... let's jump on Board and cut them to pieces.

... let's jump on Board and cut them to pieces. (Battle cry of Edward "Blackbeard" Teach)

Hollywood portrays Pirate Battles as an "All Guns A Blazing" affair. Another Hollywood misconception.

Pirates tended to aim to avoid battle as this would cause loses in their own ranks and inflict unintentional damage to their prize. Each successful Cannon blast would reduce the value of their prize and possibly lead to the ship catching fire or sinking.

Pirates tried to intimidate their enemies during the approach by making infernal noises and swinging their sabres menacingly. The Jolly Roger was hoisted and a warning shot put across their bows. History shows that few merchant Captains attempted to defend themselves against the heavily armed Pirates. They took their chance that the Pirates would spare the ship and crew if they surrendered any cargo voluntarily.

In the 17th and 18th Centuries the Merchant ships gradually became more heavily armed so the Pirates had to adapt their tactics in response to the new Naval and technical advances and equip themselves with weapons to match their foes. Pirate ships became some of the most heavily armed vessels on the high seas.

As the aim of the pirates was to disable a ship and it's crew a variety of weapons and tactics were used. A description of individual weapons is outline below. Pirate ships were usually faster than the heavily laden merchant ships so speed and surprise was the first tactic. Once the pirate ship closed with it's victim, Snipers in the rigging would fire upon the crew on deck. Deck Cannons loaded with Shrapnel shots fired sending hot metal shards across the deck killing and wounding. Deck Cannon also fired Chain shot to bring down the sails, rigging and masts. This usually allowed the two ships to get close enough so that grappling hooks could be used to pull the ships together allowing the pirates to board and engage the crew in hand to hand combat using pistols, sabre, knives and spikes.

As an aside. I read an interesting encounter between a British and French Navy Ships of the Line. Both ships were of equal size and firepower so the eventual outcome came down to tactics. Both ships engaged in a Cannon battle and when close enough small arms was used. The British Captain could see that neither was going to win.

Suddenly the French Captain noticed that the Britisher had stopped firing and there were bodies and wounded scattered all over the deck. He approached and using grappling hooks proceeded to bring the two ships together. As the ships drew closer together and the French crew prepared to board there was an almighty roar as all guns on the British ship fired. The French ship was cut in half just above the waterline. The deck and rigging collapsed in on itself and the French ship sank in a matter of minutes.

The British Captain had left half his crew on deck laying around pretending to be dead and wounded whilst the other half were below decks manning the cannons. A masterful act of deception and no doubt a complete surprise to the French Captain. I'll bet his last words were "Sacre Bleu!"

Let us now look at some of the weapons used by the sailors of the period.

The Cutlass

A cutlass is a short, thick sabre or slashing sword, with a straight or slightly curved blade sharpened on the cutting edge, and a hilt often featuring a solid cupped or basket-shaped guard.

Best known as the sailor's weapon of choice because it was also robust enough to hack through heavy ropes, canvas, and wood. It was short enough to use in relatively close quarters, such as during boarding actions, in the rigging, or below decks. Another advantage to the cutlass was its simplicity of use. The cutlass required less training than the rapier or small sword, and was more effective as a combat weapon than the full-sized sword.

The Dagger

The Dagger was a small multi-purpose knife that was used at supper and slaughter.

With a straight blade, it was for thrust and puncture, not slash and gash like the cutlass.

The dagger usually had a cross bar or hilt to keep the hand off the blade and swords off the hand. The hilt's most important function came into play during a cutlass fight, because it could 'catch' the strike of the blade. The user could deflect the blow, swiftly swing the cutlass to the side, and answer with a hard cutting motion of his own.

Boarding Axes & Tomahawks

Boarding Axes, with a two or three-foot handle and a combination of sharp blade and blunt hammer side, were used to cut the ropes of boarding hooks, bring down masts and rigging, and generally tear through anything that stood in the way of the loot, like doors, hatches or locks. They could at times help steady the weight of a boarder if needed for climbing from a smaller boat to a larger vessel (a portable handle).

The boarding axe however, had other very important duties. It was used in fire fighting to chisel out hot cannon balls that could ignite ships' timbers. The broad blade end was used to cut through downed rigging and as a hook to drag the rigging and debris out of the way.

Boarding Hooks (a.k.a. Grappling Hook, Grapple, Grappler)

A Boarding Hook (or "grappling hook") is a composite hook attached to a rope, designed to be thrown or projected a distance, where its hooks would engage with the target. Grappling hooks were originally used in naval warfare to catch the rigging of an enemy ship so that it could be drawn in and boarded.

The most common design consists of a central shaft with a hole at the base of the shaft, called an "eye" to attach the rope, and three or four equally spaced hooks at the end of the shaft, so arranged that at least one is likely to catch on some protuberance of the target.

The Grenadoe (a.k.a. Smokepot, Grenade)

The precursor to the modern day Grenade, the Grenadoe was a round cast iron hollow ball roughly about the size of a soft ball or mature grapefruit. A hole would be be drilled to allow access to the interior, and then the sphere would be filled with gunpowder, grape shot, and other painful shrapnel.

