The Cutlass

This was the sword of the seas. A cutlass was a short bladed (compared to other swords) singled edged sword. The blade was usually slightly curved and only sharpened on the outer blade. In appearance the Cutlass resembles a sabre, only the blade is slightly heavier and shorter. The reason the cutlass had a shorter, heavier blade is because of what it was called upon to do. Besides having to run through your foe, the cutlass was also called upon to cut through heavy marlin lines, break down heavy oaken doors, and so on. A regular sword may not have always been up to the task.

Furthermore, the slightly shorter blade was not seen as a disadvantage when fighting aboard a ship, because there was rarely enough room to swing a cat let along a longer sword. The shorter blade allowed the blade to be sturdier without adding weight to the overall sword.

When fighting, the general rule was to hack at one's opponent such as was done in sabre duels. Thrusting or stabbing, was done with rapiers or swords. Thrusting took longer, and if you were not careful your blade could get stuck. Hacking meant that you could just as easily immobilize your opponent by chopping off his hand rather that stabbing him in the gut. This also explained the design of the blade. Curving the blade made it more easy to control while hacking, and the added thickness insured that it would cleave through bone and muscle. Of course curving the blade made the cutlass slightly less effective as a thrusting weapon.

The Marlinespike (or Marlingspike)

The marlinespike was really more of a tool than a weapon. It was quite similar to an ice pick. It has a round wooden handle a round blade with a sharp point. It was used to separate strands in marlines. Marlines are two lines of tarred rope that are loosely wrapped together in a left hand turn.

So much for the intended purpose. The marlinespikes were also used as anchors for lines and just about every thing that involved securing lines. They were also one of the few weapons that a mutinous crew could easily get their hands on.

Most Captains locked weapons away unless a battle was pending for fear of armed mutinies. However such things as the marlinespike had to remain available to the crew in order for the ship to function. For this reason the marlinespike became the favored weapon of mutineers.

Axes

A boarding axe was pretty much your standard long handle axe. It was used primarily in cutting lines and knocking down cabin doors.

For example when being boarded, grappling hooks with lines would be tossed from ship to ship in order to pull the ships together. An axe was the most effective way to cut these lines and repel boarders. A cutlass could also be used but the blow from the axe would be more effective in many cases.

Once a ship was boarded, the axe was sometimes used as a weapon but an axe was not nearly as effective as a cutlass. The axe could be used to cut the mast or yards on a ship plus it was effective for breaking open hatches and cabin doors.

Boarding axes were sized somewhere between a hatchet or tomahawk and a the double bladed axe, typically they had a handle around two to three feet (60 -90 cm) long and a two pound (1 Kilo) iron and later steel head, sharpened on one side and flattened for smashing on the other. Contrary to the movies, they were not designed to be thrown

Some people confuse the larger boarding axe with a tomahawk or throwing hatchet. The term "tomahawk" is a derivation of the Algonquian words "tamahak" or "tamahakan". The earliest definitions of these words (early 1600's) applied to stone-headed implements used as tools and weapons. Later it was applied to any striking weapons; wood clubs, stone-headed axes, metal trade hatchets, etc. As the years passed a tomahawk was thought of as any Indian-owned hatchet-type instrument. Later, Colonial Americans (traders, trappers, explorers) came to rely on the tomahawk as standard equipment. By the time of the American Revolution, Tomahawks had come into standard use among members of the Colonial Army and Militia as well as the Colonial Navy. Tomahawks are smaller in size and weight and could be thrown or used as a parrying weapon instead of a dagger. While not as good at cutting rigging or breaking down doors, they were easier to wield in close quarter combat.

Gully and other Knives

A gully is simply a big knife. It was not usually a fighting knife but could be used as such in a pinch. Some gully's were folding knifes but for the most part they were similar to the knife you would find in your kitchen. (The folding knifes were smaller.) In any case, the gully was another tool that was commonplace among sailors and were quite often used in mutinies simply because nothing else could be had. Today, the Gully would be replaced by such knives as a Buck Knife or Swiss Army pocket knife.

