Pirates and Their Weapons: Through the Ages

Few weapons today could ever compare to the sense of horror a sailor would feel when seeing a pirate ship sailing in the distance. Much of the fear was from stories they heard about ruthless pirates, but in all reality most huge thefts were with little or no actual battle due to the complete submission of the merchant ships the pirates landed on. They'd rather let the pirates take what they want, and keep their lives. That's not to say the pirate arrived unprepared for battle. They would never take on a ship they didn't feel they could defeat, and they were always prepared with many of weapons and tools (all stocked, set, and cleaned) that would assist in the complete pillaging of a ship.

Cannons were mainly used to frighten their victims and rarely used due to the impracticality of using them. It usually took two to five minutes to load, although it took only one person to fire them, it took five to six men to reload it, which was very difficult on a rocking ship! The neat thing about cannons is they could be used from quite a distance and could shoot up to one mile or 1.5 kilometers. Although, they were used more commonly at a closer range to frighten enemy ships. Part of why they rarely ever used them was because they were quite dangerous to load and clean, due to being out in the open and in easy view. They also feared that a stray spark would cause it to ignite too soon. By the seventeenth Century, most ships were equipped with them.

Pirates were more apt to use swivel guns, which were very similar to cannons, except they were much more easy to move, and much more practical to actually use. Not to say they did not use cannons when they felt it was necessary. Although since a regular cannon was usually the weight of a modern car, moving it was a chore that needed at least five men plus a system of ropes and levers to move the cannon around. Dependent on their needs, they would load the cannons with different kinds of cannonballs or items. When used, cannons were the most dangerous form of weaponry tearing through both ships and men!

Round cannonballs, which we often think of when we think of cannons, these usually weighed 12 pounds or 5.4 kilograms, although there were some as small as five pounds and as heavy as 24 pounds. If used, they would leave huge holes in ships. Although, you often see Hollywood having these cause the ship to sink, it rarely had that kind of power. Part of the reason these were so impractical to use, is because it usually took two to five minutes to load.

Other kinds of cannonballs would usually be used to destroy the rigging, masts, and kill or maim the men on the other ship. One such cannonball is the Grapeshot cannonballs, in which they consisted of small iron balls that were loaded into a canvas bag, then shot from the cannon. These would cause more damage over a wide distance ripping through sails and even men. in 1722, the infamous pirate Batholomew Roberts was actually killed by grapeshot during a very bloody battle.

Canister shot metal containers filled with small iron balls, stones, glass and nails had much the same idea as using grapeshot cannonballs. This was specifically designed to kill sailors on the decks of enemy vessels.

Chainshot was another kind of cannonball, which was basically two balls held together by a chain. When shot out of a cannon, they smashed masts and sails, and turned the masts into splinters! Sometimes even the splinters caused by a cannon shot was enough to kill a man.

Swords

When most people think of a pirate's sword, one would think of a single-edged cutlass which has been known as the "sword of the sea." Cutlasses were not initally used as weapons, but were used to cut heavy rope on board. These ended up being handy weapons for those who were not very familiar with sword fighting. A cutlass is known for having a sturdy curved blade that is so sharp it can cut through bone. The shorter and wider, the sturdy they are, but also the more deadly they were, since they could be used in a crowded area, and was more for up close and personal fights. It is believed that the first cutlass was actually not used for cutting rope on the ship, but invented by buccaneers who would use it to butcher meat.

Another common sword used by pirates was a heavy broadsword. These were also used in hand to hand combat. Shorter swords such as these were better used on ships, because longer swords were more apt to accidentally cut the rigging on a ship.

Knives

Much like shorter swords, knives were also more useful on ships. Most pirates carried more than one knife at all times. During combat it was never known when they would drop a knife and need to grab a spare.

They did use knives that would fold much like today's pocketknives. These were called gully's. They were actually carried more for a tool on the ship, but during a tight spot, a pirate or other sailor would use it in hand to hand combat when needed.

Daggers were more common during combat since they were desinged specifically as a weapon. They are noted for their sharp point, they would be used to thrust at the opponent to stab them, or to block a sword attack. These were more useful than swords since they were easy to hide in belts and in pockets.This was much more easy to use than a sword since you could use it anywhere on the ship, where swords could cause damage to the ship.

Another kind of knife commonly used was a boucan knife. These were also designed by the buccaneer of the Caribbeans. You can see what one looked like to the right here.

