Shotley Bridge swordmakers

[kronckew]

a thrust through the body was usually fatal, given the state of medicine of the times. but not always. a certain american gentleman by the name of james bowie was involved in an altercation with a number of people armed with blades on a sandbar and was run thru the lung and out the other side with a sword cane blade of similar proportions to a small sword, and managed to kill all of them, and survived himself, tho poorly for a while thereafter. hands, arms, legs were preferred first targets as if you thrust into his body, he had a lot of time to thrust into yours before succumbing, disabling him first was better, you could then finish him off at leisure. (there is an artery that runs across the inside of your elbow that, if nicked and left unattended during a scuffle, can bleed you out in a couple minutes, and disabling you a lot sooner. ditto on the vena cava inside your thigh, or the neck veins/arteries. there are also a number of areas where a thrust would miss vital organs completely. see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wj6Drp7hWhY if you are not squeemish. (he died young after thinking he could swallow a steel needle)