Cold Steel Naval Dirk: Origin of Design?

kronckew · 18th October 2010, 07:02 AM

well, sunday they played the gregory peck version of the horatio hornblower movie.

i paid particular attention to the midshipman who had a dirk very much like the ivory handled examples above. the costuming in general was fairly accurate, except for the officers carrying the same style brass gripped smallswords into battle when they boarded the spanish ship of the line. even the spanish captain. i would have expected hangers...the officers even had slightly different colour uniforms and facings which would have been fairly accurate given fading, salt spray exposure and tailoring variations in natural dyed cloth.

the men even carried the correct straight bladed spectacle guarded cutlass pattern they pulled off racks. the middie carried the dirk on a broad black leather baldric that let it hang at an angle on his left hip, baldric decorated with a gold anchor and another device i couldn't quite make out, may have been a lion face, just below it.

the movie officers carried their swords inserted into a white frog which engaged a brass stud on the scabbard. didn't look like the sword belt i used in the military which was the std. black leather brass buckled and fitted belt with two carry straps for the two rings on a naval sword scabbard (and a hook to hang it on while walking rather than on horse). the brits i thought used a very similar sword belt.

i wonder how much research into accuracy they do for big budget films like that. i'd guess the officer's sword were chosen more for the flashy errol flynn style boarding duels than accuracy tho.

M ELEY · 19th October 2010, 09:55 AM

To date, the most impressive and accurate depiction of naval weapons for me was in 'Master and Commander'. From the classic British boarding axes and m1803 boarding cutlasses being rolled out onto the deck in a barrel to the officer's swords mounted in the Captain's cabin to the French flintlock pistols. In one scene, Russel Crowe gets stabbed in the side by a naval dirk...one of my favorite movies!

18th October 2010, 07:02 AM	#1
kronckew Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Room 101, Glos. UK Posts: 4,225	well, sunday they played the gregory peck version of the horatio hornblower movie. i paid particular attention to the midshipman who had a dirk very much like the ivory handled examples above. the costuming in general was fairly accurate, except for the officers carrying the same style brass gripped smallswords into battle when they boarded the spanish ship of the line. even the spanish captain. i would have expected hangers...the officers even had slightly different colour uniforms and facings which would have been fairly accurate given fading, salt spray exposure and tailoring variations in natural dyed cloth. the men even carried the correct straight bladed spectacle guarded cutlass pattern they pulled off racks. the middie carried the dirk on a broad black leather baldric that let it hang at an angle on his left hip, baldric decorated with a gold anchor and another device i couldn't quite make out, may have been a lion face, just below it. the movie officers carried their swords inserted into a white frog which engaged a brass stud on the scabbard. didn't look like the sword belt i used in the military which was the std. black leather brass buckled and fitted belt with two carry straps for the two rings on a naval sword scabbard (and a hook to hang it on while walking rather than on horse). the brits i thought used a very similar sword belt. i wonder how much research into accuracy they do for big budget films like that. i'd guess the officer's sword were chosen more for the flashy errol flynn style boarding duels than accuracy tho.

19th October 2010, 09:55 AM	#2
M ELEY Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: NC, U.S.A. Posts: 2,165	To date, the most impressive and accurate depiction of naval weapons for me was in 'Master and Commander'. From the classic British boarding axes and m1803 boarding cutlasses being rolled out onto the deck in a barrel to the officer's swords mounted in the Captain's cabin to the French flintlock pistols. In one scene, Russel Crowe gets stabbed in the side by a naval dirk...one of my favorite movies!