The Armour Archive

I have a quite old sword which I am not sure of its true origins but it has a word marked into the blade which to me looks like it says 'RATAVIA'. It also has some decorative artwork along the blade and the image of a ship. I have forwarded this text to a few people who might be able to help identify it but thought I would post it here also. I am curious to know if it has anything to do with the Batavia shipwreak (any search for Batavia should bring up info on this infamous ship wreak).

It is a fairly short sword, measuring 83 cms in its entire length. It has a
slightly curved blade sharp on only one edge. It also has a leather sheath and
what looks like brass furniture. It appears to have a bone handle and the
pommel end of the sword is formed in the shape of a bird's head out of the same
brass type material. If anyone is really interested they can email me and I will forward an email with attached photos.

Just wondered if anyone could possible shine some light on this item.

Wyrm.

Ask over on Sword Forum, under 'Antique and Military' Swords, andf you will get a good answer.

------------------
Bob R.

What sort of ship is it? There was a ship called the Batavia, a Dutch Eastindiaman that was wrecked somewhere in the south Pacific (can't recall off-hand) in the early 1600s.

Kalba

------------------
-----------
Barkalba bar Shalamsin
m.k.a. Jamie Szudy
LU2.DUB.SAR

It was wrecked of the West Australian coast in 1629.

The captain and Co went out in a small lifeboat and went to make the trip for thousands of miles up the coast to the town of Batavia in Indonesia, which was a Dutch East India trading port.

While the captain was away, the soldiers on board went looking for water, and there was a savage mutiny, which cowed the remaining passangers, and was pretty nasty all in all. Many deaths and rapes. The soldiers found water and went back, discovered what had happened and retreated. The mutineers went after them, and tried to storm the fort they had erected. After several hours, a ship appeared, and there was a race to see who would reach it first. The goodies got there, told the story, and the mutineers were subsequently had their hand cut off and were hanged. The ship was discovered a while back, and with a big reconstruction effort has been reasembled, and lies in the Maritime museum in Freo, Western Australia.

Many weapons were found and used, however there were also other ships and other towns with the same name. Ask on SFI.


I think that is right. It has been a long time since we studied it in year 9.

Yes, that is the ship and story associated with it. What is SFI ? and where do I go to post find it?

I will post some photos of it later on or at least a link to some.

[This message has been edited by Wyrmspleen the Incoherant (edited 10-10-2003).]

http://swordforum.com/

You need to login to enter the forums.

Am waiting for sword forum to let me post. Here are the photos of the sword:

http://www.geocities.com/wyrmspleen

Nice.