I would really enjoy if you could make an analysis video about weapons and armor in Raid. Along the purely nonsensical stuff they seem to have some pretty functional looking fantasy weapons like the warhammer on Sanguinia.
I love the idea of anybody going around telling pirates what they could and couldn't use for swords. "You there, that backsword is only permissible for freebooters, and we're clearly on a buccaneering expedition here!"
Yes, especially since they were outlaws to start with and by the nature of their profession didn't give a rat's ass about laws. They'd probably keel haul you for suggesting it LOL
It was really weird at growing up to realize what we call cutlass, and still call cutlass, is what people refer to as a machete Would like to see Matt's opinion of a common street vendor's 3 canal though, had an uncle who kept one and sharpened it until it was basically a dagger :')
In the same vein; the last cutlass issued by the US navy (Model 1917 or 1941 depending on how you define it) had the guards cut off to be reissued as machetes in the SE Asian theater.
One of my favorite things about pirates is that they were generally active 1-3 years before they were killed or caught. Except for the Dread Pirate Roberts, brilliant man.
A short life, but a merry one. Of course the life expectancy of _any_ European in the Caribbean before the late 19th century could often be measured in terms of months due to the endemic tropical diseases to which most Europeans had no immunity. It was common for European regiments posted to the Caribbean colonies to return after a few years with up to 70-80% of the soldiers dead from malaria, yellow fever, and other tropical diseases. I'm guessing the yellow jack killed a lot more pirates than the Royal Navy ever did.
He may as well be advertising dragon dildos because I find mobile games with exploitative microtransactions akin to gambling just as repulsive and out of place.
@@rzrx1337 Well someone's gotta pay the man for the work of putting these videos together. If you don't like the sponsor, maybe throw some money at his Patreon?
The shipwreck of The Golden Fleece, a pirate ship sunk in 1686, contained a cuttoe. A picture of the sword is shown in the book "Pirate Hunters, Treasure, Obsession, and the Search for a Legendary Pirate Ship" by Robert Kurson. It looked pretty similar to the cuttoe you made a video about.
The sword, that they would prefer to use, also probably heavily depends on the sword fighting techniques they had learned earlier on. Their origins were certainly important in their preferences.
Blackbeard famously carried as many as 12 pistols at a time. Some in in crossing bandolier holsters. He had at least two in holsters at his back. Supposedly he came over the side withe his sword ( or huge butcher knife) between his teeth & a pistol in each hand. Impressive but not highly recommended for climbing from one bouncing ship to another bobbing ship while being shot at.
Would love to see Matt go in depth on context/use of the schiavona, which is both extremely practical and also gets my vote for the most beautiful sword design.
It's a basket hilt broadsword/backsword/sabre from a part of the world that happened to be absurdly rich and proud of it. There really isn't any more to it.
The cinqueda is lovely in its uniqueness. I love how silly wide it starts at the guard then tapering ridiculously to a super pointy stabby tip. Did I mention many were bejeweled around the guard and hilt? Girls love sparklies 😁
Obviously swords were status symbols but I wonder if certain swords were valued more by pirates simply because to have posession of one meant that you had killed or defeated someone of high military rank.
@@shawndang326 Actually... there were/are things called "Boarding Pikes" that WERE LONG Spears with HOOKS on the ends! They were used to pull ships closer but ALSO to PULL Enemy Sailors OVERBOARD AND/OR SPEAR them BEFORE Getting on board the enemy ship! The FASTER You could Dispatch the enemy... the SOONER you got to OVERTAKE the ship and get on with removing the loot/treasures/booty/cargo! So YES they DID use "SPEARS" of a sort!
I think if they got an expensive sword from a raid they would hold onto it and sell it rather than risk damaging it and just use whatever second hand coutelas they have in the stock. Probably sold it to some foreign nobleman.
According to historical research, 80% of pirates had an eye patch, a club--foot a hook-hand prosthetic, and a parrot on the shoulder, while holding a rum bottle with the trademark XXX.
A few pirates really did have peg legs, including such as Francois Leclerc and Cornelis Jol. The eyepatch stereotype most likely came from Rahmah ibn Jabir al-Jalhami, who really did wear a patch to cover his missing eye. Pirate Oruc Reis (one of the Barbarossa brothers) wore some sort of metal prosthetic after he lost his left hand. We can't say for sure if it was a hook, but it's close enough. Christopher Newport was another privateer to be missing a hand, but there's no way to know if he had a hook. William Dampier's crew did take parrots on board during one of their voyages. And Rum? everybody loves rum! Aargh!* *And as for "talking like a pirate," that's the West Country accent, and a lot of pirates really did come from that region, including Francis Drake, Samuel Bellamy, Henry Avery, and Blackbeard.
XXX actually means the liquor was allegedly 100 proof (50% alcohol) or higher. Proof testing wasn't an exact science back in those days. They'd soak black powder with the distilled liquor and if the powder still burned it got XXX (even though 80 proof is the threshold of flammability). Anything else was just XX (like the Dos Equis label although only distilled spirits should have that mark. Beer/ale/lager/grog/bock & cet. is rarely over 10 proof so the name is disingenuous) .
Fernão Mendes Pinto writes in his memoirs* that their halberds were very effective against japanese pirates ... Him being a pirate himself, amongst other jobs. *Very worthwhile reading!
Awesome! I've read all the great seafaring memoirs (Suffering of Turner, Slocum, Two Years, Four Years) but hadn't heard of this one. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!
Halberds would be useful for boarding and counter boarding if you trained a bit with them. Training would also be useful for bonding and team building among the crew.
I was going to say ironically, the only place you won't find them is on the Barbary Coast, but then I remembered the human smugglers, though not exactly the same, probably close enough...
What if Charles Vane was carrying an antique? What if he saw an antique katzbalger and was just like "yes please!" The landsknechts used them for close up personal fighting when they got too mixed up in the melee for their pike/halberd/gun/great sword to be useable, which would serve in quite the similar environment of close quarters ship combat (although arguably more useful swords that fill this role were around at the time)
24:50 - "Representing a flaming sword,".... "I can't imagine you doing this with a smallsword"
Actually a smallsword would be the IDEAL sword to use as a real-life flaming sword assuming that you wanted it to have a practical function in boarding operations or pirate raids.
First the historical justification. Blackbeard famously draped himself in multiple burning fuses, partly for effect, but also likely because he didn’t want to lose access to flame if one of them went out. Most any pirate would want to have access to flame for, lighting cannon fuses, setting diversionary fires, and last but not least, illumination, either on a night raid, or because you are fighting below deck. If you are a pirate, and want to have more flame with you than a fuse would provide, you could in theory simply take a lantern, like a peaceful sailor. We know that some civilian sword instructors trained people to fight holding a lantern, so this probably happened now and then in pirate operations. Holding a lantern is not likely to be ideal as an offhand item in a fight however, and I suspect that most pirates preferred torches.
As a practical matter a torch for a sailor in era would mean wrapping a piece of wood with tow (frayed rope or similar material used for caulking a ship’s seams) and soaking the tow in pitch, tar, oil, or something flammable and available. A torch would be better for starting a large fire, or lighting a fuse, and it would better at offending an opponent than a lantern, but imagine that you an honest sailor and are in a desparate fight with a torch-holding pirate opponent. Your flame-wielding opponent is about to win, and the only way that you can win is to lunge intothe torch to make your thrust. Would you accept the burn? I propose that the most likely semi-practical reason and method for achieving a flaming sword would be inspired by just such a situation. You would create the flaming sword a lot like you would make a torch, simply wrapping the tow around the blade instead of around a stick, and placing the tow far enough down the blade that enough of the blade was unencumbered to be useful as a secondary thrusting weapon. A smallsword would be very much superior for this purpose because it would be small enough and light enough to support the addition of tow and pitch. Smallswords were also not reliant on the cut, and so would still provide some useful offensive capability even if it was somewhat encumbered by wrapped tow. Many smallsword hilts would also be somewhat protective against drips of oil or pitch from the bundle of flaming tow. This sort of thing would probably not be great for the sword, but with Roberts being interested in “plenty and satiety, pleasure and ease, liberty and power” he might have been more than willing to damage or abuse a blade or two so as better to protect himself.
Wow, I thought creating a flaming sword would surely require isekai-world-level magic, but you just described how to make one in a YT comment. 😃 gg 👏👏👏
South Carolina hanged Stede Bonnet, who had at one time sailed his ship in coordination with Blackbeard. He had voided his pardon from the Governor of North Carolina by returning to piracy. Colonel William Rhett was authorized by the Governor of South Carolina to lead a force of militia and three of the colony's naval vessels, cross into North Carolina, and capture Bonnet. He was hanged at White Point Garden on the Battery in Charles Town (Charleston), on 10 DEC 1718.
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of 250,000$. Piracy is not a victimless crime.
In the topic of flags, I was surprised you didn't bring up Calico Jack's famous flag, considering he had the iconic jolly roger of a death's head above two s-guard cutlasses (a flag perhaps made more famous by the POTC franchise as the "main" flag of the Black Pearl). In his case, the twin cutlasses are often interpreted by historians to stand for his lovers Anne Bonny and Mary Read (the two female pirates also featured in this vid) so it could be that those two, specifically, carried cutlasses. Very nice vid. Keep up the good work! Would also like one more focused on the Barbary Corsairs, the Japanese pirates (the "Wokou") and the pirates of the South China Coast, why not.
The authenticity of the crossed swords flag is uncertain. There are no known references to this flag before the 20th century, so it might have been made up, along with a few other flags.
A very strange weapon you might want to look at is the "Venetian Boarding Sword," a 16th century sword with a sawtooth edge on one side. I think only two of them are known to exist today, but I heard a museum curator speculate that it may have been used in a similar role as the cutlass.
