Oloff Van Staats had placed himself at the head of the boat, armed with a banger, and with every faculty too intent on the expected attack, to heed a danger that was scarcely intelligible to one of his habits.
"The Water-Witch or, The Skimmer of the Seas"
James Fenimore Cooper
"I reckoned it a banger," said the old man, complacently.
"I Saw Three Ships and Other Winter Tales"
Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
It is further explained in the Yale banger, November 10, 1846: This figure of a wounded snake is intended to represent what in technical language is termed a fizzle.
"A Collection of College Words and Customs"
Benjamin Homer Hall