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Please, don't try anything that you're about to see us do at home. Ever.

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Me beauties.

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Sea dogs Adam and Jamie have plundered the seven seas for pirate parable and maritime

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myth.

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I'm so pumped!

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First, do more seamen die from the wooden shrapnel than the actual cannonball.

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Definitely made a lot of shrapnel.

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Then, Carrie Grant and Tori have their eye on the story that pirate patches were a night

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vision aid.

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That was quite funny.

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Next, Adam gets dirty and Jamie cleans up. Will Rum remove everyday pirate stains?

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The flight of the pirate laundremen.

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Okay, I'm ready for battle.

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And finally, is it Hollywood hocus pocus or can you slow a high fall with a knife sale?

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A nasty, irish, scurvy dog.

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Who are the myth musters?

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Adam Savage.

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Dangerous mind.

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Middle-man.

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And Jamie Heinemann.

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Between them over 30 years special effects experience.

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Joining them, Tori Belachie.

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I miss you buddy.

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Carrie Byron.

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Don't try what you're about to see at home.

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And Grant Imahara.

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I'm pumping as fast as I can.

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They don't just tell the myths.

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They put them to the test.

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The Myth.

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Something tells me I know the answer to this one.

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What's the myth?

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Right.

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The myth is that in a firefight with some pirates,

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in a fuselage of cannonballs,

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that you would be more in danger of the shrapnel

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than the cannonballs themselves.

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He's speechless.

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Army hearties.

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This myth comes straight from the glory days of pirate privateers.

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Morgan.

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Skilled, blagged cappins would run down their heavy, treasure-laden prey,

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then deliver a mighty broadside.

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On the uproar fire.

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But is it true the deadly splinters created on impact

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cause more deaths than the cannonball itself?

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We'll close for the killin' and barter.

48
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And I'll take the look-a-larry from the far yard.

49
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So what's the plan?

50
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Well, last time we tried to find a cannon,

51
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the best we could do was find one that just shot blanks.

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This time we need to find one that fires a real cannonball.

53
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And they're not gonna be that easy to find, I don't think.

54
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Now let's put the researches on it.

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And in the meantime, I've got some fabulous ideas

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for a small-scale air-powered cannon.

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Turn your face around.

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Now if you'd be unfamiliar with pirateon ways,

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listen up and listen close.

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It's Pirate Speak Lesson Number One.

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A pirate woman is more commonly referred to as a wench.

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Adam briefs myth-wench Jess.

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If an air cannon is to be substituted for a real cannon,

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it still needs to fire a ball at much the same speed.

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When I want to end up with this as slow as possible speed,

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a cannonball could hit a boat,

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cause I don't think we can match the highest possible speed with the air cannon.

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So while Jess hits the history books to find out about muzzle velocities,

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Jamie tells us more about the plan.

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It's time to get started on the miniature air cannon.

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This will be a 20-foot-long schedule 40 pipe

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with another schedule 40 pipe and a cap on it on the other end.

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A valve will go between the two,

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and we're just gonna pressure the thing with shop air.

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Turn the valve on, out goes the ball into the wood.

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This one is going to be firing a 2-inch ball bearing.

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Not exactly what you would have had in the oldie times.

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They happen to be the easiest thing for us to get a hold of

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because people generally don't fire these things these days.

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While hotshot Heidemann puts together a target,

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old red-beard savage gets down to the finer plumbing.

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I just don't want any leaks. I don't like leaks.

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MythWench Jess has crunched the numbers.

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For a blistering broadside,

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a typical pirate cannonball travels at more than 900 feet per second.

86
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That's way out of their little cannons league.

87
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But they think 600 feet per second will be sufficient to splinter the wood

88
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in a meaningful way.

89
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So Adam, what are you looking for from this test?

90
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There are three things we want to get out of this test.

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First and foremost is which of the woods is most shrapnel worthy?

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We're only going to use one of them for the large-scale test,

93
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and this is the test where we'll determine which one.

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Second is, is there a death zone around the point of impact?

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Do splinters travel in a specific direction?

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And third, do they travel with enough speed to have a seemingly deadly amount of power?

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Do they penetrate?

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Pirates weren't choosy about most things, including what their ships were made of.

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But three woods seem to be the favorites.

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We've got pine, we've got white oak, we've got red oak.

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Now, these aren't scaled to the ship,

102
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but that's because on the small-scale test,

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we just want to look at relative splintering ability of each of these kinds of woods.

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Blimey!

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It's simple. Fire the two-inch ball bearing into the three different types of wood.

106
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Examine each splinter pattern, and then select the best for the full-scale test.

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And of course, the winner will be the wood with the deadliest spray of shrapnel.

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First up on the Cannonball Collision Course, pine planking.

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In three, two, one.

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We're clear.

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Oh, the anticipation.

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That is cool!

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It's a perfect hole.

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A perfect hole, but did it splinter?

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Oh, look at that!

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That is an excellent thing!

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That is awesome.

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Yeah.

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It's just a beautiful result.

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Okay, well, let's reset.

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With Adam and Jamie up and running,

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let's take time out to tackle a tale of tricky pirates and their eye patches.

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All right, you guys know the whole stereotypical pirate with the eye patch.

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Yeah, you do.

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Well, apparently it wasn't to cover up an eye that had been gouged out during battle.

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Well, the myth surrounding this one is actually really cool.

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I mean, the idea is that both of their eyes are perfectly fine,

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but kept one eye covered with an eye patch to keep that eye constantly night vision ready.

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So if you had to dip down below deck during the day,

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or fight a battle at night after having been inside reading maps.

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All right, so we're going to have to figure out a way to test this one.

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Aye aye, Captain.

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Aye aye.

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For all their army hearties and a vastie scurvy dogs,

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this myth would suggest pirates were no fools when it came to eyeball anatomy.

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According to pirate folklore, by wearing a patch over a perfectly good eye,

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a pirate could exit the glare of a ship's deck, shuffle the patch over,

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and enter the dark below,

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and the welded room below decks to fight a night time battle up top.

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We've got the eye patches. That part's easy.

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I think now the best thing we can do is go talk to an ophthalmologist

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and see if the myth has any merit to it before we start.

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Then we can figure out a way to test the night vision,

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maybe like a pirate themed obstacle course.

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Well, if we're building this obstacle course, we're not going to be able to test it.

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So we'll save this one for Jamie and Adam and let them test it out.

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We can make them wear pirate outfits. It'd be perfect.

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While Tori and Grant begin building an obstacle course,

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uniquely designed to test a pirate's night vision,

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you guys should maybe just stand back in case this thing falls.

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Carrie is off to see an ophthalm...

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An ophthalm...

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An eye doctor.

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To test out our pirate eye patch myth,

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I've come to UCSF to their Arthymology department,

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so I can see the science behind your eyes adjusting to the light and the dark.

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Now, the whole idea of this is that the eye patch isn't because you have only one eye,

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but it's supposed to keep night vision in one eye

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so that, you know, intruders coming onto your ship,

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you can quickly change eyes and still have that night vision

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and maybe have an advantage over them.

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So that sounds to me like a plausible myth,

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and the reason is that if you keep one eye covered with a dark patch,

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you can keep the nighttime vision cells from getting exposed to light

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and you can keep their sensitivity in darkness.

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And that works because the eye has two major sets of cells, cones and rods.

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The cone-shaped cells in the retina enable us to see fine detail and color in bright conditions.

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And the rod cells, which are super sensitive to low levels of light, help us see in the dark.

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But the catch is, after being in the light,

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it takes a while for the rod cells to get warmed up for night vision.

171
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So I'm wearing my pirate eye patch.

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That means I've got the rods active on that side

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and then the cones active on the eye that can see.

174
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That should work. That should be exactly what's happening.

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Okay, but this is Mythbusters, where we leave no theory untested.

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Basically, Carrie gets an eye patch and allows the covered eye plenty of time to adjust to the dark.

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Dr. Duncan then bleaches Carrie's other eye with bright light.

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This feels sort of dizzying.

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I kind of feel like I'm in that movie, Clop or Gorge.

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She then tests to see how long it is before Carrie can see low levels of light again.

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For a comparison, the test is repeated with the already dark, adjusted eye.

182
00:10:56,500 --> 00:11:00,500
So here's how you did with the unpatched eye that had all the light.

183
00:11:00,500 --> 00:11:05,500
It took about 25 minutes for you to see the dimmest level of light you could see

184
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or took about 25 minutes for your rods to recover from that bright light.

185
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Now, if we look at the eye that was patched the whole time...

186
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Wow, what a difference.

187
00:11:15,500 --> 00:11:22,500
Exactly. As soon as we turned off the light, you were immediately able to see as dim a level

188
00:11:22,500 --> 00:11:27,500
as you were able to see after about 25-30 minutes in the eye that had been exposed to the bright light.

189
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So the patch allowed you to have good sensitivity of your rods right away after the bright light.

190
00:11:33,500 --> 00:11:37,500
So it looks like Carrie has got the science behind the eye patch myth covered.

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And if she can find her way to the door, we can move things along.

192
00:11:42,500 --> 00:11:44,500
I can't see anything still.

193
00:11:45,500 --> 00:11:49,500
Adam and Jamie are testing the theory that in a pirate ship battle,

194
00:11:49,500 --> 00:11:53,500
it's not the directing for the cannonball to fear most,

195
00:11:53,500 --> 00:11:57,500
but the splintering wood caused by the shell piercing the ship.

196
00:11:58,500 --> 00:12:03,500
Our first test with the pine was actually pretty spectacular.

197
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The shrapnel created is quite nasty.

198
00:12:06,500 --> 00:12:12,500
It looks like this whole area would be a bloody mess if you happen to be standing right next to it.

199
00:12:14,500 --> 00:12:19,500
Wow. That is awesome.

200
00:12:20,500 --> 00:12:22,500
The splinter's a plenty,

201
00:12:22,500 --> 00:12:28,500
as it achieved the 600 feet per second ball speed required to simulate a genuine cannon.

202
00:12:28,500 --> 00:12:33,500
It's 273 miles per hour. It's slower than I was hoping.

203
00:12:34,500 --> 00:12:37,500
But it's still pretty darn fast for a 20-foot barrel.

204
00:12:38,500 --> 00:12:40,500
So the air cannon isn't quite up to speed,

205
00:12:40,500 --> 00:12:45,500
but at this stage they're just comparing the relative splintering qualities of the wood.

206
00:12:45,500 --> 00:12:51,500
And seeing as they are already achieving an impressive spray of shrapnel, they're going to move on.

207
00:12:51,500 --> 00:12:54,500
Next on the cannonball run, White Oak.

208
00:12:54,500 --> 00:12:57,500
Three, two, one.

209
00:13:04,500 --> 00:13:05,500
Oh.

210
00:13:08,500 --> 00:13:10,500
It looks like a bit of it's missing.

211
00:13:10,500 --> 00:13:13,500
A large chunk of white oak went walkabout,

212
00:13:13,500 --> 00:13:17,500
but the frag pattern on the foam panels is conclusive.

213
00:13:18,500 --> 00:13:20,500
That is brutal.

214
00:13:20,500 --> 00:13:22,500
That is the real deal.

215
00:13:22,500 --> 00:13:26,500
I mean, these things are almost obliterated.

216
00:13:27,500 --> 00:13:31,500
Well, it definitely made a lot of shrapnel, even more than the pine.

217
00:13:31,500 --> 00:13:34,500
Well, yeah, it made less pieces of shrapnel,

218
00:13:34,500 --> 00:13:39,500
but what it did was they were much bigger and looks like a lot more lethal.

219
00:13:40,500 --> 00:13:43,500
I was pulling the tape off of this to reset it, and can you guess?

220
00:13:43,500 --> 00:13:45,500
Some of it's stuck into the wood.

221
00:13:45,500 --> 00:13:47,500
Uh-huh. Right there.

222
00:13:47,500 --> 00:13:51,500
Yeah, they're larger, heavier pieces, and so, you know,

223
00:13:51,500 --> 00:13:55,500
that starts to make me think that this would be possible.

224
00:13:55,500 --> 00:13:59,500
You know, it'd be possible for somebody to be killed with a splinter like that in the right place.

225
00:13:59,500 --> 00:14:00,500
Yeah.

226
00:14:00,500 --> 00:14:04,500
And remembering that we're only at around, what was it?

227
00:14:04,500 --> 00:14:07,500
Yeah, we're at half the speed and half the size of a real cannon.

228
00:14:07,500 --> 00:14:09,500
That is awesome.

229
00:14:11,500 --> 00:14:16,500
So, if the two woods tested so far, White Oak clearly has the deadliest potential.

230
00:14:17,500 --> 00:14:20,500
The final test is Red Oak.

231
00:14:20,500 --> 00:14:24,500
In three, two, one.

232
00:14:27,500 --> 00:14:29,500
I love this.

233
00:14:31,500 --> 00:14:35,500
It's a bullseye every time, and the wood is flying.

234
00:14:37,500 --> 00:14:40,500
Yeah, it's more really, really, really big splinters.

235
00:14:40,500 --> 00:14:44,500
You know, I wasn't so sure about this myth when we started.

236
00:14:44,500 --> 00:14:47,500
I mean, like, what's more lethal than a cannon shot?

237
00:14:47,500 --> 00:14:52,500
But I'm looking at this, and I'm really thinking that there's some meat on the bones of this thing,

238
00:14:52,500 --> 00:14:57,500
that it really actually might be plausible, because these shards of White Oak

239
00:14:57,500 --> 00:15:02,500
were stuck into the plywood and pine boards that were our backstops.

240
00:15:02,500 --> 00:15:07,500
That takes a lot of energy to jam wood into wood like that.

241
00:15:08,500 --> 00:15:14,500
It's been a good day's science, and most self-respecting pirates would head home.

242
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But Adam has little self-respect.

243
00:15:17,500 --> 00:15:20,500
Now, let's fire into something really fun.

244
00:15:20,500 --> 00:15:22,500
What do you have in mind?

245
00:15:22,500 --> 00:15:28,500
Well, we have a big cast ballistic material head of Grant.

246
00:15:28,500 --> 00:15:30,500
Okay.

247
00:15:30,500 --> 00:15:32,500
Pirate Speak Lesson Number Two.

248
00:15:32,500 --> 00:15:37,500
A young likable pirate is affectionately called a scurvy dog.

249
00:15:37,500 --> 00:15:42,500
And Grant, the mythbusters version of a scurvy dog if ever there was one,

250
00:15:42,500 --> 00:15:45,500
has cast his own face in ballistics material.