Oh boy that is a weird thing! Serrated blades would be good for cutting rigging but those aren't that kind of serrations, are they? This sort of reminds me of what is dubiously referred to as a "sword breaker" albeit with a more practical blade mass for cutting/chopping/slashing and a reinforced tip for stabbing through whatever you feel the need to stab through. Whoever owned that was some kind of hellion.
You mentioned the scimitar and I think there is a thing here. From the middle age onwards Muslims of North Africa were depicted with stereotypical board falchion like cutlass with clipped points. Also north African later really used broad sabers in the from of the Nimcha. I think it's possible that the image of the barbary pirate probably corrupted the European view on pirates, giving them the "Muslim scimitar" associated with barbary pirates and ottomans.
I had this video up while I was working on something at my desk. As it does, concentration took over and I missed about 30 seconds to a minute of the video. I look up, my ears turn back on, and I see a portrait man on screen showing off his slave and Matt saying, "he really looks like a proper gentleman here". without the context that we were talking about the indicative social status of his blade, that was totally took me off-guard and was hilarious.
So glad I got my copy of _Boarders Away: With Steel-Edged Weapons and Polearms_ back when it was $25 instead of $350. It has *all* the answers to this question.
Surprised you didn't mention the North African nimcha, which was fashionable for a period in the 17th and early 18th century in European naval circles.
I would love to hear the Matt Easton recommendation, based on the ship board environment, for the best pirate sword. Confined space, corrosive environment, enemies encountered, combat tactics, etc.
My guess would be short, curved, fairly broad, and not too expensive. So something like the hanger or cuttoe, or a naval cutlass. Good for cutting ropes and people.
@@lachlanmckinnie1406 a sawback hunting sword would be ideal for cutting ropes and rigging. And if the blade was blued or nickel plated it would make it more resistant to salt spray. Any steel at sea would need oiled constantly, especially in the warm Caribbean. I would bet most actual pirate swords were rusty and many a victim died of tetanus. They may have even let them get that way having some idea that rusty blades caused infection. A digression, but in WWII, the kyu-gunto issued to the Japanese navy were actually typically made of stainless steel.
In the historical tale of "Infortunios de Alonso Ramírez" of 1690, a spanish-mexican history of a men captured in South Seas by english pirates, and who probably joined them as a pirate, he had a philippine kriss.
The popular concept of a pirate cutlass probably has a lot more to do with what the great Ray Harryhausen chose to use in his models for the Sinbad movies rather than what they actually used.
Have a look at the original Jolly Roger flags. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jolly_Roger They are a pretty strong evidence for the typical pirate cutlass, as they are designed by the pirates themselves.
@@stefanb6539 The video was about what type of swords pirates used, not what other weapons they also used. Given the maritime background I would even think those are harpoons.
Well... You could also just cosplay an earlier period pirate. It's not like piracy wasn't a thing before the 17th century. Take Klaus Störtebeker for instance, quite possibly the most famous german pirate. He was active during the 14th century and died in 1401. If you wanna be a pirate but only have medieval equipment, there's nothing stopping you from being a medieval pirate.
@@maszkalman3676 "Odd" in this context means "not like the others" not "weird" or "bizarre". It is unusual but not at all STRANGE for a pirate to sport two hooks, double eyepads or dual peg legs. Some even have fake ears and noses or buttocks. They usually look like something out of a first grade art class, but no accounting for taste ...
@@whynottalklikeapirat well not just that but peoples even back then sometimes choose unusual weapons or tools even if that wasn't the most convenient for that.
Actually If you look at the Pirate captains who were in Black Sails the did relatively good with the overlap. Charles Vain DID actually Interact with Blackbeard, Calico Jack, and was the first mate of Henry Jennings.
And then mix them up with captain Flint and Long John Silver from the famous book "Treasure Island". But no mater what, Black Sails was an entertaining series to watch.
@@Verdunveteran The captain Flint character was based a lot on Henry Jennings and Samuel Bellamy. They took stories of both and made a character that could be the "hero" of the show because They couldn't have the main character die in the first season. For a show that came out in the "Jack Sparrow" era I was surprised with how much actual history they put in.
I'm writing a historical fantasy Pirate novel, so this type of information is invaluable! At most it saves me some reading, and at the very least it gives me relevant points to research. Great work as always Mr. Easton!
To go along with what Matt said about pirates using whatever kind of sword they wanted to, I don't think that pirates had a particular style of speech. For lack of a better term, they didn't necessarily speak like a stereotypical pirate. That's not to say they wouldn't have said things like, "argh, me matey" and things like that, just that most probably would have spoken using the same dialects and jargon as other sailors of their day wouid since that's where pirates often came from. Then the officers, depending on their background, might have spoken like any other member of the upper class/gentry would have and not sounded like a regular sailor.
@@Riceball01 I learned that early in my own research, but there is definitely a balance when it comes to meeting peoples expectations but also trying to base a story in some form of realism. The first draft I wrote of the prologue didn't have any "stereotypical" pirate speech, but when I let a friend read it, he was like," why don't they sound like pirates?" Lol So some of my pirates definitely sound like stereotypical pirates. I've been using the Pirate glossary to learn some of the slang. My personal favorite is the name calling section. Lol www.pirateglossary.com/namecalling
I think it would make sense that a dialect would start to come up from those who grew up in the area or spent a good chunk of their life there, but any who were not born there likely would speak in the manor of where they came from, unless they put in an effort to talk like the local born. Also may pick up some jargon, much like in Canada, you spend too much time with Newfoundlanders, and suddenly random words pop up into your speach, and you end up reffering to the by's (boys/guys).
@@Riceball01 The stereotypical "pirate accent" is actually the West Country British dialect. Quite a few pirates really were from there, including Franics Drake, Blackbeard, Henry Every, and Samuel Bellamy.
@@scholagladiatoria That's got to be the worst part of dealing in antiques, knowing a piece will likely never come back to you (I'm a hoarder by nature, so collecting is not a healthy hobby for me😉). Great video: as a sailor it was one of my favorites.
Short, hefty, easy to maintain, easy to use and easy to carry. I got a feeling they would have loved the Briquet. Given how many pirates were deserters, mutineers or privateers who lost their letters of marque it makes sense that they simply used what ever they were issued with or owned during their regular service. Especially considering that the new captain would probably claim the nicest and most valuable sword for himself, namely the one of the previous captain.
Blackbeard's ship did contain a sword hilt and handle with a stump of blade. It looked like a hunting sword with a similar cross guard to the picture. Lots of pictures online. Lots of good info in this one. Thanks.
To be honest, I never really understood what type of swords exactly were used by Jack Sparrow, Will Turner & Davy Jones in the Pirates of the Carribean movies (other than the smallsword that Will Turner crafted for Norrington)
Sparrows blade looks very similar in apperance to the Hanwei Revolutionary War Hanger. And many online sellers seem to market that perticular Hanwei sword as a pirate, PotC or even Jack Sparrow cutlass simply for that very similarity. Personally I've alwayse loved the looks of the Hanwei Revolutionary War Hanger as I'm a big fan if infantry hangers. Hope to get one at some point and see if it feels as good as it looks.
Ive heard somewhere (a while ago) that for the first PotC they did some research on swords, cannons and ship types of the era they were displaying. I think Sparrow's sword was even an antique (ofc switched for action scenes) of that time. Generally, you can see the types mentioned by Matt, minus the military ones pretty much. But plenty of hangers and their variants, small swords and spadroons for the different characters.
@@Verdunveteran If you can get one go for it except for lacking the extreme distal taper of many originals (which were quite thin near the tip) it is awesome. Have one (that I got secondhand). It is a fun sword and they got the length and proportions of the hilt more or less correct; like my antique one, it has a fairly short grip and the knucklebow etc. are slim, not oversized. It lacks a bit of distal taper as many do but I gave it a bevel on the back of the blade (careful not to ruin the temper) for the second half slimming it a bit. It's a nice short sword. The scabbard core also appears to be actual wood not plastic. I put an edge on it and it cuts and just looks darn cool besides!
@@Acetylsalicylsaeure2 Agree they actually got the swords pretty good in Pirates of the Caribbean. No 19th century later period cutlasses, by and large hanger swords an spadroons and such. Jack Sparrow's sword looks much like the Hanwei infantry hanger replica as has been mentioned.
To quote Captain Redbeard Rum “Arggghhh You have a woman’s sword Matt . I’ll wager that sword has never been used as a rowing-boat. I’ll wager it’s never had sixteen shipwrecked mariners tossing in it.”
I love that at 21:45 when you start talking about the famous pirates that you have a momentary self correction word stumble that makes you pronounce "famous" with a Somerset accent. Seems very appropriate.
Great video. Question: would spadroons also have been used by pirates at this time? I thought spadroons are sort of an outgrowth of military broadswords, designed to keep more thrusting ability.
22:00 Both of the flags shown there are quite specific to rather infamous pirates. Neither of which, were Bartholomew Roberts! Haha.. 22:57 The bandolier of pistols, throughout much this period's naval culture (outside of the various Royal Navies), was something like a _"badge of office."_ On any given ship you'd often find three individuals armed in this way: the Captain, the First Mate, and the Quartermaster. On the surface, these pistols were intended to be used against enemy vessels and their crews...but they would have been _conveniently discouraging_ to the casual mutineer, as well. So, a mark of authority, all-round. Also worth mentioning; other than these specific members of the crew, going about the ship "armed for battle" was _prohibited,_ and arms were collected and locked up, when not engaged with, or approaching, an enemy vessel.
The brace of pistols was actually started by cavalry in the days when knights still wore plate armour. It would've started with matchlocks (the logistics of which give me a headache) and later been replaced by wheel-locks. This was a popular tactic during the Thirty Years War. There were actually attempts during this period to make functional revolvers. One exists in the Royal Armouries and is attributed to a German gunsmith named Paul Dübler. But this period doesn't terribly outdate the so-called "Golden Age of Piracy". We're talking early 17th Century.
