17th-19th century
-
Bamboo Spear (Moro)
A simple thrusting spear made from a bamboo shaft fitted with an iron head, used by Moro raiding parties of the southern Philippines alongside their swords. Its low cost and ease of manufacture made it widely available to raiding crews. It provided reach in boarding actions where the kris and barong required closing to point-blank…
-
Tulwar
A curved Indian saber with a distinctive disc-shaped pommel, used across South Asia including by the naval forces of Kanhoji Angre, the Maratha admiral whose fleet raided and captured European shipping along India’s western coast in the early 18th century. Its curved blade suited slashing cuts from a rolling ship deck. It became closely associated…
-
Blunderbuss
A short-barreled, flared-muzzle firearm loaded with shot or scrap metal, devastating at the close range typical of a ship boarding. Its wide spread made precise aim unnecessary, useful for a defender facing a rush of boarders or an attacker clearing a doorway or companionway. It remained a favored close-quarters naval weapon into the early 19th…
-
Bow Chaser
A long gun mounted at the bow of a ship, angled to fire forward at a fleeing vessel during a chase, a favored tactic of pursuing pirate and privateer ships. Its accurate, long-range fire could disable a fleeing target’s rigging without requiring the pursuing ship to come alongside. Fast pirate sloops often prioritized one or…
-
Stern Chaser
A long gun mounted at the stern, angled to fire backward at a pursuing vessel, used by a fleeing ship to discourage or damage an attacker without turning to present a full broadside. Merchant ships fleeing pirate attack, and pirates themselves fleeing naval patrols, both relied on stern chasers. It allowed a ship to fight…
-
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…
-
Caltrops
Small, multi-spiked iron devices scattered across a ship’s deck so that at least one spike always points upward, used defensively to injure the bare or lightly shod feet of boarders rushing across a deck. Their use reflects the improvised, practical nature of shipboard defense against a determined boarding party. They required no maintenance and could…
-
East Indiaman
East Indiamen were large, well-armed merchant ships operated by chartered trading companies such as the English and Dutch East India Companies, carrying valuable cargo across the Indian Ocean. Their wealth made them prime targets for Indian Ocean pirates, most famously Henry Every’s 1695 capture of the Mughal ship Ganj-i-Sawai.
-
Barque
A barque (or bark) is a sailing vessel with three or more masts, square-rigged on all but the aftmost, which is fore-and-aft rigged. The design’s balance of cargo capacity and manageable crew size made barques common merchant prizes that were converted for raiding by pirates and privateers.
-
Ship of the Line
Ships of the line were the largest and most heavily armed sailing warships, built to fight in the line of battle rather than chase small raiders. European navies deployed them in major anti-piracy campaigns, most notably the bombardment of Algiers in 1816 aimed at ending Barbary corsair activity.