[GG Osborne]

According to various sources (period and otherwise), when Prince Charles Edward Stuart landed at Loch nan Umah in July, 1745, his ship of transport (provided by slaver and ersewhile privateer, Antoine Walsh) the Le du Tellay, carried a store of 1,500 firelocks and 1,800 swords.

This has intrigued me for a couple of reasons: (1) so few broadswords were recovered at Culloden and (2) no major group of obviously foreign-made baskethilts seem to be found in major collections that could be part of this shipment. Now having said that, a collector friend of mine has a baskethilt in his collection that many have identified as French due to the inverted ramshorn scrolling which forms a very nice fleu d'lys on the hilt. However, this conjecture is problematic.

My personal assumption is that the swords (presumably baskethilts) had to be of "munitions" quality since they were purchased out of the Prince's own purse (with aid from his Parisian bankers), so they couldn't have been expensive or very elaborate. A Highland levy would not have been happy with anything else, I suppose, than a baskethilt.

So, here is my question: Is anyone out there familiar with a baskethilt that has a pedigree to this shipment or has anyone come across a sword that could have been from this store?

As a side note, Donnie Shearer, the Madpiper, told me in a personal conversation last week that he had come across a reference reported to be from the Duke of Cumberland (stinkin Billie to those of a particular political persuasion!) to the effect that the Duke ordered all persons in the British army desiring to retain a sword picked up from the battlefield for their own use must have the wrist guards removed in order to be able to rended a proper Army sword salute! He is looking up the actual citatiion for me. Could this help explain why so few swords were recovered after Culloden? Has anyone else seen or come across this reference?

[Justin King]

Having recently done some reading on the battle, the number of swords captured or collected by the Government forces dosen't seem too far out of line to me. The numbers engaged on the Jacobite side were not actually very large at Culloden, indeed the number of swords supposed to have been in that shipment would have armed a good deal of the Jacobite army at any given time during the rebellion, at least as far as swords were concerned. Many other weapons would have been captured by them during the campaign, and to complicate matters, the army experienced a good deal of desertion throughout. I think a lot of the weapons that began the rising were likely not present at the final battle.

[Henrik Bjoern Boegh]

Hi George,

Very interesting. I'd like to see those French broadswords as well! I wonder... Could these broadswords actually be bare blades (unhilted)? If so, might they be the "rhyming blades"?

As swords would be captured during the entire campaign, and not just captured at Culloden, as Justin pointed out, and some wouldn't be captured at all, others (like two of Lord George Murrays' swords) broken and rendered useless: Is there a possibility that swords that were captured were simply put to use by Highland militias who may have captured some?

Cheers,
Henrik

[GG Osborne]

Good point, Henrik. The so-called "rhyming blades" certainly and undeniably have a Stuart pedigree but most seem to be dated before the '45...mostly I seem to recall around the time of the unfortunate Union of the Crowns in 1707 or earlier after the "Glorious" Rebellion. My uneducated opinion is that the "rhyming blades" are generally of an earlier period and not the cargo of the Ley du Telliry.

Does anyone (that probably is code for "Hey, Mac!") have a picture or a reference to munitions grade baskethilts of similar construction that could have been mass produced to a general pattern in the 1744-45 period? What about the "S" type baskets? They seem a bit more crude and straightforward to me, could they be the culprit?

[Henrik Bjoern Boegh]

George,
From my understanding of Wallace, there are two types of Jacobite blades:
The first type press for repealing of the Act of Union, and aim on Scottish nationalistic feelings and were probably made prior to the '15 uprising. On these blades the Stuart heir is called James VIII.
The second type, the "Rhyming blades" only adresses Jacobitism, and calls the Stuart monarch James III of Great Britain.
I believe that these are usually backsword blades in a profile very similar to the blades of basket hilted cavalery swords of the later period (1740s-->).

There are some brass basket hilted backswords manufactured for the Royal Ecossis (I think there is one in ElJay's collection) which might be similar to what may have been issued by Charlie, but these are from the post-'45 period, I think...

Cheers,
Henrik