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- "Pirates used them a lot; they were very effective in terrorizing the crew of a ship before you actually attacked."
- ―David Cordingly
A Hand Grenade is a thrown weapon which was widely used in the 18th century both by regular armed forces as well as by pirates. An individual using grenades is called a grenadier.
Construction[]
An 18th century hand grenade was normally a ball made of iron, ceramic or thick glass and filled with gunpowder, nails and scatter were sometimes added to the powder in order to increase the number of fragments after the explosion. It had a hole (possibly with a neck) in which a fuse consisting of slowmatch going through a plug. In case of a lack of regulary manufactured grenades improvised grenades could be easily fabricated aboard a ship, by filling gunpowder into empty coconuts or reinforced gourds. However such grenades were less effective because the improvised hull easily broke when the grenade fell on the ground. Blackbeard had developed a new type of grenades, he filled empty bottles with gunpowder, scatter and small pieces of iron or lead.
Usage[]
- "No fair!"
- ―Jacoby after Will Turner planted a grenade inside him
The grenadier lit the fuse and threw the grenade. When the fire reached the powder, the grenade exploded and the hull break apart, throwing bits of iron, which hurt and killed people, in all directions. In small rooms, even the pure explosion force could kill a person. Grenades were normally thrown on the enemy ship before boarding in order do reduce the number of enemy crewmen and to lower their morale. Since grenade explosions did not harm the ship very much, they were extremely useful for pirates. Many pirates including Jacoby and Hector Barbossa used grenades.
Behind the scenes[]
- Hand grenades first appeared in the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.[1]
- David Cordingly mentioned hand grenades in the "Weapons" and "Battles" sections of the Below Deck: An Interactive History Of Pirates special feature in The Curse of the Black Pearl DVD/Blu-ray releases.[3]
- Prior to the release of The Curse of the Black Pearl pirates using grenades were almost never mentioned, but afterwards pirate grenadiers became quite popular.
- The grenade is one of the weapons in Pirates of the Caribbean Online. It is available after fulfilling the Weapon Unlock:Grenade Quest [1], when you receive the Grenade Pouch you need for keeping them from bumping together from Jack Sparrow. The gamee features six grenade fighting skills and fife types of grenades: the ordinary Explosive grenade, the Flame Burst which is an flammable bomb that sets fire to it's surroundings, the ceramic Stink Pot filled with noxious gas and foul smelling gunk, the Smoke Cloud – a bomb filled with quick burning tar and rags which creates a blinding cloud of smokes and the Siege Charge which is a heavy iron grenade that is strong enough to destroy walls.
- In the 2013 video game Disney Infinity, hand grenades were called "pirate bombs".
Appearances[]
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (First appearance)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow
- Pirates of the Caribbean Trading Card Game
- Pirates of the Caribbean Online
- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
- Kingdom Hearts II (Non-canonical appearance)
- Disney Infinity (Non-canonical appearance)
External links[]
Hand grenade on Wikipedia- Grenade at Pirates of the Caribbean, in fact and fiction
- Jan Rogozinski, Pirates! Brigands, Buccaneers, and Privateers in Fact, Fiction, and Legend [2]
- Grenade in Disneys Online Worlds - Pirates of the Caribbean Online wiki section
- Grenade at the Pirates of the Caribbean Online wiki