251
00:15:46,500 --> 00:15:48,500
There's no scientific purpose to this at all.

252
00:15:48,500 --> 00:15:50,500
This is totally just for fun.

253
00:15:50,500 --> 00:15:55,500
We rarely finish with a little time extra, so we might as well use the equipment we've set up.

254
00:15:55,500 --> 00:15:59,500
Grant's face, test number one and only.

255
00:15:59,500 --> 00:16:01,500
Firing in.

256
00:16:01,500 --> 00:16:03,500
Three, two, one.

257
00:16:06,500 --> 00:16:11,500
It was a successful blast, but surprisingly, Grant looks uninjured.

258
00:16:11,500 --> 00:16:13,500
Something happened.

259
00:16:13,500 --> 00:16:15,500
It didn't go through his face.

260
00:16:15,500 --> 00:16:16,500
Are you sure?

261
00:16:16,500 --> 00:16:17,500
I'm positive.

262
00:16:17,500 --> 00:16:19,500
What if the back was head?

263
00:16:19,500 --> 00:16:20,500
There's no exit.

264
00:16:20,500 --> 00:16:22,500
There's no exit wound.

265
00:16:22,500 --> 00:16:24,500
I think it...

266
00:16:25,500 --> 00:16:27,500
I think it hit him.

267
00:16:27,500 --> 00:16:29,500
What's that? It went right through.

268
00:16:29,500 --> 00:16:30,500
No, that's...

269
00:16:30,500 --> 00:16:32,500
That right there.

270
00:16:32,500 --> 00:16:34,500
Wait, let me see.

271
00:16:34,500 --> 00:16:37,500
You think it went all the way through his face?

272
00:16:37,500 --> 00:16:39,500
That's... where else did it go?

273
00:16:39,500 --> 00:16:40,500
It hit the thing.

274
00:16:40,500 --> 00:16:42,500
Oh my God. You're right.

275
00:16:42,500 --> 00:16:43,500
You're totally right.

276
00:16:43,500 --> 00:16:45,500
This thing went all the way through his head.

277
00:16:50,500 --> 00:16:53,500
Oh, that's one of the most wrongly wrong things we've ever done.

278
00:17:00,500 --> 00:17:06,500
Are those eye patches really a clever method of moving from bright light into a dark ship?

279
00:17:06,500 --> 00:17:10,500
After a scientific fact-finding mission at the eye doctor,

280
00:17:10,500 --> 00:17:13,500
Carrie's confident this myth is looking good.

281
00:17:13,500 --> 00:17:17,500
I'm starting to feel like we might have a confirmed myth here.

282
00:17:17,500 --> 00:17:22,500
And back at the shop, the team gets set to test the practical applications.

283
00:17:22,500 --> 00:17:25,500
Hoi, matey. I see land ahead.

284
00:17:25,500 --> 00:17:29,500
So they're going to build a pirate ship jungle gym.

285
00:17:29,500 --> 00:17:31,500
We're going to make a cannon.

286
00:17:31,500 --> 00:17:36,500
Then ask eye patch-wearing Adam and Jamie to complete the course in the dark.

287
00:17:36,500 --> 00:17:38,500
Do you want to play rough?

288
00:17:38,500 --> 00:17:39,500
Okay.

289
00:17:39,500 --> 00:17:41,500
That's how I lot to my little friend.

290
00:17:44,500 --> 00:17:47,500
There'll be obstacles to dodge, cannonballs to avoid.

291
00:17:47,500 --> 00:17:48,500
Cannonball!

292
00:17:48,500 --> 00:17:52,500
Just your average day out pillaging and plundering, really.

293
00:17:52,500 --> 00:17:57,500
And what's a pirate story without a fair maiden in distress?

294
00:17:57,500 --> 00:17:59,500
What I'm going to do now is I'm going to take all these pictures,

295
00:17:59,500 --> 00:18:02,500
we're going to put them on the computer, and then we're going to print them out life-size.

296
00:18:02,500 --> 00:18:06,500
And I'm going to make these pop-ups that Grant is going to automatically control

297
00:18:06,500 --> 00:18:11,500
so that when they come by, if it's a bad pirate, they stab.

298
00:18:11,500 --> 00:18:14,500
And if it's the girl they're trying to rescue, they stab.

299
00:18:14,500 --> 00:18:17,500
They don't stab me. I'm the good one.

300
00:18:17,500 --> 00:18:21,500
So it's life-size pirate pop-ups on the poop deck.

301
00:18:21,500 --> 00:18:26,500
But any pirate worth his salt won't be satisfied with a good night's work

302
00:18:26,500 --> 00:18:28,500
until he's found the treasure chest.

303
00:18:28,500 --> 00:18:31,500
And what goes inside the chest, Carrie?

304
00:18:31,500 --> 00:18:34,500
Booty goes inside it!

305
00:18:34,500 --> 00:18:36,500
Carrie has secured her booty,

306
00:18:36,500 --> 00:18:39,500
her pneumatic pirates are ready to pop up,

307
00:18:39,500 --> 00:18:40,500
and the ship is in shape.

308
00:18:40,500 --> 00:18:42,500
So how about a demo?

309
00:18:42,500 --> 00:18:46,500
But remember, Adam and Jamie will have to do it in the dark.

310
00:18:47,500 --> 00:18:48,500
First pirate.

311
00:18:48,500 --> 00:18:50,500
That is the evil Grant pirate?

312
00:18:50,500 --> 00:18:55,500
This is evil Grant, and he's going to have to stab this one through the heart.

313
00:18:55,500 --> 00:18:58,500
And hopefully, not walk into that, walk under it.

314
00:18:58,500 --> 00:18:59,500
Okay, T-Coy.

315
00:18:59,500 --> 00:19:02,500
Then pops up the fair maiden that they do not stab.

316
00:19:02,500 --> 00:19:04,500
No stabbing of the maiden.

317
00:19:05,500 --> 00:19:07,500
Oh, that's brutal!

318
00:19:12,500 --> 00:19:14,500
Oh my God, that's going to be nuts!

319
00:19:14,500 --> 00:19:16,500
Okay, avoiding the cannon.

320
00:19:17,500 --> 00:19:19,500
Not knocking over the cannonballs.

321
00:19:19,500 --> 00:19:21,500
Pop up evil Tory pirates.

322
00:19:21,500 --> 00:19:23,500
Which they'll have to run through the heart.

323
00:19:23,500 --> 00:19:28,500
And after all that, they get to raid the treasure chest and raise the Jolly Roger.

324
00:19:28,500 --> 00:19:29,500
Hoist the flag.

325
00:19:29,500 --> 00:19:31,500
And just when they think they're done...

326
00:19:34,500 --> 00:19:35,500
They're caught!

327
00:19:35,500 --> 00:19:38,500
All they need now are the victims.

328
00:19:40,500 --> 00:19:45,500
It's time to sit back with a bottle of grog for a laundry legend.

329
00:19:45,500 --> 00:19:47,500
So guys, what's the myth?

330
00:19:47,500 --> 00:19:55,500
The myth is that in ye olde times, pirates used rum not only for inspiration, but also as a stain remover.

331
00:19:55,500 --> 00:20:04,500
Well, pirates don't strike me as the most fastidious lot, but I suppose if you had blood all over your shirt and then you had shore leave, you'd want to wash it off first.

332
00:20:04,500 --> 00:20:06,500
Because especially if you had a date.

333
00:20:07,500 --> 00:20:09,500
Pirates had dates?

334
00:20:11,500 --> 00:20:15,500
Pirates and rum go together like cannons and balls.

335
00:20:15,500 --> 00:20:22,500
But is it possible that they don't just drink grog, but use it to get those puffy pirate shirts wider than white?

336
00:20:23,500 --> 00:20:30,500
Well, obviously we're going to need some authentic pirate shirt material and we're going to need to stain it with some period accurate stains.

337
00:20:31,500 --> 00:20:32,500
Blood, sweat and tar.

338
00:20:32,500 --> 00:20:33,500
Perfect.

339
00:20:33,500 --> 00:20:36,500
We're also obviously going to need some sort of ye olde rum.

340
00:20:36,500 --> 00:20:39,500
Right, and I think we should have something to compare that to.

341
00:20:39,500 --> 00:20:42,500
So I think we should use some ye olde soap as well.

342
00:20:42,500 --> 00:20:50,500
I have a secret method that the pirates may have used as a laundry technique and we should compare all three of those to some modern detergent.

343
00:20:50,500 --> 00:20:51,500
So I'll do the staining.

344
00:20:52,500 --> 00:20:53,500
Well, I'll do the cleaning then.

345
00:20:54,500 --> 00:20:56,500
And I guess that leaves me to judge.

346
00:20:56,500 --> 00:20:57,500
Exactly.

347
00:20:57,500 --> 00:21:00,500
So it's time for Adam to get down and dirty.

348
00:21:01,500 --> 00:21:05,500
The plan for this test is to choose three most common stains that pirates would encounter.

349
00:21:05,500 --> 00:21:07,500
One would be of course blood.

350
00:21:07,500 --> 00:21:10,500
Another would be, of course, sweat.

351
00:21:10,500 --> 00:21:12,500
Pirates were not known for their bathing.

352
00:21:12,500 --> 00:21:17,500
And the third would be something you'd find on the ship, which would be pitch or tar.

353
00:21:17,500 --> 00:21:21,500
I'm going to make up some one foot square samples of this cloth.

354
00:21:21,500 --> 00:21:28,500
We're going to put those various stains on it and try and see whether or not Rome will actually take those stains out.

355
00:21:29,500 --> 00:21:33,500
The first authentic pirate stain is blood.

356
00:21:33,500 --> 00:21:35,500
And Adam knows just where to find some.

357
00:21:36,500 --> 00:21:39,500
We have it in the fridge because Jamie likes to have it every day for lunch.

358
00:21:41,500 --> 00:21:42,500
No.

359
00:21:44,500 --> 00:21:47,500
Has anyone taken my blood out of the fridge?

360
00:21:51,500 --> 00:21:56,500
Next, Adam takes Jamie's lunch and smears the pig's blood over four sample sheets.

361
00:21:59,500 --> 00:22:03,500
This is the plight of the pirate laundromat.

362
00:22:06,500 --> 00:22:09,500
Next up for our pirate shirts is pitch.

363
00:22:09,500 --> 00:22:13,500
Now blood and sweat are easy choices when it comes to pirate stain.

364
00:22:13,500 --> 00:22:19,500
We wanted to choose something like grime and we know that pitch was used on pirate boats and period boats at the time.

365
00:22:19,500 --> 00:22:23,500
We've used it on plenty of other episodes and it's very dirty stuff.

366
00:22:23,500 --> 00:22:26,500
So that's what we're going to put on our pirate shirts next.

367
00:22:28,500 --> 00:22:30,500
We have one stain to go.

368
00:22:30,500 --> 00:22:32,500
And I'm going to have to work for this one.

369
00:22:32,500 --> 00:22:36,500
Yep. Adam has a plan to sweat for science.

370
00:22:36,500 --> 00:22:38,500
I'm going to do three things.

371
00:22:38,500 --> 00:22:42,500
I'm going to get on Jamie's treadmill in my sweat lodge, formerly his mold room.

372
00:22:42,500 --> 00:22:47,500
And I'm going to put on the sweatiest of the sweaty things we have, which is our fire suit.

373
00:22:47,500 --> 00:22:49,500
That thing is damn hot inside.

374
00:22:49,500 --> 00:22:54,500
I should have no problem producing lots of the correct bodily fluid for this test.

375
00:22:54,500 --> 00:23:01,500
To harvest the bodily fluids, Adam arranges the shirt material for maximum moisture absorption.

376
00:23:01,500 --> 00:23:03,500
It's go time.

377
00:23:03,500 --> 00:23:07,500
Adam leaps onto the treadmill ready to stain up.

378
00:23:07,500 --> 00:23:15,500
But after 15 seconds on his very own wheel of death, he's gasping like an asthmatic hamster.

379
00:23:15,500 --> 00:23:18,500
That says it only burned 20 calories.

380
00:23:18,500 --> 00:23:20,500
What is that about?

381
00:23:20,500 --> 00:23:23,500
Why don't we fast forward to the end of the workout?

382
00:23:23,500 --> 00:23:27,500
After all, he wants to watch a grown man who's sweat stains.

383
00:23:28,500 --> 00:23:31,500
Now we've got three kinds of stains here.

384
00:23:31,500 --> 00:23:37,500
We've got blood, pitch and sweat.

385
00:23:37,500 --> 00:23:42,500
Or as pirates like to refer to it, Saturday night.

386
00:23:42,500 --> 00:23:46,500
There we go.

387
00:23:46,500 --> 00:23:48,500
But there's a problem.

388
00:23:48,500 --> 00:23:52,500
Adam's sweat doesn't stink or stain.

389
00:23:52,500 --> 00:23:54,500
My sweat stain isn't working out.

390
00:23:54,500 --> 00:23:58,500
It's not very visual and I guess it's all my clean livin'.

391
00:23:58,500 --> 00:24:01,500
I can't smell the thing at all.

392
00:24:01,500 --> 00:24:06,500
But I need a third stain to round out common pirate stains so I can try out these detergents.

393
00:24:06,500 --> 00:24:07,500
And I'm thinking oranges.

394
00:24:07,500 --> 00:24:12,500
They kept these on the ships to prevent scurvy and I guess for some kind of entertainment.

395
00:24:12,500 --> 00:24:17,500
So I'm just going to blow these down and scrunch them on some of this cloth.

396
00:24:17,500 --> 00:24:23,500
And we'll see if the detergents and our various tests will take this stain out.

397
00:24:25,500 --> 00:24:30,500
Carrie Grant and Tori have set sail on the eye patch myth.

398
00:24:30,500 --> 00:24:34,500
And they're ready to press gang Adam and Jamie into service.

399
00:24:34,500 --> 00:24:36,500
I lost these scurvy dogs!

400
00:24:36,500 --> 00:24:42,500
After Adam and Jamie have dressed for the occasion, the scurvy dogs give out their instructions.

401
00:24:42,500 --> 00:24:44,500
Okay, well you've got to wait out here 15 minutes.

402
00:24:44,500 --> 00:24:47,500
I know your eyes are relatively adjusted to the light.

403
00:24:47,500 --> 00:24:52,500
We just want to make sure that you're totally in daylight right now.

404
00:24:53,500 --> 00:24:55,500
Preferably stare at the clouds or something white.

405
00:24:55,500 --> 00:25:00,500
I know it's tough but it's the closest we can get to bleaching the rods.

