In hand Weapons:

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

The Buckler

Where the term "Swashbuckler" comes from

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The term buckler derives it name from the french word "bouclier", meaning "shield", which in turn comes from the old French word "bocle" or "boucle". Bucklers are small shields ranging in size from 8 to 15 inches in diameter, and are gripped in the fist and generally used as a companion weapon in hand-to-hand sword combat. Many people commonly mistake the Buckler for some sort of simple shield, but in reality a Buckler was far too small to be used effectively as protection against arrows or other such weapons. It's small size, light weight, versatility and instinctive ease of use made it an extremely effective weapon capable of making a variety of offensive and defensive moves. There are several different varieties of bucklers that have been documented. The first is a simple round shield with the fist positioned directly behind the boss with a variety of shapes of face and depths of rim (such as the image shown on the left). These could also have projections from the top and bottom as in Hans Talhoffer's Fechtbücher or serrated rings around the boss as in one example in the Wallace Collection.  The second major form of Buckler is a corrugated rectangle as suggested by Achille Marozzo in his Opera Nova. Although the existence of buckler is not very well known, it was very widely used in it's day. It was a simple yet effective weapon that, when combined with a sword, made a swordsman much more dangerous an opponent. The buckler had many uses, but traditional fighting styles generally focus on the following four principal uses: As a deflector: The buckler's lightness and curved center made it excellent for deflecting attacking blades. Such a deflection would leave the attacker open for a rapid counter-attack. As a blinder: The light blades used in conjunction with the buckler depended on rapid movements, which meant that a single second was an important advantage. The wielder of the buckler could use the metal disc to shield his sword-hand's position from view, keeping his opponent from guessing his next strike. As a "metal fist": A buckler can be used to directly attack an opponent by punching with either its flat face or its rim. As a binder: The buckler can be used to bind an opponent's sword hand and weapon against their body. The buckler is also very useful in grappling where it allows an opponent's arms to be easily wrapped up and controlled. The Buckler was predominantly used in the Middle Ages but it had a surprising resurgence of popularity again during the Renaissance. The Buckler's effective in swordplay made it very popular among the young men who later became known as Swashbucklers, as well as among Pirates and Sailors for whom the buckler was an ideal weapon for the extremely violent and close quartered fighting of shipboard combat.

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

The Cutlass

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A cutlass is a short, thick sabre or slashing sword, with a straight or slightly curved blade sharpened on the cutting edge, and a hilt often featuring a solid cupped or basket-shaped guard. Best known as the sailor's weapon of choice, the naval side arm, likely because it was also robust enough to hack through heavy ropes, canvas, and wood. It was also short enough to use in relatively close quarters, such as during boarding actions, in the rigging, or below decks. Another advantage to the cutlass was its simplicity of use. The cutlass required less training than the rapier or small sword, and was more effective as a combat weapon than the full-sized sword. The cutlasses portrayed in films about pirates are usually historically incorrect, often 19th-century weapons that substitute for the backsword and falchion that were actually available to pirates in prior centuries. The word cutlass, recorded in English since 1594, is probably derived from the Italian coltellaccio (pejorative form of coltello, 'knife'), the name of a short, broad-bladed sabre popular in Italy during the 16th century, via the French coutelas, or coutelace, a form of coutel, modern couteau, a knife, from Latin cultellus, diminutive of culter, a ploughshare, or cutting instrument. A soldier armed with it can be called coutillier. Two variations appear in English: curtelace, where the r represents probably the l of the original Latin word, or is a further variant of the second variation; and curtelaxe, often spelled as two words, curtal axe, where the prefix curtal is confused with various English words derived from the Latin curtus such as curtan, curtal and curtail, which all mean shortened; the word thus wrongly derived was supposed to refer to some non-existent form of battle-axe. In every case the weapon to which these various forms apply is a broad cutting or slashing sword. It was also used on land, particularly by cavalrymen such as the Mamelukes, since its curved blade made it useful for slashing combat. In time of peace the Ottoman state supplied no arms, and the janissaries on service in the capital were armed only with clubs; they were forbidden to carry any arm save a cutlass, the only exception being at the frontier-posts. A cutlass is as often an agricultural implement and tool, as a weapon (cf. machete, to which the same comment applies), being used commonly in rain forest and sugar cane areas, such as the Caribbean and Central America. Woodsmen and soldiers in the 17th and 18th centuries used a similar short and broad backsword called hanger. According to pirate myth, the cutlass was invented by the Caribbean buccaneers, and was originally a long knife made for cutting meat. As a historical fact, however, this remains dubious. It has been noted that the hey-day of corsairs and pirates was well over before the widespread adoption of the cutlass. The last use of a cutlass in a boarding action by the British Royal Navy is recorded as being as late as 1941. The cutlass remained an official weapon in the U.S. Navy stores until 1949, though seldom used in training after the early 1930s. The last new model of cutlass adopted by the U.S.Navy was the Model 1917. A cutlass is still carried by the RCPO of recruit divisions at U.S. Navy Recruit Training Command.