Firearms

During the Golden Age of Piracy which was between 1660 to 1740, the flintlock was the most common firearm used. It had a a short barrel, which could easily be stuffed inside a belt or hidden in a coat. Which was much of it's popularity. The preparation to use to flintlock was very long, so a pirate would often have many prepared and ready to shoot, before they would enter battle. The preparation usually took at least 30 seconds from an experienced shooter. It included adding a measured amount of gunpowder into the barrel, place a lead ball into a wadding material, then shove both within the flintlock. Once pressed down, then they would add a little more gunpowder. This all would allow for a tight seal. When shot it would release a blue smoke. Sometimes the damp sea air would moisten the powder and the pistol would not shoot. Due to it's unreliability, it was rarely the primary weapon used in a battle.

Muskets were very similar to flintlock pistols in that they also only held one shot. So after use, pirates would either drop them or begin to use them as clubs. One hubber wrote more on these firearms here! One of the more common muskets were the Marksman's musket. They were a longer gun that could be used at a further distance than most firearms used at that time. But due to it's unreliable aim, it was not always accurate at far distances.

A blunderbuss was another very common pirate firearm. It is most commonly recognized as an early form of the shot gun we use today, although on board it was often much shorter than ones we see today. To the right and below you can see a picture of one that would have been apt to used back in the day. It is known for having a flare at the muzzle part of the barrel.

Handguns were far more often used than cannons, since few knew how to use a cannon safely. Although guns on board, or more specifically gunpowder was very dangerous to store on a ship. In 1669, the infamous pirate Henry Morgan blew up an entire store of gunpowder with a single gun, on accident. It damaged, but did not sink the ship.

Axes

Pistols and axes were favorite weapons for raiding. Pistols were used to shoot, axes were used to cut down rigging making sails fall. Not only that, but they could also use axes to help climb up sides of larger vessels. These boarding axes easily cut thick rope, which would destroy the sailing ability of a large ship. Although broad axes were the most common, during actual battle they preferred a battle axe, which was a medium sized ax that was much easier to handle.

Yes, pirates would even use hand grenades. Although there hand grenades were not like the one you see the right here. Usually they would find an old wine bottle, fill it with gun powder and set fire to a foul smelling sulfur. This would serve not only as an explosive harmful boom, but also as a stink bomb. In fact,, they would often use stink bombs. Usually they made these by smashing a clay jar that would be filled with burning sulfur and rotten fish guts. They would usually throw this over on a merchant ship before stepping foot on the ship, so that way the crew members would be too sick to fight. 

Vikings, who were also pirates, as you can see in this artilcle, commonly used bows and arrows during battle. They were so skilled at using bows and arrows that they were able to catch an arrow in midair and throw it back at their enemy. As you can imagine this would unnerve the enemy.

Sharp objects were often common amongst other pirates as well. The French corsairs used barefoot barbs. These were just little scraps of metal with spikes out of each end, so that way no matter where it landed, there would be one sharp end pointing up. These worked well since most sailors would walk on deck barefoot since shoes could cause them to slip on deck. If they were to step on one of these barbs, it would cause severe injury that would cripple them and their foot.

Grappling Hooks was another weapon that pirates would use. But instead of causing injury they would often throw these onto the decks of merchants. Once it hit it would dig into the deck and they would pull the two ships together so that way the pirates could jump from their ship to the merchant ship where they could get their loot!

Then there were also marlin spikes. They look similar to an ice pick, but were used to anchor the boat or secure lines on the mast. In a tight battle, they were often picked up to be used as swords if they were found without their sword. You can see a good look at one to the right here.

Not all of their weapons were instantly viewed as dangerous. For instance, one of their best weapons was small boats. Not because they would bludgeon someone to death with it, but they were able to sneak up behind a merchant ship completely undetected.

Probably the most feared weapon, was never used to do actual harm, but once seen would cause fear in any merchant sailor. They are known as the Jolly Rogers, which came from the French word that meant "pretty red:" Jolie Rouge. They were called that because it was supposed to symbolize bloodshed. If you aren't familiar with what a Jolly Roger is, it is merely the flag that they would raise to say, "Yo, this is pirate ship and we want your loot!" Once seen merchants would try their best to flee. They would often portray skeletons, daggers, bleeding hearts or any other frightening image that the ship could imagine. It was usually unique to each pirate ship. This article discusses the Jolly Roger in more detail. 

Although pirates often had many seafaring weapons, they notoriously used many of their tools and modified a lot of land weapons so that way they would be useful on the sea. Pirates weapons were not always used, but they were maintained to strike fear. Although a pirate ship would never try to overcome a ship that they knew they couldn't defeat. They were always prepared to fight if they had to.