The gully was better suited for hacking than stabbing and typically only one side of the blade contained an edge. (In some instances part of the top side of the blade is also has an edge) It had numerous legitimate uses on board a ship, being everything from the sailors eating utensil to his main tool for cutting fouled rigging and such.

Other knives of a more offensive nature were common among sailing vessels in the Caribbean. The most common of these was a "Boucan" knife. The boucan was the knife used by Buccaneers. They came in all sizes and shapes and appear to be nothing more than a cut down cutlass. The knives were originally used when the buccaneers hunted wild pig and oxen on the Islands around Santa Domingo and Jamaica. These knives were still primarily a utility knife but could be used effectively in combat. The were primarily designed to hack or slash an opponent as opposed to stabbing.

See also Daggers, below.

Daggers

A dagger is anyone of many kinds of fighting knifes (dirks, main gauche, stiletto,poignard, etc). Daggers were designed to be thrusted at an opponent. They were not very effective when it came to slashing, although typically both sides of the blade have an edge. Unlike the Gully, daggers have hilts or cross bars which prevent the hand from slipping forward on to the blade and helps to protect the hand in the event of another blade sliding down the dagger's blade.

Daggers were an instrumental part of fencing in that they were used to parry an attack and keep one's opponent off guard. Many daggers were specially designed to break an opponents blade. These were called parrying daggers or blade breakers.

The dagger was not, as often shown in movies, simply a poor back-up in case one's sword was dropped or broken. It was an integral part of fencing. In many cases, the sword was used to make an opening or to push an opponent off balance, then with the opponent exposed, the dagger would be thrusted for the kill. This is why the sword was often parried or blocked with the dagger, thus keeping the more deadly cutlass ready for a counter blow.

Rarely would two men lock blades together with their faces inches apart as depicted in the movies. If one were to get that close, a dagger would most certainly have come into play.

(French cavalry pistol believed favored by pirates)

The Pistol The pistol was the favored small arm of pirates. For this reason I have chosen to give a brief description here, of how all firearms worked during the Golden Age of Piracy in the Caribbean. I've also decided to give some detailed information about the variety of pistols that were encountered at this time.

Pistol Evolution: From Matchlock to Flintlock.

• Matchlock
• Wheel-Lock
• Snaphance
• Flintlock
• Types of Pistols
• Parts of Pistols
• A Pirate's Value

The Matchlock:
We start with the matchlock which was rarely made in pistol form. The matchlock was mostly used in larger, shoulder fired weapons but a few pistols were made using this method. In most cases a match lock had a slow burning fuse attached to a serpentine (cock or hammer). This was cocked back and small pan was filled with priming powder. A trigger released the serpentine dropping the fuse to the priming pan and firing the weapon. It worked poorly, if at all in the rain.

The Wheel-Lock:
Wheel-Locks eliminated the use of a fuse of the Match-Lock by inventing something similar to a fly wheel. A small wheel of pyrites or flint was attached to a spring which was wound up like a clock's spring. The serpentine now contained a small piece of metal instead of a fuse. When the trigger was pulled the spring was released, and the wheel spun around as the serpentine made contact. This produced sparks which fell into the priming pan which ignited the main charge and fired the weapon.

The Snaphance.
The snaphance (also spelled snaphaunce) was an improvement over the Wheel-lock. It basically put the pyrites in the serpentine which is now referred to a Dog-head or Hammer. The dog head is still wound up but now it strikes a steel plate(frizzen), which causes sparks to fall in the priming tray, thus firing the weapon. In most case the primer pan still had a pan cover separate from the frizzen. The pan cover was opened with the pull of the trigger or manually by the firer.

The Flintlock:
The Flintlock was the weapon most likely encountered in the 17th-19th century. While a few snaphaunces might have lingered, especially because of the wide use of this gun system in Scotland, it is doubtful that the Wheel-Locks would have been in use in this part of the world. The use of Wheel-Lock would have still been encountered in the South Pacific in the late 17th century, however.

