0 comments/ 37501 views/ 5 favorites Pirate Adventure Source Ch. 01 By: R. Richard So you want to write about adventure on the high seas? Warships or pirate ships adventurously prowling the oceans! Well then, you need to first know about ships. Let us start with nomenclature. Sailors had to have a language that enabled them to describe the parts of their ships and the locations of the part with extreme precision. If an order was given, it had to be immediately clear what a sailor was to do, even if the sailor could not see the man who issued the order. Abeam: Off to the side of the ship, at right angles to the direction the ship is pointed Ahead: In front of the ship, in the direction the ship is pointed. Apparent Wind: The true wind blows in some direction. However, the speed of a fast boat can make it seem that the apparent wind comes from a direction determined by the speed and direction of the wind and the speed and direction of the ship. Apparent wind is only a factor in a very fast sailing ship. Astern: Behind the ship, in the opposite direction from which the ship is pointed Aloft: Above the deck of the ship. Batten Down: Secure hatches and loose objects both within the hull and on the deck. Beam: The greatest width of a ship. Bearing: The direction of an object expressed either as a true bearing as shown on a chart, or as a bearing relative to the heading of the boat. A navigator might use a chart bearing, a sailor would probably use a ship heading bearing. Below: Beneath the deck. Bilge: The interior of a hull below the floorboards. Block: A wooden or metal case enclosing one or more pulleys and having a hook, eye, or strap by which it may be attached. See Tackle. Bow: The forward part of a boat. Bowsprit: A spar extending forward from the bow. Broach: Sudden, unplanned, and uncontrolled turning of a vessel so that the hull is broadside to the seas or to the wind. Bulkhead: A vertical partition separating compartments. On land it would be a wall. Dead Ahead: Directly ahead. Dead Astern: Directly astern. Dead Reckoning: A plot of courses steered and distances traveled through the water without use of landmarks. Deck : A permanent covering over a compartment, hull or any part of a ship serving as a floor. Draft: The depth of water a ship requires to sail. Flotsam: Wreckage or cargo that remains afloat after a ship has sunk. Floating refuse or debris. Following Sea: An overtaking sea that comes from astern. Forecastle: Also spelled Fo'c'sle (pronounced Folksul) fo'c's'le originally meant the upper deck of a sailing ship, forward of the foremast. The forward part of a sailing ship with the sailors' living quarters is also called forecastle. Fouled : Any piece of equipment that is jammed or entangled, or dirtied. Freeboard: The minimum vertical distance from the surface of the water to the gunwale. Gunwale: The upper edge of a boat's sides. Hatch: An opening in a boat's deck fitted with a watertight cover. Head: A marine toilet; also the upper corner of a triangular sail. Heading: The direction in which a vessel's bow points at any given time. Heave To: To bring a vessel up in a position where it will maintain little or no headway, usually with the bow into the wind or nearly so. Heel: To tip to one side. Helm: The wheel or tiller controlling the rudder. Hull: The main body of a monohull vessel. One of the multiple hulls of a multihull vessel. Jetsam: Cargo or equipment thrown overboard to lighten a ship in distress. Discarded cargo or equipment found washed ashore. Keel: The centerline of a boat running fore and aft. It is the backbone of a vessel. Knot: A measure of speed equal to one nautical mile (6076 feet) per hour. A fastening made by interweaving line to fasten a line to an object or to another line. Larboard: The port side of a ship. The term Larboard was used for many years, ending in 1840 when the British Navy decided that it was too easy to confuse larboard and starboard in spoke order. Larboard was then replaced with port. (Port wine comes from Oporto in Portugal and has nothing to do with the port side of a ship.) Leeward: Away from the direction that the wind is coming. It is he opposite of windward. Line : Cordage used aboard a vessel. Never, ever call a line a rope! Log: A record of courses or operation. Also, a device to measure speed. Painter: A line attached to the bow of a boat for use in towing or making fast. Pay Out: To ease out a line, or let it run in a controlled manner. Pitch: The alternating rise and fall of the bow of a vessel proceeding through waves. The theoretical distance advanced by a propeller in one revolution. Tar and resin used for caulking between the planks of a wooden vessel. Port: The left side of a boat looking forward. Also, a harbor. Propellor: A rotating device, with two or