Blackbeard first image sword, looking at the line of the scabbard, looks curved to me. And considering the small quillon with curled rounded tip, I think that maybe the author tried to represent a sort of ottoman kind of sword
Hi Matt! Would love to see you do a video on Cossack swords, there is a long and varied history there! Could start with the painting "Letter to the Sultan."
Great suggestion. Very interested in that! Cossacks are very much like pirates, using captured weapons from neighboring people and different traditions...
Related, how much space was in ships below deck? That would be my deciding factor for a sword. If it is anything like my bedroom, I'd definitely go for a smallsword or a curved hanger with a blade no longer than 26 inches.
It very much depends on the ship and exactly how far below deck your talking, as well as the period. The absolute lowest navigable parts of the ship where typically pretty cramped though. Pirate ships tended to be a bit on the small side, too.
3 things come to mind: 1.) I distinctly remember reading that Henry Morgan owned a "basket hilt" sword while he was governor of Nassau. Whether it was what we now think of as a basket hilt or was a dussack/dussage/tessak with a "Sinclair" hilt, not sure. 2.) In 1995 they actually found the wreckage of Queen Anne's Revenge off the coast of North Carolina. They've managed to find some competent archeologists who happen to be strong swimmers and have been excavating the wreckage. A heavily gilt cuttoe/hunting sword's partial hilt with a stag grip and recurved quillons was found. It resembles the style of Washington's (which you mentioned) "war sword" in Mount Vernon only much less modest. It's very possible that was Edward Teach's (and it's actually pronounced "teck"-very Olde English). The pommel is sort of a round cap, again, just like Washington's. I'd post links but Google would just flag this as spam and delete it because RUclips is terrible now. 3.) I know this was very much the case in Spanish America with soldiers but out in the field or at sea, people were cut off from any sort of real armourer or market. Blacksmiths cobbled clapped-out and broken swords back together just to get them functional with little regard to aesthetics. You see "theater made" weapons, too, all through both World Wars that were cobbled together in trenches. In light of that, I have a feeling some of these fantastical pig-stickers with disparate or out-of-place fittings we see in engravings maybe aren't so far-fetched. Maybe it was a fast `n dirty fix by a blacksmith, something cobbled together out of necessity one night or someone's idea of a customized weapon.
Also important to consider is that, as seafaring bandits, pirates would steal weapons. So until their venture became any kind of profitable to allow buying weapons, they'd be using what they'd looted. Which is whatever their targets were wielding.
I listened to this while doing some cleaning, but I had my phone in my pocket, so now that I have the chance, I'm going back through to see the pictures and stuff. I quite like this as a format Matt. Even if you don't have a super specific topic, it would be neat to see more videos like this. If you wanted to, I have an Idea. Compile together a ton of old art. Even if it isn't from manuscripts or even if it was made some time in the 19th or 20th, it would be fun to just look at some interesting art and have you talk about it. If you didn't have any particularly depthy insights on a particular piece, thats fine. You could do this on streams, so we could comment and SuperChat. It could be a fun thing to do every so often. Just look at some art and chat.
Excellent video. One possible suggestion, I knew a guy who had retired from the British Navy, who more than once said, "From the beginning of the Empire the modern day, one thing is true. That being Admirals love lists. If you can count it and put it on a list they'll want 3 copies & then 3 more, for Queen and Country. With that bit of humor in mind, are there not lists of the confiscated items from when pirate ships were captured? Though I realize that they wouldn't have as detailed of descriptions as we might today, *sword, civilian: 10 each* Might be listed.
Great video. I enjoyed it. Thabks for taking the time with this, I enjoy pirate history. I'm glad you brought out my favorite sword out of your collection again. The hanger/cutlass with the cat claw tip. What I wouldn't do to get that sword in my own collection. Haha
Latest news from UK: Government cracks down on all curved swords and now requires foam pirate swords be registered and a special license for them to be acquired.
Before watching, I'm going to assume a pirate would use any sword that works well in the close quarters combat that they would experience in boarding engagements.
Matt I don't understand the speculation... they obviously used spadroons... they're literal best sword ever... they can literally cleave through cannon balls, and stay sharp enough to slice through the wind of an enemies sails forcing their ships to stop....
@Matt FYI the Qin and Qing dynasties are pronounced "Chin" and "King". Also the ships locker or armoury would have held swords for the most part. It would be very had for a tops-man to work with anything bigger than a utility knife.
Small correction, dusack is more of an Eastern name. In German and Dutch it would more commonly be referred to as a "degen", which is confusing because rapiers (and actually anything that that doesn't have the classical medieval sword shape) are also called degen.
Matt, I've read a bit about Spanish trade swords (Bilbao/Bilbo for instance) were very popular with Americans in general and American pirates in particular. Any thoughts or information on that?
Have you seen Cutthroat Island? Frankabout it? Langela's Captain Dog carries a rather unique sword. It has a sabre length blade that has shark like points instead of a regular blade, blus a clam shell hilt. Is It real, and can you find more about it?
When you look at a gentleman posing with a sword for a painting/portrait, he might be portrayed with a very expensive and ornate sword that he wore to "functions," but would never carry such a work of art into a battle.
I'm glad you mentioned the Falchion..... Though not a sword we would associate with a historical 17thc or 18thc Pirate, it is clear that commonly in video games or even children's toys, the swords they often call a cutlass is clearly a D guard Falchion
@@hazzardalsohazzard2624 Ah yea I vaguely recall that, very sad. Would be excellent with a review of the final series of fights Flint has. "Spoilers"- I would like to hear what Matt has to say about Flint vs. Hands, it feels like they made Hands lose so fast because he was less skilled than Flint, relying more on raw aggression. But I want to hear if Matt thinks that played out realistically or did Flint just get "magical moves" to make him look more skilled.
One thought occurs to me - how much training would the average sailor of that period have in swordsmanship, and how might that affect their choice of weapon?
That would depend if they had served or not, and with who. English had a regimented training program. If not trained a machete is a fine weapon for “windmilling”.
I run a pirate show for a hotel on the beach. We primarily use the Hanwei mortuary swords as our go-to stage weapons because they hold up to abuse fairly well, they're economical, and they have the added hand protection in case any mishaps occurs in the choreography. Our general look is a blend of historicl and Hollywood (not wanting to be too highbrow or too silly or hokey) i thought the choice of stage weapons was taking more creative leeway than what was expected. Though I have yet to have a hotel guest tell me my sword wasn't piratey enough. Thanks for posting this video!
Yep, that is definitely the nearest pronunciation in English. Just wanted to add that the reason we use both 'ch' and 'q' in piniyin is that they are slightly different. Basically, 'ch' is pronounced further back than English 'ch' and 'q' is pronounced further forward.
@@rasmusn.e.m1064 If I remember correctly, the 'ch' you speak of is closer to the English 'j' although I know it's not quite right my ear isn't good enough to tell the differences. Even harder is the 'X' in 'xiao'
@@catocall7323 Yeah, that's a good description. 'Ch' is basically an English 'j' that isn't voiced. Like the difference between 's' and 'z'. (wikipedia states that 'ch' is pronounced even further back than that, but I bet it varies between users.)
I have a feeling that pirates ended up using Cutoe's or Hangers just because they were cheap and it was a backup weapon at best. As you have pointed out, the more iconic weapon of the pirate appears to be the pistol, with the musket as close second.
Our local museum has an excibit on the pirates of the baltic sea from the Napoleonic wars. Long shafted boarding axes where apparantly very popular, sometimes with shotgun barrels either built into the ax or mounted on the side of the axe. A couple of realy nasty examples are basically short handled halberds, one of them even with a shotgun barrel on each side of the halberd.
I've tried to do some research on these, as part of my research on machetes. Decent images are few and far between. The only two really good ones i know of is that of François l'Olonnois that you shown, and this one of Jean Bart, a famous French corsair: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Gravure_jean_de_bart.jpg I haven't found the definite source of this engraving, but the fashion of the clothes is definitely matching Jean Bart's activity period, and his saber is very very close to some hunting swords of around this period: imgur.com/a2IdYQE I put together an Imgur album with some of the related "evidence", especially the link and evolution from 16th dussage to modern machete: imgur.com/a/wLF2XLY Now some points about terminology and etymology: - cutlass comes from "French" coutelas. I write French but it's more to be understood as occitan, as part of the romance language continuum. In modern standard French, the final S from coutelas isn't pronounced, but in the southern half of France, there are still many living people who do pronounce the S at the end of words (cause yes, it's part of the continuum that includes Spanish, in which you absolutely pronounce final S). So English speakers litterally wrote the French/occitan word they heard. Coutelas kinda means (big) knife, the -as suffix doesn't have a real specific meaning, it could just be a remnant of the termination of the original latin word cultellus. - cuttoe comes from northern French couteau, which literally just means knife, and I feel this one is likely to be some sort of deformation on the part of the English speakers, who might have applied the word to items native French speakers probably wound't have called couteau... except in the context of refering to hunting "knives". - nobody, absolutely nobody in the romance area would have used the term "dussack", "dussage", or any derivative. - but on the other hand it very likely that romance people from around the bay of Biscay would have called these "matchets", from some old root I haven't exactly defined yet but you find in the latin word machaera, the Spanish word machado (axe or cleaver), the machi- from machicoulis in French, etc... It's not clear wether it's a very popular ("uneducated") use of a term that just means "hacking/bashing implement", or if it's a proper derivative of machaera with a relatively specific meaning, more research would be needed, in old texts, possibly written in romance dialects, with varied or approximate spelling (it's spelled "matxet" in modern Catalan for example), maybe not even digitalized, and very likely scattered among many institutions. I.e. a job so complicated and tedious it's difficult justifying doing it when you're not an actual scholar. I remember having read in some 17th or 18th commentary of the local laws of maybe Toulouse about machetes, and the author clearly writing it was derived from machaera, but for the love of me I've tried to find it many many times and haven't been able to, which is killing me. It's pretty clear how European hangers became modern machetes little by little: initially it was just that sailors, especially buccaneers proper, i.e. professionnal hunters in the Caribean, were rather poor and traveled very light. While corsairs usually were from the upper classes, either enriched burgesses or actual nobles, and could arm ships pretty well, many privateers hired anybody they could find, and equiped them with odds and ends. It's important to remember that this whole thing with ships is how capitalism really started, with a very strong spirit of entrepreneurship, a small chance of huge profits, and a very vague legal environment. It's important to keep in mind also that slave trade was an absolutely integral part of the whole thing. Anyway, my point is there was a strong incentive to do as many tasks as possible with as few gear as possible (more room for actual valuables), and all these single edge trooper hangers made decent enough tools for many tasks, and where extremely easy to carry around (unlike axes, dedicated meat clavers, etc). As things settled down, and life on land became more and more of a thing (and likely with a strong input from buccaneers, as they had already been doing that for decades), the habbit to use hangers as all around tools remained. In Europe, it was also clearly seen as a very interesting market, especially since there had already been industries churning out blades like crazy (Solingen especially). Hanger blades started being shipped/traded by the barrel, but instead of being hilted like weapons, they started being hilted towards this utilitary purpose. Demand grew, for even cheaper blades to use as tools, and blades got simplified: the nice actual fullers of 17th c. sabers became narrower, and then purely symbolic, blades got thinner and wider, flat tangs became more common as there wasn't a need for a pommel anymore, etc... And the funny thing is that what we nowadays call "tomahawks", from a Native American word, actually descend from trade axes that are all styled after the axe pattern of the Biscay bay (look for "hacha vizcaina"), even the later ones manufactured in Britain. The modern American axe descends from Basque axes, mixed with a bit of English influence (for the presence of the poll). While it's likely that Solingen provided a huge portion of the hanger blades, and Sheffield topped off the rest, these early trade axes were coming from the huge Pyrenean steel industry, which was kinda precapitalistic but managed to be amazingly efficient thanks to some major technical improvment of forging processes by the systematic use of water power (for the trompe and trip hammer). So between "tomahawks" (the items) and machetes (the word - and thus the culture), the romance bay of Biscay played a significant role in shaping some aspects of the material culture of the Americas.
