Gunpowder and Muskets Gunpowder is made up from a mixture of charcoal, saltpeter and sulfur. Saltpeter was the most important ingredient, giving it its explosive power. They were mixed together and ground into a powder, a very dangerous job, because a single spark or shock could set off the powder! The gunpowder recipe was usually 6 parts of saltpeter mixed with 1 part of charcoal and 1 part of sulfur. The color gave the mixture its other popular name: "black powder". Although a spark could set it off, if the powder got damp then it was useless, so on ships it was always stored somewhere safe and dry.

Different grades of gunpowder were used for different weapons: large grained powder could be used for cannons, but muskets and pistols needed finer grained powder. The finest (small grained) power was called "priming powder" and was used to fire the weapon.

Most 17th century galleons carried soldiers to defend the ship if anyone tried to board it. Many of these were armed with muskets, which were fired using a "matchlock mechanism. These muskets could fire a solid lead ball, with an effective range of about 100 yards.

Swordfighting

Once a ship was boarded, a battle at sea became a free-for-all, with everyone fighting hand-to-hand. On Spanish ships everyone was armed with firearms and some kind of sword, knife, axe or pike. Most large galleons also carried a number of soldiers, who would have been especially well armed and protected.

The main type of sword carried by officers and gentlemen was the rapier, a weapon with a long, thin blade. You couldn't slash with it, only thrust, but the thin blade was perfect for this, and the swordsman could pierce an opponent through small gaps in his armor.

Sailors would more usually have carried hangers (short swords with a sharpened edge, designed for slashing) or long knives and daggers. Other weapons carried on board were halberds (which looked like axes with long handles), or half-pikes, which were eight foot long spears.

Soldiers were armed with short swords, knives and then either half-pikes or muskets. In the early 17th century, the Spanish soldier was seen as one of the best in the world, and many would have been veterans with a lot of military experience, so in hand-to-hand combat the Spaniards would have an advantage over most opponents.

Cannons

For over 300 years, starting in the early 16th century, the main armament of any warship was its rows of large cannons. In the 17th century, most of them were made from bronze, although later cast iron became more common. They were made by making a mold, then pouring molten bronze into it and waiting for it to harden. Only one cannon could be made from each mold, so each gun was a little different from all others. Bronze guns were also decorated with lifting handles (often shaped like dolphins) and sometimes a royal crest.

A typical galleon would carry about 20 of these guns, all mounted on wooden carriages and with all the tools needed to fire them kept nearby. In the early 17th century, the Spanish mounted their guns on two wheeled-carriages, but later they used the same four-wheeled carriage used by everyone else. Guns came in different sizes, and each group had a name, like "culverin" or "saker", although all muzzle-loading guns of the time had roughly the same range (about a half mile). Some of the larger guns would have needed a crew of at least 8 men to fire them.