The Flintlock used a doghead and frizzen similar to the Snaphaunce. The sear was enclosed in a lock plate and consisted of a tumbler which allowed the weapon to be half cocked and fully cocked. In the half cocked position the sear would drop into a deep groove which prevented the trigger from being pulled and the dog-head from dropping (a crude form of safety) . At the fully cocked position the sear dropped into a shallow groove. The sear could be pushed out of this groove by pulling the trigger. By now the frizzen and pan cover were combined into one spring loaded unit.

Before firing a pistol, the pistoleer, would pull the doghead back until it made a noticeable click. This was the half cocked position, and was considered the safe position. A measured amount of gun powder was poured down the barrel, followed by wadding (patch) and ball (now called the bullet). Often to expedite the loading, loads were prepared ahead of time and wrapped in paper waddings. In this case, the wadding was torn at the powder end and the the powder poured down the barrel. Afterwards the bullet and wadding would be rammed down the barrel with the ramrod. The wadding or patch actually wraps around the ball to give it snug fit in the barrel. Typically, the ball is slighlty smaller than the barrel. In some cases if the ball was very small, more wadding would be used to make a snug fit.

In every case, after loading the pistol, a small amount of priming powder would be added to the priming pan, insuring that the touch hole to the barrel had been filled.

By pulling the doghead back another click, the pistol would be armed and ready to fire. A pull of the trigger would, most likely result in a discharge. Because the frizzen and priming pan were now one spring loaded unit, it was now possible to load a pistol beforehand and still have it go off reliably later. The frizzen could be pulled back, primer added to the pan and then the frizzen was lowered back on top of the pan. When the trigger is pulled the doghead strikes the frizzen causing sparks and pushing open the pan at the same time, thus exposing the priming powder.

Basic parts:

Frizzen

A piece of metal that was struck by pyrites to produce sparks

Doghead

What the hammer of the pistol was originally called. It was often shaped in the form of an animal with an open mouth, in which the pyrites were placed

Ramrod or Rammer

A long hard wood pole that was in a diameter slightly smaller than the barrel. It was used to ram powder and shot down the barrel of muzzle loaders. It was often attached to the bottom of the barrel by a swivel

Priming Pan

A small pan in which specially made priming powder was placed. The pan was just under the frizzen. The frizzen was often attached to a pan cover. When the frizzen was struck by the doghead, the pan was forced open and sparks would rain down on the powder discharging the weapon.

Touch Hole

A hole located at the bottom of a guns barrel. in early weapons powder was poured into the touch hole and a flame was touched against the hole causing the weapon to discharge. As weapons evolved the touch hole led from the priming pan to bottom of the barrel.

Priming Powder

Powder that was ground smaller and smoother than regular gun powder. Quite often it contained more saltpeter (Sodium Nitrate) making more volatile. Often this was the powder contained in the powder horn. Cartridges made of gunpowder and shot wrapped in paper were often prepared ahead of time and carried in a special cartridge pouch.

Black or Gunpowder

Black powder which was made from saltpeter, charcoal and sulfur. There were many ways that it was made and in different strengths. Suffice it to say that if one were to use the high quality powder of today's small arms in a flintlock of the 1700's the weapon could very well blow up. Black powder was weak compared to today's standards.

Ball or Shot

The bullet used in a gun.

Butt and Butt Cap.

A metal cap on the bottom of a pistol's grip. On more expensive weapons, various designs were crafted in precious metals or jewels. It was often the most ornate part of a pistol with the possible exception of the lock.

Once a pistol had been fired it was often turned around and used as a club. Hence a nice have butt cap would come in hand not only as a counter balance for a long barrel but also for cracking skulls.

Barrel

The business part of a pistol, usually between 4 and ten inches long.

Fore-End Cap

A cap often made of brass at the front of the wood furniture of a pistol. It was on the fore-end cap that the swivel for the rammer was often attached. It also acted as the front mount securing the barrel

Lock

The part of the pistol which includes the frizzen, doghead and the internal parts of the gun such as the sear and trigger assembly. in short it was the part that make the gun go bang.

Types of Pistols.