more blades, that acts as a screw in propelling a vessel. Usually referred to as a screw. Quarterdeck: Part of ship's deck set aside by captain for ceremonial functions Reef: To reduce the exposed area of a sail. Rigging: The general term for all the lines of a vessel. Roll: The alternating motion of a boat, leaning alternately to port and starboard. The motion of a boat about its fore-and-aft axis. Rope: In general, cordage as it is purchased at the store. When rope comes aboard a vessel and is cut to length and put to use, it becomes line. Screw: A ship's propeller. Ship: If a watergoing vessel is 100 feet or longer, it is a ship, else it is a boat. However, a submarine is a boat, regardless of length. Squall: A sudden, violent wind often accompanied by rain. Starboard: The right side of a boat when looking forward fro the deck. Stern: The after part (back) of the boat. Scupper: An opening in the side of a ship at deck level to allow water to run off. An opening for draining off water, as from a floor or the roof of a building. Sea Anchor: Any device used to reduce a boat's drift before the wind Tackle: A combination of blocks and line used to increase mechanical advantage. Turnbuckle: A threaded, adjustable rigging fitting, used for stays, lifelines, and sometimes other rigging. Tonne: The capacity of early sailing ships was expressed in tonnes. A tonne was a large wine barrel. As you might imagine, one of the principal cargoes of early sailing ships was wine. True Wind: The actual direction from which the wind is blowing. (See Apparent Wind) Windward: Toward the direction from which the wind is coming. It is the opposite of leeward. Yaw: The swinging off course of a ship, caused by the action of the sea. Pirates: Pirates were men who sailed the seas in ships, hoping to rob other ships and the passengers of the other ships. Some pirates were simply criminals. In other cases, pirates who were usually called privateers, were actually financed and controlled by governments who wished to prey on the shipping of other nations. A privateer was a kind of independent nautical mercenary, commissioned by a government to attack ships of an enemy nation in exchange for a piece of the spoils. Royal navies couldn't be everywhere, so countries in times of war turned to profit-hungry freelancers. In general, pirates were led by a Captain. The Captain was elected by the pirates and could be replaced by vote of the pirates. In general, a Pirate Captain was a superior fighting man and leader. He had to lead the boarding of prey ships to retain the respect of his pirate crew. In general, a pirate Captain was a fighting man who led the pirate attacks on shipping. The second in command was the Quartermaster. In general, the Quartermaster commanded the men when they were not prepared for action. A privateer was usually commanded by a regular Navy officer and the crew was a mixture of sailors and fighters who were often regular Navy men, picking up considerably more money than they could earn as just regular Navy crew. The man who actually commanded a pirate ship was called a Sailing Master. It was not common for a pirate Captain to be the Sailing Master. As you can imagine, the pirate Captain was busy preparing his men to board a prey ship. He did not really have the time or opportunity to act as a Sailing Master. In the case of privateers and sometimes in the case of pirates, the crew was governed by ship's articles. Ship's articles were a sort of contract between the crew and the Captain. Ship's articles defined the status of crew members and the share of any spoils to be divided. Pirate Clothing: In general, pirates wore whatever they could find. Much of their clothing was looted from prey ships. Thus, a pirate tended to be dressed in a motley assortment of clothing. Early sailing ships were sealed with pitch, a black, tarry substance. The crew of a ship, even a pirate ship had to work with pitch on a day by day basis. As you might imagine, a crew member and his clothing had quite a bit of pitch smeared on. While a pirate Captain might not have to work with pitch, he work with and around men who were smeared with the stuff. If a pirate captain had special clothing, it was likely to be leather. Leather was worn for protection against cutlass and sword thrusts and slashes. If a pirate had long hair, he might wear a cloth tied about his head to keep the hair out of his eyes. In general, pirates did not wear fancy hats. One of the exceptions was Blackbeard (Blackbeard is usually named as Edward Teach, although that was not his real name. Blackbeard was from respectable family in England and did not want the family name to be associated with piracy.) Blackbeard wore a hat because he was in the habit of wearing burning fuse dangling from the sweatband