The Washington herald., 1913-02-02
QUAINT UNIFORMS IN navy
DURING AMERICAS Period
Although Seamen Are Natty Appearing To-day They Were
Not Always So-Duing War Of 1872 Sailors Were
Nondescript Looking Lot of Men.

| ship life" our naval officers wore ordi
nary shore clothes"
Hammatt Billings. a conscientious ma
rine craftsman who did excellent work
| shortly after the close of the war of
| 1872, represents our midshipmen and lieu
tenants as being arrayed in long trous-
ers a leather belt into Which were thrust
pistols. a loose shirt of no special color.
pattern, or design; a short jacket of the
EtOn style with a rolling collar, and a
soft cap having a leather peak Appar-
entity the commander was privileged to
dress in any costume he pleased.
The Sailors Clothing.
II there was little uniformity among
naval officers Of the early nineteenth GEN.
tury in the matter of everyday dress,
there was even less among the sailors
Those were days when poor Jack was
happy in securing any clothing. and aside
from the general style of sailors rig"
which consisted of long trousers. a shirt
a short jacket, and the tarpaulin hat
Cworn in the merchant and naval serv-
ices alike), there was no pronounced uni
formity of dress for the wars
man.
Several instances are recorded where
the absence of uniforms led to confusion
in battle. One OF these was conspicuous
in the Chesapeake-Shannon action. When
the British boarded the Chesapeake, Act
ing Third Lieut. William Cox, of that
frigate. with a party of his men, Joined
the British boarders. supposing them to
be Americans: and was not undeceived
until he had received saber cuts and
boarding pike thrusts from behind. About
the same time Broke himself was in a
hand-to-hand struggle with an American
sailor when a British marine rushed up.
and mistaking his commander for the
American. was about to run him through
when Broke called out:
"Poh! poh! You fool! Don't you know
your captain?"
Such mistakes could not have occurred
had the officers and sailors of these two
form.
II was to avoid such serious error that
American man-o'-warsmen, toward the
close of the war, designed special marks
by which they might distinguish each
other from the enemy in cases of mix
ups" In the journal Of a seaman we
learn that in a cruise made in 1914 the
Yankee tars embroidered an American
flag, with an English ensign under il,
on the corners of their shirt collars
In another record, dealing with the
same year. We learn that the men OF
the American war brig Siren were all
supplied with stout leather caps. some
thing like those used by firemen. these
were crossed by two strips of iron, COW
cred with bear skin, and were designed
to defend the head. when boarding an
enemy's ship, from cutlass strokes. Strips
of bear skin were used to fasten them,
and, having the fur on. served the pur-
pose of false whiskers, and causing us
to look as fierce as hungry wolves"
These caps enabled the Americans to dis
tinguish between friend and foe.
English writer's on the naval war of
1872 vehemently protested against these
bear-szin caps, crossed by two strips Of
iron," charging the Americans with ''un-
fair fighting. The point is i'll taken.
however, when We recall that Vice Ad-