16th-19th century
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Swivel Gun
A small cannon mounted on a pivoting yoke along a ship’s rail, loaded with shot or scrap metal and used at close range against boarders or an approaching small boat. Its mobility let a single gun be trained quickly on the greatest threat. Nearly every armed sailing vessel of the period, pirate or otherwise, carried…
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Lantaka
A small bronze swivel cannon produced and used throughout maritime Southeast Asia, mounted along a vessel’s rails or even in its rigging. Moro pirate praus of the Sulu Archipelago typically carried several lantaka for close-range defense and offense against merchant shipping. Many surviving examples are highly decorated, reflecting the wealth and status of the chieftains…
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Fire Ship
An expendable vessel deliberately set ablaze and steered or drifted into an anchored enemy fleet, used to cause panic, destroy shipping, and force ships to cut their anchor cables and scatter. Francis Drake employed fire ships during his 1587 raid on Cadiz and again against the Spanish Armada in 1588. More a naval tactic than…
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Kora-Kora
The kora-kora was a large outrigger war canoe of the Maluku (Spice Islands) region, propelled by dozens of paddlers and used both by local rulers for inter-island raiding and by the Dutch East India Company for its punitive “hongi” expeditions against clove-growing communities.