"Teach" has turned out to be a mistake in copying, which wound up published in "A General History of the Pyrates," which was the seminal reference book for piracy and so popularized the error. According to modern scholarly research, the man's name appears to have been Edward Thatch.
A copying error, or simply modern notions of pronunciation combined with the highly-flexible spelling norms of the day. In his lifetime, "Teach" would have been pronounced "Tetch" not "Teech."
@@solicitr666 very true. This was before there was a board of people at some English college who got paid to sit around all day and "standardise" the language. Everything was phonetic.
This was great! Also definitely would be cool to see some Black Sails videos on the fighting and the equipment, very much enjoyed that show and would enjoy your take on it!
I noticed with the historical images, a number of the subjects that are carrying the multiple pistol 'bandoliers' had a pouch at the bottom of the suspenders, I would guess it's a means to carry pistol balls, flint's and other gear to support the pistols reloading.
Hi for all pirate buffs there are 2 available versions of Captain Charles Johnson’s book that I know of. One isbn 0-85177-919-0 which is only volume one, but does have the wood cuts. Then isbn 9781973369196 which is both volumes, but doesn’t have the wood cuts. Also on a later topic “the British code of duel” from 1824. Reprinted in 1971. SBN 85546 157 8 by the Richmond Publishing Co ltd. “A reference to the laws of honour and character of Gentleman”.
In relation to your video, I give tours of the Historic “Sandfloor” Synagogue in St. Thomas. To your viewers, some interesting points. 1) The Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas formed in 1794 bought the property in 1812 for 1,236 PIECES OF EIGHT, a world currency then, even in the US. 2) We instituted a bylaw to appease the Danish king that disallowed “swords, daggers or clubs.” in the premises. They were kept in the Vestry (a separate building) and locked by a Warden, which was the title that my job would have back then. This was before firearms were sold that could be carried by the average person 3) AND, yes there were Jewish Pirates, mostly useful not to pull lines but for their ability to find locations using the astrolabe, charting these location and language interpretation. Thanks again.
I used the exact toy pirate sword to make a auxilliary gasket for the hinge side of my freezer. It worked like fun. It even had a good quality adhesive already on it.
Enjoyed the video ! It’s also worthwhile mentioning that Captain Morgan had on land campaigns against the Spanish so bigger swords might be the order of the day .
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Here's something cool to talk about
ruclips.net/video/hTPXuPVnJ8w/видео.html
@@edi9892 nah allow my dude to get some money, he puts out consistent quality content he deserved the bag
@@harleyokeefe5193 I'd prefer any other typical sponsor but not a falsely advertised game.
I would really enjoy if you could make an analysis video about weapons and armor in Raid. Along the purely nonsensical stuff they seem to have some pretty functional looking fantasy weapons like the warhammer on Sanguinia.
Please please please make a video about this 14:30 sword! You said that it is some kind of parang? It really looks like a Turkish Pala!
I love the idea of anybody going around telling pirates what they could and couldn't use for swords. "You there, that backsword is only permissible for freebooters, and we're clearly on a buccaneering expedition here!"
Arrr
"Don't use that cutlass, it's not-" *flintlock shot*
There could be a Python sketch in that.... almost like the trial for the sapper who flicked wet towels at the enemy whilst dressed as a bag of daises.
Yes, especially since they were outlaws to start with and by the nature of their profession didn't give a rat's ass about laws. They'd probably keel haul you for suggesting it LOL
@@Rogue.Templar30 I think fish slapping would be even more appropriate LOL
Interesting to note that in Trinidad and other parts of the Caribbean, the machete used in the sugar cane fields is known as a Cutlass.
In Puerto Rico the longer machete is called a 'machete' while the short machetes are called 'daga' like a dagger.
It was really weird at growing up to realize what we call cutlass, and still call cutlass, is what people refer to as a machete
Would like to see Matt's opinion of a common street vendor's 3 canal though, had an uncle who kept one and sharpened it until it was basically a dagger :')
@@madmansprinkles haha yes that's classic. The old ones like that which are sharpened down to thin blades are great for small grasses!
In the same vein; the last cutlass issued by the US navy (Model 1917 or 1941 depending on how you define it) had the guards cut off to be reissued as machetes in the SE Asian theater.
@@AG-yl2iv That was a neat thing to learn , Thank You!
I always assumed that pirates simply used whatever swords they had in their arrrrrsenal.
😐
Underrated comment
Aaaye see what you did there!
@@Freeloader_420 Me thinks ye mean, und- *arrrr* -rated! 🦜🦜🏴☠️
I think that if a pirate has pistol and the opponent has a rapier, so the pirate has rapier as a sidearm
"Hey Blackbeard, how many kinds of weapons do you have access to?"
Blackbeard: "Avast"
One of my favorite things about pirates is that they were generally active 1-3 years before they were killed or caught. Except for the Dread Pirate Roberts, brilliant man.
Pirate pension schemes are a bit of a waste of money then.. 🤔
@@robbikebob Unless you're the dread Pirate Roberts
A short life, but a merry one. Of course the life expectancy of _any_ European in the Caribbean before the late 19th century could often be measured in terms of months due to the endemic tropical diseases to which most Europeans had no immunity. It was common for European regiments posted to the Caribbean colonies to return after a few years with up to 70-80% of the soldiers dead from malaria, yellow fever, and other tropical diseases. I'm guessing the yellow jack killed a lot more pirates than the Royal Navy ever did.
Henry Avery and much of his crew survived and got away to enjoy their riches. Some of them became Americans.
I have an antiqued finished Dread Pirate Robert's replica rapier!!!
Beginning of the video: "Did pirates *really* carry cutlasses?"
End of the video: "Yes."
Kind of an oversimplification lol
Good, thanks now I don't have to wade through all the waffle.
Beginning of the video: "Did pirates *really* carry cutlasses?"
End of the video: "*MAYBE?" @ 36:23
Dude, spoilers! :P
Christopher Lee Sounds like you don’t get this channel at all..
My man subtle saying "stop complaining, I need the money" before the raid ad was gold. We understand brother, don't worry, just bring the content
They should make him a character in the game.
He may as well be advertising dragon dildos because I find mobile games with exploitative microtransactions akin to gambling just as repulsive and out of place.
@@rzrx1337 now now, no need to kink shame!
@@rzrx1337 lmao LOL
@@rzrx1337 Well someone's gotta pay the man for the work of putting these videos together. If you don't like the sponsor, maybe throw some money at his Patreon?
The shipwreck of The Golden Fleece, a pirate ship sunk in 1686, contained a cuttoe. A picture of the sword is shown in the book "Pirate Hunters, Treasure, Obsession, and the Search for a Legendary Pirate Ship" by Robert Kurson. It looked pretty similar to the cuttoe you made a video about.
You really got me with that sword at the beginning, Matt. Almost took it for a real one.
His daughter already has made a career choice...
He acquired that from an antique collector.
It must be Ceremonial!
I still believe it is real deal.
To be fair, I've seen quite a few "zombie" knives and swords that look like that
The sword, that they would prefer to use, also probably heavily depends on the sword fighting techniques they had learned earlier on. Their origins were certainly important in their preferences.
Weapons Familiarity first.
Oh arrr
Blackbeard famously carried as many as 12 pistols at a time. Some in in crossing bandolier holsters. He had at least two in holsters at his back. Supposedly he came over the side withe his sword ( or huge butcher knife) between his teeth & a pistol in each hand. Impressive but not highly recommended for climbing from one bouncing ship to another bobbing ship while being shot at.
A pirate from Scotland using a claymore is a terrifying idea
@@mccormyke Eh better than having only one shot. If you have all these flintlocks lying around you might as Well use them.
I can't help thinking that Matt would make a great Nosferatu.