The specifications of the Grenadoe were fairly inconsistent, measuring from as small as 2.5" (6.5cm) to 4.5" (11.5cm) diameter depending on their intended use. Some examples have a slight dimple in the bottom/side (apparently to keep it from rolling around on the deck) and maybe a 3/8ths-3/4th inch (1 – 2 cm) hole in the top (for the wooden dowel/fuse).

The skin of the Grenadoe varies with each unique batch but in general the thickness is approximately 1/4 inch (1 cm) in the top half and gradually gets thicker to about 5/8" toward the bottom (most likely due to the imperfections of the casting process).

Standard Deck Cannon

Cannons of the Seventeenth Century

The main changes in the 17th century involved sizes and numbers. European ships were now carrying as many as 100 guns on three separate decks. 42 pounder guns were often the standard gun on the bottom decks. Special shots or artillery rounds were being developed especially for naval use. Barshot, chain shot, were rounds designed to destroy rigging and sails. Bundle shot, canister, grape shot were used against personnel. Cluster rounds and Sangrenel rounded out the variety of shots fired from the Cannon. (See below for further details)

Cannons of the Eighteenth Century

Ships of War had improved dramatically by the opening of the 18th Century, In fact, the Golden Age of Piracy was probably the Golden Age of Sail as well. Cast Iron muzzle loaders ranging from the small 6 pounders to the large 32 pounders were the general rule. Elevation was adjusted by a modified quoin under the breech and the general science of trajectory was better understood. Fixed loads of powder were calculated for the guns improving accuracy and the guns were secured to the sides of the ships by heavy breech ropes passed through or around the casabels, limiting recoil and aiding in the reloading of the guns. Side tackles were also added as well as small ramps behind the guns to aid in pulling them back into firing position.

The Naval Artillery had unheard of range of about 2,000 yards (meters) by this time. Of course most engagements were fought at under 1,000 yards and sometimes within pistol shot (25 to 50 yards).

The term "pounder" refers to the size of a gun. A six pounder fired a solid shot of lead which weighed approximately 6 pounds. A 32 pounder fired a ball of lead that weighed approximately 32 pounds:

Swivel Cannon

A swivel gun is a small cannon, mounted on a swivelling stand or fork which allows a very wide arc of movement. Such weapons were used principally aboard sailing ships during the age of sail, serving as short-range anti-personnel ordnance. They were not ship-sinking weapons, due to their small caliber and short range, but could do considerable damage to anyone caught in their line of fire.

Swivel guns are among the smallest types of cannon, typically measuring less than 3 ft (1 meter) in length and with a bore diameter of up to 1¼ in (3.5 cm). They can fire a variety of ammunition but were generally used to fire grapeshot and similar types of small-diameter shot, though they could also fire small caliber round shot. As with other types of cannon, swivel guns are muzzle loaders. They were aimed through the use of a wooden handle, somewhat similar to a baseball bat, attached to the breech of the weapon.

In operational use, swivel guns were highly portable and could be moved around the deck of a ship quite easily (and certainly much more easily than other types of cannon). They could be mounted on the deck railings of a ship, which provided the gunner with a reasonably steady platform from which to fire. Their portability enabled them to be installed wherever they were most needed; whereas larger cannon were useless if they were on the wrong side of the ship, swivel guns could be carried across the deck to face the enemy.

Cannon balls

Classic cannonballs weighed up to 32 pounds and did little damage at long range. As they were also very inaccurate, cannon were usually loaded with a various selection of ammunition in case of different targets. Some were specialized for personnel and some enemy ship (rigging and sail). These included gravel, nails, and combined small cannon or musket balls, effective against enemy crew.

Bar and Chain Shot

Main purpose of bar and chain shot was damaging the rigging and sail of enemy ship. This type of ammunition were two or more cannon balls connected together with iron bar or chain. When fired, the shot would rotate through the air creating destructive force able to destroy any sails and riggings.

Bundle Shot

This type of shot are specially designed for damaging opposing crew. Bundle shots were packs of short metal bars bundled together with a length of rope. When fired, the rope would loosen and the iron bars would begin to spread apart hitting everyone around. They were most effective at close distance.

Grape shot

Specially designed small iron balls or stones, about three quarters of an inch in diameter, were packed in bags and used as grapeshot. Grape shot was used to make deadly blows for crew on deck, causing little damage to the ship. One of the most famous pirates, Bartholomew Roberts was killed by this type of shot.

Canister Shot

Another type of cannon ammunition with multiple shots was a cloth bag filled with gravel, nails and spikes. When the shot hit its target it would burn and release sharp shards all over the deck, which caused severe wounds.

Pirate and Sea Battles of the time were fought eyeball to eyeball with some fearsome weapons. Do you still want to be a Pirate?

Coming up in the next posts: "Firey Red Head Female Pirates" or as Domestic Daze would prefer "Misunderstood Red Head Female Pirates".

Until then. Arrrrgh! Ye be Good and Share ye treasure with ye other swabbies. Arrrgh!