of his hat. The sight was intended to frighten his victims. [Please see Pirate Adventure Source Material Ch 02 for further information.] Pirate Adventure Source Ch. 02 Pirate haven: A pirate ship had to have a base, a place where supplies could be bought, a ship could be repaired, booty could be sold, information could be gathered and the crew could rest and relax between missions. Many coastal towns and many islands have been havens for pirates. The inhabitants might or might not engage in piracy themselves, but pirates were their customers. In a pirate haven, pirates could purchase the kind of food needed aboard ship. Dried foods that would keep during an ocean voyage were essential. A staple was ship's biscuit or hard tack. Ship's biscuit was simply bread baked two or three times so that it had a hard crust and would keep for a long time. The bread was so hard that it could not be chewed until it was softened in water. Dried meat and dried vegetables were also common pirate rations. Water was essential aboard ship. However, the water was stored in wooden barrels and would turn green with algae in time. Officers preferred wine, while the crew mainly drank beer. A pirate needed gunpowder to use in cannon and also in the flintlock pistols they often carried. Wooden sailing ships had to be repaired frequently. One of the problems leading to frequent repair is the shipworm (Teredo navalis). A shipworm is a marine bivalve highly specialized for boring into wood. The shell is greatly reduced and modified into a rasp for grinding into wood. The shipworm has a long worm-like body that is protected by the wood into which it is boring. Teredo can only invade new wood when they are in the larval stage and during the short larval period when they are free swimming. An initial entrance hole in a plank may be so tiny it can't be seen. The first hint of problems comes after the interior of the plank is nearly destroyed and the wood disintegrates. In the era of wooden-hulled ships, the danger of a ship literally sinking under the crew was very real. Quite often a ship's crew had to abandon or rebuild their ship because it was 'rotten' from the holes bored in its bottom by shipworms. The man who could repair a ship was a ship's carpenter. A pirate ship would not normally carry a ship's carpenter, because he would have demanded a share of the loot despite not being a fighting man. Thus, a pirate ship would normally be repaired in a pirate have by a shore based ship's carpenter. In addition to carpentry services, a pirate ship had to be regularly resupplied with rope for ship's lines, canvas sails, blocks, tackle, etc. The booty from a successful pirate attack had to be sold. A pirate might sell some of the very valuable loot himself. However, it was normally more efficient to use a pirate haven based middleman. The middleman had a strong, well defended warehouse and, usually a front business to account for how he acquired the pirate booty. A pirate was interested in high-value, easily transported booty or loot. A ship loaded with corn was not a really good pirate target. The ship full of corn would have had to be sailed to a pirate haven and a buyer found for the corn. A ship carrying gold or jewels was a prime pirate target. In order to select a profitable target, it was convenient for a pirate to have spies in normal ports. A spy would determine that a high value cargo was due to be shipped and then he could notify a pirate of the prize, in return for payment. Even after a high-value target had been identified, there was the problem of actually finding the ship. Of course, the oceans are vast and it would be very hard to locate a ship at random on the ocean. However, much of the world's shipping is done in fairly restricted shipping lanes. The shipping lanes usually have favorable winds and currents. The shipping lanes also avoid hidden rocks and reefs. Even though most ships used the shipping lanes, it was not easy to find a lone ship at sea. A pirate ship did not spend all of its time at sea. When it was in a pirate haven, the pirate crew could drink and carouse in waterfront taverns. Of course, a pirate haven would have women available for the pirates. However, history records that many of the pirates maintained homosexual relationships instead of or in addition to their relations with women. Ships: Oared Ships: The first ships that were really warships were galleys. Galleys are large seagoing vessels propelled primarily by oars in battle and equipped with sails for cruising. Galleys were narrow ships built for speed and normally carrying a ram. The Egyptians, Greeks, Phoenicians, Byzantines, Arabs, and other ancient peoples all used galleys for both war and trade. However, galleys came to be known as warships. The galley was the