Elgin “Cutlass” Pistol
- At September 04, 2021
- By Great Quail
- In White Leviathan
0
Statistics
1838, USA, muzzle-loading caplock. Caliber .30, Base Range 10, Capacity 1, Rate of Fire 1/3, Damage: 1D6, Blade 1D4+DB, Malfunction 97, Rare. Note: If the blade is used prior to firing the pistol, each round of mêlée combat contributes 5% to a cumulative chance that the pistol will misfire—the ball becomes unseated, the percussion cap is lost, etc.
Description
One of the best-known examples of a “sword pistol,” this nasty piece of work was produced under government contract by C.B. Allen of Springfield, Massachusetts. Most Elgin pistols consist of little more than George Elgin’s 11” Bowie knife fused to the frame of a .54 caliber flintlock; however this smaller .30 caliber variant features an ivory handle and “fire blue” hammer. Every Elgin pistol is issued with a leather sheath tipped in German silver.
Notes
Curiously, the Elgin was the first caplock pistol made for U.S. armed forces. The Navy purchased 150 Elgin pistols to accompany Charles Wilkes’ United States Exploring Mission of 1838–1842. A massive expedition to survey the Pacific Ocean, the project was one of the greatest scientific endeavors of the time, an extension of American colonialism that helped open the Pacific for development. Circumnavigating the globe, the Wilkes expedition charted the western coastlines of North and South America, reached all the way to Antarctica, and explored the Pacific Islands essential to the American whaling industry. The scientific knowledge acquired placed the United States at the forefront of oceanography, and the samples gathered helped fill the halls of the new Smithsonian Institution.
The mission was not without its share of controversy. The tyrannical “Commodore” Wilkes lost two ships, humiliated his officers, brutalized his sailors, and presided over a massacre of Fiji natives. Court-martialed upon returning, Wilkes eventually covered himself with additional infamy as the captain of the U.S.S. San Jacinto, the American ship that triggered the Trent affair in the early days of the Civil War.
White Leviathan > Chapter 1—Kingsport 1844 Handouts
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Author: A. Buell Ruch
Last Modified: 30 July 2023
Email: quail (at) shipwrecklibrary (dot) com
White Leviathan PDF: [TBD]