09-10-2012, 11:43 PM
Some while ago some gents here in the Netherlands announced they would duplicate the Batavians and cross a modern day river. I did some research then trying to save them from a fatality and one of the things that struck me is that although the Batavians are descibed as crossing rivers in full kit, it doesn't say "swim" ... Well, at least not in the bits I came across. A horse can swim very strongly AND the rivers then did not resemble Dutch rivers now. Being a delta, we had rivers winding through broad floodplanes with changing beddings in undeep channels due to meandering frequently. This also means rivers were not very deep over large area's/ expanse's.
So how does a true Batavian cross a river in the most likely scenario? Ride the horse in as far as it will go walking, slide off and hold onto the pommel of the saddle, still able to steer your horse. The water will take most of the soldiers weight and the swimming horse will support the extra weight which would otherwise drag the soldier down. The horse pulls you towards the other bank, no floundering around in mail at all. Just stick with your horse, remount when it regains its footing and wring out your armour, then stick it to them :-)
Which is totally off topic, but perhaps of interest.
So how does a true Batavian cross a river in the most likely scenario? Ride the horse in as far as it will go walking, slide off and hold onto the pommel of the saddle, still able to steer your horse. The water will take most of the soldiers weight and the swimming horse will support the extra weight which would otherwise drag the soldier down. The horse pulls you towards the other bank, no floundering around in mail at all. Just stick with your horse, remount when it regains its footing and wring out your armour, then stick it to them :-)
Which is totally off topic, but perhaps of interest.