Six pistols slung across the chest, a heavy cutlass at the hip: the popular image of a pirate bristling with weapons has some truth to it, but the reasons behind the arsenal are more practical than dramatic. Boarding a ship at sea rewarded speed and intimidation over marksmanship, and the weapons pirates actually carried were chosen with that fight in mind.
The Cutlass: A Working Tool as Much as a Weapon
The cutlass was the signature pirate blade, but it was chosen for the same reasons a sailor chose any shipboard tool: it was short, sturdy, and useful for more than fighting. A single-edged blade of up to three feet with a simple guard over the hand, it could slash in the cramped space belowdecks where a long dueling sword would catch on rigging or bulkheads. Pirates also used it for ordinary shipboard labor – cutting through tangled rope and rigging in an emergency, or hacking through cargo. Unlike the rapiers favored by gentlemen ashore, the cutlass needed no fencing training to be dangerous; a hard swing was enough.
Flintlock Pistols: Prestige Items as Much as Firearms
By the late 17th century, flintlock pistols had become reliable enough for shipboard combat, replacing the slower matchlock mechanism. A single-barrel pistol, its barrel often no more than a foot long, fired one heavy shot and then became a club or a thrown weapon – reloading in the middle of a boarding action was rarely practical. Because a single shot went a short way, pirates carried several at once. Blackbeard is reported to have gone into battle with six pistols strapped across his chest and shoulders on cord or silk slings, so a spent pistol could be dropped or swung aside without being lost overboard. Pistols were also status objects: successful pirate captains favored ones with engraved silver or brass fittings, visible signals of a successful voyage.
Muskets and the “Apostles”
Longer flintlock muskets gave pirates range for firing on an approaching ship’s deck before boarding, and crews often sawed down the barrel and stock for easier handling in tight quarters. Loading a musket under pressure meant measuring powder by eye, which was slow and unreliable, so experienced fighters prepared their charges in advance. Sailors called these pre-measured powder charges, carried in a set of small pouches slung across the chest, the “Apostles” – twelve in number, each holding a wad, a measure of powder, and a ball ready to load.
Blunderbusses, Grenades, and Boarding Axes
For close-range work, the blunderbuss – a short-barreled gun with a flared muzzle – could be loaded with shot, nails, or lead slugs to spray a doorway or companionway with a single blast. The recoil was severe enough to bruise or knock down an inexperienced shooter. Pirates also threw crude grenades: glass bottles packed with gunpowder and metal fragments, lit by a slow match before being hurled onto an enemy deck. A related device, the “stinkpot,” burned sulfur to choke and disorient a crew rather than kill them outright, clearing a way for boarders. The boarding axe did double duty as tool and weapon: its spike could be driven into a ship’s hull and used almost like a modern ice axe to climb aboard, while its blade cut through rigging or rope that fouled the deck.
Cannon Were a Last Resort, Not a First Strike
Contrary to the image of pirate ships trading broadsides, pirates generally avoided heavy gunnery. Sinking or badly damaging a merchant vessel destroyed the cargo and ship they wanted to capture intact, and reloading a cannon took several minutes even with a trained crew – too slow to matter once boarding began. Pirate ships typically carried smaller guns, firing eight- or twelve-pound balls rather than the largest shot available, and captains preferred to close to within a few hundred feet before firing a warning shot across the bow. Often, the sight of a heavily armed crew and a black flag was enough to end the fight before it started; most captured ships surrendered without a shot fired.
Weapons Belonged to the Individual, Not the Ship
Pirate crews rarely had a central armory issuing standard-issue weapons the way a naval vessel did. Most fighters owned their own cutlass, pistols, and knife, acquired through capture, purchase, or trade, and a captain’s superior weaponry was often visibly better than an ordinary crewman’s improvised arms – belaying pins, boat hooks, and machetes among them. That patchwork of personal weaponry, more than any single iconic blade, is closer to what a real pirate crew carried into a fight.
Sources consulted: World History Encyclopedia, “Pirate Weapons in the Golden Age of Piracy”; History Hit, “10 Pirate Weapons from the Golden Age of Piracy.”
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