Boarding Pike

[hurricane]

I am seeking a boarding pike but can't find any easily online using google. Does anyone know where one can purchase a boarding pike, or at least the pike piece to put on a pole if I can't get the whole thing?

Thanks in advance for any help...

Hurricane

[Captain Jim]

'Ave ye tried searcin' under "polearms" and "Spontoon" mate? Thar be too much ta list under those 'eadin's.

[Fox]

Also, define "boarding pike". As far as I know there was no standard pattern for boarding pikes until the early 19th century, and even if there was would pirates have used them?

The obvious thing we think of with regards to boarding pikes is triangular in section, like a Victorian lance head, but there's no reason why a pirate's boarding pike shouldn't be flat or diamond section. I KNOW I've seen small spear and pike heads for sale on the net. One 17th century Scandinavian boarding pike I've seen even had wings (possibly evolved from a boar-spear or Saxon winged spear). I bought a dark-age winged spear that was almost identical and I'm pretty sure I've seen them on the net too.

Happy hunting

[blackjohn]

Hurricane, why not go for something like this!

[blackjohn]

ps - Godwin sells them. http://www.gggodwin.com/page6.htm

[hurricane]

Thanks all! That's exactly what I was looking for. The ones I've seen (and they certainly aren't from a historical standpoint) have a spiked end with a hook piece on the side, so a person could use it to reach out to another vessel and pull it closer. It would be a good weapon as well as a useful tool. But these illustrations and historical perspectives are very helpful.

Appreciate the directions and links...

-- Hurricane

[capnwilliam]

I didn't see any boarding pikes in the Godwin site. (?)

Not sure how much use a pirate would have had for one; my understanding is that they were really ANTI-boarding pikes: used to jab at invaders, through the openings in the anti-boarding netting.

Capt. William

[Fox]

Hurricaine, do you mean something like this?

That's a boathook rather than a boarding pike so perhaps a search for "boathook" might produce better results.

At the battle of La Hogue in the early 1690s the English sent boats into the harbour to burn the French fleet. The fighting was fierce as the French tried to fight off the assault and the bow-man in one of the English boats actually pulled a French cavalryman off his horse and off the quay with his boathook.

On the other hand one should never use them to rescue one's girlfriend's straw hat that's fallen overboard...

[blackjohn]

I suggested a partisan instead. Based on that found on the La Salle shipwreck. While not exactly pirate, it is period, and I think it fits Hurricane's request.

Gotta run, going to buy an RV!!!

[hurricane]

Yes, it's most like the boathook you reference there, Foxe. I appreciate the additional research. I am on the hunt then for a boathook... Just a brief check shows it will be a bit of a battle as modern boat hooks have neither the pointed end or the well defined hook I'm looking for.

-- Hurricane

[willie wobble]

captain , if you can wait the blacksmith at the rendezvous might make you one , alafia river rendezvous www.floridafrontiersmen.org

[Fox]

Traditionally a boat carries two boathooks, one long one with a spike and hook for the bow and a shorter one with two hooks in the stern. Most modern ones tend only to have the two hooks and even if you can find a proper bow-boat hook it'll probably be plastic with a really small spike and a bauble on the end so poor idiots don't hurt themselves.

At a recent event a boat owning member of the public pointed to my boathook and said to his wife "THAT'S what I need for keeping those f*****g inflatables out of my way..."

I'm afraid I don't have any practical suggestions for where to find a decent one except to keep your eyes open for a real antique one or to get one specially made. A re-enactor blacksmith made mine at an event.

[Dorian Lasseter]

Do ye be handy with tools such as a welder and a blow torch?

If so, you can make it yerself...

Use half inch square stock, steel bar, heat a piece with the torch until it's the color of straw and you will be able to bend it into your hook.

Prepare the second piece to weld the hook onto, clean up the welds, heat the entire piece until it's the color of straw, then let it cool, or if you want to temper it (I wouldn't ) dowse it in a bucket of water or oil...

Now you can stick the end into a wood shaft and pin it, or you can make a socket (best )....

This description of the process is very basic, I've made a bunch of stuff in this fashion....

By the by.... when did boat hooks appear?

[Fox]

Certainly by 1617 when Pieter Van Den Keere published his map "Leo Belgicus" with this fellow in the corner.

However, a boathook is a very simple yet practical tool, eminently suited to its purpose. I can't imagine working for long in a boat without one (or two), I'd certainly be lost without mine. Therefore I'd imagine that they were probably around long before 1617, but it might take me a day or two to find a picture...

[hurricane]

This is really great stuff. Foxe, I really appreciate the historical images - very helpful. And Willy, I think that's the ticket - a period blacksmith - I was on the , alafia river rendezvous site and we've put it on our list of must dos for '06.

Appreciate all the help everyone.

-- Hurricane

[Robroy]

For boarding pike heads, you might want to check these folks out,

http://www.navyandmarine.org/ItemsForSale/index.htm

Mike Williams

[Diego Santana de la Vega]

Yar but ifin yer looking fer a boardin axe check out the spiked hawk here

http://www.hbforge.com/products/tomahawks.php

I owns it and it likens to be none better!

[Tall Paul]

By the by.... when did boat hooks appear?

Somewhere I have a picture of armed men aboard a 12th Century longship.

Amongst all the spears is one that has a normal spearhead, but then it also has a pair of hooks, side by side (Not adjacent like a wing spear) In my opinion this can only be a boathook. Certainly the earliest representation of one that I know about.

Unless of course you know different. Ed.

[Fox]

I'm not quite sure that I can visualise what you're describing Paul, but I see no reason at all that boathooks shouldn't have been around in the 12th century. Realistically I think that boathooks, or some boathook substitute (like what? I hear you ask. I have no idea*) must have been in use as long as wharfs have been used, or as long as large vessels have had attendant boats.

I did find a picture of one from the 16th century the other day which I haven't got round to posting yet, and I'm sure I've got a 14th/15th century picture showing one, I just can't find it. However, if Paul's able to post his picture that would make mine redundant in terms of earliest dating.

*The relatively well known medieval picture of Eustace the Monk being captured shows a fellow using an anchor as a boathook