Pirate Weaponry

This week I am going over the typical weapons pirates had available to them, and what they were used for.

Boarding axe:

A staple for ship-to-ship combat, the boarding axe remained in popular use until the 19th Century. Like its modern equivalent the fire axe, a boarding axe had a heavy wedged blade and a two or three foot shaft. The purpose of the axe was for many things, from cutting the lines on enemy ships (or cutting the grappling hooks that have made their way to your own ship) the boarding axe was also used for opening locked doors and containers aboard enemy vessels, prising cannonballs from the hull and hand to hand combat.


Cannon:

By modern standards, the type of cannon that made up naval artillery in the age of sail were inefficient, difficult to load and short ranged. During the golden age of piracy, all cannons were smoothbore, which meant their operators would need to aim above their target and judge the trajectory of the arc. Between shots, a mop was inserted into the barrel to swab away any embers which might ignite the next shot prematurely. There was a great variety of ammunition that cannons could fire, and ammunition could even be improvised from nails, bolts and even loose change. The improvised shrapnel would be fastened into a hard case. This was called langrage.


Cutlass:

A type of sabre popular with naval forces in the 17th and 18th Centuries, the cutlass was a descendant of the falchion, a medieval short hacking sword.The heavy blade made it useful for cutting ropes and canvas, as well as an effective close combat weapon due to its short blade and being much easier to learn to use than other swords of the day. The intimidating weapon could also be turned flat and used for non-lethal strikes in interrogations. The versatility of the cutlass made it extremely popular with both sailors and islanders, and in modern Caribbean English, cutlass remains a byword for machete.

Flintlock arms:

The flintlock mechanism was developed in France in the early 17th century. It quickly replaced earlier technologies, such as the matchlock and wheellock, being simpler to use, more reliable and easier to make. It continued to be in common use for over two centuries, until it was finally replaced by the percussion lock. Because the reloading time on a flintlock weapon was at least 15 seconds for trained shooters, flintlocks became the first firearms to be made with multiple barrels to allow for more shots before reloading. 

Grenadoe:

The precursor to the modern hand grenade, a grenadoe was an IED not much largerthan a tennis ball. A hole would be drilled in a cast-iron sphere, and filled with powder, shot and shrapnel, and fitted with a fuse. Grenadoes could either be thrown or launched from a hand mortar, an ancestor of the grenade launcher. These were also used in contemporary land conflict, but were particularly devastating in the close quarter combat of the sea.