Blunderbuss. The stock is possibly made of field maple and is fully stocked to the muzzle. It has a plain flat brass butt plate, a tang of which extends along the top of the butt. The brass trigger guard has 'vase' finials and floral decoration on its underside. The brass sideplate is in the form of a serpent/dragon. The fluted brass ramrod pipe contains a wooden ramrod with a flat brass tip. The lock is a sidelock flintlock. The barrel is made of brass and has an octagonal section at the breech and a flared muzzle. Inscribed on the lockplate is 'I SIBLEY'; there is an engraved scroll on top of the breech with the words 'I SIBLEY'. Apart from the maker's name there are three proof marks on the left side of the breech. One is a fleur de lys over an oval punch bearing letters 'IS'. The other two are indecipherable.

Blunderbusses such as this one were used by slave-ship crews as deterrents to enslaved Africans. The fear that captives onboard would organize mass uprisings was ever-present. The maker of this particular weapon, John Sibley, supplied weapons to the Board of Ordnance, the Hudson’s Bay Company and the Royal African Company.