One Shot Muzzle Loaders

The muzzle loaders were the standard pistol of the day. Muzzle loading involved shoving the powder and ball, along with paper wadding all the way down the barrel. Pistols loaded relatively easily due to the shortness of the barrel. A rifled barrel was harder to load than a smooth bore. Many people tried to find ways of making breech loaders but until the development of a self contained cartridge most breech loading weapons were marginal at best.

Muzzle loaders were loaded using a rammer or ram rod which pushed powder and ball down the barrel. In some cases the rammer was attached to the pistol with a swivel so that it could not be lost. The rammer was an integral part of the gun.

Multi-barreled Pistols.

Multi-barreled pistols were guns that had more than one barrel that could fired separately. Two firing methods were popular. In most cases two separate locks were employed, on for each barrel. The locks were arranged on one side of the gun in the case of an over/under barrel arrangement or on both sides in the case of side by side barrels.

In this case both barrels would be loaded, the dogheads would be cocked and then fired either using one or two triggers. If one trigger was used a slight pull would fire the first barrel. A heavier pull would fire the second barrel. Or in some cases only one doghead would be cocked at a time and the trigger would be pulled normally. In some case two triggers were employed.

A second popular method involved one lock and two or more rotating barrels. This was known as a turnover pistol. In this case each barrel had one lock but they were fired using a single doghead. The barrels were loaded, the doghead cocked and the first barrel was discharged. Then the barrel was turned over, the doghead again cocked and the second barrel was ready for firing.

Other methods allowed for rotating taps which would place involved turning a tap and thus exposing a different barrel's touch hole to the same priming pan.

Multi-shot pistols were popular but also heavy and expensive to produce and sometimes unreliable.

Pocket Pistol

Their name says it all. They were the "Saturday Night Special" of the 16th-18th century. Before the Derringer, they were "Gentleman's" or "Muff Pistols". Typically a smaller pistol that was easily concealed. They were favored among the gentry and women because of these traits. Men would carry them concealed in a waistcoat pocket and Women would hide them in a hand muff.

The overcoat pistol was slight larger version of the pocket pistol. In every case the pocket pistol was designed to be concealed. Most did not have a ramrod and so on first inspection may be thought to be a turn-out or Queen Anne Pistol. However, for the most part most were loaded in the same manner as any other muzzle loading pistols, however the ram rod was not with the pistol and was concealed separately.

One of the more interesting aspects common among these pistols is that the doghead was centered internally on the pistol in a fashion similar to hammers on today's pistols. (That is the action was mounted internally instead of one of the sides of the pistol.) This type of design is known as a "Box Lock" .The box lock was more difficult to manufacture than a typical side mounted flintlock and tended to be more expensive to produce. The box lock also prevented aiming straight down the barrel of a pistol or rifle and so proved impractical for anything other than extremely close range.*

*With that said, I have personally viewed a converted flintlock rifle which sported a box lock. The rifle dates from around the American Civil War (as best I could tell) and features a spring loaded chamber which allows it to be loaded without ramming powder and ball down the barrel. The chamber pops up with the release of simple clasp and is pushed back down by hand. The top of the chamber is box type flintlock. (It should be noted that by 1860, percussion cap was all the rage for new fire arms.) To compensate for the center fire box lock, the sight of the rifle were relocated to posts on the left side of the rifle making right-handed shooting a must. The need for spring loading the box, made for a wide stock at that point on the rifle. So while box lock rifles were uncommon, they did exist. The rifle in question was part of the Archives of the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago as of 2003.

Volley Guns (Duck Foots)

Pistol Carbines

Pistol carbines were long barreled pistols that could have shoulder stocks added. In every other respect they were a normal pistol. These were probably not popular among Pirates but were quite popular among poachers and highway men because of the ease that such a weapon could be concealed. In some instances, the pistols came with screw on barrels. In such cases they were known as a Poacher's Gun.