I hope you mean Count Orlock, and not the grotesque vampires from World of Darkness / Vampire: the Masquerade
I'd been thinking the same thing for a while. But a very good-natured one!
Head of a coven of modern vampires guised as a fencing club.
That's it! I've had it in the back of my mind for ages now, but never quite made the connection.
Ha ha ha that's hilarious.
Would love to see Matt go in depth on context/use of the schiavona, which is both extremely practical and also gets my vote for the most beautiful sword design.
It's a basket hilt broadsword/backsword/sabre from a part of the world that happened to be absurdly rich and proud of it. There really isn't any more to it.
The cinqueda is lovely in its uniqueness. I love how silly wide it starts at the guard then tapering ridiculously to a super pointy stabby tip. Did I mention many were bejeweled around the guard and hilt? Girls love sparklies 😁
I personally like the sudanese kaskara and the polish-hungarian sabre.
@@lillyanneserrelio2187 I’ve been in love with the cinqueda since AC2
Obviously swords were status symbols but I wonder if certain swords were valued more by pirates simply because to have posession of one meant that you had killed or defeated someone of high military rank.
That’s actually a pretty interesting idea
I think a spear would be impractical on ships, and swords were not just status symbols. Also, swords could be used for cutting ropes on the ship.
@@shawndang326 Actually... there were/are things called "Boarding Pikes" that WERE LONG Spears with HOOKS on the ends! They were used to pull ships closer but ALSO to PULL Enemy Sailors OVERBOARD AND/OR SPEAR them BEFORE Getting on board the enemy ship!
The FASTER You could Dispatch the enemy... the SOONER you got to OVERTAKE the ship and get on with removing the loot/treasures/booty/cargo!
So YES they DID use "SPEARS" of a sort!
Most swords were not just status symbols but actual weapons.
I think if they got an expensive sword from a raid they would hold onto it and sell it rather than risk damaging it and just use whatever second hand coutelas they have in the stock. Probably sold it to some foreign nobleman.
According to historical research, 80% of pirates had an eye patch, a club--foot a hook-hand prosthetic, and a parrot on the shoulder, while holding a rum bottle with the trademark XXX.
A few pirates really did have peg legs, including such as Francois Leclerc and Cornelis Jol.
The eyepatch stereotype most likely came from Rahmah ibn Jabir al-Jalhami, who really did wear a patch to cover his missing eye.
Pirate Oruc Reis (one of the Barbarossa brothers) wore some sort of metal prosthetic after he lost his left hand. We can't say for sure if it was a hook, but it's close enough. Christopher Newport was another privateer to be missing a hand, but there's no way to know if he had a hook.
William Dampier's crew did take parrots on board during one of their voyages.
And Rum? everybody loves rum! Aargh!*
*And as for "talking like a pirate," that's the West Country accent, and a lot of pirates really did come from that region, including Francis Drake, Samuel Bellamy, Henry Avery, and Blackbeard.
Yarrrggg!
XXX actually means the liquor was allegedly 100 proof (50% alcohol) or higher. Proof testing wasn't an exact science back in those days. They'd soak black powder with the distilled liquor and if the powder still burned it got XXX (even though 80 proof is the threshold of flammability). Anything else was just XX (like the Dos Equis label although only distilled spirits should have that mark. Beer/ale/lager/grog/bock & cet. is rarely over 10 proof so the name is disingenuous) .
Fernão Mendes Pinto writes in his memoirs* that their halberds were very effective against japanese pirates ...
Him being a pirate himself, amongst other jobs.
*Very worthwhile reading!
Awesome! I've read all the great seafaring memoirs (Suffering of Turner, Slocum, Two Years, Four Years) but hadn't heard of this one. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!
Halberds would be useful for boarding and counter boarding if you trained a bit with them. Training would also be useful for bonding and team building among the crew.
@@shawn6860 I'll bet there was a fair amount of rough housing and bare knuckles to take care of the team building element.
@@wilfdarr that and arm wrestling. 😁
"You found pirates in all parts of the world."
Me looking at modern Asia and Africa, as well as some other areas... yeah, about that word "found."
I was going to say ironically, the only place you won't find them is on the Barbary Coast, but then I remembered the human smugglers, though not exactly the same, probably close enough...
@@wilfdarr Different, but still maritime crime.
@@ostrowulf Yup.
The Barbary Corsairs were state employees and thus buccaneers
As were privateers, which I think are pretty well included in this topic.
Not only did learn a ton of interesting history, I've discovered that I need another sword.
Yes, Matt is dangerous that way.
And another pistol 😁
One always needs another sword. And it's funny-you never really NEED that first one you buy but subsequent purchases are always a justified necessity.
What if Charles Vane was carrying an antique? What if he saw an antique katzbalger and was just like "yes please!"
The landsknechts used them for close up personal fighting when they got too mixed up in the melee for their pike/halberd/gun/great sword to be useable, which would serve in quite the similar environment of close quarters ship combat (although arguably more useful swords that fill this role were around at the time)
Intresting thought
@@simoneriksson8329 half for fun, but I mean people like antiques today. Not very likely, but it's fun to consider nonetheless
Landsknechten
Why is that in English the plural of a foreign language word is always wrong? Is it arrogance of being the world's premier language?
@@psychoaiko666 prrrroooooobably because I don't speak german :D I wouldnt think too deep into this
If well maintained an antique sword can be just as deadly as a newly manufactured one.
Aaarming swords! I’ll get my coat.
24:50 - "Representing a flaming sword,".... "I can't imagine you doing
this with a smallsword"
Actually a smallsword would be the IDEAL sword to use as a real-life flaming sword
assuming that you wanted it to have a practical function in boarding operations or pirate raids.
First the historical justification. Blackbeard famously draped himself in multiple burning fuses, partly for effect, but also likely because he didn’t want to lose access to flame if one of them went out. Most any pirate would want to have access to flame for, lighting cannon fuses, setting diversionary fires, and last but not least, illumination, either on a night raid, or because you are fighting below deck. If you are a pirate, and want to have more flame with you than a fuse would provide, you could in theory simply take a lantern, like a peaceful sailor. We know that some civilian sword instructors trained people to fight holding a lantern, so this probably happened now and then in pirate operations. Holding a lantern is not likely to be ideal as an offhand item in a fight however, and I suspect that most pirates preferred torches.
As a practical matter a torch for a sailor in era would mean wrapping a piece of wood with tow (frayed rope or similar material used for caulking a ship’s seams) and soaking the tow in pitch, tar, oil, or something flammable and available. A torch would be better for starting a large fire, or lighting a fuse, and it would better at offending an opponent than a lantern, but imagine that you an honest sailor and are in a desparate fight with a torch-holding pirate opponent. Your flame-wielding
opponent is about to win, and the only way that you can win is to lunge intothe torch to make your thrust. Would you accept the burn?
I propose that the most likely semi-practical reason and method for achieving a flaming sword would be inspired by just such a situation. You would create the flaming sword a lot like you would make a torch, simply wrapping the tow around the blade instead of around a stick, and placing the tow far enough down the blade that enough of the blade was unencumbered to be useful as a secondary thrusting weapon. A smallsword would be very much superior for this purpose because it would be small enough and light enough to support the addition of tow and pitch. Smallswords were also not reliant on the cut, and so would still provide some useful offensive capability even if it was somewhat encumbered by wrapped tow. Many smallsword hilts would also be somewhat protective against drips of oil or pitch from the bundle of flaming tow. This sort of thing would probably not be great for the sword, but with Roberts being interested in “plenty and satiety, pleasure and ease, liberty and power” he might have been more than willing to damage or abuse a blade or two so as better to protect himself.
I was actually thinking much the same. Wrap the whole blade in hemp twine and then soak it with lamp oil.
Wow, I thought creating a flaming sword would surely require isekai-world-level magic, but you just described how to make one in a YT comment. 😃 gg 👏👏👏
South Carolina hanged Stede Bonnet, who had at one time sailed his ship in coordination with Blackbeard. He had voided his pardon from the Governor of North Carolina by returning to piracy. Colonel William Rhett was authorized by the Governor of South Carolina to lead a force of militia and three of the colony's naval vessels, cross into North Carolina, and capture Bonnet. He was hanged at White Point Garden on the Battery in Charles Town (Charleston), on 10 DEC 1718.
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of 250,000$. Piracy is not a victimless crime.
Arrr, matey, run up the Jolly Roger and upload that video!
Me, standing in Front my WLAN Router, holding a cutlass and a muzzleloader: "Stand and delivers all ©️ Bounty you've got or I'll sink your vessel together with the whole Internet!"
I think the FBI are too busy giving money to schizophrenics that they can later charge with terrorism so you're probably safe.
A pirate might say he used a sharp type of sword...to make his point
Oh arrr
finally a joke with some edge…
In the topic of flags, I was surprised you didn't bring up Calico Jack's famous flag, considering he had the iconic jolly roger of a death's head above two s-guard cutlasses (a flag perhaps made more famous by the POTC franchise as the "main" flag of the Black Pearl). In his case, the twin cutlasses are often interpreted by historians to stand for his lovers Anne Bonny and Mary Read (the two female pirates also featured in this vid) so it could be that those two, specifically, carried cutlasses.
Very nice vid. Keep up the good work! Would also like one more focused on the Barbary Corsairs, the Japanese pirates (the "Wokou") and the pirates of the South China Coast, why not.
The authenticity of the crossed swords flag is uncertain. There are no known references to this flag before the 20th century, so it might have been made up, along with a few other flags.
The skull and cross-swords flag is a 20th century fabrication, there are no period sources to prove that
Caribbean islander here 🇻🇮 🇦🇬 🇹🇹 and a Pirate descendant 👊🏽
A very strange weapon you might want to look at is the "Venetian Boarding Sword," a 16th century sword with a sawtooth edge on one side. I think only two of them are known to exist today, but I heard a museum curator speculate that it may have been used in a similar role as the cutlass.
