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Written by Lisa Nix
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Wednesday, 16 January 2008 |
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Pirate Special 2 Original Air Date: November 28, 2007
Episode # 92
Pirate Special 2
Myth: Rowboat Submarine
The Myth:
Can 2 pirates walk on the ocean floor underneath an overturned rowboat, using the resulting air pocket to breathe?
The Experts: Jamie and Adam
Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Adam: Even if you were Jabba the Hutt and weighed enough to keep the boat down, your arms would still have an out of body experience!
Test 1- Adam & Jamie walk underneath an upside down rowboat down a ramp into a swimming pool to test its submarine like properties.
Result- There is a breathable pocket of air in the boat but they can’t overcome the boat’s natural buoyancy. Once the guys are no longer able to touch the bottom of the pool, they float to the top along with the boat.
Test 2- Adam and Jamie add 30 pounds each to themselves to simulate the amount of stuff a pirate would be carrying. They again attempt to walk underneath the boat into the pool
Result- The extra weight isn’t enough to overcome the buoyancy of the rowboat.
Test 3- Adam & Jamie anchor themselves to the bottom of the pool with 500 lbs of barbells. They submerge the boat and blow air up into the reservoir to create a small air pocket.
Result- Even with 200lbs attached to the rowboat to offset the buoyancy of the wood, the guys can’t hold on and the boat floats to the top.
Summary- Adam and Jamie fill the boat with water, using buckets that carry 40 lbs of water each, and determine that it will take 2000lbs to sink the vessel. For 2 pirates to walk on the ocean floor and hold a rowboat down they would have to overcome 2000 lbs of force. The myth is busted.
Myth: Sand Necktie
The Myth: Legend says that pirates would bury a prisoner neck deep in sand at the water line at low tide. The unlucky victim would drown slowly as the tide came in. The build team wants to know if it’s possible to escape while waiting for the tides to change.
The Experts: Sanjay Singh is the paramedic on duty, and he thinks that this might be dangerous.
Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Grant: Right, here we have a very rare sight – the Burrowing Belleci. He’s almost formed his little burrow, and that’ll be his home for the next five years.
Test 1- The build team dig a vertical hole away from the tide for safety. Tory gets buried up to his neck and has to go to his happy place to keep from freaking out.
Result- He begins by wiggling his fingers, then one hand and, at the 5 minute mark, his entire arm. It takes him 86 minutes to struggle out of the hole.
Kari and Grant wonder if the fact that the sand was dry made it easier for Tory to wriggle out. They decide to try to replicate the myth exactly and bury Grant in wet sand.
Test 2- Tory & Grant build a box held together by straps that will be filled with wet sand. In the event that Grant can’t release himself from the sand, the straps around the box will be cut and the wet sand will fall away. Grant gets into the box; sand is poured in around him and watered down. Kari keeps the hose flowing in the box to simulate the tide’s constant flow.
Result- Grant can wiggle toes & fingers but can’t move his arms. However, any cavities he makes with his fingers or toes are quickly filled in by the wet sand. Despite his best efforts, Grant cannot extract himself from the box and the straps are cut away, releasing him.
Summary- With a continual influx of water provided by the incoming tide there would be no way a person buried up to his or her neck in sand would be able to extract him or herself in time to avoid drowning. The myth is confirmed
Myth: Cannonball Chaos
The Myth: After running out of cannonballs in battle, pirates used a variety of things at hand as weapons- such as:
Bottles of rum/wine
Steak Knives
Misc. cutlery
Heavy duty metal chain
Nails
A pirate’s own wooden leg
The Experts:
Harry Webb, owner of Old Moses (the cannon)
Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Adam (channeling Billy Joel): A bottle of red, a bottle of white – whatever kind of mood you’re in tonight.
To test the effectiveness of the various improvised weaponry, Adam & Jamie go to the Alameda bomb range. They are met by Harry Webb, a cannoneer, and “Old Moses”, a replica of an 1841 six pound ball cannon with a 60” barrel. Harry tells them they can shoot anything the gun will bear. The use a dead pig (a dead pirate pig) as a human analog target.
For the control test the guys load the cannon with grapeshot - legitimate period accurate ammunition as a point of comparison. The grapeshot shoots holes in the pig very effectively.
Test 1 - Bottles of Wine - A bottle of wine is placed in the cannon and fired at the target. Jamie believes that the shockwave would vaporize the liquid and disintegrate the glass with little effect on the enemy
Result - Jamie is proven right, the glass is dispersed in minute shards and results in only superficial damage to the pirate pig.
Summary - Busted, wine bottles make an ineffective weapon
Test 2 - Cutlery (Spoons, Forks and Knives)- Jamie loads loose silverware into the cannon
Result- The silverware certainly gets mangled and goes everywhere but none of it hits the target.
Summary - Busted, the cutlery makes an ineffective, impossible to aim weapon
Test 3 - Steak Knives - The knives are placed in a canister, blades out, to better direct the projectile as they leave the cannon
Result - The knives carve a considerable amount of damage in to the pirate pig. The alignment of the knives in the canister kept them compact as they left the muzzle
Summary - Plausible, knives made an accurate and effective weapon
Test 4 - Wooden Leg - Adam corks the cannon with his homemade wooden leg
Result - The leg is blown to splinters
Summary - Busted, the wood is no match for the powerful cannon and can’t be used as a weapon
Test 5 – Nails - Ye Olde Nails are placed in a canister and then loaded in the cannon
Result - The nails do significant damage to the target, almost as much as the grapeshot control test
Summary - Plausible. Nails would’ve done significant damage to the enemy when shot out of a cannon
Test 6 - Chain. Heavy duty chain is loaded into the muzzle of the cannon
Result - The chain does a horrific amount of damage to the pig. So much so that the high speed replay gets a content warning from Discovery. The chain slices through the pig, bounces off the hillside and lands a couple hundred feet away, undamaged.
Summary - Confirmed. The chain causes far and away the most damage to the target. It is an effective and accurate weapon.
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Episode Descriptions 
