On Pirate Weapons

By Delaney (11)

Blackbeard was having a bad morning. First, he got out of bed too late, so all the food was eaten. Later on, a French ship came and fired its cannons at Blackbeard, taking out some of the side of his boat. They tried to escape, but they were left without a choice. “Board!” cried Blackbeard. The men started swinging their boarding hooks and climbed up the enemies’ boat. Immediately, the battle started. Even Blackbeard abandoned his ship, the Queen Ann’s Revenge. He ran to the enemy captain, named Mayard, ignoring the enemy crew. They stabbed and sliced him until he confronted Captain Mayard. Captain Mayard beat Blackbeard some more, until he had twenty-five wounds. Bleeding heavily, Blackbeard took his last pistol and shot with all that was left in him. Too lightheaded to aim, he missed his enemy, hitting his sword instead. He fell to the ground, dead. Captain Mayard’s men rejoiced and cut Blackbeard head off and hung it off the bow of their ship. Blackbeard was a pirate for one year, from 1717-1718. The legend was dead.

Blackbeard was a Caribbean pirate, but there were Muslim and Chinese pirates, too. Chinese pirates mostly braided their hair and were found with two slightly bent swords. Their shoes were cloth wrapped around up to their knees and held together with strings. Behind their boat, called a junk, there was a sampan, a little house boat that worked as a life raft. Muslim pirates were usually dressed for the hot weather in long loose gowns and turbans. They also had two swords that were only used for close battle. They favored the rifle.

My favorites are Caribbean pirates, which were, of course, the ones with pistols and swords. Which they liked more depended on what they were doing. If out of sword reach, they would use pistols. A flask of pistols was a piece of fabric wrapped around the shoulder to the side. It had slots for a few (usually two or three) pistols because they could only use them once. They only held one bullet at a time and it was too hard to reload them during battle.

Pirates in general favored the sloop for its speed. While being the fastest ship out there, it could also go into shallow water, which was handy at times – but mind you don’t crash on the rocks! On the boat, a cannon was used. Several people manned the cannons: a lighter, a powder monkey to do annoying jobs, and a loader. A boarding axe could be useful when they jumped off the side of the boat and swam to another. They would hit it with the ax until they got a grasp and keep going until they reached the top. They also used boarding hooks. Boarding hooks were ropes with three hooks at the end. Pirates threw them at the enemy boat to board the boat to attack.