Pirates of this time were experts at exploiting the weaknesses and strengths of the weapons they used and encountered. The cutlass is the ultimate bladed weapon associated with pirates. The advantages that the cutlass had over many other swords at the time are its weight, length and thickness. During the golden age of piracy (late 1600’s to early 1700’s), advances in steel forging allowed blades to be thinner and lighter without sacrificing the strength of the sword. As the cutlass was a thicker, heavier style sword, it was able to easily bash aside most other bladed weapons of the time. This exposed the body of whomever the pirate was fighting, making a kill or capture much easier. As a shorter sword, the cutlass was better suited to fighting on deck or in the closed quarters of a ship. Combined with a short but sturdy dagger, or often a dirk, a pirate was an enemy you would not want to face close up. Many pirates used a battle axe to help board, kill, or disarm their victims as well. This variety of weapons assured that a pirate was always ready for any situation.

At further distances you weren’t safe either. Matchlock, or flintlock, pistols and blunderbusses wreaked havoc on a crew. Although not incredibly accurate, pistols were small and a single pirate could carry many of them, assuring numerous hits. The famous pirate Blackbeard was rumored to have carried three bandoliers full of pistols into battle! The blunderbuss was the maritime weapon of mass destruction. Equivalent to a modern shotgun, the blunderbuss fired a massive spread of anything you could put in it. From iron balls to metal shavings and beyond, the blunderbuss packed a massive punch and if you were unlucky enough to survive being hit by it, the wounds were crippling, grievous, and often couldn’t be patched up or healed. As most pistols, and even more advanced rifles, were still inaccurate, especially on a ship rolling at sea, the blunderbuss sprayed death in a broad spread which made accuracy rather redundant.