406
00:25:00,500 --> 00:25:08,500
So while Grant, Carrie and Tori prepare the course, our newly minted pirates hang tough, letting their eyes adjust.

407
00:25:08,500 --> 00:25:15,500
I predict that I'll be dancing on Jamie's intestines in minutes!

408
00:25:16,500 --> 00:25:20,500
Before the intestine dancing begins,

409
00:25:20,500 --> 00:25:25,500
Pirate's Carrie and her translator Grant the Parrot have the rules.

410
00:25:25,500 --> 00:25:30,500
Now listen ye scallywags and listen well for you will only hear this but one time.

411
00:25:30,500 --> 00:25:33,500
Send only the evil pirates down to Davy Jones' locker.

412
00:25:33,500 --> 00:25:38,500
The evil pirates will have a target in the middle. You have to run it through with your cutlass.

413
00:25:38,500 --> 00:25:40,500
Don't harm the maiden.

414
00:25:40,500 --> 00:25:42,500
Don't harm the maiden.

415
00:25:42,500 --> 00:25:44,500
Don't knock over the cannonballs.

416
00:25:44,500 --> 00:25:48,500
Find the pirate chest, unlock it and hoist the Jolly Roger.

417
00:25:48,500 --> 00:25:53,500
There's going to be a treasure chest at the end on the ground with this lock.

418
00:25:53,500 --> 00:25:56,500
You unlock it with your key.

419
00:25:56,500 --> 00:25:58,500
Which each of you will get right now?

420
00:25:58,500 --> 00:26:02,500
Okay, inside of the chest is going to be this flag.

421
00:26:02,500 --> 00:26:04,500
Tie the flag on, place it up to the top.

422
00:26:04,500 --> 00:26:06,500
Right, let's go!

423
00:26:06,500 --> 00:26:10,500
The first seafarer aboard is Redbeard the Savage.

424
00:26:10,500 --> 00:26:15,500
He needs to instantly see in the dark with an eye that's been subjected to bright light

425
00:26:15,500 --> 00:26:18,500
while his dark adjusted eye remains patched.

426
00:26:18,500 --> 00:26:21,500
Alright, let's go get him!

427
00:26:21,500 --> 00:26:25,500
I can't see a bloody thing.

428
00:26:25,500 --> 00:26:28,500
Alright, now we release the pit bulls.

429
00:26:28,500 --> 00:26:31,500
Look at him, he looks like a blind pirate.

430
00:26:31,500 --> 00:26:33,500
Holy ****!

431
00:26:33,500 --> 00:26:37,500
By design it's a red-beard-like,

432
00:26:37,500 --> 00:26:41,500
by design it's pitch black in there.

433
00:26:41,500 --> 00:26:44,500
The light you can see on camera is infrared.

434
00:26:44,500 --> 00:26:48,500
To Adam it's as dark as the inside of a grog barrel.

435
00:26:48,500 --> 00:26:51,500
He seems very disoriented at the moment.

436
00:26:51,500 --> 00:26:56,500
Right from the get-go it's pretty obvious that Redbeard is having trouble finding his sea legs.

437
00:26:56,500 --> 00:27:00,500
When you go from bright light into the dark, you're as blind as a bat.

438
00:27:00,500 --> 00:27:02,500
Oh, he's going to hit his head!

439
00:27:02,500 --> 00:27:05,500
Oh, he's climbing over the sails of the sea.

440
00:27:05,500 --> 00:27:07,500
He's going the wrong way.

441
00:27:07,500 --> 00:27:09,500
The hardest possible route to take.

442
00:27:09,500 --> 00:27:11,500
Okay, he's coming up to carry.

443
00:27:11,500 --> 00:27:14,500
I looked at this guy.

444
00:27:14,500 --> 00:27:18,500
He's just getting with the bat.

445
00:27:18,500 --> 00:27:23,500
Adam has missed the first evil pirate and kicked some cannonballs.

446
00:27:23,500 --> 00:27:25,500
But when confronted by Evil Tori...

447
00:27:25,500 --> 00:27:27,500
Sword is a key.

448
00:27:31,500 --> 00:27:34,500
He can't decide who it is until he has a quick feel.

449
00:27:34,500 --> 00:27:37,500
There he goes!

450
00:27:37,500 --> 00:27:39,500
Good one!

451
00:27:39,500 --> 00:27:41,500
He killed one.

452
00:27:41,500 --> 00:27:46,500
After a fun-filled four minutes, Adam's eye is starting to adjust to the dark.

453
00:27:46,500 --> 00:27:49,500
He now knows his part from Starboard.

454
00:27:49,500 --> 00:27:51,500
Okay, he's opened the chest.

455
00:27:51,500 --> 00:27:52,500
Nice.

456
00:27:52,500 --> 00:27:55,500
Get the flag, turn around.

457
00:27:55,500 --> 00:27:58,500
And the final task is noticeably easier.

458
00:27:58,500 --> 00:28:01,500
Wait, there we go.

459
00:28:02,500 --> 00:28:05,500
Heist in the Jolly Roger Denon!

460
00:28:05,500 --> 00:28:07,500
Ah!

461
00:28:07,500 --> 00:28:11,500
Well, the net missed, but that was quite funny.

462
00:28:11,500 --> 00:28:15,500
Adam narrowly escapes capture and makes a quick exit overboard.

463
00:28:15,500 --> 00:28:17,500
Hey!

464
00:28:17,500 --> 00:28:19,500
Nice work!

465
00:28:19,500 --> 00:28:20,500
Well done!

466
00:28:20,500 --> 00:28:21,500
You look great.

467
00:28:21,500 --> 00:28:22,500
That was fantastic.

468
00:28:22,500 --> 00:28:23,500
You guys got to watch it?

469
00:28:23,500 --> 00:28:24,500
Yeah.

470
00:28:24,500 --> 00:28:26,500
I missed a pirate or two, didn't I?

471
00:28:26,500 --> 00:28:29,500
Yeah, you missed the one pirate in the beginning.

472
00:28:29,500 --> 00:28:30,500
I could not see it.

473
00:28:30,500 --> 00:28:32,500
I mean, literally, it's just black.

474
00:28:32,500 --> 00:28:35,500
I came across this thing that had a piece of paper in the middle.

475
00:28:35,500 --> 00:28:36,500
I figured that was a pirate.

476
00:28:36,500 --> 00:28:37,500
Yeah.

477
00:28:37,500 --> 00:28:42,500
Subjectively, Adam was in the dark, but Carrie was in the crow's nest keeping time.

478
00:28:42,500 --> 00:28:45,500
So, let's get the official results.

479
00:28:45,500 --> 00:28:47,500
I'm very, very impressed.

480
00:28:47,500 --> 00:28:51,500
He made it through all of that darkness of the obstacle course in five minutes and twenty seconds.

481
00:28:51,500 --> 00:28:53,500
He only got two time penalties.

482
00:28:53,500 --> 00:28:56,500
One, he didn't stick the first pirate,

483
00:28:56,500 --> 00:28:59,500
and two, he knocked over one of the cannon balls.

484
00:28:59,500 --> 00:29:03,500
So, in the end, five minutes, forty seconds, Adam's first test.

485
00:29:03,500 --> 00:29:07,500
Okay, it's time for Cap and Heinemann to board the ship,

486
00:29:07,500 --> 00:29:11,500
find the treasure chest, and hoist the Jolly Roger.

487
00:29:11,500 --> 00:29:15,500
And just like Redbeer, he's completely in the dark.

488
00:29:15,500 --> 00:29:17,500
They really are super blind.

489
00:29:17,500 --> 00:29:20,500
They really can't see anything.

490
00:29:20,500 --> 00:29:23,500
Oh, he's totally disoriented.

491
00:29:23,500 --> 00:29:24,500
Maybe?

492
00:29:24,500 --> 00:29:26,500
Maybe he'll steer the ship.

493
00:29:26,500 --> 00:29:31,500
It's taken a while, but Jamie finally raises the pirate stand.

494
00:29:31,500 --> 00:29:35,500
Caught with the net!

495
00:29:35,500 --> 00:29:42,500
The big question now is what difference will it make when our myth-busting pirates switch eyes?

496
00:29:42,500 --> 00:29:44,500
Yeah!

497
00:29:46,500 --> 00:29:51,500
Adam has been shedding blood, juggling oranges, and painting with pitch

498
00:29:51,500 --> 00:29:56,500
to attempt to solve the myth that pirates used rum as a stain remover.

499
00:29:56,500 --> 00:30:00,500
The flight of the pirate laundromat.

500
00:30:00,500 --> 00:30:08,500
But before the cleanup with Grog, Adam is looking into his alternative maritime method of doing the laundry.

501
00:30:08,500 --> 00:30:13,500
I remember hearing years ago that on ye olde ships,

502
00:30:13,500 --> 00:30:21,500
they would save the pirate's urine, or the shipmate's urine, in a barrel.

503
00:30:21,500 --> 00:30:27,500
And when urine stays around and is exposed to the air, it evaporates into ammonia,

504
00:30:27,500 --> 00:30:31,500
and that ammonia is then used for washing everyone's laundry.

505
00:30:31,500 --> 00:30:38,500
It sounds improbable, but after a quick research break, Adam confirms the story and the details.

506
00:30:38,500 --> 00:30:40,500
A history of washing website.

507
00:30:40,500 --> 00:30:42,500
I love the web.

508
00:30:42,500 --> 00:30:48,500
The key factoid here is that over time, the urea in urine will break down to ammonia,

509
00:30:48,500 --> 00:30:53,500
and ammonia is a common alkaline used in household cleaning products.

510
00:30:53,500 --> 00:30:58,500
So Adam is ready to cook up an authentic recipe for washing with whee.

511
00:30:58,500 --> 00:31:17,500
What I am trying to do here is reduce some urine or whee whee to a more raw essence of a whee whee.

512
00:31:17,500 --> 00:31:24,500
The recipe for using urine as a cleaning agent like the pirates might have, calls for stale urine.

513
00:31:24,500 --> 00:31:29,500
I do not have a stale urine, but I have a hot plate.

514
00:31:29,500 --> 00:31:39,500
So I heat it for a while, boil the water out, I get more stale urine, or whee whee.

515
00:31:39,500 --> 00:31:48,500
Notice that it is a much darker color, and this time I have only 300 milliliters.

516
00:31:48,500 --> 00:31:56,500
I have reduced it by half, removing mostly water, leaving the essential chemicals for washing.

517
00:31:56,500 --> 00:31:59,500
And for the washing, it's time to tag team Jamie.

518
00:31:59,500 --> 00:32:06,500
I've got three ye olde cleaners and one modern cleaner to try out on each of these sets of samples.

519
00:32:06,500 --> 00:32:10,500
I've got ye olde soap, made in the way ye olde soap was made.

520
00:32:10,500 --> 00:32:15,500
I've got ye olde rum, which is the crux of our myth that they used rum as a cleaning agent.

521
00:32:15,500 --> 00:32:24,500
I have some stale whee, which is broken down mostly to ammonia, which was also used as a bleaching agent on pirate ships.

522
00:32:24,500 --> 00:32:26,500
And I have modern detergent.

523
00:32:26,500 --> 00:32:32,500
Your task is to try each one of these out on all three of these samples.

524
00:32:35,500 --> 00:32:38,500
I'm glad we're near the ventilation booth.

525
00:32:39,500 --> 00:32:45,500
To fortify himself for the job, Cap and Heidemann has a swig of grog and puts on the rubber gloves.

526
00:32:45,500 --> 00:32:48,500
Okay, first off is the pee.

527
00:32:48,500 --> 00:32:51,500
He then goes to work on the blood stain.

528
00:32:51,500 --> 00:32:57,500
Blood stain is pretty tough for any kind of detergent, even modern ones, and especially once it's set.

529
00:32:57,500 --> 00:33:03,500
If you had done this one, the blood was fresh.

530
00:33:03,500 --> 00:33:05,500
It might be a lot different.

531
00:33:05,500 --> 00:33:14,500
So far it is acting clearly as a solvent for the stain because it's spreading it out, but it's not removing it.

532
00:33:14,500 --> 00:33:20,500
Next, Jamie uses the urine to tackle the tar and citrustanes.

533
00:33:20,500 --> 00:33:30,500
He then repeats the process with the authentic 17th century soap, modern detergent containing the powerful stain remover, hydrogen peroxide.

534
00:33:30,500 --> 00:33:33,500
And last, but not least, the rum.

535
00:33:33,500 --> 00:33:38,500
But straight away, Jamie spotted a fundamental flaw in the myth.

536
00:33:38,500 --> 00:33:44,500
I would think that any self-respecting pirate would rather drink it than use it to clean a stain out.

537
00:33:44,500 --> 00:33:49,500
So that's all three stains scrubbed with all four cleaning products.

538
00:33:49,500 --> 00:33:55,500
And it's soon apparent that the only thing coming out in the wash is a negative conclusion to this myth.

539
00:33:55,500 --> 00:34:01,500
It seems the solvent and stain-removing properties of the alcoholic rum are limited.

540
00:34:01,500 --> 00:34:10,500
If you're red and carry, we have washed each of these four piles, one in rum, one in ye olde soap, one in stale urine, and one in modern detergent.

541
00:34:10,500 --> 00:34:15,500
And you're to look at all four of these and tell me which one you think got the cleanest, which one's the second cleanest, etc.

542
00:34:15,500 --> 00:34:20,500
Okay, light red. That one's pretty good. A little yellowish. That looks bad.

543
00:34:20,500 --> 00:34:22,500
Nobody got the tar out.

544
00:34:22,500 --> 00:34:26,500
That's this is redder. The tar's a little better.

545
00:34:26,500 --> 00:34:32,500
Okay, tar. The tar is bad on that one, but blood's really good on that one.

546
00:34:32,500 --> 00:34:36,500
And, okay, whatever this one is, is the worst.

547
00:34:36,500 --> 00:34:45,500
Okay, I would say that this one's the best for blood. That one's the best for tar.

548
00:34:45,500 --> 00:34:51,500
All right, so the worst one was ye olde rum.

549
00:34:51,500 --> 00:34:53,500
Oh, busted.

550
00:34:53,500 --> 00:34:57,500
Your best one for blood was stale urine.

551
00:34:57,500 --> 00:35:01,500
And the best one for the tar was detergent, the modern detergent.

552
00:35:01,500 --> 00:35:04,500
Yeah, those are the two best that soap didn't really work well at all.

