grapnel

[Titvs Statilivs Castvs]

I've read about a recruit of the Alexandrian Fleet who sent a letter to his father in which he requested for a sword, an axe, grapnel and 2 spears.'gladium pugnatorium et dolabrum et copulam et longas duas quam optimas...' my latin is not that good but that signifies a dolabra type axe to me.

Hi Yves!
I don't think we should take the word "dolabrum" to mean what we use it for nowadays. Probably it is just a generic word for 'axe'. (I don't know this for sure, but I suppose it's like gladius/spatha and scutum/clipeus, all four being generic words for sword and shield to the Romans, without meaning a specific type.) A dolabra, in the sense as we use it now (for the kind of 'pick-axe'), seems very unwieldy to use on a ship. I would rather expect a "single-bladed" axe; but an expectation is no evidence of course. :wink:
I did a quick search on Gnomon (database for publications) with the term "grapnel" but no results. I haven't got access to l'Année Philologique at the moment.