Guns of The Pirates?

[tuna]

Keith, those jokes are so bad you should have your ears boxed!

And I'll do it, for a Bucc-an-eer!!!!

 

[mustanger98]

I saw some of that on the History Channel... they said actually, pirates made a lot of good technical contributions to boats and sailing. In many cases, they liked their boats small and fast and they had to personally design and build them. The pirates attacking the Spanish and English galleons were not themselves sailing galleons because the comparison between a galleon and the smaller faster boats is a lot like comparing 18wheelers with muscle cars.

To keep this post gun-related, the small fast boats the pirates were using were probably lightly armed... maybe a small cannon or two. The bulk of the pirate armament would have been personal small arms (pistols and muskets, usually flintlock if not also including earlier types) and cutlasses. Now, that covers the "golden age" "old school" pirates, but...

...the more modern Carribean pirates are of course armed with much more modern arms. They're also running speedboats. I would surmise some of those speedboats probably have a belt-fed machinegun or two. I would also about bet each pirate crew would have a home base they know they can operate from with impunity. And for obvious reasons they would probably avoid Mexican and US waters.

 

[jerkyman45]

I know Blackbeard was reported to have carried as many as 16 flintlock pistols, and many pirates carried flintlocks, then there were the multi barreled volley guns, Blunderbuses, and whatever they could get their hands on. Anything from concealable pistols to 40 pound cannon

 

[Dorryn]

Blunderbuss +1.

Also, dont forget the murderers. A murderer was a small cannon with exactly the same function as a blunderbuss except it was too large to carry and so was usually mounted on the stern of the ship, or occasionally up in the rigging in order to clear the decks of the ship about the boarded with minimum risk to the pirate crew.

These were the firearms that gave us the word which we use today for any unlawful killing.

 

[Keith Wheeler]

From what I've seen in movies, the only standard pirate weapon was witty banter.

Well shiver me Kimbers matey, ya got me beat there.

 

[Kalashnikov]

Never Knew that about the Murderer. Learn something everyday. AS far as romanticizing pirates goes, I admire their freedom, the same way I admire bikers. differant groups to be sure (unless you talk to the ATF), but same principle of freedom, hence I'm going to romanticize the good notions and probably ignore some of the bad. It may be intellectually dishonest to do so, but I don't care.

 

[OBXMIKE]

Look at "Pedersoli" brand of BP pistols...they have a "queen anne" model that is mostly period-accurate for the early 1700's. Some pics of Blackbeard have him strapped up with similar designs. They are smaller, less wood and weight than "standard" period flinters. I'm originally from Beaufort, NC which was one of Blackbeard's hole-ups. Pirates naturally were a childhood fascination for me. Funny, I haven't bought one (or several) of these queen annes........ yet..........

 

[Vairochana]

Of course we are just talking about the Carribean piracy above.
There were also the Barbary Pirates who plundered the Mediterranean and European coasts kinapping people for Africa and the Arab's white slave trade

 

[Cosmoline]

Weren't they the ones who'd use old style galleys rowed by slaves and overrun ships that ventured too close to shore? I remember reading some fictional incidents with them in O'Brian's books.

 

[gezzer]

Try here that is where the studio bought most of theirs. http://www.militaryheritage.com

 

[Kalashnikov]

A quick question: Would a blunderbuss, being blackpowder but under 18in barrel length, be considered an NFA item?

 

[1911JMB]

What I am curious about is modern day pirates weapons of choice. I know piracy is alive and well at sea, but thats all I know. I'd assume they take what all the other scumbags on the planet take, that is whatever the black market can offer.

 

[mustanger98]

I seriously doubt a blunderbuss would be considered an NFA item. Consider the replicas of the 1863 LeMat revolver with its 20guage shotgun barrel.

 

[AK Sapper]

Blunderbuss...?

Wasn't the wide bell of the blunderbuss just to ease the loading process, be it on a heaving deck or a bouncing stagecoach. Not the spreading of shot, just a bigger target for the nozzle of the powder horn, the shot or ball, and the ramrod.

Maybe a slight increase in shot spread, but mainly "speedloading".

 

[c_yeager]

What I am curious about is modern day pirates weapons of choice. I know piracy is alive and well at sea, but thats all I know. I'd assume they take what all the other scumbags on the planet take, that is whatever the black market can offer.

Ya know, there is an archive of reported pirate activity around the globe with fairly detailed reporting of incidents. For the life of me I cannot find it now, I will look later again, but I remember that the weapons of choice seemed to be Machetes long-knives, ropes/hooks/etc, with the occassional firearm invovled. You see, merchant ships are almost universaly unarmed, and pirates are often quite poor people, so having a lot of hardware isnt necessary or alltogether possible. Most acts of piracy seemed to involve people boarding merchants in coastal areas at night and quickly overpowering the small shipboard crew to make off with the cash in the safe. The standard pirate drill is to simply man the firehoses and spray them off the decks.

 

[Kalashnikov]

Ya know, there is an archive of reported pirate activity around the globe with fairly detailed reporting of incidents. For the life of me I cannot find it now, I will look later again, but I remember that the weapons of choice seemed to be Machetes long-knives, ropes/hooks/etc, with the occassional firearm invovled. You see, merchant ships are almost universaly unarmed, and pirates are often quite poor people, so having a lot of hardware isnt necessary or alltogether possible. Most acts of piracy seemed to involve people boarding merchants in coastal areas at night and quickly overpowering the small shipboard crew to make off with the cash in the safe. The standard pirate drill is to simply man the firehoses and spray them off the decks.

Actually, from what I've been reading, most ships carry an average of $20,000-$50,000 UDS for harbor fee, taxes, etc. That money can easily buy them some more powerful weaponry after just one haul.

 

[c_yeager]

Actually, from what I've been reading, most ships carry an average of $20,000-$50,000 UDS for harbor fee, taxes, etc. That money can easily buy them some more powerful weaponry after just one haul.

In the countries where this occures most frequently it could also buy them a new house, a workng automobile, a new motor for their fishing boat, and enough food for most of the rest of their lives making for a comfy retirement sfrom piracy. Most of these guys arent "proffesionals" they are commiting crimes of opportunity. The proffessional pirate attacks arent really well reflected in the piracy reports because they dont leave people to report them. The ship vanishes, finds a new set of forged papers and gets sold off or used as a "ghost ship" (picks up cargo, then fences it before changing ID again). The crews end up at the bottom.

Here is good write up on modern piracy:

http://www.cargolaw.com/presentations_pirates.html

The site isnt easy to navigate, but they also provides that list of vessel-loss and casualty reports that include acts of piracy (it's updated in real time i think, at least it has reports up to 01/13/07) as well as reports of "missing" ships that could be resulting from acts of piracy (i.e. ghost/phantom ships).

And here is the direct link to *the* source on modern piracy reporting that I mentioned earlier. It has maps of high pirate activity and weekly updated incident reports. The page has changed a lot since I last saw it, it looks like you have to email to get a copy of the annual reports. Its worth looking around to see whats still there though.