standard European battle vessel until the late 16th century, when the sail-powered and more heavily armed galleon began to replace it. The early Greek galley possessed a single mast with a broad rectangular sail that could be furled. The mast was stowed or lowered when rowing into the wind or in battle. The Greek galley was a true seagoing warship. It typically possessed a bronze-shod ram. In the 8th century BC, the bireme was created. Descendant from the galley, it was about 25m (80') long, with a maximum beam of about 10'. The bireme had 2 banks of oars - hence its name. The Phoenician bireme had a single pole mast with a square sail and steering oars to port and starboard, with two banks of oars By the 6th century BC triremes were in use. The trireme had 3 banks of oars, and a full spar deck instead of the center-line gangway of the early bireme. By the 5th century the triremes measured a length of 40 m (125'), a beam of 6 m (20') and a draft of 1 m (3'). They were manned by 200 officers, seamen, and oarsmen (about 85 per side), with a small band of heavily armed marines. The trireme could reach 7 knots under oars. The various galleys, biremes and triremes were basically warships. They could carry cargo, but were not very efficient as cargo haulers. Probably their major use as cargo haulers was in waters made dangerous by pirates or other warships. Galleys would not make good pirate ships. The cost of feeding many rowers would make the use of a galley impractical. Also, the oars would make boarding another ship nearly impossible. Galleys were not really ocean going ships. They were long and narrow and not too stable. They were mainly used to move from port to port, hugging the coast. A galley could use its square sail to be pushed by the wind. However, sailing into the wind was impossible, Caravel: The caravel was a small two-decked sailing ship developed by Portuguese fishermen. It was used widely during the 15th century by maritime nations of the Mediterranean. Many of the fleets dispatched to explore the New World sailed with a large complement of caravels. It was used by 15th- and 16th-century explorers, including Magellan and Columbus. Two of Christopher Columbus' ships, the Nina and the Pinta, were caravels. The squat, 3-masted caravel was slower than the galley, but designed to sail into the wind. It offered more space for cargo, and more spacious living quarters in long voyages. Initially lateen rigged - triangular fore-and-aft sails set on a long, sloping yardarm - on two masts, the caravel soon sported three masts - foremast, mainmast, and mizzenmast - with square sails on the forward two and a lateen sail on the third. The lateen sail enabled a ship to take advantage of a wind from the side of the vessel. The caravel, which replaced the oared galley, was itself later replaced for long voyages by the heavier, deeper-draft Carrack. Carrack: In the 15th century the Carrack appeared. The Carrack full-rigged, was more manageable than earlier sailing ships, and capable of ocean voyaging. The Carracks were the "great ships" of Henry VII and Henry VIII. They began with lines of beamy, seaworthy merchant ships, but added stronger timbers, masts, sailpower, broadside guns, forecastles and aftcastles. The forecastle was triangular and overhanging. Armed with hundreds of iron and brass guns, Carracks of more than 1 000 tonnes served as both merchantmen and men-of-war. To facilitate trade between the New World, and the Far East, Spain built Carracks up to 1600 tonnes. Galleon: The Galleon was one of the most popular ships used by pirates because they were sturdy enough to withstand battle, carry large loads of supplies, and loot. The Galleon, successor of the Carrack, was a large, 3- or 4-masted ship, primarily a warship, developed during the 15th and 16th centuries. During the latter 16th century, it was the standard vessel of European navies. Galleons were more slender than previous sailing ships, their lines resembling those of the oared galley; and they were built without the earlier overhanging forecastle that had made sailing to windward almost impossible. Sir John Hawkins streamlined the English galleons ever further, and it was his light, maneuverable fleet that defeated the heavier ships of the Spanish Armada (1588). A high, square forecastle rose behind the bow, the three or four masts carried both square and lateen sails, and one or two tiers of guns were carried broadside. The galleon had rigs similar to those of the three-masted Carracks, with the addition of topmasts and with up to three decks. With the development of the galleon, naval battle tactics were revolutionized. Where earlier ships had to use oarsmen to bring them within boarding range of the enemy, the galleon could hold its position into the wind and