Few manuals were ever specifically dedicated to the use of the sidearm in the navies of the United Kingdom and the United States. Only within the last third of the 19th century–at a time when naval engagements no longer were decided by boarding and hand-to-hand combat but by long-distance artillery–do we find printed manuals issued to provide uniformity to naval sword practice.
Which does not mean that sword practice was neglected aboard warships in the preceding decades. But the systems varied with the times–and closely reflected the favored edged-weapons systems as applied by the landlubbers of the period.
This close relationship between naval sword systems and those practiced on terra firma is not coincidental. Edward Anthony Angelo, grandson of the venerable Domenico Malevolti Angelo, son of Henry "Harry" Angelo, and brother of the influential Henry Angelo Jr., mentions that his late sibling's Naval Cutlass Exercise was based on the one for the Highland Broadsword:
During the blockade of the Scheld and Dutch ports, in the summer of 1812, my brother was on a visit to his friend, Captain Rainier, of the 'Norge' frigate, and whilst on board that ship, thinking it might be beneficial, and an amusement, to the sailors, he drilled the crew in an appropriate use of their cutlasses, and it met with such approbation and practice in other ships, that it ultimately became a portion of the instruction for the Navy, on board the 'Excellent' in Portsmouth.3
A woodcut created around 1860 by W. Thomas depicts "Sword Practice Aboard H.M.S. Britannia" and shows ridiculously young sailors practicing singlestick with a bearded master-at-arms... at the same close distance that characterizes early Victorian backswording systems.
Best,
Andrew Villaverde
http://classicalbladesociety.com
