Fire Power by Barb Karg and Arjean Spaite
While pirates preferred not to fire their weapons at all, they were well-prepared to use them on the fly. Their cannons, or guns as they were called, were frequently mounted on wheeled carriages, which allowed them to be moved around the deck as needed. It usually took four to six pirates to man a gun, so if ten guns were being fired in a broadside, forty to sixty pirates would be required to man the weapons. Most cannons were manufactured by the French or British and were initially made of bronze and later cast iron. They were usually about 4 feet long, and weighed around 700 to 900 pounds apiece.
When a pirate ship was close enough to its prey, it was common for the rogues to unleash weapons such as granado (or granada) shells and stinkpots onto their prey. Granado shells, or powder flasks, were a primitive type of grenade made of hollow balls of iron, glass, clay, or wood, which weighed about two pounds and could be filled with gunpowder and set with a fuse. During battle, pirates would light the fuse and toss the shells onto the vessel being attacked, causing major chaos as well as injury and death.
As one would expect, a stinkpot was a container filled with any vile smelling item pirates could find. Often, they contained rotted meat among other items, and they would frequently be lit when tossed so that the smoke would spread the smell. Stinkpots were particularly effective if victims were hiding in a hold or cabin, as the odor was sure to send them rushing out to face waiting pirates.
Once pirates had boarded their prey, they would quickly finish the fight with their pistols, knives, and swords. Pistols of the time contained only one shot each before having to be reloaded, so it was not uncommon for a pirate to load several pistols before a battle and string them from ribbons around his neck so he could quickly grab a loaded gun. These hand-to-hand fights were vicious and bloody, the very opposite of the romantic vision of pirates that has been elevated over the centuries. The pirates who sailed during the Golden Age of piracy, like those before and after them, were often bloodthirsty and cruel, not dashing swashbucklers as they are frequently portrayed. This was never more evident than during piracy's heyday, when pirates of the Caribbean struck fear into the hearts of entire nations.
