What a great historical object M Eley, not many of these utility knives survive this long, given their hard working life. To top it, the ocean environment is especially rough on gear.
I agree that this was almost certainly a sailors' knife, the marlin spike being equally as useful to a sailor as the blade (for un-doing knots and other tasks where a bit of leverage helps).
Given the extra decorative features on the knife it's possible that it belonged to a more seniour member of the (civilian?) crew and hence why it managed to survive this long.
|