09-10-2012, 07:19 PM
Quote:The one group recorded as swimming in their kit fully armoured were the Batavians.The guy in mail looks like he was swimming properly, albeit with no extra kit (not even a sword belt - is he being punished?!). There's an interesting video here showing a guy from the MyArmoury forums trying to swim in plate armour - he manages ten feet in forward stroke, proving that falling into water wasn't an immediate death sentance in plate. With intensive, specialist trianing, it might be possible to swim in such a weight. That harness weighed 50lbs, for the sake of comparison.
It was one of their claims to fame which made them a specialist Auxillia unit.
however, watching the 'swimmer' he was not exactly doing what the whole group do. Looked more like he was being made to put his money where his mouth was. :grin: And it doesn't look like his feet have left the bottom. The guy in the seg is wadeing too. Ive seen that picture before on ~FB as well. Great photos though.
In the case of the Batavians, I think the usual interpretation is that they swam with their horses, which could presumably carry the weight of the soldier's weapons leaving the Batavian either in his undergarments or armoured (mail might be worse than plate in this regard however). Anyone know how buoyant an auxiliary shield might be?