The boarding axe found by Captain John Curiale of the salvage vessel, "Romans Eight", during the 1999 dive season is an excellent example of rare Spanish weaponry. Although most boarding axes appear much the same, there are small differences in the construction of each. Each naval power seems to have its own distinctively shaped axe. The English boarding axe differs from the Danish, and the Danish from the French. The Spanish axe has a more streamlined shape than the rest. This axe is in good condition with the only significant loss of metal occurring at the point where the axe handle enters the head of the axe. This axe should compare with some of the best examples recovered from a Spanish shipwreck.

Weapon and tool, the axe was carried to sea by sailors in time before memory, and there has remained into present as the ships fire axe. Accordingly axes were known by many names. By the time of the American Revolution, they were noted in ships manifests, armory receipts, ordinance lists as battle axe, pole axes, sometimes simply axes, or hatchets. ’’The axe was carried by boarders and used to damage the enemy’s ship, cut up his rigging, hack through a spar and smash through a bulkhead. It was a weapon of destruction, but, of course, still basically an axe with a spike at the back. It was also useful in emergencies for cutting away ropes or spars which threatened to endanger the ship". (Dictionary of Tools, used in the woodworking and allied trades, Ca.1700 1970, R.A. Salaman, Pg49). During the French and Indian war and well into the American Revolution, The Spiked Poll, or Spiked Axe was in use in North America by the colonists and seems to have been especially popular with the Iroquois Indians. The resemblance between this spiked tomahawk, and the boarding axe is notable. The tomahawk is smaller and lighter, but the overall shape is remarkably similar. "Although a lethal weapon and useful tool the spiked tomahawk was dangerous and uncomfortable to carry". (Swords and Blades of the American Revolution, George C. Neumann, Promontory Press.Pg259).

By whatever name, or for whatever navy, the boarding axes work was the same. The boarding axe’s distinguishing characteristics was of a pick head opposing an axe head. From earliest times, fire aboard ship was one of the deadliest perils imaginable. Because of their mass, hot shot was impossible to extinguish even by repeated sloshings with water. If a ship came under fire from a shore fortification there was the danger of furnace-heated cannonballs striking the timbers or masts and becoming embedded. The only way to deal with them was to hack and pick them free. Their value as a fire tool alone would insure a place aboard wooden warships, but because of their versatility they had other uses that were equally important.

As various forms of dismantling shot came into use; masts and rigging were commonly shot down, putting the ship at risk. With masts, spars and tons of other debris laying on deck and dragging alongside, the vessel could not maneuver to fight or flee, making her an easy target, certain to be boarded or simply pounded to rubble by an opponent lying off at a distance. The boarding axe was the tool used to clear the decks of twisted lines and broken timbers. The hook of the axe was used to drag debris across the decks and over the side while the axe head was, of course, the cutting edge. The sloping shape of the blade underbelly made it useful as a rope hook also. The evolution of the battle axe’s role as an emergency shipboard tool alone guaranteed its retention in the worlds navies.

As a weapon the boarding axe continued to be listed in naval inventories mostly as a backup weapon for that portion of the crew not designated as boarders. If facing enemy boarders, the boarding axe provided the crew with a ready arms reserve. There are references to its having been issued to boat parties. "It was to be cutlasses and tomahawks". Captain Preble reporting on Decatur’s night attack on the frigate Philadelphia in Tripoli harbor. (Preble to Tobias Lear, U.S.Consul General at Algiers Feb.19, 1804. A Most Fortunate Ship pg.56.Tyrone G Martin Captain, U.S.S. Constitution). By 1747 Mountaine’s The Practical Sea Gunners Companion lists under gunners stores: "the number of pole axes, well steeled issued being 50 to ships of 100,90,80 and 64 guns; and 20 to 20 gun ships". (Boarders Away. Wm. Gilkerson pg.30 Vol. 1.Published by Andrew Mobray, Inc. Old Louisquisset Pike, Lincoln R.I.).With a handle length of between 15 and 33 inches and sometimes equipped with a lanyard at the end, it could deliver a nasty, and no doubt, fatal blow-a weapon to be greatly feared.

As is the case with so many utilitarian items, what was once common is now scarce. Today there are so few left in existence that the boarding axe is one of the rarest weapons of naval warfare. A simple tool, not very useful ashore, the boarding axe is a tool of the sea. Of all the European powers, Spain was by far the most conservative in regards to its weapons. While the Spanish navy was very important to the maintenance of the colonies, its weaponry was as obsolete as its organization. As an example of this, the 1733 Spanish fleet carried matchlock muskets. This was almost 100 years after the other navies changed to flintlock muskets. In all of Madrid’s Naval museum, one can scarcely find a small arm of naval origin from this period of study. Because of this disregard for naval weapons, as the older weapons were used up they were discarded. They may or may not have been replaced. If a new model or type was issued, the army was sure to get it first and the now, obsolete styles were foisted on the navy. The boarding axe being strictly a naval weapon would have been among the last tools or weapons on the list of priorities scheduled for replacement.

Our example has only a socketed head and no langets, or side straps. The langets proved to be a very secure system for attaching the handle. The langets also provided protection for the wooden handle. The axe that we are dealing with would likely have had a wedge driven into handle at the socket like a modern-day hammer. The wedge has always provided a tight fit and was probably used with the langet-equipped axes as well. There is no belt hook remaining and if there was one, it was fitted under the socket head attached to handle, and not integral to the forged piece. The wood used for the handle was likely to be oak, ash, or any tough, straight -grained hardwood.

In the collection of axes held by the Florida Archaeological Research Department it can be seen that of the two dozen or so, roughly half are marked. One axe has an asterisk chiseled into the right side, and comes from the 1715 fleet. Another having a single asterisk is estimated to have been made in 1618One example, dating to 1622, shows four "X’’s, each inside of a recessed circle. A mortising axe, circa 1700,has the marks "H 3", imprinted twice, each within a recessed rectangle. Only two, or perhaps three of these marked axes are boarding axe, the remainder being more of the pole axe style, with the exception of the mortising axe. (Drawings from the State of Florida’s Laboratory Artifact Processing Records, provided by James Levy, Conservator.) Of the shipwreck salvaged axes in the State of Florida’s collection, the one that most closely resembles our example was recovered from the 1733 fleet in 1975.It has the same streamlined shape and no langets. The spike end on the 1733 head is almost straight and our axe hook has the more commonly seen downward curve. There are no markings on this recently recovered axe head, and it was, of course, hand forged from iron.

While there are few weapons of this type remaining today, our problem is, there are far fewer Spanish weapons than types from any other significant sea power. This makes the positive identification of this artifact as a Spanish weapon/tool more difficult. Fortunately we are able to compare and see that the 1733 example mentioned above is a very close match. When one considers that both of these axes were recovered from Spanish wrecksites we could, with reasonable assurance, conclude that they are both Spanish artifacts. Conserving this piece will be a straightforward process of electrolytic reduction until the salts are driven out and piece is stabilized. It will then be lightly bead-blasted and treated with Incralac to further preserve it.