Turnout Pistol

The turn out pistol was an early form of breech loading flintlock. The barrel of the pistol unscrewed, allowing the powder and shot to be loaded into the firing chamber. Once the shot was loaded the barrel was screwed back on. This allowed safer loading because the shot and powder did not have to be tapped all the way down the barrel. The wadding could also be dismissed for the same reason. There was no cartridge with the exception of the paper cartridge but this method allowed the powder and ball to be loaded without a rammer. The barrel could also be rifled or tapered allowing for a more accurate aim. The priming pan still needed to have powder added to it. In every other respect the turnout pistol worked in the same manner as a regular flintlock pistol.

Left Handed Pistols

Did Pirates Value Pistols?

Pistols came in a variety of shapes and sizes. Pistol making was an art. Quite often they were made to order. Of course there was the run of the mill pistols made for cavalry soldiers and some naval personnel but these were not of the high quality that was consider a prize.

Often a ships captain would have a pistol commissioned for him as a sign of his superiority. A gunsmith would decorate the stock with silver and gold or ornate carvings. The doghead would be carved in some ornate fashion or perhaps be shaped like a lion or a unicorn or some animal from the royal crest of the owner. In many ways a pistol in the 18th century would hold the same place of honor as a car would today.

Boarding a ship under fire was quite dangerous. Being the first man of a boarding party was almost suicidal. Typically the ship being boarded would prepare several ranks to fire in "volley" as boarding was attempted. Such concentrated fire would often destroy the first wave of a boarding party. In the event that you were lucky enough to survive the volley fire, your life depended on your mates coming on board after you, while you were busy fighting outnumbered.

Blunderbuss

The blunderbuss was never used in large numbers, probably due to the way war was waged in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Such a small compact weapon had no real place on the battlefields of Europe. Where the blunderbuss excelled was in the line of personal security.

However, the battlefield of Europe had little in common with the tactics of a boarding party on the high seas. The blunderbuss was more like a hand held cannon than a rifle. The name blunderbuss is probably derived from the German donnerbusche which means thunder gun.

It ranged in size from 14 to about 30 inches Some blunderbuss' were actually large bore pistols but most had at least a small shoulder stock. (Muskets of the time tended to be much longer, ranging around 60 inches long.) They were in use as a weapon as early as 1530 until at least 1840 when the Royal Mail coach service received an order for several flintlock blunderbusses. The blunderbuss was a large caliber weapon with a bore around 1 1/2 to 2 inches. It fired several small pellets, as with today's shot guns.

The purpose of the blunderbuss was to deliver a large amount of fire over a large area in an instant. For this reason, it was thought the barrel of the gun should be funnel shaped at the end to help spread the shot. In actuality this design did little to improve the scatter of the shot, but it did make the blunderbuss a unique looking weapon.

Many blunderbusses had short stocks and were not designed to be fired from the shoulder like a musket. The purpose of the stock was to allow the weapon to braced against the hip or squeezed between the forearm and side of the body in order to help steady the enormous kick of the gun. The weapon usually had no sights so it would have been little use to even attempt to shoulder fire the gun. Some of the longer models could have been fired from the shoulder but due to the recoil, and short range it would have probably been wiser to brace the gun in some other manner.

At close range the weapon would have been quite deadly. The spread from the gun could quite easily be as much as a few feet about ten to twenty feet from the muzzle, perhaps as much as six to ten feet at a range of thirty or forty feet. However, the gun would have done little good at a distance much more than this.

But one must also realize that on a sloop or Man o War of the time this would have been more than an adequate range. The main down fall of the blunderbuss would have been it one shot capability and the fact that most men would need both hands in order to fire it. This means that after the first shot the weapon would be no more than a club, and a lousy club at that. It would have been quite difficult to wield a cutlass in the right hand while hold a blunderbuss in the left.

Some blunderbuss were fitted with a folding bayonet which ran along the top of the barrel, however this too was really ineffective. The blunderbuss short length was a major deficit when it came to using the weapon with a bayonet. Bayonets were attached to weapons in order for the rifle to be used as a pike. Rifles at best were a poor substitute for the pike, and attempting to use a blunderbuss as a pike was suicide.

