![]() French historian Alexandre Exquemelin reports the buccaneer François l'Ollonais using a cutlass as early as 1667. However, the subsequent use of cutlasses by pirates is well documented in contemporary sources, notably by the pirate crews of William Fly, William Kidd, and Stede Bonnet. Employing it effectively required less training than that required to master a rapier or small sword, and it was more effective as a close-combat weapon than a full-sized sword would be on a cramped ship.Ĭutlasses are famous for being used by pirates, although there is no reason to believe that Caribbean buccaneers invented them, as has occasionally been claimed. Another advantage to the cutlass was its simplicity of use. A naval side-arm, its popularity was likely because it was not only robust enough to hack through heavy ropes, canvas, and wood, but short enough to use in relatively close quarters, such as during boarding actions, in the rigging, or below decks. History Īlthough also used on land, the cutlass is best known as the sailor's weapon of choice. ![]() The length of the blade is usually about 24 inches. The grip was generally of wood, bound with wire, but some specimens show a brass grip with spiral grooves. This weapon had a short and more or less curved single-edged blade with a brass hilt of a rather flat double-shell and knuckle-bow. In England about 1685 the rather long straight-bladed sword formerly in use began to be superseded by the "hanger". slab tang) more typical of daggers than swords in Europe, these blades may ultimately derive through the falchion (facon, falcon) from the seax. Woodsmen and soldiers in the 17th and 18th centuries used a similar short and broad backsword called a hanger, or in German a messer, meaning "knife". The cutlass is a 17th-century descendant of the edged short sword exemplified by the medieval falchion. History and use Cutlasses aboard the frigate Grand Turk François l'Olonnais with a cutlass Origin In the English-speaking Caribbean, the word "cutlass" is also used as a word for machete. The root "coltello", for "knife", derived ultimately from the Latin "cultellus" meaning "smaller knife" which is the common Latin root for both the Italian and French words. In Italy, the "cortelazo" was a similar short, broad-bladed sabre popular during the 16th century. The French word "coutelas" may be a convergent development from a Latin root, along with the Italian "coltellaccio" or "cortelazo" meaning "large knife". 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"). It was a common naval weapon during the early Age of Sail. Mostly 28-32 inches ( leadcutter cutlasses were up to 36 inches in length).Ĭup hilted guards, half-basket cup guards, and branch guards were commonly seen with cylindrical hilts and wire-wrapped hilts which are common and found on most cutlasses.Ī 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. For other uses, see Cutlass (disambiguation).
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