Aside from popular belief, rapiers were used even at sea. cutlass is what we associate as pirate weapon, but thats mostly due to the royal navy arming its officers with cutlass. Your basic seamen, sacalywag and pirate used belaying pins, boarding pikes, or what ever was handy. Swords were used by the upper tier on a ship with maybe the botswans mate and a few of the most trusted wags getting a sword.
Indeed this is true, but cutlasses WERE popular. They can be a fairly compact weapon. The slash of a cutlass is absolutely devastating - similar to a falchion. When worn, the curved blade makes it a bit easier to move. The knuckle protection that many of them had built it would be a huge advantage during a close fight on a ship.
There was a reason why military men of the time used them.
+1 on pirates using whatever they could get their hands on, though. That said, a decent crew would have sacked several ships and had their pick of weapons to choose from. A successful pirate crew could more than likely be picked out by the quality of their gear.
All of this also depends on what time period the pirate(s) were operating in. Pirates have used anything from stone axes to AK-47s throughout history.
Yes and a Rapier has far more class than a mere cutlass...
True - and it's a great dueling weapon.
Unfortunately, it doesn't have a lot of cutting heft and would have limited application against supernatural enemies.
You don't want to impale something that has supernatural strength and claws.
And I figure that the Pirate Ghost was a Captain so he likely had a Rapier. Which means that Mike will also likely be driven to learn to use a Rapier as well.
I see several sword-canes in the future. Now I need to go see if Mike Named his Ghost...
That sounds more than reasonable to me. Sword canes are cool - but they're illegal as hell too. That may be a compel or at least an issue for characters carrying them in the future.
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I personally know how to use a rapier, but I am not a big fan.
If anyone is using armor, a rapier is all but useless.
On the high seas, this would not be an issue. Wearing any kind of armor could be the difference between swimming and drowning.
Still, a small sword does pretty much the same thing but is more compact. Given the choice, I'd rather have a small sword (which can be equally as classy and beautiful as a rapier).