Where the blunderbuss excelled was in its ability to repel boarders and the sheer psychological effect of its mighty roar, and tit ability to scatter shot all over the deck. There is no record of any pirate captain that favored the use of a blunderbuss but I'm sure that any captain who worried of mutiny, would have enjoyed the security offered by the blunderbuss in the closed quarters of his cabin. Furthermore I'm sure any man who was going to lead a boarding party would have preferred the mighty blast from a blunderbuss into his enemy before having to resort to his cutlass.

Muskets or Long Arms

The Musket is often overlooked in Piracy but among the "Brothers of the Coast" or Buccaneers, the Musket was a prized possession. The Spaniards believed the Bucans to be the best musket shots in the world and they may very well have been right.

Because they outranged pistols, muskets were valuable in the initial boarding attempts as well as in repel boarders. They were also valuable when the Pirates journeyed on land to sack towns or raid Spanish gold trains.

Their biggest draw back was their size. A musket required the pirate to use both hands, while a pistol only required one. Also muskets were more difficult and time consuming to reload when compared to pistols. And when a melee ensued onboard ship, it was always more effective to wield a cutlass and dagger because these never ran out of ammunition.

Cannons

The focus of this narrative will be the Naval artillery during the golden age of piracy, the eighteenth century. However, to get a better understanding of naval artillery and its employment I will briefly discuss its origins.

The 16th Century, Birth of Naval Artillery.

At around the time of Columbus' voyage to the New World, naval artillery consisted of the same heavy artillery used on land. The wheels had been removed and the gun had been mounted to flimsy frames. The guns were lashed down to the upper decks and there was no way to sight them, other than by trial and error.

By the end of the 16th Century, Naval artillery had been born. The guns were now mounted on small two or four wheel carriages, making them portable. The muzzle loading barrel was attached to the carriages using a trunnion and elevation was adjusted by driving in and out the quoin supporting the breech. Swivel guns were mounted on the poop deck and along the railing to repel boarders and the main guns had been strategically placed to provide all around security for the ship. Chase guns were placed at the bow and stern of the ship and on the larger ships as many as fifty guns may have been carried. The majority of the guns were placed on the side of a ship.

The main tactic for attacking another ship was to show the side of your ship to the foe and deliver a broadside attack, or fire all of your guns into their ship. The key to success was to do so with out allowing your enemy to get in position to do the same to you. England had managed to defeat the Spanish Armada in 1588, partly due to their more maneuverable ships as well as the longer range of the English guns over those carried on the Spanish Galleons.

Seventeenth Century.

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 only innovation in artillery rounds for this time period was the art of heating solid iron shot to a red hot condition before firing the round. It was a tricky affair, because the heat of the hot iron could cause a cook off, that is an early discharge of the cannon, thus killing your own cannoneers. The usual method for firing red hot iron was to swab the barrel with water then dry the inside, add the powder, followed by a plug of wood and then the loose fitting hot iron. The purpose of using the hot iron was to set the other ship on fire.

The art of explosive shells also came of age. An explosive cannon ball fitted with a timed fuse would be fired from the gun. If the timing was done properly, the shell would explode when it reached the other ship. Some of the cannons began using a flintlock mechanism for firing instead of the flaming torch that is used in so many movies. The torch could be used but the flintlock was more reliable and much safer. The mechanism worked by pulling a lanyard instead of a trigger.

Why were guns called 6 pounder and 24 pounder guns?

For Instance: 6 lbs

type	bore size	gun weight	shot weight	powder weight
2 pounder	2.5 in	600 lbs	2 lbs	3 1/2 lbs
6 pounder	3	1,000-1,500 lbs		6 lbs
24 pounder	4.5 in	3,000-4,000 lbs	24 lbs	14 lbs
32 pounder	5 in	4,000-5,000 lbs	32 lbs	18 lbs

As you can see the weight of the cannon had to significantly increase as the size of the shot increased. However the weight ratio of powder to shot decreases as the shot gets larger. Most of the weight of the gun is centered around the breech of the gun where the explosion takes place and most of the pressure is exerted. Guns wore out relatively fast, usually being good for 500 to 1,000 shots before being rendered unsafe to use anymore.