Looked it up, definitely a weird one.
Oh boy that is a weird thing! Serrated blades would be good for cutting rigging but those aren't that kind of serrations, are they? This sort of reminds me of what is dubiously referred to as a "sword breaker" albeit with a more practical blade mass for cutting/chopping/slashing and a reinforced tip for stabbing through whatever you feel the need to stab through. Whoever owned that was some kind of hellion.
@@nickaschenbecker9882 It would look cool in a pirate movie, wouldn't it?
You mentioned the scimitar and I think there is a thing here. From the middle age onwards Muslims of North Africa were depicted with stereotypical board falchion like cutlass with clipped points. Also north African later really used broad sabers in the from of the Nimcha. I think it's possible that the image of the barbary pirate probably corrupted the European view on pirates, giving them the "Muslim scimitar" associated with barbary pirates and ottomans.
I had this video up while I was working on something at my desk. As it does, concentration took over and I missed about 30 seconds to a minute of the video. I look up, my ears turn back on, and I see a portrait man on screen showing off his slave and Matt saying, "he really looks like a proper gentleman here". without the context that we were talking about the indicative social status of his blade, that was totally took me off-guard and was hilarious.
So glad I got my copy of _Boarders Away: With Steel-Edged Weapons and Polearms_ back when it was $25 instead of $350. It has *all* the answers to this question.
Surprised you didn't mention the North African nimcha, which was fashionable for a period in the 17th and early 18th century in European naval circles.
I just googled "nimcha" this may be my new favorite sword. Absolutely beautiful
@@douggaudiosi14 now google the kastane.
I would love to hear the Matt Easton recommendation, based on the ship board environment, for the best pirate sword. Confined space, corrosive environment, enemies encountered, combat tactics, etc.
My guess would be short, curved, fairly broad, and not too expensive. So something like the hanger or cuttoe, or a naval cutlass. Good for cutting ropes and people.
This has been true of all kinds of warfare throughout history: the tactical environment will drive the development, choices and use of weapons.
@@lachlanmckinnie1406, also, short hand handy for use in confined quarters like belowdecks.
@@lachlanmckinnie1406 a sawback hunting sword would be ideal for cutting ropes and rigging. And if the blade was blued or nickel plated it would make it more resistant to salt spray. Any steel at sea would need oiled constantly, especially in the warm Caribbean. I would bet most actual pirate swords were rusty and many a victim died of tetanus. They may have even let them get that way having some idea that rusty blades caused infection. A digression, but in WWII, the kyu-gunto issued to the Japanese navy were actually typically made of stainless steel.
In the historical tale of "Infortunios de Alonso Ramírez" of 1690, a spanish-mexican history of a men captured in South Seas by english pirates, and who probably joined them as a pirate, he had a philippine kriss.
Imagine you're getting boarded by pirates and the Spaniard pulls out a kriss like FML
The popular concept of a pirate cutlass probably has a lot more to do with what the great Ray Harryhausen chose to use in his models for the Sinbad movies rather than what they actually used.
Cutlasses were associated with pirates long before Ray Harryahausen.
Have a look at the original Jolly Roger flags. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jolly_Roger They are a pretty strong evidence for the typical pirate cutlass, as they are designed by the pirates themselves.
@@vast634 Looking at the page you provided, I see almost as many spears as cutlasses.
@@stefanb6539 The video was about what type of swords pirates used, not what other weapons they also used. Given the maritime background I would even think those are harpoons.
@@vast634 It was a typical naval weapon used for self defense on ships.
I use the cold steel lange Messer as my cosplay pirate sword. I realize it's not period but I think it's elegant for what I can afford.
Langes Messer. Lange Messer is either singular ( das lange Messer) or plural .
I'm sorry, it's actually called the Man at arms Messer by the company.
Well... You could also just cosplay an earlier period pirate. It's not like piracy wasn't a thing before the 17th century.
Take Klaus Störtebeker for instance, quite possibly the most famous german pirate. He was active during the 14th century and died in 1401.
If you wanna be a pirate but only have medieval equipment, there's nothing stopping you from being a medieval pirate.
I would not want to carry a working sword around when having fun .
@@tamlandipper29 I can’t think of a time if given the option I wouldn’t want to have a real sword on me
I've always assumed like real pirates, they use whatever they could get their hands on
ANd it's true, except for the odd guy out with dual hooks
@@whynottalklikeapirat there are always some odd guys out there Pirates aren't an exception either :D
@@maszkalman3676 "Odd" in this context means "not like the others" not "weird" or "bizarre". It is unusual but not at all STRANGE for a pirate to sport two hooks, double eyepads or dual peg legs. Some even have fake ears and noses or buttocks. They usually look like something out of a first grade art class, but no accounting for taste ...
@@whynottalklikeapirat well not just that but peoples even back then sometimes choose unusual weapons or tools even if that wasn't the most convenient for that.
@@maszkalman3676 I'll kill a man with a dull teaspoon if I don't like him. Highly impractical yet so rewarding.
Calico Jack's flag was twice as cool as Black Bart's because it had a skull and TWO swords!
Actually If you look at the Pirate captains who were in Black Sails the did relatively good with the overlap. Charles Vain DID actually Interact with Blackbeard, Calico Jack, and was the first mate of Henry Jennings.
Just enough truth to mess with how I remember my history.
Kinda works with the point of that show too. "The stories they tell about us after we're gone aren't always the stories we were a part of".
Wasn't Calico also formerly on Vanes crew?
And then mix them up with captain Flint and Long John Silver from the famous book "Treasure Island". But no mater what, Black Sails was an entertaining series to watch.
@@Verdunveteran The captain Flint character was based a lot on Henry Jennings and Samuel Bellamy. They took stories of both and made a character that could be the "hero" of the show because They couldn't have the main character die in the first season. For a show that came out in the "Jack Sparrow" era I was surprised with how much actual history they put in.
I'm writing a historical fantasy Pirate novel, so this type of information is invaluable! At most it saves me some reading, and at the very least it gives me relevant points to research. Great work as always Mr. Easton!
The guys who made the Blood and Plunder games did a lot of research, and gave a list of recommended books. Can't recal what they were off hand though.
To go along with what Matt said about pirates using whatever kind of sword they wanted to, I don't think that pirates had a particular style of speech. For lack of a better term, they didn't necessarily speak like a stereotypical pirate. That's not to say they wouldn't have said things like, "argh, me matey" and things like that, just that most probably would have spoken using the same dialects and jargon as other sailors of their day wouid since that's where pirates often came from. Then the officers, depending on their background, might have spoken like any other member of the upper class/gentry would have and not sounded like a regular sailor.
@@Riceball01 I learned that early in my own research, but there is definitely a balance when it comes to meeting peoples expectations but also trying to base a story in some form of realism. The first draft I wrote of the prologue didn't have any "stereotypical" pirate speech, but when I let a friend read it, he was like," why don't they sound like pirates?" Lol So some of my pirates definitely sound like stereotypical pirates. I've been using the Pirate glossary to learn some of the slang. My personal favorite is the name calling section. Lol www.pirateglossary.com/namecalling
I think it would make sense that a dialect would start to come up from those who grew up in the area or spent a good chunk of their life there, but any who were not born there likely would speak in the manor of where they came from, unless they put in an effort to talk like the local born. Also may pick up some jargon, much like in Canada, you spend too much time with Newfoundlanders, and suddenly random words pop up into your speach, and you end up reffering to the by's (boys/guys).
@@Riceball01 The stereotypical "pirate accent" is actually the West Country British dialect. Quite a few pirates really were from there, including Franics Drake, Blackbeard, Henry Every, and Samuel Bellamy.
Love the Glasgow hilt! When did you get that in?
I've had that for a few months now. Can't decide whether to keep or sell :-)
@@scholagladiatoria German blade or Birmingham?
@@scholagladiatoria That's got to be the worst part of dealing in antiques, knowing a piece will likely never come back to you (I'm a hoarder by nature, so collecting is not a healthy hobby for me😉).
Great video: as a sailor it was one of my favorites.
Short, hefty, easy to maintain, easy to use and easy to carry. I got a feeling they would have loved the Briquet.
Given how many pirates were deserters, mutineers or privateers who lost their letters of marque it makes sense that they simply used what ever they were issued with or owned during their regular service. Especially considering that the new captain would probably claim the nicest and most valuable sword for himself, namely the one of the previous captain.
The briquet is a cutlass from the Napoleonic era.
36:47 It's always "Who is the pirate?" and "When is the pirate?" but nobody ever asks "How is the pirate?"
Drunk, groggy, or dead?
@@Dennis-vh8tz itchy, angry, fed?
Why is pirate?
@@KJ-kw7gh better wages then regular sailors I’ve been told.
@@keepermovin5906 don't forget the health insurance deal, some had.
BTW what is the Mole man army and where can I dig to join?
Blackbeard's ship did contain a sword hilt and handle with a stump of blade. It looked like a hunting sword with a similar cross guard to the picture. Lots of pictures online. Lots of good info in this one. Thanks.
Matt might ask "who is the pirate" and "when is the pirate", but sadly no one ever stops to ask "how is the pirate". 😁😁
I'll do you one better, why is the pirate?
So... How are you?
Which is the pirate?
Ok, I'll let myself out now.
Surely the most important question is "where is the pirate?"
@@dzonbrodi514 psst don't look, but he's behind you.
To be honest, I never really understood what type of swords exactly were used by Jack Sparrow, Will Turner & Davy Jones in the Pirates of the Carribean movies (other than the smallsword that Will Turner crafted for Norrington)
@LurchTheBastard Absolutely! The fight choreography in those movies is fun as hell, realism be damned!
Sparrows blade looks very similar in apperance to the Hanwei Revolutionary War Hanger. And many online sellers seem to market that perticular Hanwei sword as a pirate, PotC or even Jack Sparrow cutlass simply for that very similarity. Personally I've alwayse loved the looks of the Hanwei Revolutionary War Hanger as I'm a big fan if infantry hangers. Hope to get one at some point and see if it feels as good as it looks.
