Spyderco Mariner in black

[butler05]

Hello All,

In August 1987, I was issued with a new Spyderco Mariner in black as my duty operational blade in my role as a tactical team member. It accompanied me on over 300 separate operations and after 3 decades upon retiring from my career, the knife was wrapped in rust proof paper and placed in a box out of harm’s way in the attic. A few weeks ago, whilst tidying our attic, I came across the box with the knife inside. It is over 36 years since I was first issued with the knife and it is still in exceptional condition with only superficial wear to the exterior and the serrated blade is as sharp as the day it was issued.
On trying to find some history of the knife which I believe may now be somewhat scarce, I fortunately discovered your forum and wanted to share the photos with interested parties and hopefully glean a bit more knowledge on its past.

Kind Regards,

Butler0

[TazKristi]

Hi, @butler05:
Welcome to our forum. Thank you for sharing your black Mariner with us! You've taken exceptional care of it.

We hope you enjoy your time with us.

Kristi

[Manixguy@1994]

Welcome to the Forum . Your Mariner is a rare variant , according to Spydiewiki only around 50 were made , experimental coating . Your model with no vents may be a Paramedic model ? Others may have a better answer for you . MG2

[sal]

Hi Butler,

Welcome to our forum and thanx for your service.

Spyderco was the first company to experiment with these coatings. We coated a number of several models for testing. We are still coating knives, though the coatings have evolved.

sal

[okay]

Thanks for sharing Butler!

That is a really cool looking knife. It would be awesome to get an updated mariner in H2 or something.

[sal]

Hi Okay,

Welcome to our forum.

sal

[Wartstein]

Thanks for sharing Butler!

That is a really cool looking knife. It would be awesome to get an updated mariner in H2 or something.

@butler05 cool looking knife indeed, thanks for sharing the pics and the story!

@okay in a way the Atlantic Salt could be somewhat seen as an "updated Mariner in H2" ... ?

[okay]

Thanks for sharing Butler!

That is a really cool looking knife. It would be awesome to get an updated mariner in H2 or something.

@butler05 cool looking knife indeed, thanks for sharing the pics and the story!

@okay in a way the Atlantic Salt could be somewhat seen as an "updated Mariner in H2" ... ?

Yes it does look like it inspired the Atlantic Salt Warstein. I was debating between the Atlantic and Pacific, and I ended up with a Pacific Salt 2 in LC200N. It arrived today, and I like it a lot so far. I do like the longer blade on the Mariner though. It just has great proportions to my eye.

[SaltyCaribbeanDfly]

Thanks for sharing Butler!

That is a really cool looking knife. It would be awesome to get an updated mariner in H2 or something.

@butler05 cool looking knife indeed, thanks for sharing the pics and the story!

@okay in a way the Atlantic Salt could be somewhat seen as an "updated Mariner in H2" ... ?

Yes it does look like it inspired the Atlantic Salt Warstein. I was debating between the Atlantic and Pacific, and I ended up with a Pacific Salt 2 in LC200N. It arrived today, and I like it a lot so far. I do like the longer blade on the Mariner though. It just has great proportions to my eye.

It’s always fun to get a new knife in the mail and the Pacific is a great one, I carry mine all the time…agree about the Mariner but that’s a rare bird to find… I also have the Atlantic and eventually you will too

[Accutronman]

They don’t make them like they used to - Mariner Salt C120S and C120P