553
00:35:04,500 --> 00:35:09,500
Well, I think that pretty much definitively busts this rum as a cleaning agent. Totally busted.

554
00:35:09,500 --> 00:35:10,500
Yeah, it's busted.

555
00:35:10,500 --> 00:35:12,500
I agree, busted.

556
00:35:13,500 --> 00:35:23,500
Adam and Jamie have completed the pirate jungle gym with their unpatched eyes.

557
00:35:23,500 --> 00:35:29,500
With hilarious flailing in the dark results.

558
00:35:29,500 --> 00:35:38,500
Now to the heart of the myth, will the candy use of an eye patch and an already dark, adjusted eye give our amateur pirates an advantage?

559
00:35:38,500 --> 00:35:40,500
They're about to find out.

560
00:35:40,500 --> 00:35:43,500
Jamie and Adam are sitting outside. They have the patches on.

561
00:35:43,500 --> 00:35:45,500
So their eyes are adjusted to the dark.

562
00:35:45,500 --> 00:35:50,500
They're going to come in, switch the patch to the other eye, and then go through the course.

563
00:35:50,500 --> 00:35:57,500
To prevent Adam and Jamie clocking a faster time because of familiarity with the course, the obstacles have been switched about.

564
00:35:57,500 --> 00:35:59,500
Adam's excited.

565
00:35:59,500 --> 00:36:06,500
I'm so pumped. I can't wait to switch this eye patch. Yeah.

566
00:36:06,500 --> 00:36:13,500
The myth suggests Adam should do this test a lot quicker than his five minutes of fumbling and stumbling with his light exposed eyes.

567
00:36:13,500 --> 00:36:15,500
He swaps the patch.

568
00:36:15,500 --> 00:36:20,500
Now the eye adjusted to dark is uncovered and in he goes.

569
00:36:20,500 --> 00:36:22,500
Good night and dead.

570
00:36:22,500 --> 00:36:25,500
At its immediately obvious, the switch has worked.

571
00:36:25,500 --> 00:36:27,500
Wait, is that a pirate?

572
00:36:27,500 --> 00:36:29,500
Wait, is that a pirate?

573
00:36:29,500 --> 00:36:31,500
Oh, it's a lie.

574
00:36:31,500 --> 00:36:33,500
Yeah.

575
00:36:34,500 --> 00:36:41,500
Before the team in the crow's nest can say, walk the plank you landlubber, red beard is almost done.

576
00:36:41,500 --> 00:36:44,500
Looking at one minute, 12 seconds.

577
00:36:44,500 --> 00:36:47,500
He's already killed his time.

578
00:36:47,500 --> 00:36:49,500
There's my jolly Roger.

579
00:36:49,500 --> 00:36:51,500
Here's my flag.

580
00:36:51,500 --> 00:36:55,500
Oh my God. I can't believe the difference.

581
00:36:55,500 --> 00:36:58,500
And there we go.

582
00:36:58,500 --> 00:37:00,500
Oh, the net fell over me.

583
00:37:00,500 --> 00:37:02,500
Oh.

584
00:37:02,500 --> 00:37:05,500
That was like a night and dead.

585
00:37:05,500 --> 00:37:07,500
That was incredible.

586
00:37:07,500 --> 00:37:09,500
The difference. Is it unbelievable?

587
00:37:09,500 --> 00:37:13,500
The difference is amazing. I really didn't expect, I can't see.

588
00:37:13,500 --> 00:37:16,500
I really didn't expect the difference to be as great as it was.

589
00:37:16,500 --> 00:37:21,500
But I mean, whereas before, it was just like reaching out in blackness.

590
00:37:21,500 --> 00:37:25,500
The first time, the second time, it was like, oh, there's a part. There's a part. There's a part.

591
00:37:26,500 --> 00:37:32,500
And the reason Adam found it so easy, he'd been wearing the patch for over a half an hour,

592
00:37:32,500 --> 00:37:37,500
and the rod cells in the covered eye were warmed up and ready for nocturnal action.

593
00:37:37,500 --> 00:37:39,500
And the numbers back that up.

594
00:37:39,500 --> 00:37:47,500
He did the course in one minute, 55 seconds, which is actually three minutes and 45 seconds faster

595
00:37:47,500 --> 00:37:50,500
than his first test without the night vision.

596
00:37:50,500 --> 00:37:57,500
So, significant amount of savings in time, and what's more, 100% accuracy.

597
00:37:59,500 --> 00:38:03,500
While Redbeard rests up after a hard night's pillaging,

598
00:38:03,500 --> 00:38:09,500
Cap and Heidemann launches into the fray, swapping his eye patch so he can use his dark, adjusted eye.

599
00:38:09,500 --> 00:38:11,500
How's that?

600
00:38:11,500 --> 00:38:14,500
This is like totally different.

601
00:38:14,500 --> 00:38:20,500
No flailing in the dark this time. He's more than twice as fast and twice as accurate.

602
00:38:23,500 --> 00:38:25,500
That's amazing.

603
00:38:25,500 --> 00:38:29,500
That was, I never would have believed that.

604
00:38:29,500 --> 00:38:34,500
You know, it would have taken me, I guess, a half an hour or something like that,

605
00:38:34,500 --> 00:38:39,500
just sitting there in the dark to get what I just did with switching the patch.

606
00:38:39,500 --> 00:38:41,500
That's excellent. That's just what we wanted to hear.

607
00:38:41,500 --> 00:38:46,500
The myth clearly has bright prospects, but they're going to run it one more time

608
00:38:46,500 --> 00:38:50,500
with their light-adjusted eye, and Carrie has a trick up her sleeve.

609
00:38:50,500 --> 00:38:57,500
We've left the course exactly the same as when they went through it with the adjusted night vision eye.

610
00:38:57,500 --> 00:39:02,500
This way, we can totally empirically prove that if they can get through this course

611
00:39:02,500 --> 00:39:08,500
and it takes them twice the time or any more time than it took them with their adjusted eye,

612
00:39:08,500 --> 00:39:10,500
we've definitely proved this myth.

613
00:39:10,500 --> 00:39:12,500
Go get them, killer.

614
00:39:12,500 --> 00:39:13,500
Ready?

615
00:39:13,500 --> 00:39:14,500
Ready.

616
00:39:14,500 --> 00:39:17,500
Let's pillage!

617
00:39:18,500 --> 00:39:20,500
I don't know if that's legal in California.

618
00:39:21,500 --> 00:39:25,500
Once again, it's obvious that the dark adjustment is a massive advantage,

619
00:39:25,500 --> 00:39:28,500
as Adam struggles to plot a course.

620
00:39:28,500 --> 00:39:31,500
This was truly an excellent control.

621
00:39:31,500 --> 00:39:37,500
I mean, it's difficult to tease the science out of this myth because it's such a subjective thing.

622
00:39:37,500 --> 00:39:42,500
However, I had to say there's nothing subjective about the fact that it was much easier

623
00:39:42,500 --> 00:39:46,500
with the eye that had been covered than with the eye that was exposed to daylight.

624
00:39:46,500 --> 00:39:52,500
And that third test proved it hands down, so that's awesome. We have nailed this one.

625
00:39:52,500 --> 00:39:56,500
Well, I think Jamie and Adam are pretty convinced that the results of the eye patch myth...

626
00:39:56,500 --> 00:39:59,500
Yeah, we ran them once with their eyes adjusted to daylight.

627
00:39:59,500 --> 00:40:01,500
They stumbled around the course like idiots.

628
00:40:01,500 --> 00:40:04,500
And when they had their eyes adjusted for the dark by using the patch,

629
00:40:04,500 --> 00:40:06,500
they were able to breeze through that course.

630
00:40:06,500 --> 00:40:10,500
And as one last final control, we sent them through that obstacle course

631
00:40:10,500 --> 00:40:16,500
one last time with their daylight vision, taking out the variable of them knowing the course,

632
00:40:16,500 --> 00:40:19,500
and they still messed it up just as bad as the first time they went through.

633
00:40:19,500 --> 00:40:22,500
Well, I have to say, this myth is plausible.

634
00:40:22,500 --> 00:40:24,500
I've seen plausible in here.

635
00:40:24,500 --> 00:40:25,500
I remember!

636
00:40:25,500 --> 00:40:26,500
Plazable?

637
00:40:26,500 --> 00:40:27,500
You're right!

638
00:40:27,500 --> 00:40:28,500
Plazable!

639
00:40:37,500 --> 00:40:38,500
Alright.

640
00:40:38,500 --> 00:40:40,500
So this pirate myth comes mostly from Hollywood,

641
00:40:40,500 --> 00:40:42,500
and this is where the pirate is in the crow's nest.

642
00:40:42,500 --> 00:40:44,500
He needs to get down to the deck of the ship.

643
00:40:44,500 --> 00:40:48,500
To get down quickly, he stabs his knife into the sail and rides it down safely.

644
00:40:50,500 --> 00:40:56,500
Douglas Fairbanks, that senior, not junior, demonstrates the perfect swashbuckling technique.

645
00:40:56,500 --> 00:41:00,500
Knife in and down you go in a controlled slide,

646
00:41:00,500 --> 00:41:03,500
landing smoothly on the deck ready to fight the enemy.

647
00:41:03,500 --> 00:41:07,500
Alright, knife sail, let's define the myth.

648
00:41:07,500 --> 00:41:12,500
I think you should ride the sail all the way down to the bottom without falling out.

649
00:41:12,500 --> 00:41:17,500
And once you reach the deck, you should have so little injury that you can jump up and continue fighting.

650
00:41:17,500 --> 00:41:20,500
Alright, so I guess the next step is we go talk to some experts,

651
00:41:20,500 --> 00:41:24,500
find out what kind of knives and what kind of sails that these pirates would have been using.

652
00:41:24,500 --> 00:41:26,500
I think that's a perfect place to start.

653
00:41:26,500 --> 00:41:27,500
Great.

654
00:41:27,500 --> 00:41:28,500
No!

655
00:41:28,500 --> 00:41:29,500
Mutant.

656
00:41:30,500 --> 00:41:34,500
That's the plan, but this myth is in need of nautical knowledge.

657
00:41:34,500 --> 00:41:40,500
And for that, our landlubbers board the remodeled 1880s clipper, the Balclutha.

658
00:41:40,500 --> 00:41:44,500
And Chris Janini is the man at the pointy end of the questions.

659
00:41:44,500 --> 00:41:48,500
Okay, Chris, so the myth that we're looking into right now is like in the pirate movies

660
00:41:48,500 --> 00:41:53,500
where the pirate takes his sword, stabs it into the sail, and then rides it all the way down.

661
00:41:53,500 --> 00:41:54,500
Have you ever seen that?

662
00:41:54,500 --> 00:41:55,500
I think it's possible.

663
00:41:55,500 --> 00:41:59,500
I've heard of that, and hopefully the sailmaker is not at the bottom of that sail

664
00:41:59,500 --> 00:42:02,500
because he wouldn't make it past the deck.

665
00:42:02,500 --> 00:42:06,500
Sailmaker be damned, there's a myth that needs exploring.

666
00:42:06,500 --> 00:42:12,500
It's time to get practical and see how easy it is to slice a sail with a knife.

667
00:42:12,500 --> 00:42:13,500
Snack.

668
00:42:13,500 --> 00:42:14,500
Oh, there we go.

669
00:42:14,500 --> 00:42:15,500
Okay.

670
00:42:15,500 --> 00:42:17,500
Like a hot knife through butter.

671
00:42:17,500 --> 00:42:18,500
But there's a catch.

672
00:42:18,500 --> 00:42:19,500
There's always a catch.

673
00:42:19,500 --> 00:42:20,500
There's always a catch.

674
00:42:20,500 --> 00:42:22,500
See these reef bands?

675
00:42:22,500 --> 00:42:23,500
Yeah.

676
00:42:23,500 --> 00:42:26,500
There's going to be one or two or maybe up to four depending on the sail you're trying

677
00:42:26,500 --> 00:42:27,500
to come down with your knife.

678
00:42:27,500 --> 00:42:28,500
Horizontally.

679
00:42:28,500 --> 00:42:29,500
They're coming down.

680
00:42:29,500 --> 00:42:30,500
This is the top of the sail this way.

681
00:42:30,500 --> 00:42:31,500
Okay.

682
00:42:31,500 --> 00:42:32,500
So you would hit this.

683
00:42:32,500 --> 00:42:35,500
Then you come down and then you have to go through the reef band.

684
00:42:35,500 --> 00:42:36,500
Yeah, you're going to get stuck on the reef band.

685
00:42:36,500 --> 00:42:37,500
You're going to get stuck on that.

686
00:42:37,500 --> 00:42:40,500
And there might be two, there might be four of those.

687
00:42:40,500 --> 00:42:45,500
And you're talking about the thickness of the canvas plus the folded over edge.

688
00:42:45,500 --> 00:42:49,500
So that's, you're going to have a little bit of a bit of a rough edge.

689
00:42:49,500 --> 00:42:52,500
You're going to have twice the thickness, three times the thickness of that canvas.

690
00:42:52,500 --> 00:42:56,500
So now you're talking three pennies thick of canvas.

691
00:42:56,500 --> 00:42:59,500
It's about like thin plywood.

692
00:42:59,500 --> 00:43:01,500
You know, like eighth inch plywood.

693
00:43:01,500 --> 00:43:02,500
It might decelerate you though.

694
00:43:02,500 --> 00:43:03,500
It would slow you down.

695
00:43:03,500 --> 00:43:05,500
But it might break your hand.

696
00:43:05,500 --> 00:43:09,500
If you're coming down that fast and you hit one of these seams, it's going to pop the

697
00:43:09,500 --> 00:43:11,500
knife right out of your hand.

698
00:43:11,500 --> 00:43:15,500
Ah, so sails be more than just a flap of canvas.

699
00:43:15,500 --> 00:43:22,500
Ye olde reef bands make this myth more of a challenge.

700
00:43:22,500 --> 00:43:27,500
Salty sea dogs Adam and Jamie are looking into the myth that the splinters from a cannonball

701
00:43:27,500 --> 00:43:34,500
piercing the ship's hull would cause more deaths than the cannonball itself.

702
00:43:34,500 --> 00:43:35,500
Avast!

703
00:43:35,500 --> 00:43:37,500
What does Avast mean?

704
00:43:37,500 --> 00:43:39,500
Sounds like a cue for...

705
00:43:39,500 --> 00:43:42,500
Pirate's Speak Lesson Number Three.

706
00:43:42,500 --> 00:43:46,500
Avast comes from the Dutch translation of hold fast.

