BELAYING PIN

A heavy wooden belaying pin like this would have been used on tall ships in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries to secure lines of the running rigging. A number of belaying pins would be required, as shown in the picture below. Each pin would be inserted into a hole in the wooden pinrails, which were fixed to a bulwark.

These heavy belaying pins were also used as a handy cudgel, crushing many a skull by a member of a boarding party.

The length is 43.5 cm (17.1") and the pin diameter is 3.3 cm (1.3"). The overall diameter of the handle is 4.7 cm (1.85"), and weight is 0.45 kg (1 lb).