Ive heard somewhere (a while ago) that for the first PotC they did some research on swords, cannons and ship types of the era they were displaying. I think Sparrow's sword was even an antique (ofc switched for action scenes) of that time. Generally, you can see the types mentioned by Matt, minus the military ones pretty much. But plenty of hangers and their variants, small swords and spadroons for the different characters.
@@Verdunveteran If you can get one go for it except for lacking the extreme distal taper of many originals (which were quite thin near the tip) it is awesome. Have one (that I got secondhand). It is a fun sword and they got the length and proportions of the hilt more or less correct; like my antique one, it has a fairly short grip and the knucklebow etc. are slim, not oversized. It lacks a bit of distal taper as many do but I gave it a bevel on the back of the blade (careful not to ruin the temper) for the second half slimming it a bit. It's a nice short sword. The scabbard core also appears to be actual wood not plastic. I put an edge on it and it cuts and just looks darn cool besides!
@@Acetylsalicylsaeure2 Agree they actually got the swords pretty good in Pirates of the Caribbean. No 19th century later period cutlasses, by and large hanger swords an spadroons and such. Jack Sparrow's sword looks much like the Hanwei infantry hanger replica as has been mentioned.
I've been following you for ages, and I have never gotten around to saying, Man! You do rocking work! Thx.
To quote Captain Redbeard Rum “Arggghhh You have a woman’s sword Matt . I’ll wager that sword has never been used as a rowing-boat. I’ll wager it’s never had sixteen shipwrecked mariners tossing in it.”
(hands on hips) "Well neither has *yours*"
@@dzonbrodi514 That's where you're wrong laddie.
I love that at 21:45 when you start talking about the famous pirates that you have a momentary self correction word stumble that makes you pronounce "famous" with a Somerset accent. Seems very appropriate.
Great video. Question: would spadroons also have been used by pirates at this time? I thought spadroons are sort of an outgrowth of military broadswords, designed to keep more thrusting ability.
22:00 Both of the flags shown there are quite specific to rather infamous pirates. Neither of which, were Bartholomew Roberts! Haha..
22:57 The bandolier of pistols, throughout much this period's naval culture (outside of the various Royal Navies), was something like a _"badge of office."_ On any given ship you'd often find three individuals armed in this way: the Captain, the First Mate, and the Quartermaster. On the surface, these pistols were intended to be used against enemy vessels and their crews...but they would have been _conveniently discouraging_ to the casual mutineer, as well. So, a mark of authority, all-round. Also worth mentioning; other than these specific members of the crew, going about the ship "armed for battle" was _prohibited,_ and arms were collected and locked up, when not engaged with, or approaching, an enemy vessel.
The brace of pistols was actually started by cavalry in the days when knights still wore plate armour. It would've started with matchlocks (the logistics of which give me a headache) and later been replaced by wheel-locks. This was a popular tactic during the Thirty Years War. There were actually attempts during this period to make functional revolvers. One exists in the Royal Armouries and is attributed to a German gunsmith named Paul Dübler. But this period doesn't terribly outdate the so-called "Golden Age of Piracy". We're talking early 17th Century.
You really hooked me with that intro!
Interesting, informative and worthwhile video.
Blackbeard first image sword, looking at the line of the scabbard, looks curved to me. And considering the small quillon with curled rounded tip, I think that maybe the author tried to represent a sort of ottoman kind of sword
Hi Matt! Would love to see you do a video on Cossack swords, there is a long and varied history there! Could start with the painting "Letter to the Sultan."
Great suggestion. Very interested in that! Cossacks are very much like pirates, using captured weapons from neighboring people and different traditions...
Related, how much space was in ships below deck? That would be my deciding factor for a sword. If it is anything like my bedroom, I'd definitely go for a smallsword or a curved hanger with a blade no longer than 26 inches.
It very much depends on the ship and exactly how far below deck your talking, as well as the period. The absolute lowest navigable parts of the ship where typically pretty cramped though. Pirate ships tended to be a bit on the small side, too.
3 things come to mind:
1.) I distinctly remember reading that Henry Morgan owned a "basket hilt" sword while he was governor of Nassau. Whether it was what we now think of as a basket hilt or was a dussack/dussage/tessak with a "Sinclair" hilt, not sure.
2.) In 1995 they actually found the wreckage of Queen Anne's Revenge off the coast of North Carolina. They've managed to find some competent archeologists who happen to be strong swimmers and have been excavating the wreckage. A heavily gilt cuttoe/hunting sword's partial hilt with a stag grip and recurved quillons was found. It resembles the style of Washington's (which you mentioned) "war sword" in Mount Vernon only much less modest. It's very possible that was Edward Teach's (and it's actually pronounced "teck"-very Olde English). The pommel is sort of a round cap, again, just like Washington's. I'd post links but Google would just flag this as spam and delete it because RUclips is terrible now.
3.) I know this was very much the case in Spanish America with soldiers but out in the field or at sea, people were cut off from any sort of real armourer or market. Blacksmiths cobbled clapped-out and broken swords back together just to get them functional with little regard to aesthetics. You see "theater made" weapons, too, all through both World Wars that were cobbled together in trenches. In light of that, I have a feeling some of these fantastical pig-stickers with disparate or out-of-place fittings we see in engravings maybe aren't so far-fetched. Maybe it was a fast `n dirty fix by a blacksmith, something cobbled together out of necessity one night or someone's idea of a customized weapon.
Also important to consider is that, as seafaring bandits, pirates would steal weapons. So until their venture became any kind of profitable to allow buying weapons, they'd be using what they'd looted. Which is whatever their targets were wielding.
I find your posts are more informative than the History Channel's programs. Probably because your reaseach is thorough and spot on.
While on the subject could you look into the swords used in Pirates of the Caribbean movies?
I listened to this while doing some cleaning, but I had my phone in my pocket, so now that I have the chance, I'm going back through to see the pictures and stuff. I quite like this as a format Matt. Even if you don't have a super specific topic, it would be neat to see more videos like this. If you wanted to, I have an Idea. Compile together a ton of old art. Even if it isn't from manuscripts or even if it was made some time in the 19th or 20th, it would be fun to just look at some interesting art and have you talk about it. If you didn't have any particularly depthy insights on a particular piece, thats fine. You could do this on streams, so we could comment and SuperChat. It could be a fun thing to do every so often. Just look at some art and chat.
Excellent video.
One possible suggestion, I knew a guy who had retired from the British Navy, who more than once said, "From the beginning of the Empire the modern day, one thing is true. That being Admirals love lists. If you can count it and put it on a list they'll want 3 copies & then 3 more, for Queen and Country. With that bit of humor in mind, are there not lists of the confiscated items from when pirate ships were captured?
Though I realize that they wouldn't have as detailed of descriptions as we might today,
*sword, civilian: 10 each*
Might be listed.
Great video. I enjoyed it. Thabks for taking the time with this, I enjoy pirate history. I'm glad you brought out my favorite sword out of your collection again. The hanger/cutlass with the cat claw tip. What I wouldn't do to get that sword in my own collection. Haha
Latest news from UK: Government cracks down on all curved swords and now requires foam pirate swords be registered and a special license for them to be acquired.
Shit really? And I only just paid for my tea licence
Brilliant video! I love your work! Really interesting, entertaining and well researched. Keep it up!
Before watching, I'm going to assume a pirate would use any sword that works well in the close quarters combat that they would experience in boarding engagements.
I said "yarr" every time Matt said "pirate" until 1:04 and I realized I had gotten in over my head
Matt I don't understand the speculation... they obviously used spadroons... they're literal best sword ever... they can literally cleave through cannon balls, and stay sharp enough to slice through the wind of an enemies sails forcing their ships to stop....
@Matt FYI the Qin and Qing dynasties are pronounced "Chin" and "King". Also the ships locker or armoury would have held swords for the most part. It would be very had for a tops-man to work with anything bigger than a utility knife.
Qing is pronounced “ching”.
Small correction, dusack is more of an Eastern name. In German and Dutch it would more commonly be referred to as a "degen", which is confusing because rapiers (and actually anything that that doesn't have the classical medieval sword shape) are also called degen.
Do you happen to know what the german/dutch name for the Walloon sword is? I came across "houwdegen" but I think that means broadswords in general.
Matt, I've read a bit about Spanish trade swords (Bilbao/Bilbo for instance) were very popular with Americans in general and American pirates in particular. Any thoughts or information on that?
"What types of swords did PIRATES use?"
"It depends..."
on context...
Or on how much silver, seagulls and rum you throw into the equation
What type of swords did pirates use? Yes.
Have you seen Cutthroat Island? Frankabout it? Langela's Captain Dog carries a rather unique sword. It has a sabre length blade that has shark like points instead of a regular blade, blus a clam shell hilt. Is It real, and can you find more about it?
Hey wait I think I recognize that walloon back sword. I kinda hate I sold it.
Love you’re videos! Just found you now I’m binge watching!
When you look at a gentleman posing with a sword for a painting/portrait, he might be portrayed with a very expensive and ornate sword that he wore to "functions," but would never carry such a work of art into a battle.
I'm glad you mentioned the Falchion..... Though not a sword we would associate with a historical 17thc or 18thc Pirate, it is clear that commonly in video games or even children's toys, the swords they often call a cutlass is clearly a D guard Falchion
I remember you promised us more Black Sails fight reviews, did you lie to us?! Seriously though, copyright issues or something? Just been busy?
I think he's avoiding them because of his issues with the Endgame video.
@@hazzardalsohazzard2624 Ah yea I vaguely recall that, very sad. Would be excellent with a review of the final series of fights Flint has. "Spoilers"- I would like to hear what Matt has to say about Flint vs. Hands, it feels like they made Hands lose so fast because he was less skilled than Flint, relying more on raw aggression. But I want to hear if Matt thinks that played out realistically or did Flint just get "magical moves" to make him look more skilled.