707
00:43:46,500 --> 00:43:50,500
But it can also be used as a greeting as in a vast ye olde sea dog.

708
00:43:50,500 --> 00:43:54,500
Where ye at with this myth?

709
00:43:54,500 --> 00:44:01,500
Tests with a small scale cannonball on authentic pirate ship wood produced spectacular splintering.

710
00:44:01,500 --> 00:44:04,500
With White Oak, the deadliest of all.

711
00:44:04,500 --> 00:44:06,500
So it's on to stage two.

712
00:44:06,500 --> 00:44:13,500
But with the researchers unable to track down a real cannon, the guys scale up their air cannon.

713
00:44:13,500 --> 00:44:16,500
This is a plumber's paradise.

714
00:44:16,500 --> 00:44:22,500
But can a bigger air cannon actually produce the same explosive power as a real cannon?

715
00:44:22,500 --> 00:44:24,500
It's going to expand slower than gunpowder.

716
00:44:24,500 --> 00:44:26,500
There's nothing we can do about that.

717
00:44:26,500 --> 00:44:30,500
But even though those speeds are lower, I still think we're looking at a valid test here.

718
00:44:30,500 --> 00:44:33,500
Because we're looking at the impact of metal and wood.

719
00:44:33,500 --> 00:44:38,500
And we're looking at the relative difference between the lethality of that metal cannonball

720
00:44:38,500 --> 00:44:41,500
and the splinters of wood that come off the impact.

721
00:44:41,500 --> 00:44:45,500
Bigger air, bigger air cannon, bigger cannonball.

722
00:44:45,500 --> 00:44:49,500
This is without a doubt the biggest air cannon I've ever built.

723
00:44:49,500 --> 00:44:54,500
It's nothing but raw, awesome power, safely implemented.

724
00:44:56,500 --> 00:44:59,500
I am satisfied and filthy.

725
00:44:59,500 --> 00:45:01,500
Two of my favorite states.

726
00:45:01,500 --> 00:45:04,500
So let's recap the inventory for this myth.

727
00:45:04,500 --> 00:45:07,500
Six pounders, check.

728
00:45:07,500 --> 00:45:10,500
The Maxi Air Cannon, double check.

729
00:45:10,500 --> 00:45:13,500
Authentic 16th century pirate ship.

730
00:45:13,500 --> 00:45:16,500
Captain, we have a problem.

731
00:45:16,500 --> 00:45:19,500
There's none here.

732
00:45:19,500 --> 00:45:21,500
Or here.

733
00:45:21,500 --> 00:45:23,500
Or even here.

734
00:45:23,500 --> 00:45:28,500
But Adam, being the resourceful chap that he is, has a plan to build his own.

735
00:45:28,500 --> 00:45:31,500
So I've come to Svensson's boat works in the Alameda Marina

736
00:45:31,500 --> 00:45:36,500
because hopefully they have an expert who can tell me about what kind of dimensions they were,

737
00:45:36,500 --> 00:45:39,500
how thick the wood was, how they were constructed.

738
00:45:39,500 --> 00:45:44,500
Adam knows pirate ships have horizontal outer planking,

739
00:45:44,500 --> 00:45:49,500
supported by vertical ribbing or staunchens, and thinner inner planking.

740
00:45:50,500 --> 00:45:53,500
For the correct dimensions of these intricate parts,

741
00:45:53,500 --> 00:45:57,500
he seeks the wise counsel of Master Shipwright John Phillips.

742
00:45:58,500 --> 00:46:01,500
So I'd like to be as accurate as possible with my test,

743
00:46:01,500 --> 00:46:05,500
and I think I'd like to duplicate both the inner and the outer planking.

744
00:46:05,500 --> 00:46:10,500
And so I'd like to get an idea from you what thicknesses of the inner and outer I should be looking at

745
00:46:10,500 --> 00:46:12,500
and also how far apart they are.

746
00:46:12,500 --> 00:46:17,500
Certainly depending upon the origin of the vessel and the size of the vessel,

747
00:46:17,500 --> 00:46:23,500
this stanchion or frame would probably be at least as wide in this dimension

748
00:46:23,500 --> 00:46:25,500
as it is thick in this dimension.

749
00:46:25,500 --> 00:46:29,500
So say 6 by 6, and those could easily be less than a foot apart.

750
00:46:29,500 --> 00:46:30,500
Oh, okay.

751
00:46:30,500 --> 00:46:35,500
And the planking could be 2, could be 3 inch thick,

752
00:46:35,500 --> 00:46:38,500
and maybe the inner planking would be 2 inch thick.

753
00:46:38,500 --> 00:46:42,500
So you've got 3, 6, and 2.

754
00:46:42,500 --> 00:46:43,500
Alright.

755
00:46:43,500 --> 00:46:46,500
With the numbers hastily scribbled on the back of his hand,

756
00:46:46,500 --> 00:46:49,500
Adam heads back to the shop to get busy.

757
00:46:49,500 --> 00:46:51,500
Oh, look, it's beautiful.

758
00:46:51,500 --> 00:46:53,500
That's pirate ship right there.

759
00:46:56,500 --> 00:46:59,500
Adam, haven't you forgotten something?

760
00:46:59,500 --> 00:47:02,500
It doesn't look like much, but it will be a pirate ship soon.

761
00:47:02,500 --> 00:47:04,500
Stand by.

762
00:47:04,500 --> 00:47:07,500
Don't you need another 100 or so tons more wood?

763
00:47:07,500 --> 00:47:09,500
Well, these are the uprights.

764
00:47:09,500 --> 00:47:14,500
These represent the upright beams that describe the cross section of the ship.

765
00:47:14,500 --> 00:47:17,500
I'm only going to do a small section of this pirate ship.

766
00:47:17,500 --> 00:47:18,500
That's all I've got time for.

767
00:47:18,500 --> 00:47:23,500
So this is going to be up around the railing of the deck, about 4 feet down.

768
00:47:23,500 --> 00:47:28,500
In fact, on a real ship of the period, these things would be placed about this far apart.

769
00:47:28,500 --> 00:47:32,500
I'm only going to place 2 of these this far apart, because that's what we're shooting between.

770
00:47:32,500 --> 00:47:34,500
The other 2 I'll place a little farther apart,

771
00:47:34,500 --> 00:47:38,500
because they're just to hold up the rest of the wood slats that make up my pirate ship.

772
00:47:38,500 --> 00:47:42,500
And that gap in the center, right here in the center,

773
00:47:42,500 --> 00:47:44,500
that's where I'm going to be firing.

774
00:47:44,500 --> 00:47:48,500
That's where I'll have real wood, and behind it I'll have the real pirates.

775
00:47:53,500 --> 00:47:58,500
Can ye trusty dagger in a sail slow down a plummeting pirate?

776
00:47:58,500 --> 00:48:03,500
That's the question Carrie, Grant and Tori are attempting to answer.

777
00:48:03,500 --> 00:48:06,500
So far, they've boarded the good ship Balcluza,

778
00:48:06,500 --> 00:48:08,500
and plundered her for knowledge,

779
00:48:08,500 --> 00:48:11,500
and this myth won't be plain sailing.

780
00:48:13,500 --> 00:48:16,500
So as it turns out, it's not so easy to do this.

781
00:48:16,500 --> 00:48:20,500
There are variations in the thickness of the sail, sharpness of the blade,

782
00:48:20,500 --> 00:48:23,500
and the angle at which you hold the blade can make a huge difference.

783
00:48:23,500 --> 00:48:28,500
Alright, so maybe before we go risking our lives and trying to ride down a sail with a knife,

784
00:48:28,500 --> 00:48:30,500
we should do some more tests so we can get some better data.

785
00:48:30,500 --> 00:48:35,500
So let's set up a test where we can use a period knife and cut through a period sail,

786
00:48:35,500 --> 00:48:38,500
but maybe make the knife static and run the cloth past it,

787
00:48:38,500 --> 00:48:40,500
that way we can take out the human element.

788
00:48:40,500 --> 00:48:45,500
We can test the different sharpnesses of blades and find out what the optimum sharpness is

789
00:48:45,500 --> 00:48:47,500
so that you get down the sail safely.

790
00:48:47,500 --> 00:48:48,500
It's a simple build.

791
00:48:48,500 --> 00:48:54,500
The knife will be locked off, and a run of thick canvas pulled past it using a dead weight dron.

792
00:48:54,500 --> 00:48:59,500
A good knife should have little trouble, but which knife would a pirate use?

793
00:48:59,500 --> 00:49:05,500
There's an old pirate saying, keep your blade sharp, you're packing plentiful.

794
00:49:05,500 --> 00:49:08,500
I hate this stuff. Why do people pack with this stuff?

795
00:49:08,500 --> 00:49:10,500
So these are cutlasses?

796
00:49:10,500 --> 00:49:11,500
I believe they are.

797
00:49:11,500 --> 00:49:12,500
Are they covered?

798
00:49:12,500 --> 00:49:14,500
I don't know.

799
00:49:14,500 --> 00:49:15,500
Wow.

800
00:49:17,500 --> 00:49:18,500
Whoa.

801
00:49:18,500 --> 00:49:19,500
Whoa.

802
00:49:19,500 --> 00:49:20,500
Whoa.

803
00:49:20,500 --> 00:49:21,500
Oh.

804
00:49:21,500 --> 00:49:22,500
Oh.

805
00:49:22,500 --> 00:49:26,500
It's a nasty, iry-a-scarby dog.

806
00:49:29,500 --> 00:49:34,500
Three knives have been delivered to test the thrust and parry of this sail-sliding myth.

807
00:49:34,500 --> 00:49:35,500
A cutlass?

808
00:49:35,500 --> 00:49:36,500
Too long.

809
00:49:36,500 --> 00:49:38,500
A Gurkha dagger?

810
00:49:38,500 --> 00:49:41,500
Not too many pirates in Landlock Nepal.

811
00:49:41,500 --> 00:49:45,500
So it's this stabbing knife, known as the Mangosh.

812
00:49:45,500 --> 00:49:52,500
It's not only an authentic period piece, it's the same type used by our swashbuckling Hollywood hero.

813
00:49:54,500 --> 00:50:00,500
All right, so you know, with this whole myth, it's really important to see how much speed the knife is going to slow you down.

814
00:50:00,500 --> 00:50:04,500
If you're going too fast and you hit the deck of the ship, you're going to break your ankles.

815
00:50:04,500 --> 00:50:05,500
That's not good.

816
00:50:05,500 --> 00:50:11,500
So what we're going to do right now is we're going to see how fast the knife is actually slowing the sail down.

817
00:50:11,500 --> 00:50:16,500
Remember, the pirate has to land safely on the deck after his knife-assisted fall,

818
00:50:16,500 --> 00:50:23,500
and these two tests, with a dull and sharp knife, should indicate the relative speeds of each drop.

819
00:50:23,500 --> 00:50:25,500
All right, here we go.

820
00:50:25,500 --> 00:50:27,500
Three, two, one.

821
00:50:29,500 --> 00:50:30,500
Cool.

822
00:50:30,500 --> 00:50:31,500
We got a good test.

823
00:50:31,500 --> 00:50:32,500
Nice.

824
00:50:32,500 --> 00:50:35,500
A blunt knife at the altered angle sliced just fine.

825
00:50:35,500 --> 00:50:38,500
Now for a comparison with the sharper blade.

826
00:50:39,500 --> 00:50:46,500
A quick once over on the grinder, and we'll see if fastidious pirates have a better chance of pulling off this myth.

827
00:50:46,500 --> 00:50:49,500
Test two, sharp blade, Mangosh.

828
00:50:49,500 --> 00:50:52,500
In three, two, one.

829
00:50:54,500 --> 00:50:55,500
Nice.

830
00:50:55,500 --> 00:50:56,500
A lot faster.

831
00:50:56,500 --> 00:50:57,500
Beauty.

832
00:50:57,500 --> 00:51:04,500
The last test comparing the sharp Mangosh knife to the dull one, definitely the sharp one is a lot faster.

833
00:51:04,500 --> 00:51:10,500
So I wouldn't want to be relying on that to get me down a sail safely,

834
00:51:10,500 --> 00:51:16,500
because you just shoot all the way down and probably end up pretty hurt at the bottom.

835
00:51:17,500 --> 00:51:23,500
So the sharper the knife, the faster the fall, and the faster the fall, the heavier the landing.

836
00:51:23,500 --> 00:51:27,500
Now it's time to find out if our fall guy could hang on to the knife.

837
00:51:28,500 --> 00:51:30,500
Dude, that's a hot combo.

838
00:51:30,500 --> 00:51:34,500
The well-dressed pirate is definitely going to be wearing that this fall.

839
00:51:34,500 --> 00:51:36,500
Okay, I'm ready for battle.

840
00:51:36,500 --> 00:51:38,500
That doesn't look dorky at all.

841
00:51:38,500 --> 00:51:39,500
Dorky.

842
00:51:39,500 --> 00:51:41,500
Now there's a pirate name.

843
00:51:41,500 --> 00:51:45,500
The locked off dull and sharp blades both cut through the cloth easily.

844
00:51:46,500 --> 00:51:50,500
But could a person, even a dorky one, hold the blade?

845
00:51:50,500 --> 00:51:52,500
Dory's sharp blade, Mangosh test.

846
00:51:52,500 --> 00:51:55,500
And three, two, one.

847
00:51:59,500 --> 00:52:01,500
I don't know why you guys are so worried.

848
00:52:01,500 --> 00:52:02,500
That didn't look hard.

849
00:52:02,500 --> 00:52:04,500
It didn't look hard at all, because it wasn't.

850
00:52:05,500 --> 00:52:09,500
Looks like there's some hope for this myth. This might be a good way to get down from your sail.

851
00:52:09,500 --> 00:52:15,500
Okay, so now we know with a 200 pound counterweight, a period knife will cut through number four sail fabric.

852
00:52:16,500 --> 00:52:19,500
And dull knife goes slower, sharp knife goes faster.

853
00:52:19,500 --> 00:52:23,500
And we also know that a human can hold onto a knife and cut through a sail.

854
00:52:24,500 --> 00:52:33,500
Okay, so I think next we need to ramp it up and see if a 200 pound weight attached to a falling knife will actually cut the sail.

855
00:52:34,500 --> 00:52:38,500
I think Buster's just about that weight, and probably the man for the job.

856
00:52:40,500 --> 00:52:43,500
Buster is about to enter the pirate business.

857
00:52:44,500 --> 00:52:45,500
That's beautiful.

