Forte (fencing) Capo Ferro defined the forte as the blade from the hilt to the middle. From the middle to the top is known as the debole. For the debole only, the edges are labeled true and false, the former being the lower edge when the sword is held horizontally. The flats of the sword are not named. By contrast, fencing master Salvator Fabris divides the debole into two sections, the third and fourth part (the first and second are divisions of the forte). The third part, midway to three quarters of the way to the tip, is ineffective but not entirely
French frigate Forte (1794) The French took off her crew, except for two seamen and a boy, and put "Forte"s fourth officer and 13-man prize crew aboard "Lord Hawkesbury" with orders to sail to Île de France. On her way there one of the British seamen, who was at the helm, succeeded in running her aground on the east coast of Africa a little north of the Cape, wrecking her. There were no casualties, but the prize crew became British prisoners. "Forte" took part in the Action of 8 September 1796, where the frigates drove off two British 74-guns. In 1797, "Forte" and "Prudente"