Boarding Axes, Pikes, and Everything Knives | Arms at Sea(1630-1730)

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The pirate's choice for a melee fight was to pick a sword, a weapon which is exclusively used for combat. On some occasions, the sword just wouldn't do: the weapon might need to fulfill some other tactical purpose, like a tool. Maybe it was a tool first and foremost, but could also be applied in the heat of the moment.

Modern sources:
Boarders Away: With Steel - William Gilkerson
Buccaneers and Soldiers in the Americas - René Chartrand
The Buccaneer's Realm - Benerson Little
The Misfortunes of Alonso Ramírez - Fabio López Lázaro
The Sea-Rover's Practice - Benerson Little
https://benersonlittle.com/2016/12/31...
https://pirates.hegewisch.net/knives_...
https://www.qaronline.org/conservatio...

Period sources:
A Cruising Voyage Round the World - Woodes Rogers
A Military and Sea Dictionary, 1711 - Unknown
An Universal Dictionary of the Marine - William Falconer
The Memoirs of Pierre Labat - Jean-Baptiste Labat

Music: DamaMay by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech

Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
0:28 Knife
2:32 Dagger
4:57 Bayonet
6:11 Gun clubs
7:06 Pikes
8:39 Boarding axe
14:11 Weird axes
16:36 Cudgels of the varying sort

#pirates #history #meleeweapon #melee #meleecombat