Late 18th Century U.S. Naval Cutlass ?

[kronckew]

Originally Posted by theswordcollector

...I understand now the slot was not for a officers knot but rather a lanyard ...

an officer's sword knot IS a lanyard., used as described to prevent the sword from being irretrievably dropped. officers had gold threaded silk knots, enlisted & NCOs, if they had them, would have had plain leather or coloured silk w/o any gold. officers didn't as a rule use cutlasses. there may of course have been exceptions. i personally would prefer a cutlass to my std. naval pattern USCG officer's sword i had to as part of my uniform. (as well as the fact it has a fairly useless dull stainless steel blade suitable only for parades.)

here's a photo of a warship's cutlass rack - no knots or lanyards apparent. i recall the racks on hms warrior in portsmouth here in the UK also did not have knots/lanyards on the racked cutlasses.



current USN/USCG enlisted cutlasses (and marine nco swords) do not use sword knot/lanyards.



i have added a plain brown leather sword knot to my dutchy klewang. as an ossifer i thought it looks undressed w/o one