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I always assumed that pirates simply used whatever swords they had in their arrrrrsenal.

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!"

"Hey Blackbeard, how many kinds of weapons do you have access to?" Blackbeard: "Avast"

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.

Beginning of the video: "Did pirates *really* carry cutlasses?" End of the video: "Yes."

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.

I can't help thinking that Matt would make a great Nosferatu.

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

Not only did learn a ton of interesting history, I've discovered that I need another sword.

You really got me with that sword at the beginning, Matt. Almost took it for a real one.

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.

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.

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.

"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."

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.

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.

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.

Aaarming swords! I’ll get my coat.

Caribbean islander here 🇻🇮 🇦🇬 🇹🇹 and a Pirate descendant 👊🏽

A pirate might say he used a sharp type of sword...to make his point

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!

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.

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)

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.

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 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.

36:47 It's always "Who is the pirate?" and "When is the pirate?" but nobody ever asks "How is the pirate?"

Calico Jack's flag was twice as cool as Black Bart's because it had a skull and TWO swords!

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.

I've always assumed like real pirates, they use whatever they could get their hands on

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

Love you’re videos! Just found you now I’m binge watching!

Love the Glasgow hilt! When did you get that in?

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.

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.

Cheers for the upload Matt. Great vid.

Brilliant video! I love your work! Really interesting, entertaining and well researched. Keep it up!

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.

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)

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

I've been following you for ages, and I have never gotten around to saying, Man! You do rocking work! Thx.

You really hooked me with that intro!

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!

Truly informative and entertaining! Thank you so much for your work!

I love the knowledge with the mate style delivery 👍

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.

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.

0:00 *Aarrr!* ...is genuine *pirate language* with a ton of different meanings: - "I'm angry" - "Board that ship, mates!" -- "Avast, ye lubbers!" - "I'll chop you down with my cutlass" - "I'm thirsty!" - "Get me a bottle of *rum"* - "This treasure map is confusing, I can't find the treasure" - "Climb all the way up there? Are you serious? - "Where's my parrot?" - "Oh no, a shark bit off my leg" - "That's a bloody large amount of gold in that treasure chest!" - "I'm out of chewing tobacco" - "This is boring" - "This is funny" - "That Draugr is so annyoing" - "I'm still thirsty, get me yet another bottle of *rum"* - (pirate way of silence) "I'm out of clues of what else to say"

Very fun video, thanks Matt !

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.

A really really interesting idea for a video, I love it!

Great! Just love listening to someone who knows and loves his subject. Many thanks.

"What types of swords did PIRATES use?" "It depends..."

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.

really enjoyable vid really like these historical vids

Terrific examination. Keep it up!

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....

While on the subject could you look into the swords used in Pirates of the Caribbean movies?

Interesting, informative and worthwhile video.

This was a great video. Thank you!

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.

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

This video was well done,very informative.

The moment you said you were gonna look at pirate portraits, I immediately said "Francois l'Olonnaise and Blackbeard". 😁

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.

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 really enjoy your channel. It's very informative.

Very comprehensive -- and well presented.

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.

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.

The research of the period depictions is scholarly. Much appreciation and respect-- Thank you for sharing.

cool vid. Excellent exploration into an important aspect of historical MARITIME FENCING.

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?

Hey wait I think I recognize that walloon back sword. I kinda hate I sold it.

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.

Very good video. Thanks Matt. I always think of pirates using whatever they can as a weapon (depending on the availability and situation).

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.

Well the only difference between an emperor and a pirate is the number of ships...

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.

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!

"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.

Just a correction. the first syllable in 'Qing' is pronounced 'ch' as in 'chin'.

Splendid video, thank you very much!

I said "yarr" every time Matt said "pirate" until 1:04 and I realized I had gotten in over my head

I remember you promised us more Black Sails fight reviews, did you lie to us?! Seriously though, copyright issues or something? Just been busy?

Great timing I was just listening to "Black Flags, Blue Waters" on audible

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.

man this video made me go re-watch sam o'nella's pirates video. great job!

That's a lovely Walloon-hilted sword. Hope to see more of it on the channel.

I have an ancestor who took to piracy after Cromwell took over. He was a loyalist who had to flee England/Wales until the stuart line was restored. We ended up here in America anyway though after the loss at Culloden. His descendent would go on to be one of the 1st to volunteer to fight w/ Washington in the revolution. We lost all of our titles & lands in the UK but we gained new lands here. My family still live on the land gifted to us by Washington to this day. Though I am afraid that we may have to fight for our freedom once again but this time we will be coming to help you guys afterwards. We will need you guys help to break free of the forces that have captured our Govts. I hope you all still have the British stiff upper lip b/c the time draws near.

"THE NEZ COUPE' SWORDS", Two swords, both of Western European origin, c. 1800, the first being a typical French cavalry sword, with a pierced and engraved hilt, leather wrapped handle, and a burnished blade, length 37 in., the second sword being a typical N.C.O's cutlass, brass hilt, with a curved blade, length 28 3/4 in.Provenance: Descended in the family of Louis "Nez Coupe'" Chighizola, trusted lieutenant of the pirate Jean Lafitte, eventually to Natali Benvenuto Chighizola, Jr. By long family tradition, used by "Nez Coupe'" at the Battle of New Orleans, January 3, 1815.

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!