One thought occurs to me - how much training would the average sailor of that period have in swordsmanship, and how might that affect their choice of weapon?
That would depend if they had served or not, and with who. English had a regimented training program. If not trained a machete is a fine weapon for “windmilling”.
I run a pirate show for a hotel on the beach. We primarily use the Hanwei mortuary swords as our go-to stage weapons because they hold up to abuse fairly well, they're economical, and they have the added hand protection in case any mishaps occurs in the choreography.
Our general look is a blend of historicl and Hollywood (not wanting to be too highbrow or too silly or hokey) i thought the choice of stage weapons was taking more creative leeway than what was expected. Though I have yet to have a hotel guest tell me my sword wasn't piratey enough. Thanks for posting this video!
Just a correction. the first syllable in 'Qing' is pronounced 'ch' as in 'chin'.
Thanks. Technically I know that, but my brain doesn't normally change it quick enough when I'm deep in monologue!
Yep, that is definitely the nearest pronunciation in English. Just wanted to add that the reason we use both 'ch' and 'q' in piniyin is that they are slightly different. Basically, 'ch' is pronounced further back than English 'ch' and 'q' is pronounced further forward.
@@rasmusn.e.m1064 If I remember correctly, the 'ch' you speak of is closer to the English 'j' although I know it's not quite right my ear isn't good enough to tell the differences. Even harder is the 'X' in 'xiao'
@@scholagladiatoria it's understandable. Thanks for the years of great content and expertise!
@@catocall7323 Yeah, that's a good description. 'Ch' is basically an English 'j' that isn't voiced. Like the difference between 's' and 'z'. (wikipedia states that 'ch' is pronounced even further back than that, but I bet it varies between users.)
Great! Just love listening to someone who knows and loves his subject. Many thanks.
I have a feeling that pirates ended up using Cutoe's or Hangers just because they were cheap and it was a backup weapon at best. As you have pointed out, the more iconic weapon of the pirate appears to be the pistol, with the musket as close second.
Our local museum has an excibit on the pirates of the baltic sea from the Napoleonic wars.
Long shafted boarding axes where apparantly very popular, sometimes with shotgun barrels either built into the ax or mounted on the side of the axe.
A couple of realy nasty examples are basically short handled halberds, one of them even with a shotgun barrel on each side of the halberd.
I've tried to do some research on these, as part of my research on machetes. Decent images are few and far between. The only two really good ones i know of is that of François l'Olonnois that you shown, and this one of Jean Bart, a famous French corsair:
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Gravure_jean_de_bart.jpg
I haven't found the definite source of this engraving, but the fashion of the clothes is definitely matching Jean Bart's activity period, and his saber is very very close to some hunting swords of around this period:
imgur.com/a2IdYQE
I put together an Imgur album with some of the related "evidence", especially the link and evolution from 16th dussage to modern machete:
imgur.com/a/wLF2XLY
Now some points about terminology and etymology:
- cutlass comes from "French" coutelas. I write French but it's more to be understood as occitan, as part of the romance language continuum. In modern standard French, the final S from coutelas isn't pronounced, but in the southern half of France, there are still many living people who do pronounce the S at the end of words (cause yes, it's part of the continuum that includes Spanish, in which you absolutely pronounce final S). So English speakers litterally wrote the French/occitan word they heard. Coutelas kinda means (big) knife, the -as suffix doesn't have a real specific meaning, it could just be a remnant of the termination of the original latin word cultellus.
- cuttoe comes from northern French couteau, which literally just means knife, and I feel this one is likely to be some sort of deformation on the part of the English speakers, who might have applied the word to items native French speakers probably wound't have called couteau... except in the context of refering to hunting "knives".
- nobody, absolutely nobody in the romance area would have used the term "dussack", "dussage", or any derivative.
- but on the other hand it very likely that romance people from around the bay of Biscay would have called these "matchets", from some old root I haven't exactly defined yet but you find in the latin word machaera, the Spanish word machado (axe or cleaver), the machi- from machicoulis in French, etc... It's not clear wether it's a very popular ("uneducated") use of a term that just means "hacking/bashing implement", or if it's a proper derivative of machaera with a relatively specific meaning, more research would be needed, in old texts, possibly written in romance dialects, with varied or approximate spelling (it's spelled "matxet" in modern Catalan for example), maybe not even digitalized, and very likely scattered among many institutions. I.e. a job so complicated and tedious it's difficult justifying doing it when you're not an actual scholar. I remember having read in some 17th or 18th commentary of the local laws of maybe Toulouse about machetes, and the author clearly writing it was derived from machaera, but for the love of me I've tried to find it many many times and haven't been able to, which is killing me.
It's pretty clear how European hangers became modern machetes little by little: initially it was just that sailors, especially buccaneers proper, i.e. professionnal hunters in the Caribean, were rather poor and traveled very light. While corsairs usually were from the upper classes, either enriched burgesses or actual nobles, and could arm ships pretty well, many privateers hired anybody they could find, and equiped them with odds and ends. It's important to remember that this whole thing with ships is how capitalism really started, with a very strong spirit of entrepreneurship, a small chance of huge profits, and a very vague legal environment. It's important to keep in mind also that slave trade was an absolutely integral part of the whole thing. Anyway, my point is there was a strong incentive to do as many tasks as possible with as few gear as possible (more room for actual valuables), and all these single edge trooper hangers made decent enough tools for many tasks, and where extremely easy to carry around (unlike axes, dedicated meat clavers, etc).
As things settled down, and life on land became more and more of a thing (and likely with a strong input from buccaneers, as they had already been doing that for decades), the habbit to use hangers as all around tools remained. In Europe, it was also clearly seen as a very interesting market, especially since there had already been industries churning out blades like crazy (Solingen especially). Hanger blades started being shipped/traded by the barrel, but instead of being hilted like weapons, they started being hilted towards this utilitary purpose. Demand grew, for even cheaper blades to use as tools, and blades got simplified: the nice actual fullers of 17th c. sabers became narrower, and then purely symbolic, blades got thinner and wider, flat tangs became more common as there wasn't a need for a pommel anymore, etc...
And the funny thing is that what we nowadays call "tomahawks", from a Native American word, actually descend from trade axes that are all styled after the axe pattern of the Biscay bay (look for "hacha vizcaina"), even the later ones manufactured in Britain. The modern American axe descends from Basque axes, mixed with a bit of English influence (for the presence of the poll). While it's likely that Solingen provided a huge portion of the hanger blades, and Sheffield topped off the rest, these early trade axes were coming from the huge Pyrenean steel industry, which was kinda precapitalistic but managed to be amazingly efficient thanks to some major technical improvment of forging processes by the systematic use of water power (for the trompe and trip hammer). So between "tomahawks" (the items) and machetes (the word - and thus the culture), the romance bay of Biscay played a significant role in shaping some aspects of the material culture of the Americas.
"Teach" has turned out to be a mistake in copying, which wound up published in "A General History of the Pyrates," which was the seminal reference book for piracy and so popularized the error. According to modern scholarly research, the man's name appears to have been Edward Thatch.
set himself on fire for fun with a name like that.
A copying error, or simply modern notions of pronunciation combined with the highly-flexible spelling norms of the day. In his lifetime, "Teach" would have been pronounced "Tetch" not "Teech."
@@solicitr666 very true. This was before there was a board of people at some English college who got paid to sit around all day and "standardise" the language. Everything was phonetic.
A really really interesting idea for a video, I love it!
Well the only difference between an emperor and a pirate is the number of ships...
I love the knowledge with the mate style delivery 👍
Cheers for the upload Matt. Great vid.
This was great! Also definitely would be cool to see some Black Sails videos on the fighting and the equipment, very much enjoyed that show and would enjoy your take on it!
The research of the period depictions is scholarly. Much appreciation and respect-- Thank you for sharing.
That's a lovely Walloon-hilted sword. Hope to see more of it on the channel.
I noticed with the historical images, a number of the subjects that are carrying the multiple pistol 'bandoliers' had a pouch at the bottom of the suspenders, I would guess it's a means to carry pistol balls, flint's and other gear to support the pistols reloading.
The moment you said you were gonna look at pirate portraits, I immediately said "Francois l'Olonnaise and Blackbeard". 😁
Hi for all pirate buffs there are 2 available versions of Captain Charles Johnson’s book that I know of. One isbn 0-85177-919-0 which is only volume one, but does have the wood cuts. Then isbn 9781973369196 which is both volumes, but doesn’t have the wood cuts.
Also on a later topic “the British code of duel” from 1824. Reprinted in 1971. SBN 85546 157 8 by the Richmond Publishing Co ltd. “A reference to the laws of honour and character of Gentleman”.
In relation to your video, I give tours of the Historic “Sandfloor” Synagogue in St. Thomas. To your viewers, some interesting points.
1) The Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas formed in 1794 bought the property in 1812 for 1,236 PIECES OF EIGHT, a world currency then, even in the US.
2) We instituted a bylaw to appease the Danish king that disallowed “swords, daggers or clubs.” in the premises. They were kept in the Vestry (a separate building) and locked by a Warden, which was the title that my job would have back then. This was before firearms were sold that could be carried by the average person
3) AND, yes there were Jewish Pirates, mostly useful not to pull lines but for their ability to find locations using the astrolabe, charting these location and language interpretation. Thanks again.
I used the exact toy pirate sword to make a auxilliary gasket for the hinge side of my freezer. It worked like fun. It even had a good quality adhesive already on it.
Enjoyed the video ! It’s also worthwhile mentioning that Captain Morgan had on land campaigns against the Spanish so bigger swords might be the order of the day .
I definitely remember reading he carried a "basket hilted" sword.
really enjoyable vid really like these historical vids
Truly informative and entertaining! Thank you so much for your work!