Sea Service Pistol

Sea Service pistol. The stock is of walnut, fully stocked to the muzzle. The pistol is fitted with a brass trigger guard and brass butt cap. A single brass ramrod pipe is fitted forward of the fore-end into which the wooden ramrod with brass tip is fitted. There is a steel trigger with a slight backward curl. Steel belt hook attached to the side of the stock. The lock is a sidelock, flintlock. The barrel is of circular section, smoothbore. The calibre is 0.56in. The pistol is inscribed on the lockplate 'TOWER' with a crown motif over 'GR'. The barrel is inscribed with a crown motif over 'GR' and a crown over crossed sceptres. The stock is inscribed 'II P' under a crown motif, with a crown motif over an arrow over '1806'. This third model Sea Service pistol was introduced about 1790. Though retaining the 12in. barrel of earlier models, this last long barrelled pistol was an improvement over its predecessors. These pistols saw considerable use during the Napoleonic Wars.

Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London. Caird Fund.