858
00:52:46,500 --> 00:52:52,500
The following is a paid commercial program brought to you by the Piratical Industry Laboratories.

859
00:52:52,500 --> 00:52:56,500
Pirates, if you're like me, you love the life.

860
00:52:56,500 --> 00:53:00,500
The pillaging, the freedom, but you hate the cannons.

861
00:53:00,500 --> 00:53:06,500
The cannons, the loading, the charging, the dropping of the balls on your foot.

862
00:53:06,500 --> 00:53:12,500
Well, we've developed an entirely new product, the Blowhard 3000.

863
00:53:12,500 --> 00:53:19,500
Firing a six pound ball at 300 miles per hour on compressed air alone.

864
00:53:19,500 --> 00:53:23,500
It's guaranteed to solve all your piratical needs.

865
00:53:23,500 --> 00:53:35,500
Our exclusively developed manifold at the Piratical Industries Labs allows you to use only compressed air generated by rowing slaves to propel your cannonballs at your enemy.

866
00:53:35,500 --> 00:53:40,500
No more black powder, no more smoke making your voice sound like this.

867
00:53:40,500 --> 00:53:42,500
Slaves not included.

868
00:53:42,500 --> 00:53:47,500
The Blowhard 3000. The next evolution in pirate technology.

869
00:53:48,500 --> 00:53:50,500
We will now resume normal programming.

870
00:53:51,500 --> 00:54:01,500
Buccaneer Buster's Adam and Jamie have built an air cannon to test the myth that splinters kill more people than cannonballs in your average pirate broadside.

871
00:54:01,500 --> 00:54:04,500
This is what every modern pirate's using.

872
00:54:05,500 --> 00:54:10,500
An authentic cannon muzzle velocity is 900 feet per second.

873
00:54:10,500 --> 00:54:17,500
In the absence of an authentic cannon, the Blowhard 3000 needs to get as close to that as possible.

874
00:54:17,500 --> 00:54:24,500
What we're doing is a final pressure test. We're topping up these tanks with a very high pressure gas that gets us up into the zone we need.

875
00:54:24,500 --> 00:54:29,500
When they put me in a home where I can't hurt myself, this is what undoubtedly they'll make me wear.

876
00:54:29,500 --> 00:54:35,500
The team looks confident, but no one knows if the Blowhard 3000 will blow hard enough.

877
00:54:35,500 --> 00:54:40,500
This test without a cannonball will confirm the high pressure system is working.

878
00:54:40,500 --> 00:54:47,500
Okay, firing in three, two, one.

879
00:54:55,500 --> 00:54:58,500
That's a beautiful test. I feel really, really good about this steel.

880
00:54:58,500 --> 00:54:59,500
Okay.

881
00:55:00,500 --> 00:55:11,500
A perfect high pressure test fire means it's time to take this myth out of the workshop and onto the firing range for some serious mythbuster style fireworks.

882
00:55:12,500 --> 00:55:21,500
Once again, we find ourselves on the Alameda Naval Base runway, which is a beautiful mile and a half long runway.

883
00:55:21,500 --> 00:55:24,500
Ours alone, nice and safe.

884
00:55:24,500 --> 00:55:27,500
I'm sorry Adam, did you say nice and safe?

885
00:55:27,500 --> 00:55:29,500
Yeah.

886
00:55:30,500 --> 00:55:37,500
That's what we're firing. Six and a half pound or three kilogram steel cannonball.

887
00:55:38,500 --> 00:55:45,500
To achieve the velocity that we would get out of a real cannon, we'd have to reach in the neighborhood of 1200 feet per second.

888
00:55:45,500 --> 00:55:47,500
Now we know this rig is not going to do this.

889
00:55:47,500 --> 00:55:57,500
The theoretical max speed that we'll get out of this rig if we were to just totally go for it is about in the neighborhood of 700 feet per second, which is still pretty fast.

890
00:55:57,500 --> 00:56:00,500
In fact, it's a huge amount of force.

891
00:56:00,500 --> 00:56:05,500
Huge if it works. And this test, the first with a cannonball, we'll find out.

892
00:56:05,500 --> 00:56:10,500
Adam decides that visualizing a positive result will help.

893
00:56:10,500 --> 00:56:14,500
It's going to build up pressure in here. It's going to come out this browser.

894
00:56:17,500 --> 00:56:22,500
This is if you could actually follow it in real time.

895
00:56:28,500 --> 00:56:34,500
And Stan's going to pour out of here and we're going to cackle a lot. That's pretty much what's going to happen.

896
00:56:35,500 --> 00:56:37,500
We are arming the cannon.

897
00:56:38,500 --> 00:56:45,500
Air cannon test fire in three, two, one.

898
00:56:47,500 --> 00:56:50,500
And cue the cackle.

899
00:56:53,500 --> 00:56:55,500
That was cool.

900
00:56:55,500 --> 00:56:58,500
Cool indeed. But do we have the speed we need?

901
00:56:58,500 --> 00:57:05,500
It's 2000 frames per second. So I'm traveling one foot every four frames. That's a foot in every two milliseconds.

902
00:57:05,500 --> 00:57:15,500
That's 500 feet per second. That is...340 miles per hour. That is respectable.

903
00:57:17,500 --> 00:57:22,500
And it's as good as it's going to get. So, time to move on.

904
00:57:22,500 --> 00:57:28,500
The next step will be to find out how many people a single cannonball can kill directly.

905
00:57:28,500 --> 00:57:33,500
That way, when they test with wooden shrapnel damage, they have a comparison.

906
00:57:33,500 --> 00:57:39,500
Now that the cannon is working, the first test is to find out how much damage it would do to humans.

907
00:57:39,500 --> 00:57:43,500
So we're going to break out our human analogs, fire the cannon at them.

908
00:57:43,500 --> 00:57:48,500
Human analogs? Can we check the truck again?

909
00:57:48,500 --> 00:57:52,500
We've got the side of the boat made to genuine pirate ship dimensions.

910
00:57:52,500 --> 00:57:56,500
But did anyone pack a human analog?

911
00:57:56,500 --> 00:57:59,500
Explain it again, Adam, please, in simple terms.

912
00:57:59,500 --> 00:58:03,500
We're going to shoot at the boat from about point blank range, so it'll be here. The pigs will be here.

913
00:58:04,500 --> 00:58:07,500
Hold on. Did Adam say pigs?

914
00:58:08,500 --> 00:58:11,500
These are 450 pound pigs.

915
00:58:11,500 --> 00:58:17,500
Pigs are used to the world over as nearly perfect analogs for humans.

916
00:58:17,500 --> 00:58:21,500
They have similar amounts of body fat, similar skeletal structures.

917
00:58:21,500 --> 00:58:28,500
While they look quite different, they act very much the same under a lot of conditions, including getting hit with a cannonball.

918
00:58:29,500 --> 00:58:35,500
Rest assured, our scientifically accurate poor sign pirates were humanely slaughtered.

919
00:58:36,500 --> 00:58:41,500
But instead of being destined for the supermarket, they've been selected for a higher purpose.

920
00:58:42,500 --> 00:58:45,500
Wake up! Time for science!

921
00:58:46,500 --> 00:58:50,500
The myth is that more people died from splinters than from actual cannonballs.

922
00:58:50,500 --> 00:58:57,500
And if we want to test it as more than just a numerical anomaly, we want to know how many people a single cannonball could kill.

923
00:58:58,500 --> 00:59:02,500
So we've lined four of them up in front of the barrel, and we're going to see how many sustain.

924
00:59:02,500 --> 00:59:05,500
But we consider to be a lethal amount of damage from the single shot.

925
00:59:11,500 --> 00:59:16,500
Tackling a tall ship tail from Tinseltown is Carrie Grant and Tori.

926
00:59:16,500 --> 00:59:21,500
They're asking, can you slide down from a top mast by slicing the sail?

927
00:59:21,500 --> 00:59:27,500
So far, they've selected their knife, tested its sail shearing abilities through plain canvas,

928
00:59:28,500 --> 00:59:31,500
and they know our fall guy can hang onto the blade.

929
00:59:33,500 --> 00:59:35,500
Alright, what are we doing?

930
00:59:35,500 --> 00:59:45,500
What we're doing, Tori, is taking this test to the next level by introducing full length sails with cross seams, known on the high seas as reef bands.

931
00:59:45,500 --> 00:59:50,500
This definitely changes what the knife's going to do when it goes down the sail.

932
00:59:50,500 --> 00:59:53,500
When you hit these reef bands, it could just like throw you out.

933
00:59:54,500 --> 00:59:57,500
So the knife has to be sharp enough to get through these thick seams.

934
00:59:57,500 --> 01:00:04,500
But as the guys found out in the earlier tests, too sharp, and the slide down the sail becomes a free fall.

935
01:00:04,500 --> 01:00:09,500
So we're all ready to go. Buster's ready, he's got his hands that are going to hold the knife at any angle.

936
01:00:09,500 --> 01:00:11,500
Hopefully he'll hold onto the knife.

937
01:00:11,500 --> 01:00:16,500
We have our sail hanging from the ceiling, and it's at a height that would be roughly to what a pirate ship would be.

938
01:00:16,500 --> 01:00:20,500
So that way we could see when he lands on the deck what kind of injuries he's going to sustain.

939
01:00:20,500 --> 01:00:26,500
So all we have to do now is hoist him up to the quick release, stick his knife in the sail, and let him go.

940
01:00:26,500 --> 01:00:34,500
Pride normally goes before a fall, but on Mythbusters, Grant jumps in for some mathematical injury calculation.

941
01:00:34,500 --> 01:00:42,500
So I'm marking out our sail in one foot increments, and what we're going to do is use the high speed camera to film Buster as he rides the knife down.

942
01:00:42,500 --> 01:00:45,500
Counting the number of frames, that'll give us velocity.

943
01:00:45,500 --> 01:00:50,500
What we know is 25 feet per second is the threshold of minor injury.

944
01:00:50,500 --> 01:00:56,500
So if you're a pirate landing on a deck, you'll probably be able to get up and walk away and fight out the pirates.

945
01:00:56,500 --> 01:01:03,500
50 feet per second is the threshold of major injury, which means possibly it'll be fatal.

946
01:01:03,500 --> 01:01:12,500
So because the Myth is about our hero being able to walk away, we're looking for a speed below 25 feet per second.

947
01:01:13,500 --> 01:01:16,500
Buster's first ride will be with a sharpen blade.

948
01:01:16,500 --> 01:01:22,500
Full scale Buster test, two reef bands, sharp knife in three, two, one.

949
01:01:26,500 --> 01:01:29,500
I don't think that worked very well. What do you think?

950
01:01:29,500 --> 01:01:33,500
I don't think I want to use a sharp knife. Dang! He hit hard.

951
01:01:33,500 --> 01:01:37,500
Look at that. It sliced right through him. It didn't even pause at the reef bands.

952
01:01:37,500 --> 01:01:41,500
Be sharp, too fast, too bad for Buster.

953
01:01:41,500 --> 01:01:44,500
And the numbers from the high speed confirm it.

954
01:01:44,500 --> 01:01:49,500
At over 25 feet per second, Buster would definitely have been busted up.

955
01:01:49,500 --> 01:01:55,500
So I think we probably ought to think about maybe dulling the knife a little bit.

956
01:01:55,500 --> 01:01:56,500
Yeah.

957
01:01:56,500 --> 01:02:00,500
Yep, the solution is to blunt the blade and try to slow the fall.

958
01:02:00,500 --> 01:02:02,500
Call it, Carrie.

959
01:02:02,500 --> 01:02:08,500
Full weight of Buster on the man-gush blade, which is dull with the reef bands on the sail.

960
01:02:08,500 --> 01:02:11,500
Alright, here we go in three, two, one.

961
01:02:14,500 --> 01:02:15,500
Ah!

962
01:02:15,500 --> 01:02:18,500
I did a two-dull.

963
01:02:18,500 --> 01:02:26,500
What Carrie's trying to say is Buster's dull knife hit a snag and he fell from grace with a resounding thud.

964
01:02:27,500 --> 01:02:31,500
The solution is a knife that's sharp enough to cut the reef bands,

965
01:02:31,500 --> 01:02:36,500
yet dull enough to slow our fall guy's fall to a safe speed.

966
01:02:38,500 --> 01:02:40,500
But who's going to wield the knife?

967
01:02:40,500 --> 01:02:47,500
It's obvious that Buster's a bit of a stiff, and our mythical swashbuckler knows how to absorb a fall.

968
01:02:47,500 --> 01:02:50,500
Something Buster never picked up at stunt school.

969
01:02:51,500 --> 01:02:56,500
So for the best chance of success, we need to inject some humanity into this myth.

970
01:02:56,500 --> 01:03:05,500
Well, let's find a safe way to do this, and then one of us, and by us, I mean you, can go up and try this out.

971
01:03:05,500 --> 01:03:06,500
Twist my arm.

972
01:03:06,500 --> 01:03:07,500
Alright.

973
01:03:10,500 --> 01:03:12,500
Pirates speak lesson number four.

974
01:03:12,500 --> 01:03:16,500
A good pirate should start all sentences with the words,

975
01:03:16,500 --> 01:03:23,500
Thar B, as in, Thar B, Adam and Jamie, or Thar B, Adam and Jamie with a very large cannon.

976
01:03:23,500 --> 01:03:31,500
Or even better, Thar B, Adam and Jamie with a very large cannon pointing straight at four pigs dressed as pirates.

977
01:03:31,500 --> 01:03:38,500
The myth states more pirates died from splintering wood than from a direct hit by a cannonball.

978
01:03:38,500 --> 01:03:42,500
Workshop tests with a mini-canon seem to confirm the theory.

979
01:03:43,500 --> 01:03:50,500
But in full-scale tests, the mythbusters first want to see just how many people a cannonball could kill.

980
01:03:50,500 --> 01:03:56,500
They figured it was more humane to use pigs bound for the supermarket than real pirates.

981
01:03:56,500 --> 01:04:01,500
Next, we're going to fire the air cannon at the pigs, at the pirates, I'm sorry.

982
01:04:01,500 --> 01:04:06,500
My guess is that we're going to make it all the way through them, because we're going to bump up the pressure a little bit,

983
01:04:06,500 --> 01:04:13,500
off of the nitrogen tank, and pigs versus sandbags, I'd say the pigs lose.

984
01:04:13,500 --> 01:04:20,500
This is how much damage can a cannonball do to some pirates.

985
01:04:20,500 --> 01:04:26,500
Firing in three, two, one.

