Hand Weapons
Because naval artillery of the sailing era rarely sank ships, most battles were ultimately decided by hand-to-hand combat, with the crew of one ship boarding a second in an attempt to take possession of it. Additionally, the range at which the artillery duel was conducted was often within range of the smoothbore muskets of the era. To supplement the efforts of the great guns ships would place musket- armed marksmen in the fighting tops and on the upper works. These men focused their fire on officers and gun crews, to reduce the fighting efficiency of their opponents.
The weapons used by the crews included: long arms used by marksmen- a. British Sea Service Brown Bess musket, b. French Sea Service Charleville musket, c. French blunderbass; pistols issued to boarders and officers- d. French pistol , e. Dutch pistol, f. British pistol; and a wide assortment of edged weapons- g. French naval cutlass, h. British naval cutlass, i. French boarding axe, j. British boarding axe, k. French naval sword, l. British naval sword, m. British naval dirk, n. French boarding pike, o. British boarding pike, p. French half- pike.
Commissioned officers were armed with swords and pistols, midshipmen substituted a dirk for the sword, while sailors would either carry a pike or a pistol with a cutlass or boarding axe, depending upon the individual sailor's preference. Marines fought with muskets with fixed bayonets. As the pistols and muskets of the era were single- shot weapon that took time to reload, boarders carrying firearms also needed an edge weapon.
