This holder for a portfire is called a portfire stave. It is a wooden stock with a brass socket fastened to it which was used to hold the portfire stick. The wood on this item has some light scuffs and nicks and the brass socket and point have a darkened patina. It measures 25 ½ “ long, including the point.

Portfires were used to light cannon aboard the wooden deck of a ship.  The portfire is similar to a flare. Portfire sticks were a composition of nitre, Sulphur and mealed powder driven into a case of strong paper. A full-length portfire could burn for about ten minutes and could not be extinguished by water. Portfires were used from the mid- 1600’s up through the Civil War. They were used during the Civil War as a backup way to set a gun off, usually during wet conditions. By that time, however, artillery ignition had switched over to friction primers. Not only was ignition pretty much instantaneous, it was also safer than having an open flame near your powder charges which were invariably in untreated linen bags (i.e. highly flammable and explosive). The point on bottom is for sticking it in the ground, or for naval use, the point was allowed to be stuck in the wooden ship’s deck.

This is a fantastic item for a collector of naval or artillery items.

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