Fighting Arts Of SH

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The Fighting Arts of Sherlock Holmes

For more details, Google ‘The Fighting Arts of Sherlock Holmes’ for a

two-part article by the Bartitsu Society.

Dr. Watson's summary list of Sherlock Holmes's strengths and

weaknesses in A Study in Scarlet includes: “Is an expert singlestick

player, boxer, and swordsman.”

BARTITSU

"We tottered together upon the brink of the fall. I have some

knowledge, however, of baritsu, or the Japanese system of wrestling,

which has more than once been very useful to me. I slipped through his

grip, and he with a horrible scream kicked madly for a few seconds, and

clawed the air with both his hands. But for all his efforts he could not

get his balance, and over he went."

- Sherlock Holmes in "The Empty House"

BOXING

"Not Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" roared the prize-fighter. "God's truth! how

could I have mistook you? If instead o' standin' there so quiet you had

just stepped up and given me that cross-hit of yours under the jaw, I'd

ha' known you without a question. Ah, you're one that has wasted your

gifts, you have! You might have aimed high, if you had joined the

fancy."

- Sherlock Holmes in "The Sign of the Four"

"The next few minutes were delicious. It was a straight left against

slogging ruffian. I emerged as you see me. Mr. Woodley went home in

a cart."

- Sherlock Holmes in "The Solitary Cyclist."

FENCING

"Bar fencing and boxing I had few athletic tastes."

- Sherlock Holmes in "The Adventure of the Gloria Scott"

SINGLE-STICK

"I'm a bit of a single-stick expert, as you know. I took most of them on

my guard. It was the second man that was too much for me."

- Sherlock Holmes in "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client"

THE FAVORITE WEAPON - A LOADING HUNTING CROP

In "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons" Watson claims that a "loaded

hunting crop" was Holmes’ favourite weapon. "Loading" refers to the

practice of filling a weapon with lead to increase its bludgeoning potential.

"The light flashed upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes’s hunting crop

came down on the man’s wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone floor."

- John Watson in "The Red-Headed League"

HOLMES WAS ALSO AN EXCELLENT SHOT

"When Holmes in one of his queer humors would sit in an arm-chair

with his hair trigger and a hundred Boxer cartridges, and proceed to

adorn the opposite wall with a patriotic V.R [the royal monogram for

Queen Victoria] done in bullet pocks, I felt that neither the

atmosphere nor the appearance of the room was improved by it"

- John Watson in "The Red-Headed League"

Using .450 short-barreled Webley Metropolitan Police revolver in

The Sign of the Four, Holmes, with some help from Watson, was

able to pick off a Pygmy Andaman Islander at a fair distance from

the deck of one moving steam launch to another.

In The Hound of the Baskervilles, Holmes dispatched the "hound of hell" by emptying "five barrels into the

creature’s flank" in semi-darkness under the most harrowing circumstances, as the beast was savaging Sir

Henry Baskerville who, thanks to Holmes, survived the attack.