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Cutlass
A cutlass is a short, broad sabre or slashing sword with a straight or slightly curved blade sharpened on the cutting edge and a hilt often featuring a solid cupped or basket-shaped guard. It was a common naval weapon during the early Age of Sail. Etymology The word "cutlass" developed from the 17th-century English use of ''coutelas'', a 16th-century French word for a machete-like mid-length single-edged blade (the modern French for "knife", in general, is ''couteau''; in 17th- and 18th-century English the word was often spelled "cuttoe"). The French word ''coutelas'' may be a convergent development from a Latin root, along with the Italian ''coltellaccio'' or ''cortelazo'', meaning "large knife". In Italy, the ''cortelazo'' was a similar short, broad-bladed sabre popular during the 16th century.Ossian, RobThe Cutlass(accessed Jan. 25, 2015) The root ''coltello'', for "knife", derived ultimately from the Latin ''cultellus'' meaning "smaller knife", which is the common Latin r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hanger (tool)
A cutlass is a short, broad sabre or slashing sword with a straight or slightly curved blade sharpened on the cutting edge and a hilt often featuring a solid cupped or Basket-hilted sword, basket-shaped Hilt#Guard, guard. It was a common naval weapon during the early Age of Sail. Etymology The word "cutlass" developed from the 17th-century English use of ''coutelas'', a 16th-century French word for a machete-like mid-length single-edged blade (the modern French for "knife", in general, is ''couteau''; in 17th- and 18th-century English the word was often spelled "cuttoe"). The French word ''coutelas'' may be a convergent development from a Latin root, along with the Italian ''coltellaccio'' or ''cortelazo'', meaning "large knife". In Italy, the ''cortelazo'' was a similar short, broad-bladed sabre popular during the 16th century.Ossian, RobThe Cutlass(accessed Jan. 25, 2015) The root ''coltello'', for "knife", derived ultimately from the Latin ''cultellus'' meaning "smaller knife" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sword
A sword is an edged and bladed weapons, edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed tip. A slashing sword is more likely to be curved and to have a sharpened cutting edge on one or both sides of the blade. Many swords are designed for both thrusting and slashing. The precise definition of a sword varies by historical epoch and geographic region. Historically, the sword developed in the Bronze Age, evolving from the dagger; the Bronze Age sword, earliest specimens date to about 1600 BC. The later Iron Age sword remained fairly short and without a crossguard. The spatha, as it developed in the Late Roman army, became the predecessor of the European sword of the Middle Ages, at first adopted as the Migration Period sword, and only in the High Middle Ages, developed into the classical Knightly sword, ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leadcutter Sword
The Leadcutter sword or lead cutter is a type of broad, heavy, specialist English sword or cutlass A cutlass is a short, broad sabre or slashing sword with a straight or slightly curved blade sharpened on the cutting edge and a hilt often featuring a solid cupped or basket-shaped guard. It was a common naval weapon during the early Age of .... History Popular in the 19th century, these weapons resemble an enlarged naval cutlass, consisting of single-edged, flatbacked blades with broad widths, often flexible and sometimes slightly curved, always with a full cutlass-type hilt. The swords, heavier than standard cutlasses, were designed for strength training and for "sword feats" (most often the severing of specially made triangular lead bars, hence the name). These displays often included the dissevering of whole sheep's carcasses and of balanced lead bars in a single blow. Prominent manufacturer and size descriptions A prominent manufacturer of Leadcutters was Wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sabre
A sabre or saber ( ) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the Early Modern warfare, early modern and Napoleonic period, Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such as the hussars, the sabre became widespread in Western Europe during the Thirty Years' War. Lighter sabres also became popular with infantry of the early 17th century. In the 19th century, models with less curving blades became common and were also used by heavy cavalry. The military sabre was used as a duelling weapon in academic fencing in the 19th century, giving rise to a discipline of modern Sabre (fencing), sabre fencing (introduced in the Fencing at the 1896 Summer Olympics, 1896 Summer Olympics) loosely based on the characteristics of the historical weapon. Etymology The English ''sabre'' is recorded from the 1670s, as a direct loan from French, where ''sabre'' is an alteration of ''sable'', which was in turn loaned from German ''S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Backsword
A backsword is a type of sword characterised by having a single-edged blade and a hilt with a single-handed grip. It is so called because the triangular cross section gives a flat back edge opposite the cutting edge. Later examples often have a "false edge" on the back near the tip, which was in many cases sharpened to make an actual edge and facilitate thrusting attacks. From around the early 14th century, the backsword became the first type of European sword to be fitted with a knuckle guard. The term "backsword" can also refer to the singlestick, which is used to train for fighting with the backsword, or to the sport or art of fighting in this fashion. Backswording was an alternative term for singlesticking tournaments in England. Being easier and cheaper to make than double-edged swords, backswords became the favored sidearm of common infantry, including irregulars such as the Highland Scots, which in Scottish Gaelic were called the ''claidheamh cuil'' (back sword), after o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Fly
