Axe for ID

[fernando]

What do you guys make of this ?
I know the pictures are horrible, but still ... can anyone help ?
A boarding axe ... certainly ?

.

[M ELEY]

OMG!!!!! Fernando, you lucky dog! You've called it right on. A boarding ax it is!! Beared blade, wege-type spike end, haft with half balled butt and hole for lanyard ring. Side by side langets, rounded eye socket. Yours has similar traits to both the Brit patterns (shape of spike, side langets, round eye) as well as the French (blade shape). Perhaps made for private purchase, aka privateer vs merchantman. Green with envy!

The real question for me is what period. 19th c. most assuredly, but pre-Age of Fighting Sail or after. Patterns like this existed before 1830, but the spike on yours reminescent of later 19th c. Brit patterns. I suspect more mid century, based on the almost chizel shaped spike. I don't suppose you happened to find two of them while out shopping and don't have the space for the other, at which I will graciously take it off your hands!

Forgot to ask, Fernando, if you suspect this to be a Spansih or Portuguese pattern of the above mentioned types. I'm familiar with French, English, Dutch/Scandinavian, American types. I've seen ones from Sardinia, Italy, East India, one reportedly Imperial Russian pattern. I know NOTHING, however, about the Span/Portuguese patterns, however.

[fernando]

Ah, ah, no lucky dog yet, Captain .
Indeed there was a pair of them. This local fellow collector spotted both; bought one for himself and reserved the other one, thinking of me. I hope the seller still has it when he goes there to fetch it.
They don't have to be Portuguese or Spanish. France and England are not so distant. But according to the seller they belonged to a Portuguese Navy officer; he might have brought them from his unit's wall decoration or the like ... something not so uncommon.
Let me have it in my hand; will take better pictures and maybe we can develop further.

[CutlassCollector]

Congratulations Fernando - great axe and I'm as jealous as Mark.

Definitely a boarding axe. Very British handle and pick but unusual crescent shaped blade. There are several similar ones out there. I've attached one. British maker but not sure of date, but yours looks older anyway.
Best CC.

[fernando]

Here are detailed pictures ... and some support text.
I would not know whether this could a be a Portuguese or Spanish model.
After searching on Hachas de Abordaje (castillian) i found some examples, from which i am posting the one that should be in service in the same period ... which is so different than the example in discussion.
No results were found searching in portuguese, using the possible name variations, starting by Machado de Abordagem, then Machado de Marinha followed by other possibilities. I will have to dig further into such probability.
As already expressed here, the pick is similar to 1800's British pattern, but the blade has a distinct shape.
One thing we know is that this is not some sort of prototype, as the other one coming from the same provenance has the same shape ... only the handle being apparently made of a not so dark wood.
Mark's suggestion that this could be a private purchase stands open; but consider that its (last) owner was a Navy officer.
The pick has an 'offset' edge, one of the sides being more angled than the other, almost flat.
The right face of the blade has a more rustic forging.
There are three grooves in the handle near the lanyard orifice, but they are so superficial that almost faded away.
It is not impossible that a certain 'flaw' on the pick be a maker's mark; it has some lines too geometrical to be a default, resembling an estucheon.
Weight: 918 grams.
Handle length: 59 cms.
Langets length: 14 cms.
Blade & pick dimensions: 20 X 13 cms.


.

[CutlassCollector]

Great pictures Fernando and a very interesting axe.

The way the handle is tapered down to the axe head, swells for the hands and then tapers again at the ball end is very British as is the shape of the spike, like Mark says.

We don't normally associate the crescent shape with Brit axes but there is one in the Pitt Rivers museum, the one in my post above and also one in Col Rankin's "Small Arms of the Sea Services" book and this one is marked Brooke Brothers, Sheffield, England. These date to around 1830 - 1840 but all have lighter, sharper spikes and shorter handles.
I think your axe is very likely British and perhaps earlier than these mentioned with the older type handle and spike.

Or it could just be a Portuguese axe!


I can't tell anything about the mark although it would be unusual to have a marking on the spike.


Regards, CC

[M ELEY]

Do my eyes play tricks on me, or is there a 'broad arrow' marking on your blade, 'Nando? I see the escution mark you mention, but I'm referring to the light tracing on the flat of the blade itself. BTW, thanks for posting that Spanish example and am glad to finally have a look at one! As far as naval vs privateer, would love to have clarity on this issue myself!

