Fireship

"If we nick some gunpowder and pine pitch, we can build a fire ship and send it straight at the blockade, blasting it to smithereens."

―Edward Kenway planning to break through the Bloackade of Nassau, 1718.

Fireship at Tyre's harbor

A fireship was a wooden vessel deliberately set on fire, or rigged to explode, to be used against enemy ships. Employed throughout naval military history, its use declined with the adoption of metal-hulled ships.

History

In 1190 Tyre, the Templars used a fireship in order to halt the advance of Levantine Assassin Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad after he overpowered and killed Basilisk. As the fireship rammed into the ship he was on, the Assassin narrowly leapt into the water for safety as it exploded.

In March 1669, pirate Henry Morgan destroyed the Magdalena, one of the better equipped ships of the Spanish Armada using a fireship during the battle of Maracaibo.

In 1718, the British Empire hoped to curb piracy in the Caribbean and regain control of the port of Nassau. In order to do this, they, by way of Governor Woodes Rogers and Commodore Peter Chamberlaine, set up a blockade and gave the local pirates a choice to take a pardon or be executed. Edward Kenway hatched a plan with Charles Vane to steal British supplies of gunpowder and pine pitch to repurpose Jack Rackham's Royal Phoenix into a fireship. They managed to break through the blockage and escape from Nassau unharmed.

A couple of French fireships

The French Navy also made use of this tactic against the British, during the Seven Years' War, during both the Siege of Louisbourg and the Battle of Quiberon Bay. In the first event, a small fleet of fireships, headed by the Experto Crede, attempted to stop the British from reaching Louisbourg but efforts were rended useless by the actions of the HMS Pembroke, who managed to sink enough fireships to clear the way for the British reinforcements to push through. During the latter, the French decided to try and break through the British blockade installed off the coast of France with their flagship, the Formidable, leading numerous fireships. Again, their efforts were thwarted by Shay Cormac, this time captaining his own ship, the Morrigan.

During the American Revolution, the use of fire ships was frequent. The HMS Augusta of the Royal Navy was lost to a number of Patriot-released fireships while sailing the Delaware, with the explosion being heard up to 50km away.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
• Assassin's Creed: Rogue
• Assassin's Creed: Pirates (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Nexus VR (mentioned in Database entry only)