Sail, plunder, bury the gold
Salt & Cannon is a free multiplayer pirate game that runs right in your browser. You are the captain of your own ship in an open world of islands and harbours, shared with other players and with merchant ships, navy patrols and pirates. Trade between ports, fight broadside battles, bury your gold where only you can find it — and climb from deckhand to Admiral of the Black. There is nothing to download or install.
What you do
⚓ Sail your own ship
Set and take in sail, steer with the helm and read the wind. Six ship classes, from a quick sloop to a three-deck man-o'-war, each with its own speed, hold, crew and guns. Storms, fog and night make the sea a different place every time you sail.
💥 Fight broadside battles
Aim with the mouse and fire your broadsides, bow and stern chasers. Wind, distance and the roll of the sea decide where the shot lands. Sink a ship and her gold floats up in barrels — but other captains may be waiting for yours.
⚖ Trade between ports
Every harbour buys and sells its own goods at its own prices. Carry sugar, rum, silk or spices to the port that wants them, and spend the profit on upgrades from the shipwright or a bigger ship from the yard.
🗺 Bury your gold and hunt for treasure
Gold on board goes down with your ship; buried gold is safe. Pick a quiet beach, bury your chest and remember where. Old treasure hoards wait to be found by anyone who reads the map well — and sends a landing party ashore.
🏅 Rise in rank
Twenty ranks, from Deckhand to Admiral of the Black. At the top you may give everything up for a prestige badge and start again — the badge stays on your flag for every other captain to see.
🌊 Choose your sea
Several seas run side by side. Regular seas forgive a sinking: the insurers pay and you start again on a sloop. In a hardcore sea the ship and all the gold aboard are lost for good.
Salt & Cannon mobile
The game has a quiet companion for your phone. In Salt & Cannon mobile you run your captain's merchant fleet: send ships on voyages, tap the harbour, build it up and earn silver. Silver buys perks and looks for your ship in the main game — a coloured stern lantern, sails, hull wood, a figurehead, a stern ensign. Sign in with the same account on both, and what you buy on the phone is waiting for your captain at sea.
Open saltandcannon.com/fleet.html on your phone, or just open the site there.
How to play
On a computer with a mouse and keyboard, in Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari. Click the sea to take the helm.
| W S | set or take in sail | A D | helm |
| Mouse | look and aim | Left click | fire where you look |
| G | moor, plunder, go ashore | T | bury or dig up treasure |
| B | spyglass | M | chart |
| Tab | captains at sea | Enter | chat |
| Esc | free the mouse | O | settings |
A short introduction and tips along the way explain the rest as you play.
Free to play
Salt & Cannon is free and asks for no payment. It is paid for by sponsor banners in the world — on airships, island billboards and harbour gates — and, where you allow it, an occasional full-screen ad at a natural break: while the world loads as you set sail, or while a sunk crew rows back to port. Never during sailing or battle. Nothing in the game can be bought with money; silver comes from the phone game.
Languages
English, Deutsch, Español, Français, Italiano, Polski, Português, Русский, Svenska and Türkçe — choose at the bottom of the start screen.
Fair play and your data
Captain names, flags and chat follow the terms of use; anything illegal can be reported as described in the legal notice. The game keeps only what it needs to work and keeps no access logs; the privacy policy explains everything, and you can download or delete your data at any time under “Your privacy choices”. Players must be 16 or older.
Contact
Questions, ideas or a bug to report: [email protected]. Want your banner in the game? See advertising.