Sword Found at Wreck Site of Queen Annes Revenge

[Jim McDougall]

Avast there Nando! Thank you for adding those wonderful illustrations of our colorful subjects, and I have seen and admired those very pictures so many times over more years than I can say. Also, thank you for the kind words, but as I'm sure Capt. Mark will agree, we are all students on these subjects learning together.

I am presently amidst literally sea of notes, books and articles as I have been working since this thread began to find any evidence whatsoever to corroborate the period of this sword hilt found in the QAR wreck site. I entirely agree that that very stipulation is compelling indeed to suggest that it is contemporary with the wreck, but to me the most telling and equally perplexing feature, is that pierced quillon terminal for a decorative sword chain in lieu of knuckleguard.

I have gone through AVB Norman, Blair, Peterson, Gilkerson, Annis, Blackmore, Nuemann and sheaves of notes that date back into the 90s, even correspondence with the curator of the museum where the QAR wreck project began back in 1996-97. Thus far the earliest evidence I can find for this affectation is in the 1740s, and even then, not popularized until about the 1770s.

In "Edged Weapons" (Frederick Wilkinson, 1970, p.94) he notes, "...during the latter part of the 18th century another style of grip became popular. This was often of stained ivory, usually spirally fluted and swelling gradually from the quillons to the pommel, which was often capped with a cast silver head.
Quillons were usually small terminating in a globose swelling and often slightly curved. Some were fitted with a light chain from the pommel cap down to the quillon".

Howard Blackmore describes 'hunting swords' and thier use in his 1971, "Hunting Weapons" where he notes on p.28 that English hangers (of the 17th century) now labelled as hunting swords may have been made originally as military sidearms for military defense. In orders of 1682, hangers for gunners are 'scimitars with hartshorne handles, brass shells and guards'.
In those times the terms hanger; cutlass and hunting sword seems to have been semantically interpolated....with even 'scimitar' added to confuse the mix.
He describes further the denigration of the hunt toward the end of the 17th century, where it evolved into gala events where animals were literally herded into huge estate arenas for the conquering gentry to dispatch.
These events brought more attention to fashion than practicality, and in one note he states the stag or buckhorn grips which were so appropriate and sensible in the 16th and 17th century were now discarded. Into the 18th century the swords were more the work of jewellers and artisans than swordsmiths, and of the gentry, "..thier swords and other accessories seemed litle more than tinsel trappings" (p.30).
On p.31 he notes the comments of Bashford Dean (1929) who describes these as degenerate court swords, ineffective for defense and clearly not intended for action, merely dress adornments of the 18th century, far from the functional weapons of the 16th and 17th century.

It is important to note that while is seems agreed, this sword certainly is not of 'combat' grade and most likely if it was indeed on the QAR it would have been a prize or loot, the weapons used by pirate crews were of the type of functional weapons noted. There have been other examples of the hangers actually used found on other wrecks.

A hanger with staghorn grip and shellguard with knucklebow was found on the wreck of the Henrietta Marie (sank 18 May 1700 off Jamaica). This was an English slaver, and the blade as well as most of the sword survived in heavy concretion. According to David Moore (pers. comm. apr. 1997) this was recovered in 1972 or 73, and sketches show a 'running wolf' on the blade.

I should note here that contrary to popular belief, the running wolf mark had virtually ceased in Germany by the latter part of the 17th century, and was being used by German swordsmiths in England where these hangers were produced. This would date the sword c. 1680s-90s.

In P.G.W. Annis ("Naval Swords", 1970 pp.24-25) the 'hunting sword' shown (and compared to the portrait of Capt. John Benbow in 1701) is of the same type shown from the wreck of the Henrietta Marie. It is with brass hilt and staghorn grip, and as with nost of these kinds of hangers, with knuckleguard.
In "Weapons of the Pirates and Buccaneers 1665-1725" (Peter Copeland, Man at Arms Vol. 4 #1, Feb 1982) in discussing the sailors 'cutlass', he notes that "...the knucklebow began to be seen more often mounted on hunting swords as the 17th century drew to a close". The article is focused mostly on the artistic license and often fanciful depictions of pirate weaponry.

It seems that throughout these references, the hunting type swords used in these times and in the period for years prior to the QAR wreck invariably were with knuckleguards, shellguards or both.

Returning to Wilkinson (op.cit. p.94) he notes that the swords with light chains "..seem to have been particularly popular in the North American colonies" however, it seems the American versions were typically with lionhead, doghead or eagle head and these all seem silver mounted.All of the examples I checked (H. Peterson, "The American Sword"), were of c. 1770s period.

I returned to Nuemann ("Swords and Blades of the American Revolution") which though a reference to that period, shows weapons of many countries dating back as far the the 17th centuries used in that conflict. I found that two examples of c.1700, both English, both with staghorn grips and both had knucklegaurds, with the note that these were favored by English naval officers, one had a brass hilt, one silver.
There was an open hilt hunting sword with very similar shaped quillons to our example in discussion in brass and shown as European c. 1750-60, the hilt was dark material but not horn and no chain nor piercing.

The examples I found with chain guards were 6 English, 1 American, all ranging in date from the earliest c.1740 to as late as 1780. All appear to have been silver mounted, variation in quillons etc considerable, but all using the decorative chain guard.

In Aylward ("Smallsword in England", 1945) there was one example c.1780 with chainguard on a smallsword.

Again, it must be considered that this sword hilt is situated in an area which has been subject to considerable maritime traffic and activity in subsequent times as it would have been later in the 18th century. I would like to make clear that in no way do I question the professionalism of those who have presented these sword remains when they were found, and I am certain that they are evaluating the same kinds of considerations I am presenting here.
There are many possibilities for how this sword might have entered the field of the wreck site, and they are better versed at those factors. I am simply viewing the sword hilt we are discussing in comparison to comparable examples of similar weapons in assessing the possible period of the piece.

I hope this information might be found interesting and lead to more thoughts and ideas regarding this fascinating find. I am offering these research results which I have compiled to serve as a benchmark for further discussion, and as always, welcome any and all comments, criticism and rebuttal.

All best regards,
Jim