Sailors

  While watching Matt Easton's video on British gymnasium sabres I got curious when I saw this photo depicting sailors fencing with singlesticks.

Sailors & singlestick [10:35]

  It is a fairly unremarkable picture: just sturdy fencing masks and proper torso & groin protection, absolutely suitable for this type of fencing. We can see almost the same equipment here: in an article from Chris Amberger's site: „This British “Oilette” postcard depicts young British sailor practicing with singlesticks aboard their ship, the H.M.S. St. Vincent, in 1896. The weapons consist of stout ash sticks with a semicircular guard made of stiff boiled leather. While the sword arm remains unprotected, head gear and plastron closely resemble that worn by German students for Schläger practice. The pad on the advanced knee indicates that the leg at that point was still considered a valid and worthwhile target.” [1] The only visible difference between the picture in Matt's video and the postcard from Chris' site: a knee pad on the front leg.

  But this unremarkable photo has reminded me of a discussion that we had roughly two years ago at our Hungarian fencing forum about the difference between current HEMA equipment and the protective equipment which sailors used at the beginning of the 20th century. Based on this photo a Hungarian guy claimed that the sailor's equipment was at least four times thicker than the current HEMA equipment used at fencing competitions. [2] The most prominent difference could be observed at the shoulders. He also linked a video showing the training of Danish sailors. So I have decided to see again that video and analyse it in a more careful way.

  The video shows us the bayonet & sabre fencing of Danish sailors in 1910 on the board of Herluf Trolle [3]. After the careful examination of several still frames from the video it is rather obvious that four times difference is highly unlikely. The apparent „thickness” of shoulder pads is absolutely clear from the following still frames.

  From a certain angle the vertical flap of shoulder protection -- marked with a red star -- could be seen as a very-very thick and bulky thing, but in reality it is not the case, as we can clearly see from the above pictures. So the protective equipment of Danish sailors in 1910 wasn't too different from the current HEMA gear; to be precise the fencing equipment of current HEMA sabre competitions is definitely sturdier and offers better protection than the sailors' equipment back in the 1910s.

_______________________________________________

1. C. Amberger: Singlestick drill (1896)
2. „Szerintem csak úgy 4x akkora, mint bármilyen jelenlegi hemás versenyen látható cucc.” Post from the topic.
3.  I am not completely sure is it the name of this ship or just a class of Danish naval ships.