- Joined
- Aug 6, 2012
- Messages
- 339
The original sailor's knife was "cheap" and easy to fabricate ... aboard ship if necessary. Flat stock - cut to length, shape, attach handle, and sharpen blade. Losing an expensive pointed knife (requiring much more labor and expertise to make) overboard would be a serious financial loss to a sailor who might go months or even years with little or no pay. Most Naval Officer's swords had lanyards to prevent accidental loss during combat and regular shipboard activities. "Mamba" has also identified a key aspect - form follows function. Cutting lines and ropes is not enhanced with a pointed knife - when a fid is the ideal tool to pry apart lines and ropes. More sailors probably got killed (i.e. murdered) by fids, and all the heavy, blunt objects laying around within easy reach. Helping someone fall overboard would have been a relatively safe way to get rid of someone and not get hung or flogged to death. From a practical standpoint - stabbing or cutting yourself or anyone else with a "dirty" knife was at the very least an invitation to an ampuation, if not death through septicemia. The more shallow the laceration the less deadly the wound.
Never had a CO that demanded a blunt knife. Only rule was that the blade could not be longer than your palm ... roughly 3". A modern military sailor wouldn't need more than that when the only lines on the ship are either very large or very small or made out of steel.
On a separate but related note - the "viking belt knives" are an excellent example of a multi-purpose knife - shipboard use, skinning game & food prep, and fighting. The Scandanavians were not deep water sailors - their ships did not require the amount rigging and tackle that a ship under heavy sail would. Their chandlers probaly used sheepsfoot type blades (IMO).
Scott D
Never had a CO that demanded a blunt knife. Only rule was that the blade could not be longer than your palm ... roughly 3". A modern military sailor wouldn't need more than that when the only lines on the ship are either very large or very small or made out of steel.
On a separate but related note - the "viking belt knives" are an excellent example of a multi-purpose knife - shipboard use, skinning game & food prep, and fighting. The Scandanavians were not deep water sailors - their ships did not require the amount rigging and tackle that a ship under heavy sail would. Their chandlers probaly used sheepsfoot type blades (IMO).
Scott D