I have been reading and learning as much as I can about the old 17th century warships and came across a picture of an old sailing warship which had a set of poles with hooks on them standing at the base of the mast…arranged around the entire base of the mast. I am not sure if it was the main mast only or all of them. Could someone tell me what these were called and what they were used for. I have been searching for an answer but to no avail. Would they have been on the Soleil Royal? I believe I saw them on a picture of the HMS Victory.
Thank you Rick…now that I know the term for these, I did a search and that is exactly what they are. I assume that they were used on the Soleil Royal during the 17th Century.
Not my period, Wayne, but the pike remained in use on land until eventually replaced by the musket and bayonet. Even in the 19th century sergeants still carried a shorter version (a half-pike or “spontoon”) primarily as a mark of rank. It was used to defend the colours against cavalry and also came in useful for pushing the rank and file into line!
I would guess that all navies used something similar up until at least the middle of the 19th century and maybe even later.