use its broadside banks of cannon to shell enemy ships lying at a distance. In the second half of the 16th century the Galleon was developed primarily as a fighting ship. The Galleon showed most of its guns through ports cut in the hull, and its handling was improved over that of earlier ships by increasing the length-to-breadth ratio of the hull and by reducing the size of the forecastle and the afterdeck. Its size and armament capacity made it the dominant warship of the late 16th century. The name was derived from "Galley", which had come to be synonymous with "war vessel" and whose characteristic beaked prow and slender shape the new ship retained. It had a greater length to beam ratio than the Carrack (initially 3 to 1, but later increased. The triangular, overhanging forecastle of the Carrack was changed to the long raised beak of the galley projecting beyond the stem with a square-ended forecastle set back under the foremast. Larger galleons might carry a single mizzenmast or two relatively small masts - the 2nd one called the bonaventure. A larger, leaner Galleon sported a number of heavy guns until they ran the full length of the broadside in one or two tiers (later 3). The largest Galleons were built by the Spanish and Portuguese for overseas trade. Galleons were the forerunners of the full-rigged ships that came to dominate naval architecture until the general introduction of steam propulsion in the mid-19th century. Longship: The well known Viking longship (circa 800 AD) was a low, sturdy, open galley with high bows and sterns and a row of oars down each side. Longships were long and narrow, and of shallow draft, so that they could be beached easily. Like all ships of Northern Europe for nearly five centuries, they were clinker built - that is, constructed of overlapping planks, built with iron nails and caulked with tarred rope - and had a single, large square sail. A single side rudder on the starboard quarter was used for steering. Highly seaworthy, a necessity in rough northern waters, they were limited in warfare, however, and could fight at sea only by running alongside to grapple and board. Circa 1000 AD, there were basically 3 versions of the long ship. The smallest, with less than 40 rowers is sometimes referred to as the knarr. The typical longship had up to 60 rowers. It was maneuverable and fast; proving most valuable in battle. These ships reached Greenland and America around this time. The largest vessels, the drakkar (or dragon ship) had more than 60 rowers. However, they were never numerous because they were expensive, although formidable in battle. As such they were used mostly by kings. One of the finest surviving longships is the Gokstad ship found in 1880 beneath a burial mound in southern Norway. Dating from about 900 AD, it measures 25 m (80 ft) long and 5.25 m (17 ft) wide. The Gokstad vessel is built of oak and pine, with a heavy wooden keel and featuring a high, graceful prow and stern, the former having a curved figurehead. Its overlapping planks were nailed together and lashed to 19 ribs and cross members. There were 16 oar holes on each side of the hull and 32 shields mounted one over the next along the gunwales. A huge square, painted sail was carried upon a single mast amidship, whose yard measured 11 m (36 ft) across. The craft was steered by means of a steering oar fixed at the aft end on the starboard side. To the end of 1200s, the English used clinker-built, single-masted square-rigged descendants of the Viking long ship. To judge from the Bayeux Tapestry, the ships used by William the Conqueror to invade England in 1066 were of this design, except for being partially decked and having a corvus (small castle) at bow and stern. From the corvus soldiers used their bows and arrows against the enemy before they came close enough to board. Dhow: The dhow is a traditional Arab ship. The word dhow has been applied by Europeans to many different types of Arab traditional ships. What they all have in common is one or more triangular sails, called lateens and a carvel-built hull. The dhow is indigenous to the coasts of the Arabian Peninsula, India, and East Africa. A larger dhow may have a crew of approximately thirty while smaller dhow have crews more typically ranging around twelve. Junk: The junk is a type of sailing vessel used primarily for coastal trade. A junk has a projecting bow and high stern. Junks have been used in eastern Asia for thousands of years. The Junk had a flat bottom, flat bow, and a high stern. It had two or three main sails. This ship was easy to steer because the rudder could be raised and lowered when it was needed. Brigantine: The Brigantine usually had only two masts with two sails rigged to each mast. Schooner: Schooners had a narrow hull and two masts. Its two