"Boarders away!"

"Prepare to receive boarders!"

Up and over the sides of the enemy sloop swarmed the Yankee cutting-out party.

"Cutlasses, lads!"

Their short-bladed cutlasses did not trip or hinder these boarders as they climbed, and in the deadly fighting, the wieldy weapons seldom fouled in rigging or wreckage. Duelling seamen swung the broad, heavy blades with skull-cleaving force even at close quarters on the slippery, congested decks…

First cousin to the longer, lighter cavalry saber, the naval cutlass was designed for sea-fighting as the saber was adapted to land-battles. Because boarding actions were fought on the crowded decks of small vessels amid tangles of shrouds and splintered spars and struggling shipmates and foemen, Jack Tar's blade had to be short for easy control, and heavy enough to provide its own momentum in slashing. (Unlike the cavalry trooper's trusty saber, Jack's cutlass did not have the weight of a galloping horse behind it!) The cutlass had a straight or slightly-curved blade designed both for cutting and thrusting. A large, enclosed guard shielded the swordsman's hand.

The cutlass issued to enlisted men of the Continental Navy and the United States Navy was a highly-specialized weapon which evolved slowly from mass-produced single-handed and single-edged, a medieval cutting-swords such as the falchion or the grosse-messer.

But we can see the use of cutlass on land as well.  Admittedly it bears a close relationship to agricultural variants such as the machete, as well as Eastern European and Asian variations like the short, broad-bladed sabers of the Hungarians or the Ottoman Empire, but the specific adaptation to which I am referring can be found in the Constable’s Cutlass issued to early policing forces as well as H.M. Custom and Excise Agents and early 19^th century prison wardens as well as in the French Infantry Briquet of the Napoleonic Wars and thereafter.

In this workshop we hope to draw parallels between the use of the cutlass in a military context at sea as well as in a quasi-civilian context on land.  The adaptation of the techniques from a inevitable battle necessity to one of civil disorder control are fascinating and worthy of study.  It should almost go without saying that how much material we cover will be predicated on the experience of the students attending the workshop and the amount of time available for our inquiry.

If you have your own cutlasses, then by all means bring them, though additional loaner weapons will be provided by the instructor.

Required equipment:

Fencing Mask and Jacket (or suitable substitute)

Recommended Equipment: (in addition to mask and jacket)

Heavy plastron, -- gorget, -- groin protection, -- gauntlets