Stink Pot

A clay pot filled with burning sulfur and other foul-smelling, noxious materials, thrown onto an enemy deck to choke and disorient defenders before a boarding rush. An English sailor’s 1681 account describes stinkpots thrown into a Turkish ship’s gun-room igniting stored powder and causing severe casualties, clearing the way for boarders. Privateers and pirates of the 18th and early 19th centuries continued the tactic well after its Mediterranean origins.