Long Nine

""I don't need to catch them, just get them in range of the long nines"

- James Norrington

One unique naval cannon was the  long nine. It was a proportionately longer-barrelled 9-pounder. Its typical mounting as a bow or stern chaser, where it was not perpendicular to the keel, allowed room to operate this longer weapon. In a chase situation, the gun's greater range came into play. However, the desire to reduce weight in the ends of the ship and the relative fragility of the bow and stern portions of the hull limited this role to a 9-pounder, rather than one which used a 12 or 24 pound shot.

In Curse of the Black Pearl, James Norrington gives the order to get the HMS Dauntless turned so her long nines could fire on the Interceptor. Jack Sparrow  though had disabled the Dauntless' rudder chain, so she could therefore not come about to fire, instead plowing into her own cutter.