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Pirates used a variety of weapons including cutlasses, daggers, scimitars, flintlock pistols and rifles, and ship’s tools. These weapons were used for both fighting and everyday activities aboard ship. Some weapons were improvised from daily use items such as belay pins and grappling hooks.
Pirates used a wide variety of weapons during their time at sea, from simple shipboard tools used for lethal tasks, to ornate cannons meant to destroy other vessels. Generally, pirate weapons can be divided into three classes: melee weapons, small arms, and ship’s tools.
The most classic of pirate weapons is probably the cutlass. This was a short sword, meant for striking an opponent. It was usually straight, though it could be slightly curved, and featured a broad guard to protect the pirate. The cutlass was the most popular of pirate weapons because it was short enough to be used in the confined spaces of a ship, simple enough to require little training, and deadly enough to hold its own in battle.
The dagger is another of the ubiquitous weapons of pirates. Daggers were used not only for fighting, but also for everyday activities aboard ship, from cutting the rope to eating food. Where the saber was to cut a victim, the dagger was to stab them. A crossbar helped protect the pirate and helped prevent the dagger from driving too deeply into the victim.
Somewhere between the dagger and the cutlass was another popular weapon of pirates – the dagger. Daggers were essentially long daggers, but with cutting edges that could be used for both cutting and piercing. Old swords were often cut up and made into daggers by mounting them on the same handle a dagger would use. The dagger was a much more exclusive fighting weapon than the dagger, but it was not as large and cumbersome as the cutlass, and was better in particularly difficult situations.
One of the most seen pirate weapons in popular depictions of Arab or Indian pirates is the scimitar. With its heavy curved blade, the scimitar is an excellent icon for flourishing combat. Unlike the cutlass, however, the scimitar was somewhat cumbersome at sea. It was a very heavy weapon, which made it perfect for fending off lighter weapons, but also made it precarious in tight situations.
Flintlock pistols and flintlock rifles are another group of pirate weapons often seen in depictions of pirates. Flintlock locks were the cheapest and most readily available effective firearm for much of the pirate era, and were not largely replaced until the early 19th century. Flintlock locks, unlike most pirate weapons, have changed a lot in the more than two centuries of high piracy. The spark they generated became more reliable, they were better protected from the elements, and their speed increased dramatically.
In addition to the pirate weapons that were openly designed to be weapons, there were a number of daily used items on the ship that could double as pirate weapons in a moment. The belay pin, for example, was a wooden or metal bar used to secure a line in place. They had enough weight to them to make an effective club, and thus were one of the popular improvised weapons of pirates. Grappling hooks could also be used in battle, as well as small axes used to cut ropes and general purpose marlin spikes, which were heavy metal spikes often used by members of a crew without weapons of their own but planning a mutiny.
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