William Fly (died 12 July 1726) was an English pirate who raided New England shipping fleets for three months in 1726 until he was captured by the crew of a seized ship. He was hanged in Boston, Massachusetts, and his body publicly exhibited in a gibbet as a warning to other pirates. His death is considered by many to mark the end of the Golden Age of Piracy. Career William Fly's career as a pirate began in April 1726, when he signed on to sail with Captain John Green to West Africa on the ''Elizabeth''. Green and Fly began to clash until one night Fly led a mutiny that resulted in Green being tossed overboard; Fly then took command of the ''Elizabeth''. Having captured the ship, the mutineers "caused a Black Flagg to be hoisted", renamed the ship ''Fames' Revenge'', elected Fly as captain, and sailed to the coast of North Carolina and north toward New England. They captured five ships in about two months before being captured themselves. Following Fly's capture, Cotton Mather tri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buccaneer
Buccaneers were a kind of privateer or free sailors, and pirates particular to the Caribbean Sea during the 17th and 18th centuries. First established on northern Hispaniola as early as 1625, their heyday was from the Restoration in 1660 until about 1688, during a time when governments in the Caribbean area were not strong enough to suppress them. Martinique was a home port for French buccaneers as well as pirates like Captain Crapeau. Originally the name applied to the landless hunters of wild boars and cattle in the largely uninhabited areas of Tortuga and Hispaniola. The meat they caught was smoked over a slow fire in little huts the French called ''boucans'' to make ''viande boucanée'' – ''jerked meat'' or '' jerky'' – which they sold to the corsairs who preyed on the (largely Spanish) shipping and settlements of the Caribbean. Eventually the term was applied to the corsairs and (later) privateers themselves, also known as the Brethren of the Coast. Although c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Kidd
William Kidd (c. 1645 – 23 May 1701), also known as Captain William Kidd or simply Captain Kidd, was a Scottish-American privateer. Conflicting accounts exist regarding his early life, but he was likely born in Dundee and later settled in New York City. By 1690, Kidd had become a highly successful privateer, commissioned to protect English interests in the Thirteen Colonies in North America and the West Indies. In 1695, Kidd received a royal commission from the Earl of Bellomont, the governor of New York, Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire, to hunt down pirates and enemy French ships in the Indian Ocean. He received a letter of marque and set sail on a new ship, '' Adventure Galley'', the following year. On his voyage he failed to find many targets, lost much of his crew and faced threats of mutiny. In 1698, Kidd captured his greatest prize, the 400-ton '' Quedagh Merchant'', a ship hired by Armenian merchants and captained by an Englishman. The political climate in Eng ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rapier
A rapier () is a type of sword originally used in Spain (known as ' -) and Italy (known as '' spada da lato a striscia''). The name designates a sword with a straight, slender and sharply pointed two-edged long blade wielded in one hand. It was widely popular in Western Europe throughout the 16th and 17th centuries as a symbol of nobility or gentleman status. It is called because it was carried as an accessory to clothing, generally used for fashion and as a weapon for dueling, self-defense and as a military side arm. Its name is of Spanish origin and appears recorded for the first time in the '' Coplas de la panadera'', by Juan de Mena, written approximately between 1445 and 1450: As fencing spread throughout Western Europe, important sources for rapier fencing arose in Spain, known under the term ("dexterity"), in Italy and France. The French small sword or court sword of the 18th century was a direct continuation of this tradition of fencing. Rapier fencing form ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rigging
Rigging comprises the system of ropes, cables and chains, which support and control a sailing ship or sail boat's masts and sails. ''Standing rigging'' is the fixed rigging that supports masts including shrouds and stays. ''Running rigging'' is rigging which adjusts the position of the vessel's sails and spars including halyards, braces, sheets and vangs. Etymology According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition "rigging" derives from Anglo-Saxon ''wrigan'' or ''wringing'', "to clothe". The same source points out that "rigging" a sailing vessel refers to putting all the components in place to allow it to function, including the masts, spars, sails and the rigging. History Theophrastus in his '' History of Plants'' ( 300 BCE) states that the rigging on King Antigonus' fleet was made from papyrus reed. Types of rigging Rigging is divided into two classes, ''standing'', which supports the mast (and bowsprit), and ''running'', which controls the orienta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boarding (attack)
Naval boarding is an offensive tactic used in naval warfare to come up against (or alongside) an enemy watercraft and attack by inserting combatants aboard that vessel. The goal of boarding is to invade and overrun the enemy personnel on board in order to capture, sabotage, or destroy the enemy vessel. While boarding attacks were originally carried out by ordinary sailors who are proficient in hand-to-hand combat, larger warships often deploy specially trained and equipped regular troops such as marines and special forces as boarders. Boarding and close-quarters combat had been a primary means to conclude a naval battle since antiquity, until the early modern period when heavy naval artillery gained tactical primacy at sea. A cutting out boarding is an attack by small boats, preferably at night and against an unsuspecting and anchored, target. It became popular in the later 18th century, and was extensively used during the Napoleonic Wars. This heralded the emphasis on st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
