Pirate swords and weapons

[Jim McDougall]

Udo, this is an absolutely fantastic and wonderful entry, and thank you so much for putting all this together and the great illustrations.

You bring up an intriguing subject! these braces of "Queen Anne pistols" which have become virtually cliche' for the Blackbeard persona.
It makes sense that in these times, long before the famed 'six shooter', and single shot pistols, one would need multiples in case of misfire or needing more shots.

You bring up a good point, how did Blackbeard acquire not one, but six (a brace is a matching pair) of these seemingly select pistols?

It would appear that these 'Queen Anne' pistols with turn off barrels (had to be screwed off to reload) were intended as smaller pocket type pistols for the use of gentlemen as self defense. If I understand correctly they began in England about 1680s-90s with Huguenot makers and Andrew Dolop, a Dutch maker in England around 1695.

While the style was apparently known in England in this time, these seem to have been in use for years later, but these early ones are what seems depicted in the woodcuts in Johnson (1724).

Blackbeard is usually who I think of regarding these pistols, as you note, Black Sam Bellamy (the 'Whydah') was noted as wearing 4 dueling pistols in his sash. As you note, these were much larger pistols and hard to imagine 4 in a sash.....let alone on ribbons (as the one pistol found in that wreck had).

The book "General History of Pyrates" (Capt. Charles Johnson) is agreed to be by an unknown author, and with notable license, however it literally set the standard for the pirate persona ever since.

I noticed that Bartholomew Roberts, who became 'pirate' in 1719, the year after Blackbeards death, was noted in Johnson(1724, p.212) as having "...a sword in hand, and two pair of pistols slung over his shoulders".

It seems an interesting coincidence that both Blackbeard and Bellamy, both in the service of Hornigold, followed the practice of multiple pistols, in braces in either bandolier or ribbons.

Yet Roberts, after them, adopted the idea, it would seem independently.

So the question is:
Did pirates indeed wear braces of pistols as discussed ? was this a practice more widely known in these times? or was this exclusive to the pirate images of 'Capt. Johnson'?
Was Johnson (?) inspired by the 'Queen Anne' pistols which were likely known among gentlemen of his time in England and chose these smaller pistols as good candidates for braces of guns as illustrated in his book?

Obviously a number of the larger 'sun king' type guns would look ridiculous in a bandolier or strung on ribbons, rather like a bandolier of howitzer shells.


Great food for thought!!! Thank you again Udo!

[M ELEY]

I think the description of the bandoliers makes sense for several reasons. Obviously, the guy with the most armament stands a better chance of winning. One-shot flintlocks in a battle had limited effect unless you had more. Secondly, remember that these folks loved to intimidate simply by their looks. Blackbeard purportedly set fuses in his beard and under his hat on fire to appear like the devil himself! They exaggerated their appearance, so a multi-brace of pistols did just that. As far as the Queen Anne types being of smaller caliber, you didn't necessarily need a huge .70 cal hand cannon! These folks were fighting in close proximity on the deck of a ship. Their swords, far from being huge rapiers or broadswords, were shorter hangers. The Queen Anne types were lighter for carrying in bundles and had just as lethal effect at close range!

[Jim McDougall]

VERY good points Capn, the notion of psychological impact was clearly used by pirates, much as in many combative or adversarial situations. As Confucius said (loosely translated) 'the idea is not to beat the opponent into submission, but to make him not wish to fight".

Blackbeard was probably the most notably recorded for this practice, especially the decoration of his beard, said to be with lit fuses (possibly to deter mosquitos ?) but more likely red ties or to that effect. However the braces of pistols on display would be formidable in appearance as well. The idea is, any guy with this much firepower means business!

Well noted on the close quarters combat, no need to large guns, caliber, or swords of length. Which brings the subject of the swords depicted in these woodcuts from Johnson's book......these appear be 'hangers' of various sorts, some which fall into the nebulous category of the 'scimitar'. The oddly clipped blades seem to defy comparison in most blade forms we are familiar with, aside from some ethnographic forms such as the kampilan, mandau and some Chinese types.

So then, might these 'cutlasses' depicted in these images also be somewhat 'sensationalized'?

[Jim McDougall]

VERY good points Capn, the notion of psychological impact was clearly used by pirates, much as in many combative or adversarial situations. As Confucius said (loosely translated) 'the idea is not to beat the opponent into submission, but to make him not wish to fight".

Blackbeard was probably the most notably recorded for this practice, especially the decoration of his beard, said to be with lit fuses (possibly to deter mosquitos ?) but more likely red ties or to that effect. However the braces of pistols on display would be formidable in appearance as well. The idea is, any guy with this much firepower means business!

Well noted on the close quarters combat, no need to large guns, caliber, or swords of length. Which brings the subject of the swords depicted in these woodcuts from Johnson's book......these appear be 'hangers' of various sorts, some which fall into the nebulous category of the 'scimitar'. The oddly clipped blades seem to defy comparison in most blade forms we are familiar with, aside from some ethnographic forms such as the kampilan, mandau and some Chinese types.

So then, might these 'cutlasses' depicted in these images also be somewhat 'sensationalized'?

[Ed]

This always struck me as having seafaring roots. The guard is hammered steel and the grip is bone(?). Blade is marked as the picture shows but has that north african vibe.

Came with a wooden scabbard too. I bit long for hand to hand on a ship's deck I think.

[Rick]

We seem to have overlooked the Iranun peoples somehow.

https://the-iranun.blogspot.com/2011...of-iranun.html

[Ian]

Thank you Rick for bringing us back to the ethnographic aspects of this topic. We have traveled far and wide, including westerners. Many of the Ilanun (Iranum) were a plundering group. I posted last year some drawings from the 1840s in the following thread showing some of these pirates: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showpo...&postcount=498


Some of the weapons, including lantaka, are illustrated.

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Ian

Thank you Rick for bringing us back to the ethnographic aspects of this topic. We have traveled far and wide, including westerners. Many of the Ilanun (Iranum) were a plundering group. I posted last year some drawings from the 1840s in the following thread showing some of these pirates: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showpo...&postcount=498


Some of the weapons, including lantaka, are illustrated.

Thank you Ian, and Rick. In the pirate spectrum, there are many factions and theaters of operation for this maritime phenomenon, and these more exotic areas definitely bring in the ethnographic factor.

In the thread just posted by Pirate Lady, on Zheng Yi Sao, the woman who took over the huge Chinese pirate confederation that had been run by her late husband (over 400 junks and up to 60,000 pirates!), who operated in the South China sea in early 19th c.

It seems to me that the European pirates operating in from the Atlantic from Madagascar to the Red Sea, and Indian Ocean may well have ventured as far as the South China Sea in some cases. There are unproven accounts of Captain Kidd reaching an island off the coast of Viet Nam (said to be near the China Sea/South China Sea).
I am wondering if perhaps some of the native weapons in use in these areas of piracy in the many asian archipelagos might have diffused into pirate armories via capture of European vessels frequenting or trading in those areas. Though doubtful there was direct contact between our European pirates and the Eastern versions, the diffusion of weapons through networking it would seem.

I was thinking that the unusual 'scimitars' with notably clipped points etc. seen in the woodcuts of pirate notables in 'Johnson' (1724) might have been influenced by these exotic sword types of Asia, Indonesia, Philippines etc.