CC, glad you mentioned that Pitt Rivers museum piece. I had forgotten about that one. So crescent blades did occasionally appear on Brit pieces, but I'm assuming more privateer. I've posted pics of my boarding ax in the past. Would love to repost it here to see what you think about provenance, CC, whenever I get a chance. It has a bearded edge like the hache de borde with front and rear-facing langets, but its eye is round and the spike like the classic Brit examples.

[fernando]

Originally Posted by CutlassCollector

...Great pictures Fernando and a very interesting axe... Or it could just be a Portuguese axe! ... I can't tell anything about the mark although it would be unusual to have a marking on the spike...

Thank you CC.
The news are that the Portuguese seem to have adopted the diminutive feminine for the naming of the boarding axe, certainly to distinguish it from the long handle ones, which had and have different purposes.
So we have that the name is Machadinha, contextualy called Machadinha de Abordagem. Browsing with these names one finds several publications on the subject, like narratives of episodes of sea battles as also interesting inventories of battle ships of the period. Pity that so far i didn't manage to spot pictures of such axes.
Still is interesting to read those lists of armament equipping the ships, where axes existed in large quantities.
One such example is Nau (ship) Santo Antonio e São José, a vessel with 182 feet length and a crew of 611, while having 60 axes in 04 August 1781, had its quantity amazingly increased to 100 units in October 1785.
Concerning the hypothetical mark, i admit it could be a forging flaw, notwithstanding that smiths marks may also appear on spikes; or at least we see them in pole arms. I am checking with the guy that holds the other example, in case this ‘thing’ also appears in it. Today i gave a slight cleaning to my axe and my impression that it may well be some symbol still stands.

.

[fernando]

Originally Posted by M ELEY

... Do my eyes play tricks on me, or is there a 'broad arrow' marking on your blade, 'Nando? ...

Well Mark, one of us is definitely being tricked by his eyes
What i see is a few grooves and spots, result of rough forging texture. But i see what you meant, though .

Originally Posted by M ELEY

... BTW, thanks for posting that Spanish example and am glad to finally have a look at one! !..

Don't mention it; and if you use the link i inserted in the picture, you will see a few more examples, although not in the same context, together with some boarding pikes .. and you have a chance to practice your castillian .

[CutlassCollector]

Hi Fernando,

That is a much better shot of the mark, looks like too many right angles in it to be accidental so perhaps it is a makers symbol. Was there a mark on the other axe?

Also thanks for the Portuguese translation, I cannot find many pictures either. The Spanish link was very informative. I have seen one axe with a single "O" stamp on the centre of the axe head does that indicate a particular Spanish maker?

Regards, CC

[fernando]

Originally Posted by CutlassCollector

... That is a much better shot of the mark, looks like too many right angles in it to be accidental so perhaps it is a makers symbol. Was there a mark on the other axe?..

No there is not; however with a different handle wood and a slightly more pointy spike it must have been made by a different smith.

Originally Posted by CutlassCollector

... Also thanks for the Portuguese translation ...

The diminutive is also used by Spaniards ... hachuela, even hacheta; but the results show that in practice the term hacha for boarding axes is massively preferred,

Originally Posted by CutlassCollector

The Spanish link was very informative...

Yes, a rather interesting text. A note for when Dom Calvó quotes Brigadier Barrios in 1881:
“aún se conserva y considera necesaria el hacha de abordaje”, añadiendo: “los efectos de esta arma de abordaje son verdaderamente horrorosos y sangrientos"
meaning:
The need for the boarding axe still is preserved and considered; and adds that ... the effects of this boarding weapon are realy horrifying and bloody.

Originally Posted by CutlassCollector

... I have seen one axe with a single "O" stamp on the centre of the axe head does that indicate a particular Spanish maker? ...

Not in the quoted Spanish link, but somewhere else ? I wouldn't know, but most probably.

[fernando]

Originally Posted by fernando

... Still is interesting to read those lists of armament equipping the ships, where axes existed in large quantities.
One such example is Nau (ship) Santo Antonio e São José, a vessel with 182 feet length and a crew of 611, while having 60 axes in 04 August 1781, had its quantity amazingly increased to 100 units in October 1785...

On the other hand is easy to realize when the use of this tool/weapon started to decline.
We can read in ArmasBrazil...
http://www.armasbrasil.com/SecXIX/No...machadinha.htm
that, during the (Portuguese) empire (1822-1889), the number of machadinhss that were distributed was already more modest: 40 units to large ships and 12 to smaller barges. They were removed from the vessels in 1892, based on their obsoletism, being replaced by firearms and actual fire axes.