main sails were large and smaller sails were placed at the bow and stern. This ship had a large bowsprit Frigate: The Frigate had three masts, a raised forecastle, and a quarterdeck . This ship carried anywhere from 24 - 38 guns. Sloop: The Sloop had a narrow bow which allowed it to move through waves easily. This ship was smaller and faster than the others. Mainly lateen sails. Man-o-War: The Man-o-War carried an average of 65 cannons, but some carried 100. This ship had three masts with square rigged sails. [Please see Pirate Adventure Source Material Ch 03 for further information.] Pirate Adventure Source Ch. 03 Weapons: The favorite weapon of pirates was the cutlass. The cutlass was a short bladed, curved sword, sharpened on only one edge. A cutlass was shorter than a sword and worked well in the close quarters combat of pirate era fights. Also, a cutlass cold be carried in the teeth as a pirate climbed or swung into a prey ship. In fact, the pirate cutlass was so effective that it was eventually used by most navies of the world during the pirate era. A pirate would also usually carry a dagger. A pirate dagger was basically a smaller cutlass. It was carried by most pirates because of its small size and many uses. A dagger was used as a working tool, cutting line or sail. The pirate would also use his dagger to cut food. The dagger also served as a last means of defense in a fight. Pirates also frequently carried (usually flintlock) pistols. Of course, the pistol was a much more deadly weapon than the cutlass, providing the pistol fired. In the wet conditions of a pirate raid, a flintlock pistol frequently failed to fire. Axes were another pirate weapon. An axe could be used by a pirate to help climb the side of a ship and also to cut through rigging lines. An axe was handy for opening closed doors and hatches while boarding. The axe could be used as a deadly, close-in fighting tool as well. Despite depictions in the movies, pirates did not normally use swords a great deal. The sword has more reach than a cutlass, but is not so maneuverable in close quarters fighting. Also, a sword normally requires a scabbard and requires time to draw. A bow or crossbow would mainly be used by a pirate to pick off personal from the decks of the victims ship before boarding. Once a fight had started, a bow or crossbow would not be of too much use on the rolling, pitching yawing deck of a sailing ship. A pirate might use a musket, much as he would a bow or crossbow. A musket was used by the pirates more as a long range sniping weapon rather than a boarding one. The preferred musket was a type called a marksman's musket. It was a longer musket with grooving inside the barrel. A pirate sharpshooter could use a marksman's musket to shoot the helmsman of another ship. Cannon: Originally cannon were cast from bronze. However, iron or steel is much stronger than bronze and the iron materials soon replaced bronze. The ship's cannon of the classical pirate period were large, heavy objects. They had to be long to allow the slow burning gunpowder to build up force to provide range for the cannonballs. The early cannons were not of very good quality iron and had to be heavy to be strong enough to hold the charge of the gunpowder when it burned. In order to handle the recoil of a cannon, the typical ship's cannon was mounted on a wheeled platform to allow the cannon to recoil back after it was fired. The recoil was limited by lines. The wheeled platforms could turn a cannon that broke its restraining lines into a deadly force aboard the ship from which it was fired. The phrase 'loose cannon' survives to this day. Pirates did not fight ship to ship battles if they could avoid it. There was usually no profit in fighting a heavily armed opponent and pirates went after unarmed or lightly armed prey. However, it was necessary for a pirate ship to have enough cannon so that a lightly armed merchant ship wold have no chance in a ship to ship battle. Thus, the lightly armed merchant ship would surrender, rather than fight a hopeless battle. Cannon could also be used to shoot down the rigging of a prey ship and thus end attempted flight. Another problem with a pirate using cannon on a prey ship was the danger of sinking the prey ship. A sunken ship usually yields no treasure. Also, in many cases, the prey ship was in itself treasure for the pirates. The pirates would take a prey ship as booty and arm it for pirate forays against larger, better armed ships. Of course, a pirate ship might have to fight a warship in order to escape being captured. Thus, the pirates had cannon and could use the weapons well. A cannonball would not likely sink a ship. However, a cannonball could splinter wood and inflict serious injuries on the crew. A cannonball was sometimes heated