986
01:04:27,500 --> 01:04:37,500
That is so wrong!

987
01:04:37,500 --> 01:04:44,500
Wrong, maybe, but did any of our pirate substitutes survive the broadside?

988
01:04:44,500 --> 01:04:45,500
He's dead.

989
01:04:45,500 --> 01:04:47,500
Yeah, I'd say so.

990
01:04:47,500 --> 01:04:50,500
Alright, here's your second pig.

991
01:04:51,500 --> 01:04:54,500
Well, I can see it over here, he's dead.

992
01:04:54,500 --> 01:04:59,500
Your third pig, well, he's dead.

993
01:04:59,500 --> 01:05:01,500
Oh, it's a pig.

994
01:05:01,500 --> 01:05:03,500
Totally dead.

995
01:05:05,500 --> 01:05:07,500
Let's set up for the next test.

996
01:05:07,500 --> 01:05:09,500
That's stunning, that's four for four.

997
01:05:09,500 --> 01:05:11,500
I went through them like butter.

998
01:05:11,500 --> 01:05:13,500
Or lard.

999
01:05:14,500 --> 01:05:21,500
We killed four little pirates, and didn't even knock their hats off, practically.

1000
01:05:21,500 --> 01:05:23,500
Well, maybe one of them.

1001
01:05:23,500 --> 01:05:26,500
That means we're getting this cannonball going really pretty quickly.

1002
01:05:26,500 --> 01:05:31,500
So the benchmark for death by a single cannonball is at least four.

1003
01:05:31,500 --> 01:05:34,500
It's crunch time for the Cannonball Splinter Myth.

1004
01:05:34,500 --> 01:05:42,500
Next we're going to fire through our mocked up pirate ship and see whether it's more lethal to get hit by the splinters than a cannonball.

1005
01:05:42,500 --> 01:05:47,500
Pirate ships being in short supply, Adam has built his own slightly modified version.

1006
01:05:47,500 --> 01:05:52,500
It doesn't look like it, but I have a fascia that looks like a pirate ship.

1007
01:05:52,500 --> 01:05:56,500
And then I have here three solid inches of white oak.

1008
01:05:56,500 --> 01:06:02,500
That is accurate to the outside cladding on a period ship that a pirate might have commandeered.

1009
01:06:02,500 --> 01:06:05,500
Then there's a six by six inch stauncheon.

1010
01:06:05,500 --> 01:06:10,500
These are the ribs that run all the way down the boat, describing its hull shape.

1011
01:06:10,500 --> 01:06:13,500
And on the inside it's clad with pine.

1012
01:06:13,500 --> 01:06:18,500
These two pieces are what this cannonball is going through that will generate the splinters,

1013
01:06:18,500 --> 01:06:24,500
and they are accurate to the type of materials that a period cannonball would have encountered in a ship during battle.

1014
01:06:24,500 --> 01:06:29,500
So for this myth to be true, we're looking for a huge volume of splinters to come out of the backside

1015
01:06:29,500 --> 01:06:32,500
and spray the whole area, which could kill a lot of people.

1016
01:06:32,500 --> 01:06:39,500
And it's actually more plausible than a bunch of people lining up in a row right behind a cannonball when it hits.

1017
01:06:39,500 --> 01:06:45,500
Air cannon into the pirate ship in three, two, one.

1018
01:06:49,500 --> 01:06:51,500
I hope it made it.

1019
01:06:51,500 --> 01:06:54,500
Well, it didn't come bouncing out.

1020
01:06:54,500 --> 01:06:56,500
Let's go check it out.

1021
01:06:58,500 --> 01:07:02,500
The air cannon once again hits her mark, but what's the damage report?

1022
01:07:02,500 --> 01:07:04,500
Whoa!

1023
01:07:04,500 --> 01:07:07,500
It did! It made it through!

1024
01:07:07,500 --> 01:07:09,500
Yeah! Excellent!

1025
01:07:10,500 --> 01:07:12,500
Oh my God.

1026
01:07:12,500 --> 01:07:15,500
I see a horror show and I definitely see splinters here.

1027
01:07:15,500 --> 01:07:17,500
I don't see any penetration of the pigs at all.

1028
01:07:17,500 --> 01:07:20,500
I don't see any of them sticking out of the pigs here.

1029
01:07:20,500 --> 01:07:26,500
Plenty of splinters, but unlike the small scale test, there's no suggestion the shrapnel was lethal.

1030
01:07:26,500 --> 01:07:33,500
Yeah, I don't know what else to say. I mean, it drilled a neat hole right through it.

1031
01:07:33,500 --> 01:07:39,500
If I was standing right here, I'd count my lucky stars that the cannonball missed me,

1032
01:07:39,500 --> 01:07:43,500
but I'd be pulling splinters out of my thighs.

1033
01:07:43,500 --> 01:07:45,500
I mean, that would suck.

1034
01:07:45,500 --> 01:07:51,500
And sure enough, back then, you know, a big splinter going through your leg could be a lethal injury

1035
01:07:51,500 --> 01:07:56,500
when you're talking about infection in the microorganisms that are living off the wood of the boat and stuff like that.

1036
01:07:56,500 --> 01:08:01,500
But this is like two people who are slightly injured or seriously injured.

1037
01:08:01,500 --> 01:08:06,500
Not, you know, ten, the cannonball can travel all the way through.

1038
01:08:06,500 --> 01:08:11,500
Yeah, I think the scenario we were looking for was where there's such an explosion

1039
01:08:11,500 --> 01:08:17,500
that it accelerates these particles of wood so fast that everybody in the area just gets sprayed and dies.

1040
01:08:17,500 --> 01:08:21,500
Kind of like a shotgun or more like a grenade blast.

1041
01:08:21,500 --> 01:08:23,500
And I'm not seeing that happen with this stuff.

1042
01:08:25,500 --> 01:08:27,500
I think the high-speed footage tells the whole story

1043
01:08:27,500 --> 01:08:32,500
because it's showing a massive quantity of splinters going out of the backside of this boat hull.

1044
01:08:32,500 --> 01:08:38,500
The problem is that none of it's hitting the pigs with enough strength, enough mass, enough velocity or whatever

1045
01:08:38,500 --> 01:08:40,500
to actually stick into the pigs.

1046
01:08:41,500 --> 01:08:46,500
With no pigs stuck with deadly splinters, this myth is on shaky ground.

1047
01:08:46,500 --> 01:08:49,500
But Adam and Jamie are reluctant to call it busting.

1048
01:08:49,500 --> 01:08:52,500
Remember, the air cannon isn't quite up to speed.

1049
01:08:52,500 --> 01:08:58,500
With a muzzle velocity of around 400 miles per hour, it doesn't match up to the real thing.

1050
01:08:58,500 --> 01:09:02,500
We've got to figure out a way of getting things to go really fast.

1051
01:09:02,500 --> 01:09:09,500
Unable to accept defeat, the pressure is back on to find a genuine cannon and put this myth to rest.

1052
01:09:12,500 --> 01:09:18,500
When using a knife to slide down sails, it's not the fall that'll kill you, it's the sudden stop.

1053
01:09:18,500 --> 01:09:21,500
And busters sucks at landing.

1054
01:09:22,500 --> 01:09:25,500
This myth needs a dummy that can act like a person.

1055
01:09:25,500 --> 01:09:27,500
I mean, I wouldn't want to do it.

1056
01:09:27,500 --> 01:09:28,500
Not it.

1057
01:09:28,500 --> 01:09:33,500
Seeing as Torey's the class clown, we're taking this myth to the circus.

1058
01:09:33,500 --> 01:09:36,500
You know, high trapeze, nets, all that safety stuff.

1059
01:09:36,500 --> 01:09:40,500
Uh, Carrie, Torey's about to attempt a life-threatening stunt.

1060
01:09:40,500 --> 01:09:41,500
That's crazy.

1061
01:09:41,500 --> 01:09:45,500
Carrie, you're just not taking this seriously, are you?

1062
01:09:45,500 --> 01:09:50,500
Before this myth turns into a circus, thank you, Carrie, that's quite enough.

1063
01:09:50,500 --> 01:09:56,500
Torey gets the lowdown on his knife-wielding fall from trapeze trainer Eric Braun.

1064
01:09:56,500 --> 01:10:03,500
The net is good to handle someone my size hitting the net from above the frame.

1065
01:10:03,500 --> 01:10:05,500
So no matter what, we're going to be safe.

1066
01:10:05,500 --> 01:10:07,500
No matter what, you won't hit the ground.

1067
01:10:07,500 --> 01:10:09,500
But not, no, no, no.

1068
01:10:09,500 --> 01:10:11,500
I said no matter what, we're going to be safe.

1069
01:10:11,500 --> 01:10:16,500
The biggest risk of injury is one part of your body hitting another part of your body.

1070
01:10:16,500 --> 01:10:19,500
The most common instance of that is your knee hitting your nose.

1071
01:10:19,500 --> 01:10:20,500
Oh!

1072
01:10:20,500 --> 01:10:22,500
Okay, it's happened before.

1073
01:10:22,500 --> 01:10:24,500
My sister broke her nose in like 14 places.

1074
01:10:24,500 --> 01:10:25,500
Cool.

1075
01:10:25,500 --> 01:10:27,500
You know, with her knees hitting her face in the trampoline.

1076
01:10:27,500 --> 01:10:29,500
I'll try to avoid that if I can.

1077
01:10:29,500 --> 01:10:34,500
When Buster tried this trick, it looked more damaging than a knee to a nose.

1078
01:10:34,500 --> 01:10:45,500
And with the sail set to the same Buster-busting height, Torey is banking on his partially sharpened knife to slow his fall and cut through the refeds.

1079
01:10:46,500 --> 01:10:49,500
Alright, so what I'm about to do is climb up to the top of the sail.

1080
01:10:49,500 --> 01:10:53,500
We're going to do a free fall test without the knife just to get a control on my speed.

1081
01:10:53,500 --> 01:10:58,500
I'm a little nervous because I'm not really sure how I'm going to land.

1082
01:10:58,500 --> 01:11:01,500
I just don't want to smash my face into my knees.

1083
01:11:01,500 --> 01:11:05,500
If I can avoid that, I'll be cool.

1084
01:11:05,500 --> 01:11:15,500
This first drop will be a knife-less test run.

1085
01:11:15,500 --> 01:11:19,500
Then we'll stick the knife in and slide this myth home.

1086
01:11:19,500 --> 01:11:24,500
Full-scale Torey test. This one's the control free fall.

1087
01:11:24,500 --> 01:11:26,500
Three, two, one.

1088
01:11:26,500 --> 01:11:30,500
That was great!

1089
01:11:30,500 --> 01:11:31,500
Are you okay?

1090
01:11:31,500 --> 01:11:32,500
Yeah.

1091
01:11:32,500 --> 01:11:36,500
How much of that was free fall and how much of that was you stopping him?

1092
01:11:36,500 --> 01:11:40,500
Well, it felt like a lot of it was free fall.

1093
01:11:40,500 --> 01:11:47,500
Totally good fall. You were right next to the sail the whole time. You had your pretend knife in it and I mean, it couldn't have been any better.

1094
01:11:50,500 --> 01:11:56,500
At Falling Down, Torey's done good. But would he have survived the fall to fight another day?

1095
01:11:56,500 --> 01:12:00,500
Actually, it's not bad. I mean, he is just falling straight down. He's not freaking out or anything.

1096
01:12:00,500 --> 01:12:02,500
That's really good form.

1097
01:12:02,500 --> 01:12:04,500
Pirates don't freak out.

1098
01:12:04,500 --> 01:12:07,500
Well, you might. Pirates don't.

1099
01:12:07,500 --> 01:12:13,500
Okay, here's the good news. The good news is that your velocity at the very end is 25 feet per second.

1100
01:12:13,500 --> 01:12:18,500
It's a little bit slower than physics predicts, but I think it's still...

1101
01:12:18,500 --> 01:12:19,500
It's really close to a free fall.

1102
01:12:19,500 --> 01:12:26,500
Yeah, and what that means is if the net weren't there, you would be breaking both legs in very bad shape.

1103
01:12:26,500 --> 01:12:28,500
Good thing for the net.

1104
01:12:28,500 --> 01:12:38,500
So free fall equals broken legs. The question is, will thrusting a knife into the sail slow down Pirat Torey enough to prove this myth?

1105
01:12:38,500 --> 01:12:46,500
My biggest concern now is holding onto the knife. Could a pirate hold onto the knife, cutting through the sail, hitting those reef bands and not letting go.

1106
01:12:46,500 --> 01:12:49,500
That's what I need to concentrate on right now.

1107
01:12:49,500 --> 01:12:52,500
Sorry, you want to put the safety on?

1108
01:12:52,500 --> 01:12:54,500
Oh.

1109
01:12:54,500 --> 01:12:56,500
Okay.

1110
01:12:57,500 --> 01:12:59,500
Here you go, sorry.

1111
01:12:59,500 --> 01:13:08,500
Safely secured, Torey takes to the rigged. His knife of choice, the not too dull, not too sharp, mangosch.

1112
01:13:08,500 --> 01:13:15,500
Full scale pirate sail test. Torey, free fall with the knife, sharp.

1113
01:13:15,500 --> 01:13:17,500
Okay, Colin, when you're ready.

1114
01:13:17,500 --> 01:13:21,500
Here we go. In three, two, one.

1115
01:13:22,500 --> 01:13:25,500
Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

1116
01:13:25,500 --> 01:13:26,500
Are you okay?

1117
01:13:26,500 --> 01:13:27,500
Yeah, okay.

1118
01:13:27,500 --> 01:13:34,500
Whoa, that was crazy. As soon as I hit that reef band, the knife just popped right out.

1119
01:13:37,500 --> 01:13:44,500
So the reef bands threw him off, but if the knife was any sharper, he'd have fallen too fast to walk away uninjured.

1120
01:13:44,500 --> 01:13:47,500
But Torey ain't given up yet.

1121
01:13:47,500 --> 01:13:55,500
What I'd like to do is try it one more time, just move over a little bit on the sail, now that I know what it feels like and just see if I can keep that angle.

1122
01:13:55,500 --> 01:13:59,500
Because the first few feet of fall, it felt like I was being slowed down by the knife.

1123
01:13:59,500 --> 01:14:03,500
So Tenacious Torey gets one final attempt.

1124
01:14:03,500 --> 01:14:06,500
Here we go, in three, two, one.

1125
01:14:08,500 --> 01:14:10,500
Dang.

1126
01:14:10,500 --> 01:14:13,500
But the result was exactly the same.

