East Tennessee Pirate Group Home
Pirate Weapons and Historical Correctness
Every pirate needs weapons and here are mine:
The pirate cutlass was heavy curved sword with only one, but deadly, cutting edge. Mine is a fairly good stainless steel replica. This one has a "basket" hand guard to protect your hand in battle. The belt was modified to go over my shoulder to hold the scabbard. Of course the skull and crossbones would not have been there but ornamental hand guards were common.
This is my replica flint lock pistol. Once again the skull and crossbones is out of place. This one is cocked so the shield is over the powder igniting pan. The expression "keep your powder dry" derives from this weapon. You had to be very careful to keep the ignition powder in the pan dry and from blowing out. Even if you did misfires were common.
After the cutlass the weapon we most associate with pirates is probably the cannon. Pirate cannons were not generally large bore devices. They were interested in capturing ships and not in sinking them as a Navy warship would be. Mine is an accurate replica 4# (3" bore) naval/pirate cannon. I designed and built this one primarily from high strength, schedule 40 PVC and Styrofoam. I estimate that I have approximately 50 hours worth of design and construction time in this cannon. It is an electrically activated (12 volt solenoid) air cannon. It is primarily a noise maker but will fire painted 3" Styrofoam balls about 15 feet at best.
The swivel or rail gun was a favorite pirate weapon. With it they could damage sails and rigging making escape difficult for their victims. If necessary it could be used as an antipersonnel weapon at close range. Mine is made almost exclusively with high strength, schedule 40 PVC. It is also our major weapon shooting full size marshmallows about 100 feet with 25# of air. My air cannons are intended to be as good replica as I can achieve and still be usable. The air chamber is to the left, the firing brass quarter turn valve with the handle sticking up and then the gun and swivel mounting. Here it is mounted on my railing so the pirates/passengers can fire it. Plans for simpler versions of the swivel gun and rifle well be available free here. Full plants, specifications, and building information will be available in booklet form for about $25. Building the cannon is quite a task and requires good tools, hard work and infinite patients.
Above is my pirate rifle that shoots mini marshmallows about 125 feet with 25# of air pressure in the chamber. We use this 1/2" rifle and our 1 1/4" inch swivel gun (full size marshmallows)to attack targets of opportunity along the river in downtown Knoxville.
Aboard the QUEENS REVENGE we use a 7 gallon air tank charged to about 100# and a pressure regulator set to 25# to supply air to all our weapons/air cannons. If all the joints are absolutely tight it will hold enough air for at lease two battles.
Daggers were often held in leather sashes or belts but I don't carry one for safety reasons.
Historical correctness aboard the QUEENS REVENGE
The air cannons above are obviously not historically correct except in barrel portion
and thus would not be appropriate for a true reenactment. The air chamber on the cannon
itself is hidden by the truck. The cannon, in the side view is a very accurate replica. A
stock will be added to the rifle but we don't know how to practically hide the air chamber
on the swivel gun yet. Our goal here is to offer pirates/passengers a safe
way they can get some feel for how things actually were. These weapons are slow to load as
the period weapons were but they do offer an idea of actual weapon functionality. We have
3" painted Styrofoam cannon balls for the cannon but our range is only about 15 feet
with them. I have built functional black powder cannon in the past but it is difficult to safely
fire anything at someone except talcum powder with them. There was
an accident aboard the sailing vessel GOVERNOR STONE with someone else's black powder
cannon. It just isn't worth the risk for us.