Historic Replicas

Someone asked about the proper size for a cutlass, so here is a quick bit of info… A pirate’s cutlass would be no more than 24 to 30 inches long to allow it to be used properly in a tight space. A boarding cutlass might be slightly longer but would be quickly replaced by the classic pirate’s cutlass at 22 – 25 inches for tight close work.

I think that the movies made us think that pirate swords were very long, when really they were short and quite functionable.  Hollywood has much to answer for – they even invented ‘walking the plank’ to add drama to the screen.  I would assume that a real pirate would simply have thrown the victim overboard.