1127
01:14:13,500 --> 01:14:18,500
It seems that a knife dull enough to get you down at a safe speed won't slice through the reef band.

1128
01:14:18,500 --> 01:14:24,500
So you hung onto the knife, but it was just that force that popped you out.

1129
01:14:24,500 --> 01:14:28,500
Yeah, that just popped me out. So it wasn't like it popped the knife out of my hand.

1130
01:14:28,500 --> 01:14:32,500
It just pushed the knife up, and then I fell out of the sail.

1131
01:14:32,500 --> 01:14:40,500
Well, that's a huge difference between you and Buster, is the fact that he had the death grip and everything was tightened and there was no way his wrist was going to go back.

1132
01:14:40,500 --> 01:14:42,500
That is a normal human reaction.

1133
01:14:42,500 --> 01:14:45,500
So Torey, ready to call this one?

1134
01:14:45,500 --> 01:14:47,500
Cutting a knife through the sail, it's just way too hard.

1135
01:14:47,500 --> 01:14:53,500
I mean, as soon as I hit that reef band, the angle of my knife changed and my knife popped out, I fell.

1136
01:14:53,500 --> 01:15:00,500
We had a full live person doing this with a sharp knife in a life-size sail with reef bands.

1137
01:15:00,500 --> 01:15:02,500
You couldn't really get more realistic than that.

1138
01:15:02,500 --> 01:15:04,500
I'm a little disappointed.

1139
01:15:04,500 --> 01:15:05,500
I know.

1140
01:15:07,500 --> 01:15:11,500
I just don't think the human wrist is strong enough to hold that angle.

1141
01:15:11,500 --> 01:15:17,500
Plus, in a historically accurate sail, you'd have to get to not one, but two reef bands.

1142
01:15:17,500 --> 01:15:25,500
And each of those has a variation of sail material of one to three layers to two layers, back to three, and then to one.

1143
01:15:25,500 --> 01:15:34,500
Well, and not only that, I mean, in a real-life situation, you're going to have to have your knife just sharp enough to make it through the reef bands, but just dull enough to decelerate you.

1144
01:15:34,500 --> 01:15:36,500
I mean, when is that really going to happen?

1145
01:15:36,500 --> 01:15:37,500
Only in the movies.

1146
01:15:37,500 --> 01:15:39,500
I think this one's busted.

1147
01:15:39,500 --> 01:15:40,500
I think this one's triple busted.

1148
01:15:40,500 --> 01:15:41,500
Busted.

1149
01:15:41,500 --> 01:15:42,500
Busted.

1150
01:15:49,500 --> 01:15:53,500
It's a maritime myth of explosive proportions.

1151
01:15:53,500 --> 01:16:01,500
Supposedly, when the broadside strike, more shipmates die from the flying splinters than the cannonballs themselves.

1152
01:16:02,500 --> 01:16:06,500
Tests with the giant air cannon suggest it's a bust.

1153
01:16:06,500 --> 01:16:11,500
But without an accurate muzzle velocity, our dynamic duo are reluctant to call it.

1154
01:16:13,500 --> 01:16:14,500
I don't know, man.

1155
01:16:14,500 --> 01:16:15,500
I'm looking at this strabnel.

1156
01:16:15,500 --> 01:16:17,500
I'm really pleased with our rig.

1157
01:16:17,500 --> 01:16:19,500
I think we can call this one busted.

1158
01:16:19,500 --> 01:16:20,500
I don't know.

1159
01:16:20,500 --> 01:16:27,500
I mean, a real cannon will fire a cannonball at twice the velocity of what we've got our air cannon to do.

1160
01:16:27,500 --> 01:16:31,500
And that translates to maybe about ten times the actual power.

1161
01:16:31,500 --> 01:16:35,500
Right, but it did go through all the wood we had set up, plus our pigs.

1162
01:16:35,500 --> 01:16:37,500
It did everything that we wanted it to do.

1163
01:16:37,500 --> 01:16:42,500
Well, I have actually got access to a real cannon that fires a real cannonball.

1164
01:16:42,500 --> 01:16:44,500
You want to go for it?

1165
01:16:44,500 --> 01:16:46,500
Oh, yeah.

1166
01:16:46,500 --> 01:16:47,500
Let's do it.

1167
01:16:47,500 --> 01:16:51,500
Let's take all this back to the side and try it again.

1168
01:16:52,500 --> 01:16:55,500
Actually, Adam, we're playing with real guns this time.

1169
01:16:55,500 --> 01:16:58,500
And there's only one place they let us do that.

1170
01:16:58,500 --> 01:17:02,500
The Alameda County Sheriff's Facility Bomb Range.

1171
01:17:02,500 --> 01:17:08,500
And joining us to save the day is not so dirty, Harry, and his big gun.

1172
01:17:08,500 --> 01:17:09,500
This is old Moses.

1173
01:17:09,500 --> 01:17:11,500
Is that the trailer or the gun?

1174
01:17:11,500 --> 01:17:12,500
The gun.

1175
01:17:12,500 --> 01:17:15,500
He speaks with a great voice and lays down the law.

1176
01:17:15,500 --> 01:17:17,500
Oh, my lord.

1177
01:17:17,500 --> 01:17:18,500
Wow!

1178
01:17:22,500 --> 01:17:27,500
It's a fully functional 1841 Mexican and Civil War replica.

1179
01:17:27,500 --> 01:17:31,500
Not exactly pirate material, but a cannon's a cannon, right?

1180
01:17:32,500 --> 01:17:37,500
This is one of those cases where I'm sure the results are going to be controversial,

1181
01:17:37,500 --> 01:17:41,500
but no one can accuse us of not being thorough.

1182
01:17:41,500 --> 01:17:46,500
And if there are any pirates out there who dispute this, I'd love to talk to them.

1183
01:17:46,500 --> 01:17:50,500
The cannon that we're about to use is a piece of what is known as field artillery.

1184
01:17:50,500 --> 01:17:54,500
Now, this is the kind of thing that would go out on the open battlefield in the Civil War

1185
01:17:54,500 --> 01:17:55,500
and that kind of thing.

1186
01:17:55,500 --> 01:17:59,500
We're talking about pirate cannons, but it's the same.

1187
01:17:59,500 --> 01:18:01,500
The ball size is the same.

1188
01:18:01,500 --> 01:18:03,500
It's the same as what we used in the air cannon.

1189
01:18:03,500 --> 01:18:07,500
It's a proper size that you would actually find on a pirate ship.

1190
01:18:07,500 --> 01:18:10,500
So the effect on impact is the same.

1191
01:18:10,500 --> 01:18:16,500
This first shot into the water barrels for safety will give the team the muzzle velocity.

1192
01:18:16,500 --> 01:18:22,500
And if old Moses hits 1,300 feet per second, we know we're dealing with the real thing.

1193
01:18:22,500 --> 01:18:26,500
Let's see if this is big enough to hold a pound and a quarter.

1194
01:18:27,500 --> 01:18:32,500
Harry will use a pound and a quarter of black powder to lodge a six pound shot.

1195
01:18:32,500 --> 01:18:36,500
Okay, not too hard.

1196
01:18:39,500 --> 01:18:41,500
Okay, action front, time to load.

1197
01:18:41,500 --> 01:18:43,500
Charge.

1198
01:18:43,500 --> 01:18:49,500
In the heat of battle, a crack cannon team match speed and efficiency with precision.

1199
01:18:49,500 --> 01:18:52,500
The correctly sized cannon balls help too.

1200
01:18:52,500 --> 01:18:53,500
What's going on?

1201
01:18:53,500 --> 01:18:55,500
It's too big.

1202
01:18:55,500 --> 01:18:56,500
No.

1203
01:18:56,500 --> 01:19:01,500
These are fresh ordered shots just for this gun and they're cast too large.

1204
01:19:05,500 --> 01:19:11,500
Well, we have one of our little unexpected problems, something we could have never foreseen or put on a list.

1205
01:19:11,500 --> 01:19:17,500
And it's that our cannon balls are too big for the barrel of our cannon.

1206
01:19:17,500 --> 01:19:24,500
What I'm using right now is an ice it pirate to the angle grinder.

1207
01:19:26,500 --> 01:19:30,500
The ball is ground down by an eighth of an inch.

1208
01:19:35,500 --> 01:19:38,500
Well, that's not a pirate thing. That's a tumbleweed.

1209
01:19:38,500 --> 01:19:39,500
On you go.

1210
01:19:43,500 --> 01:19:50,500
Wild West distractions dealt with the team load up and old Moses is ready for action.

1211
01:19:50,500 --> 01:19:55,500
Clear front. Fireing in three, two, one.

1212
01:20:07,500 --> 01:20:10,500
Old Moses certainly didn't hold back.

1213
01:20:13,500 --> 01:20:17,500
A successful firing, but where's the cannon ball?

1214
01:20:17,500 --> 01:20:18,500
It's not there.

1215
01:20:18,500 --> 01:20:19,500
It's uh-uh.

1216
01:20:19,500 --> 01:20:20,500
Did it skip?

1217
01:20:20,500 --> 01:20:22,500
If it skipped, it went over the hill.

1218
01:20:22,500 --> 01:20:27,500
That's one cannon ball missing in action and there's something else missing.

1219
01:20:27,500 --> 01:20:39,500
We were completely unable to determine the muzzle velocity on that test because for some reason at the moment of detonation our high speed cameras power supply failed.

1220
01:20:41,500 --> 01:20:45,500
So we got a new power supply and we're going to do the same shot again.

1221
01:20:45,500 --> 01:20:50,500
We have to know what the muzzle velocity is. We want to be able to compare it to the previous test.

1222
01:20:50,500 --> 01:20:55,500
A little ricochet reinforcement and it's time for shot number two.

1223
01:20:55,500 --> 01:20:56,500
Prime.

1224
01:20:57,500 --> 01:20:58,500
Clear front.

1225
01:20:59,500 --> 01:21:02,500
Fireing in three, two, one.

1226
01:21:08,500 --> 01:21:10,500
We got that cannon ball.

1227
01:21:10,500 --> 01:21:11,500
We stopped the cannon ball.

1228
01:21:12,500 --> 01:21:14,500
It's like, nice shot.

1229
01:21:16,500 --> 01:21:20,500
No bouncing balls this time. The hill took the full force.

1230
01:21:22,500 --> 01:21:23,500
It's deeper than that.

1231
01:21:27,500 --> 01:21:33,500
So what we got there is a muzzle velocity of 1,430 feet per second.

1232
01:21:33,500 --> 01:21:42,500
Guaranteed because I can see when the cannon ball exits the barrel and I can see when it hits the garbage can and I know the garbage can is exactly 10 feet from the barrel.

1233
01:21:43,500 --> 01:21:51,500
That muzzle velocity makes this blast seven and a half times more powerful than the one we produced with our air cannon.

1234
01:21:51,500 --> 01:22:00,500
The only question that remains for us is does that increase in power translate to an increase in deadliness for our wooden shrapnel?

1235
01:22:00,500 --> 01:22:06,500
Many air cannons and maxi air cannons have drawn a blank on scattered splinters,

1236
01:22:06,500 --> 01:22:10,500
but old Moses has the mustard to truly lay down the law for this myth.

1237
01:22:10,500 --> 01:22:14,500
Adam's authentic pirate ship prototype is lowered into place.

1238
01:22:14,500 --> 01:22:16,500
Cue the pigs.

1239
01:22:17,500 --> 01:22:23,500
This is our pirate crew and for this myth to be true they have to have a bunch of splinters stuck in them really quite deep.

1240
01:22:25,500 --> 01:22:30,500
Get your pirate face on. We're about to shoot some cannons.

1241
01:22:31,500 --> 01:22:33,500
I'm drooling.

1242
01:22:33,500 --> 01:22:36,500
Drooling? You ain't seen nothing yet.

1243
01:22:36,500 --> 01:22:40,500
Firing in three, two, one.

1244
01:22:43,500 --> 01:22:45,500
Looks from here like it put a clean hole in the oak.

1245
01:22:45,500 --> 01:22:48,500
I definitely put a clean hole in the oak.

1246
01:22:48,500 --> 01:22:50,500
A nice small one.

1247
01:22:52,500 --> 01:22:56,500
Getting through the wood is not the issue. It's the deadly splinters we want.

1248
01:22:56,500 --> 01:22:58,500
What do we see?

1249
01:22:59,500 --> 01:23:04,500
I see even less kind of splinterage than I saw before.

1250
01:23:04,500 --> 01:23:10,500
I mean, the splinters are clearly all over the place, but I don't see hardly a single one stuck in the pigs.

1251
01:23:10,500 --> 01:23:12,500
Oh, there's one. Wait a second.

1252
01:23:12,500 --> 01:23:14,500
Uh-oh.

1253
01:23:14,500 --> 01:23:22,500
Well, that went in about a half an inch and that's the most serious thing that we've seen all told, but it's still not lethal.

1254
01:23:23,500 --> 01:23:28,500
The increased muscle velocity definitely had a lot more power behind it.

1255
01:23:28,500 --> 01:23:35,500
It pushed this whole thing over. It caused a lot more trauma to our pirate boat than it did on the Test Without Air cannon.

1256
01:23:35,500 --> 01:23:44,500
Old Moses here had considerably more kick than our air cannon and it threw a lot of splinters all over the place, but the result is the same.

1257
01:23:44,500 --> 01:23:47,500
From what I'm seeing, they just don't have a whole lot of mass.

1258
01:23:47,500 --> 01:23:52,500
They just kind of like flip off things. They bounce. They don't really penetrate.

1259
01:23:52,500 --> 01:23:56,500
Based on this, the only thing that we can say about this myth is that it's busted.

1260
01:23:56,500 --> 01:23:59,500
The shrapnel is not as lethal as the cannonball.

1261
01:23:59,500 --> 01:24:05,500
Well, let's give our pirates a good final resting place and call this one busted.

1262
01:24:05,500 --> 01:24:07,500
Can you stop doing that?

1263
01:24:07,500 --> 01:24:09,500
Now I can because we're done.

1264
01:24:12,500 --> 01:24:15,500
Maybe we need to try a bigger cannon. What do you think?

1265
01:24:17,500 --> 01:24:24,500
Well, that's it. I think I'm retiring the pirate voice. I can't come up with any more pirate ideas.

1266
01:24:24,500 --> 01:24:27,500
Well, maybe you can't, but I bet the fans have some.

1267
01:24:27,500 --> 01:24:32,500
Indeed. And that's why we're going to devote an entire episode just to fan suggestions.