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

The Dirk

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The word Dirk is a Scottish word for a long dagger; sometimes a cut-down sword blade mounted on a dagger hilt, rather than a knife blade. Naval and other dirks were commonly made with either double-edged or single-edged blades, and there was no standard blade configuration. Reference books covering naval dirks invariably show the popularity of both blade types. As a consequence, historically there were about as many naval dirks mounting single-edged blades as those with double-edged blades. Some dirks have single-edged blades that also have a false edge near the tip, a feature that could be useful in a backcut.

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

The History of the Scimitar

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The original scimitar was called a "shamshir", meaning "lions tail", and had a deeply curved blade that was almost a half circle. Originally developed in Persia, this type of blade saw immense popularity in many Muslim and Indian regions across Europe and Eurasia. The oversized design of the blade caused the weapon to be fairly heavy - much more so that the equivalent European short sword. This weight added impressive power to a strike made with the weapon, but that same weight made the blades more difficult to control, and awkward in the close quarters of combat at sea. Due to these problems, the design of the Scimitar saw many changes as it's dimensions were modified over the centuries to better match it's owner's intended application, but the signature curve has always remained a signature mainstay of the weapon

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Pyrates were walking arsenals when it came to hardware. To board a ship and take it and all aboard captive required a number of tools good in close combat. Some more civilized, some more practical, and some just plain lethal...

The Musketoon of 1758 had a brass barrel and the standard flintlock firing mechanism. This rifle was single shot, loaded and packed from the mouth of the barrel. This weapon was less accurate than a musket, but far more effective at close range. In truth it was something of a small cannon in terms of how it was employed. It is doubtful that a pyrate would cary more than one rifle, if any, unlike the rest of the weaponry.

 

The Blunderbuss was much like the Musketoon in that it was a close range, devastation inducing tool. The blunderbuss is perhaps a more popularly known name for the same kind of large shot rifle. In most cases a blunderbuss is considered the same type of rifle as the musketoon, with the distinction more to be made in the history of firearms than the type of weapons considered.

 

The Musket, a general term used for single shot rifles, was one of the first attempts at small arms with some accuracy. The Musket eventually became the model for the rifle, though, in the days of pyrates, the Musket was only slightly more accurate than the blunderbuss. The Muskett ball was smaller and designed to shoot straighter, but ultimately could be counted on less to cause the kind of damage that a blunderbuss or musketoon could cause at close range. The thinking was that a musket could kill a single person, perhaps by selection, whereas a blunderbuss would cause havok for many in smaller doses. Still, be it Musket, Musketoon, or Blunderbuss a pyrate probably only owned one of the varieties of rifle.

 

Unlike the rifles, pistols seemed to be a pyrate's best friend. In most pictures of pyrates, it is clear that a number of pistols were carried by each pyrate. In most pictures of BlackBeard, at least a half dozen pistols, assumed loaded and ready, can be seen in his sash. The pistol of the day was a flintlock (presentation) mechanism exactly like the rifles, and a single shot was also loaded via the barrel.

 

The Powderbox or Powderhorn was a key element to the small arms that pyrates depended on. Wet powder was useless and it was the job of the powderhorn to keep gunpowder ready for action. A pyrate probably didn't cary a powderhorn or box with him during combat, but relied on a good container to keep his powder dry for the preparatory moments before close combat. A pyrate would load a number of pistols, perhaps a rifle, and then set to action, leaving his powder in such a case. In the case of prolonged combat, there were usually pyrates designated to loading small arms to be provided to other pyrates who would discharge them.

 

The Dagger was a general classification for a small knife. Every pyrate carried a dagger of some sort for more than just combat. Such a knife was used for eating as much as fighting. The dagger was considered a basic adornment of any pyrate, and eventually elaboration within the category of "dagger" happened just like with in everything else pyratical!

 

A Dirk was a particular type of dagger or small knife. In Treasure Island it is a dirk, like this one from the Eighteenth century, that is thrown at Jim Hawkins. It is possible that such a dirk was carried by Naval men as well as pyrates, but, still, to a seaman a dagger was a dagger. The style of the small cutlery was a matter of taste and personal comfort.

 

As inn the case of this eighteenth century dirk, many daggers had a case or scabbard in which they were kept. In pyratical days, or in the early days of the Navy, keeping weapons clean and functional was on the top of the priority list. For a dagger to become so decayed that it no longer threatened to function was a horrible crime among seamen. Beyond the need to keep a honed edge on cutlery, many pyrates had a sense of flash and simply liked the ornate scabbards to hold their weapons while not in use.

 

Along with small arms and cutlery, a pyrate needed a way to cut through riggings and nets to disable a ship or to get to the treasure aboard. In some cases the treasure was simply to disable the ship and take those aboard hostage. In any case, the tool of choice, or of need, was a simple boarding axe. Of course, such an axe could be used on people as a weapon, but in most cases the axe was used in the process of boarding and disabling a ship.

 

The Cutlass is perhaps the most obvious image of the pyrate, perhaps second to the cannon! The swashbuckling pyrate with his blade blazing a path to treasure is so etched into the myth of pyracy that the weapon can hardly live up to the image. In truth, the cutlass was the hand to hand combat weapon used when all shots had been fired from smaller arms. Pyrates were very pragmatic people and, in this, knew that a shot from a gun was better than a slash from a sword. Still, in the face of an empty firearm, the pyrates were determined enough to use such larger cutlery as a means to the same end. It eventually proved irrelevant HOW the treasure was to be taken...as long as it was taken!