[fernando]

Having tried several alternatives to go dipper into this Portuguese boarding axe business, i am starting to realize that hardly some precise identification may be reached and, much worse, pictures are not available.
After having addressed the Navy Museum Friends Association i was advised to contact directly the Navy Museum. Having so done, i was told that the only example in the exhibition rooms was a current axe with no back pick, of later period, and a had a promise that they will investigate this subject when time available; the person at the phone, a young sub-lieutenant, had never specifically heard or seen one of these things.
Then i decided to email a national illustrious historian and collector (and dealer) of antique arms and armor, having himself owned large quantities of axes over time, of all sorts and origins, as also having been lecturer in the Navy school and directing member of the Navy Museum Friends Association, thus a frequent visitor of the vast Museum depots.
So in a qualified point of view, the following assumptions may be made:
Any possible study on these axes is unknown.
They have never been regulated, like were Infantry or Cavalry weapons.
It was up to each Naval unit Commander to choose, order and acquire the axes in the required quantity for their crew. In a way that we can find different axe models in the various naval units of the same period.
When observing examples with labels indicating the name of the Naval unit to which they belonged, further learning has been acquired. For instance, naval axes used during the Liberal Wars (1820’s - 1830’s) had various origins. We eventually used American, French, Spanish, British, Portuguese and even Italian material.
The differences were minuscule and nobody cared to differentiate them. Generally considered mere crude tools without any decoration, they were not contemplated with mindful records.

[CutlassCollector]

Thanks Fernando, that's interesting information.
It would seem that some countries adopted regulation patterns while others did not. It certainly explains why we never see recognizable Portuguese boarding axes or Spanish ones pre 1840.

CC

[M ELEY]

Sorry to hear of your wild goose chase, Fernando, but the lack of information actually speaks volumes. As CC pointed out, recognizable patterns in some navies are non-existant, but I think by using deduction, it is at least possible to determine which ones aren't boarding axes. The fact that the real ones were plain and no two specimens were alike still doesn't detract any interest for me! I love these simple, but brutal, tool/weapons of the sea service. If you ever grow weary of it, well, you know the drill....

[fernando]

I appreciate your gentlemen’s interest in my ‘not so encouraging’ info.
However Mark, this doesn’t reduce my initial interest in such specimen .
But in case my fellow collector decides to get rid of his twin brother, which i honestly doubt, you will be the first to stand a chance .

[fernando]

This is the other example that my friend collector found that day at the antique shop. I can see no significant differences in the axe properly, except that in this one, what appears to be a maker mark, is more clear and evident.
However the handle has a slightly different profile, with a rather different end. It could be that its knob was (perfectly) flattened after production, possibly to fit better with its keeping or hanging place, as also the hole for a lanyard in the previous one might have been done at a later stage. And while the handle of the said previous example had some superficial turned grooves, this one doesn't have such intervention, but i think i discern in the wood vains a dark tone, which could have been from a previous black painting ( a navy habit ?), later scraped.


.

[fernando]

Comparing the previous with the present example. Amazing that the dimensions and the weight of both are the same. Having the equal measures, we may accept as normal, but the weight of both being 918 grs. gram to gram ... coincidences do exist indeed.


.

[CutlassCollector]

That's really interesting to see them together, Fernando.

Only very slight differences to the metalwork and the fact that weight and sizes are so close suggest that they were made by different smiths but to the same pattern. Changes to the wood work possibly made, as you suggest, in service to fit use or storage.

Thanks for posting.
Regards CC

[M ELEY]

Now that you found a another, Fernando, I think we can conclude these are a Portuguese interpretation of the form! Great piece, too bad he won't sell it to you to make a pair (or to me to make me happy!!!)

[fernando]

Originally Posted by M ELEY

... Great piece, too bad he won't sell it to you to make a pair (or to me to make me happy!!!)

Maybe some day, Captain .

[CutlassCollector]

After reading this thread again and the research that Fernando did two years ago I agree with Mark that there is a good case that these should be considered as Portuguese Boarding axes.
Even if there was no standard government pattern as Fernando's research suggests we can still assume that being two of them, near identical in size and weight, and so definitively boarding axes that there must have been more.

It was up to each Naval unit Commander to choose, order and acquire the axes in the required quantity for their crew. In a way that we can find different axe models in the various naval units of the same period.

Even medium sized naval ships would have require 30 or 40 and the largest vessels many more.

Regards, CC