to red heat before it was fired. The heated cannonball could start a fire aboard a wooden ship. Since a ship's cannon were muzzle loaders, it may be something of a mystery as to how a red hot cannonball could be loaded into a muzzle loading cannon without setting off the gunpowder in the cannon. Actually, the answer is quite simple. Water soaked rags were used between the red hot cannonball and the gunpowder. The gunpowder was lit from a touch hole at the back of the gunpowder charge and the damp powder in the front of the charge was lit by the blast of the dry gunpowder. During the period of wooden sailing ships, cannon were mainly fired through gun ports in the side of a wooden sailing ship. Thus, a ship had to be side on to a target in order for at least the main ship's cannons to be effective. In some cases, a ship would have a light cannon in the bow. However, the bow cannon was not much of a weapon compared to the side firing cannons. The guns of the 15th and 16th centuries can be broadly grouped into four classes: Cannon: This was of larger caliber and medium length and range. Its two principal subtypes are: Whole-Cannon, a 7 inch bore with a length of 12 feet, firing a 50 pound ball. Demi-cannon, a 6 inch bore with a length of 10 to 12 feet, firing a 36 pound ball. Culverin: This was of smaller caliber relative to its length and therefore of greater range. It was subdivided into: Long-Culverin, a 4.75 inch bore with a length of 16 feet, firing a 12 to 15 pound ball. Culverin, a 5.5 inch bore with a length of 11 to 13 feet, firing an 18 to 24 pound ball. Demi-culverin, a 4.5 inch bore with a length of 10 to 12 feet, firing a 10 to 12 pound ball. Saker, a 3.5 inch bore with a length of 9 feet, firing a 6 to 8 pound ball. Minion, a 3 inch bore with a length of 8 feet, firing a 5 to 6 pound ball. Falcon, a 2.75 inch bore with a length of 6 feet, firing a 3 to 4 pound ball. Falconet, a 2 inch bore with a length of 4 feet, firing a 1 to 2 pound ball. Rabinette, a 1.75 inch bore with a length of 3 feet. Perier: (includes cannon-perier), this was a short-barreled gun firing a medium-sized stone shot for a comparatively short distance. A typical example would have been an 8-in. gun, only 5 ft long, firing a 24-lb stone shot to a maximum range of some 1,600 yards, as compared to about 2,500 yards of the culverin and 1,700 yards of the demi-cannon. Mortar: This was an even shorter gun, the original type of which was a conical bore, resembling an apothecary's mortar. Ship-borne mortars of this date fired quantities of small pieces of iron or stone or bullets, either loose or made up in linen or leather bags, their target being would-be boarders on the enemy's deck. The culverin type of gun was preferred for arming ships during the 16th century rather than the heavy and comparatively unwieldy cannon and demi-cannon. The steady improvement in the quality and power of gunpowder and quicker combustion, together with the increasing accuracy in the manufacture of the guns themselves, permitted smaller charges to be used and the length of the culverin to be reduced. At the same time naval guns were mounted on the low wooden carriages running on small, solid, wooden wheels or trucks which they were to retain thereafter, in place of the two or four-wheeled, higher carriages or, sometimes, timber scaffolds on which they were mounted in the early Tudor ships. The development in the 16th century by the English and Dutch of the galleon, with sides pierced for gunports, brought about a new form of naval warfare, relying upon comparatively long-range broadside fire instead of boarding. The effectiveness of broadside fire was first notably demonstrated in the defeat by the English fleet of the Spanish Armada. Sails: The first sails were what are called square sails. They were simply a square piece of cloth, usually supported at the top. A square sail permitted only sailing before the wind. Moving into a head wind was accomplished by the use of oars. The lateen sail is a triangular sail that was of decisive importance to medieval navigation. The lateen sail allows a ship to sail into the wind. The secret to the lateen sail is that it can act as an airfoil. The wind does not need to come from behind the sail and push on the lateen sail. The wind can come from the side and create forward thrust by the same kind of airfoil lift that allows an airplane to fly. The gaff rig was a sort of compromise between the square sail and the lateen sail. The gaff rig was of trapezoidal shape and once was a standard rig on schooners. The gaff rig is now obsolete, although still used in class racing. Modern sail boats use a variety of sails that were not used in pirate days. Since they are not relevant, sails such as the spinnaker or genoa will not be discussed.