Arrrrrrr, there be booty here...
posted by jim in austin at 9:26 PM on January 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by jim in austin at 9:26 PM on January 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
Is it weird that I miss this internet?
posted by johnxlibris at 9:27 PM on January 11, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by johnxlibris at 9:27 PM on January 11, 2020 [5 favorites]
Is this just a shopping site?
A shopping site, with interesting information and Web 1.0 style, even in 2020.
Is it weird that I miss this internet?
Nope, I'm there with you. In fact, I saw this on Money for Nothing (previously) in a segment about an old trunk, and I wanted to know more. They didn't mention the site by name, but in the brief scenes of the site, I was able to search for specific text and I found this.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:29 PM on January 11, 2020 [3 favorites]
A shopping site, with interesting information and Web 1.0 style, even in 2020.
Is it weird that I miss this internet?
Nope, I'm there with you. In fact, I saw this on Money for Nothing (previously) in a segment about an old trunk, and I wanted to know more. They didn't mention the site by name, but in the brief scenes of the site, I was able to search for specific text and I found this.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:29 PM on January 11, 2020 [3 favorites]
Me, me.. * waives *. .. I'm out here missing the internet too.
posted by elgee at 10:09 PM on January 11, 2020
posted by elgee at 10:09 PM on January 11, 2020
damn now i want a thousand dollar restored antique trunk.
posted by glonous keming at 11:44 PM on January 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by glonous keming at 11:44 PM on January 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
did the Internet really look like that in 2005? i associate that look more with the 1996-1999 Internet era — i see a site like that from 2005 and i think it was maybe deliberately retro from the get-go.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 4:14 AM on January 12, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 4:14 AM on January 12, 2020 [3 favorites]
Cool old trunks. But now I gotta ask... why do some of those trunks have that "dome top"? is it so other trunks don't get stacked on top of them in cargo? That leads me to ask: Why do traditional, D&D style, video game style "Chests" have rounded tops?
posted by SoberHighland at 6:51 AM on January 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by SoberHighland at 6:51 AM on January 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
I find the china quite fascinating -- like, why was the US Navy using different china depending on the rank of the admiral whose mess it was? Was that really a necessary expense? Couldn't all the admirals have eaten off the same china?
posted by jacquilynne at 8:01 AM on January 12, 2020
posted by jacquilynne at 8:01 AM on January 12, 2020
I own a camelback chest and I occasionally think about doing something to maintain or restore it, so I was eager to read about the restoration process.
It turns out I'm skeptical about a restoration process that does things like remove the original leather covering (with what looks like a cool pattern) and replaces it bare varnished wood like they do in their #336 example at the bottom of the page I linked to. I have similar feelings about removing the paper lining.
I much prefer either taking the attitude that its a functional piece, so broken parts get repaired or replaced by new stuff of similar quality and function, or taking the attitude that it's an antique, so restoration should be invisible and preserve as much as possible.
But maybe that's just a matter of different strokes, and they do sell unrestored trunks.
(Mine was painted avocado by my mother back in the early 60s, which is pretty much the canonical thing you should never do to an antique chest. But at least it's a period appropriate mistake and that makes me love it all the more)
posted by surlyben at 2:50 PM on January 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
It turns out I'm skeptical about a restoration process that does things like remove the original leather covering (with what looks like a cool pattern) and replaces it bare varnished wood like they do in their #336 example at the bottom of the page I linked to. I have similar feelings about removing the paper lining.
I much prefer either taking the attitude that its a functional piece, so broken parts get repaired or replaced by new stuff of similar quality and function, or taking the attitude that it's an antique, so restoration should be invisible and preserve as much as possible.
But maybe that's just a matter of different strokes, and they do sell unrestored trunks.
(Mine was painted avocado by my mother back in the early 60s, which is pretty much the canonical thing you should never do to an antique chest. But at least it's a period appropriate mistake and that makes me love it all the more)
posted by surlyben at 2:50 PM on January 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
I could do without the high-gloss varnish they seem to slather on as well. But they really are cool items.
posted by SoberHighland at 3:00 PM on January 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by SoberHighland at 3:00 PM on January 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
How many times can you "click here and return to The Pirate's Lair Home Page?" I think you'll be surprised!
posted by rhizome at 3:24 PM on January 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by rhizome at 3:24 PM on January 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
Oh dang, this is the exact layout my Sailor Moon fan site had when I was 10. My dad is going to love this. Thank you for sharing.
posted by Kitchen Witch at 10:46 PM on January 13, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Kitchen Witch at 10:46 PM on January 13, 2020 [1 favorite]
> did the Internet really look like that in 2005? i associate that look more with the 1996-1999 Internet era — i see a site like that from 2005 and i think it was maybe deliberately retro from the get-go
Arrrrr, my old site looked a lot like that in 2002. Maybe us pirate enthusiasts were slow to get design skills.
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:40 AM on January 15, 2020 [1 favorite]
Arrrrr, my old site looked a lot like that in 2002. Maybe us pirate enthusiasts were slow to get design skills.
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:40 AM on January 15, 2020 [1 favorite]
Cool old trunks. But now I gotta ask... why do some of those trunks have that "dome top"? is it so other trunks don't get stacked on top of them in cargo? That leads me to ask: Why do traditional, D&D style, video game style "Chests" have rounded tops?
I finally looked for some information on this, and this other Web 1.0 trunk-focused website, Legacy Trunks.com, has a rough history of trunks. In short, flat-topped trunks came first, and then as time passed, people got fancy and rounded or domed the top of trunks, with certain styles getting specific names (Jenny Lind and Saratoga [also known as humpback, camelback, monitor top, and barrel top] being the two most notable types). This Old Trunk has some more trunk history, mostly agreeing, but in places disagreeing, with Legacy Trunks.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:42 PM on January 20, 2020 [1 favorite]
I finally looked for some information on this, and this other Web 1.0 trunk-focused website, Legacy Trunks.com, has a rough history of trunks. In short, flat-topped trunks came first, and then as time passed, people got fancy and rounded or domed the top of trunks, with certain styles getting specific names (Jenny Lind and Saratoga [also known as humpback, camelback, monitor top, and barrel top] being the two most notable types). This Old Trunk has some more trunk history, mostly agreeing, but in places disagreeing, with Legacy Trunks.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:42 PM on January 20, 2020 [1 favorite]
In conclusion, trunk design is a land of contrasts.
posted by rhizome at 10:39 AM on January 21, 2020
posted by rhizome at 10:39 AM on January 21, 2020
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posted by Ideefixe at 7:41 PM on January 11, 2020