Buccaneer Gun (Fusil Boucanier)

A heavy, long-barreled hunting musket of French or Dutch origin, roughly .75 caliber with a barrel around 40 inches long, adapted by Caribbean buccaneers from the fowling pieces they originally used to hunt wild cattle. Its long barrel and large bore gave it exceptional range and accuracy for a firearm of the period. It became so closely associated with early Caribbean sea raiders that it lent its name, via the French ‘boucan,’ to the buccaneers themselves.