Mortar

Info
Mortars are anti-ship and anti-personnel bombardment weapons located on Bomb Ketches, Bomb Vessels, and Forts.

Although similar in effect to Cannons, there are important differences.

Looking down the sights of a Mortar shows its user an overhead view of the area, with a bright yellow mouse target showing where the mortar shots will land. When fired, a Mortar will fire its shots directly upward, and the shots will take some time to land. Each Mortar on a Fort will fire 10 cannonballs, while each Ship Mortar will fire 5 cannonballs.

Mortars (as of patch 3.3) do not require manual reloading with ammunition, instead reloading automatically with a progress bar which will keep refilling whether or not you stay on the mortar.

To aim a Mortar effectively against moving ships in battle, it is a good idea to aim where the enemy ship will be instead of where it is, because the shot payload will take some time to land on the target. Using Swivels, Chain Shot or Bar Shot can also slow down or completely stop the enemy ship, making them a perfect target for your Mortar to bombard them.