Artillery Rounds

Bar and Chain Shot

In both case, it was a round designed to expand in some fashion upon leaving the barrel. Typically it was two cannon balls or two halves of a shot attached together either by iron bars or chains. When fired they would fly through the air in a some what erratic behavior. However when they hit something solid they caused major damage, wrapping around masts and reducing them to splinters or breaking through a deck only for one of the balls to get snagged thus forcing the other ball to violently rip back through in the opposite direction, or taking out whole sails by simply ripping them to shreds.

Here are some basic designs:

Bar Shot
Basically to cannon balls attached together by a solid bar.

Expanding Bar Shot
Two shot halves attached together by bars that slide apart, thus increasing their length and causing even more dire consequences on impact.

Jointed Bar Shot.
Again two shot halves attached by bars, in this case, the shot halves fold together and come apart once fired.

Chain Shot
Two shot halves attached together by chains. note the halves are notched so as to be fitted together when loaded.

Bundle Shot

This was similar to the Bar shot but especially designed for personnel. Several short iron bars would be bundled together with a length of rope. The bundles would be custom made to fit snugly down the bore of a cannon. Once fired, the rope would loosen and the iron bars would begin to spread apart. Once these bars hit anything they would begin tumbling, wreaking havoc to bone and flesh and wood, and sail.

Canister, Case and Grape Shot

Cannister is similar to a bundle shot but in this case a large cask or metal container would be filled with small iron balls or stone. Grape shot is similar to canister. Iron balls approximately one inch in diameter. were packed in bags and loaded down the barrels between wooden discs. Case or canister round would release their deadly rain of steel on impact. Grape shot released it's hell at the bore of the gun. Very effective at close range. It was often used to repel boarders.

GRAPE AND CANNISTER To the left in the image is grape shot. So named because of its resemblance to a bundle of grapes wrapped in cloth. Not the block of wood on the bottom of the round. To the right is a cnnister round with the lid open. Even the cannister round has a large disc of wood on the bottom.

Sangrenel

This was probably the most deadly or feared of the anti-personnel rounds. Simply put, it was a cloth bag of jagged scrap iron. The bag disintegrated when the powder ignited and jagged bit of iron flew in all directions. The wounds it produced were hideous and there was little possibility of removing the jagged iron from a body without causing grave danger, even if it were partially exposed.

Swivel Guns or Patarero

English Swivel Gun, 17th Century

Swivel guns or Patarero were small guns or sometimes multi barrel rifles* that were mounted along the railing of a ship. Their mount allowed the gun to swivel in a full circle to allow reloading

The purpose of the swivel gun was to allow the sailors to repel boarders. The mounting on the rail gave a steady platform to insure accurate fire as well the ability to fire large caliber rifles or small cannons with little or no recoil to the operator.

The guns would usually be loaded just before an engagement but not mounted until the enemy began to close. It was then a simple matter to lift the light weight cannon into its socket mount and let go with a mini broadside just as the enemy boarded. By not mounting the swivel guns until the last second, the enemy would be at a loss for where the weakest place to board might be. Also a ship would not need as many swivel guns if they remained unmounted because they could be moved to where they were needed. That is, if the enemy were preparing to board on port side all the guns would be mounted on the port side because there would be no need for them on the starboard side.

Swivel guns were relatively small and were not effective at extremely long range, but at close range against a man with a cutlass they were devastating.

*Multibarrled rifles or volley guns were used on very rare occasions, if ever, and served the same purpose as volley pistols, only with a longer range. The idea was to allow one man the ability to put a lot of shots into the rigging in the hopes of hitting a target, similar to the suppressive fire of today's machine guns. The problem with such weapons were the length of time to reload vs. the number of shots they produced made them impractical, especially on a ship. Also, most volley guns laid the barrels (typically 25) side by side which took up a lot of space.

Their one semi-practical use was in repelling bridge crossings.(Which means it was more likely that raiding pirates were more likely to run into a volley gun than use one on their ships. Volley rifles or Guns became more practical when breech loading and metalic cartridges were introduced. (Long after the Golden age of Piracy). They were quickly superceded by the Galting Gun which is beyond the scope of these pages.