[kronckew]

I suspect that the brass quillion may have bent under impact, which may have work-hardened it a bit & it broke when being straightened, possibly then they bent/broke the other to match. a break would show a jagged appearance, which i would have smoothed by sanding & polishing.


From "British Swords and Swordsmanship, pg. 55-59 Dirks, excerpts (my rewordingss):

Midshipmen were not the young boys of fiction. For example, on HMS London, in 1751, the youngest was 17 and the oldest 47. The 1856 pattern dirk was standardized and worn by midshipmen in the latter part of the Victorian period, it is in this period that they established the fiction of the young boys, and only they wore dirks. Before that, on father found that when outfitting his son as a midshipman, expecting to buy him a dirk, was told that midshipmen wore swords. Prior to that, dirks just showed officer status, and even admirals are painted wearing them, as they were more convenient aboard ship. Midshipmen (and warrant officers had black sharkskin sword grips, white was for lieutenants and above.



I am not sure if this was true in the USA. When I was a First class cadet (midshipman), in 1968, I was a cadet officer and carried a std. white grip US naval sword on parade. The non-officers carried 1903A3 Springfield rifles. The Pershing Rifles unit carried M1 Garands & drilled with sword bayonets. (I was also a PR as Ops officer & rarely competed, but had to be able to fill in, so I got qualified in fancy trick drill myself)