French light cavalry sabre. This weapon is said to have been taken from an officer aboard L'Intrepide, 74, at Trafalgar. The hilt consists of a square, brass knuckle bow widened at the centre to display a lozenge, brass pommel and back-piece which extends round the bottom of the grip and stretches one quarter of the way down the front and halfway down the back of the grip, four-sided, striated, stained wooden grip, up-turned quillon, large pointed langets. The pommel projects forward of its junction with the grip for 12.5mm and is surmounted by a small decorative stud 6mm forward of the emergent tang which has no button. The langets are engraved on the obverse with 'L'INTREPIDE 74' and the reverse with 'TRAFALGAR OCTr 21st 1805'.

The blade is curved and flat-backed with a fuller extending from the shoulder to a point 122mm from the tip, and there is a 152mm long false edge. On the obverse is engraved a cutler's strap mark enfoliated, a knot of foliage, a light cavalryman (Hussar?) mounted on a rearing horse and brandishing a sabre, three drums surmounted by a cannon, trumpet and pikes, and a knot of foliage. The reverse is engraved with a cutler's strap mark enfoliated, foliage, a quadrilateral bearing a trophy of a shield surrounded by spears and flags, a knot of foliage, and foliage again. On the back of the shoulder is a flower. The scabbard is all brass with two bands in lieu of lockets each with a ring. A steel shoe has been fitted, presumably to replace a worn-out original. There is a minimum of decoration. Although no cap is fitted at the throat, it seems that one was fitted originally.

This sword is almost certainly a cavalry weapon of either the French Revolutionary or Imperial armies. The hilt is unmistakingly French (see WPN1161). There is no reason to doubt the story that it was taken from L'Intrepide, 74, at Trafalgar. L'Intrepide was captured in a very damaged state towards the end of the action and the presence of a land service sword in a warship was by no means uncommon in either the French or Royal navies.