British Naval Officer’s 5-Ball Dirk – Universal Swords

This British Naval Officers Dirk has a tempered blade of EN9 high carbon steel. The 5-Ball beaded crossguard and pommel are of brass and the grip is faux ivory with a inlaid cigar band of brass with an engraved anchor and the cypher of the British Crown. It comes with a black leather scabbard with brass fittings and hanging rings.

This Naval dirk is a companion blade to the British Naval Spadroon called Admiral Nelsons Fighting Spadroon on our site. Naval spadroons of this design, while unofficial, were common among Royal Navy Officers after 1786 until 1805 and were a naval-themed version of the official of the 1786 pattern British Army spadroons.

Until the ascendency of the 1805 regulation pattern sword, British naval officers were expected to purchase their own swords and dirks and had considerable freedom in their choice of sidearms. What they carried often followed the fashions of the day; over time they would commonly carry hanger swords, gentlemanly smallswords and finally spadroons.

This dagger is a matching blade to a British naval spadroon and would have been worn with its larger counterpart to create a striking ensemble for the British Officer in the age of Fighting Sail. No mere dagger, the blade for this dirk is long enough that it may rather qualify as a short sword to many! It could certainly leave a very fatal puncture wound in an unfortunate sailor in the close confines of shipboard combat; a wound that was almost all but certainly beyond the skills and humble tools of a shipboard naval surgeon to rectify.