The Plank
Day 1: Caribbean
Day 2: Charleston
Day 3: Carolina Coast
Day 4: Beaufort
Day 5: Bath
Day 6: Ocracoke

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Pirate arms

Jerry Wolford News & Record Click on the picture to view a QuickTime Virtual Reality object movie of this gun. (You need the QuickTime VR plug-in to view the movie.) The movie file is quite large (160K) and may take a while to download.

Tim Rickard / News & Record

Blunderbuss: A muzzle loader that fired scatter shot, much like a sawed-off shotgun. The heavy wooden butt could also be used as a weapon.

Pistol: When the trigger is pulled, the cock flies forward, striking the flint against the steel and giving off sparks that ignite priming powder in the pan. Flame from the priming powder flash darts through a vent and ignites a main charge inside the barrel. When the main charge explodes, it forces the ball, held into place by wadding until this point, out of the barrel.

Cutlass: A short broad sword usually with a curved blade and one cutting edge. It was suited for close, cramped conditions aboard ships where longer stabbing swords would be difficult to wield.

Knife: Usually short and sharp, they were used for fighting and cutting rope.   Grappling hook: Tied to one end of a rope and used to pull another ship closer to be boarded.

Boarding ax: Used for cutting through rigging and wreckage during a siege. Could also be used as a weapon.