16th-18th century
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Falcon (Cannon)
A light cannon firing a small shot, commonly mounted on smaller pirate sloops and privateer vessels that valued speed over heavy firepower. Its light weight suited fast, shallow-draft ships operating in coastal waters and the Caribbean. It was often paired with swivel guns for close-range defense.
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Falconet
A very light cannon, smaller than the falcon, sometimes mounted on a swivel for flexibility of aim. Small, fast pirate and privateer vessels favored falconets and similar light guns that could be served by a small crew. It traded destructive power for a lighter overall ship armament.
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Galiot (Mediterranean)
The galiot was a smaller, lighter version of the war galley, typically fitted with around sixteen banks of oars and one or two masts, favored by Barbary corsairs for fast raiding voyages that a full-sized galley’s expense could not justify.
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Pinnace
A pinnace was a small, light vessel, either sailed independently or carried aboard a larger ship, used for scouting, communication, and shallow-water raiding. English privateers such as Francis Drake used pinnaces to land raiding parties and explore coastlines inaccessible to their larger ships.
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Man-of-War
“Man-of-war” was a general term for a heavily armed sailing warship, and successful pirate captains occasionally captured or converted a large merchantman into a makeshift man-of-war bristling with guns. Blackbeard’s flagship Queen Anne’s Revenge is the best-documented example of a pirate man-of-war.