[Jim McDougall]

Capn, Im not surprised your radar piqued (or should I say 'piked' ) on this one!
Trusty Neumann, "Swords and Blades of the American Revolution".
Though this shown is a European type of boarding pike, it is not a far reach to imagine a blacksmith in America fashioning one of these following that design for vessels in the fledgling Colonial Navy.

Much as with most polearms, the objective is not to impale the victim or opponent thus losing use of the weapon. With the Mexican Lancers at the Battle of San Pascual in California in 1846, the riders were using cibolero (buffalo hunting) type lances. The overrun American dragoons lost in the battle were all with multiple stabbing wounds, often as many as 16, indicating the jabbing method employed in attack.

As Neumann notes, the cross bars (resembling those of course on boar hunt weapons) were 'parrying hooks' as seen on two handers and many hunting polearms.