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Show Today we propose to bring you 1 something of the tradition which has come down from antiquity thru all the navies of the world, and to explain why various customs- ar still with us, and why certain things art dene in their own special way. The sailor has ever been a rather gaudy person. In clden times raiment rai-ment sometimea rivaled Solomon ir: all his glory, and he was a runner-up runner-up to Joseph with his coat of many colors. Our first sea fights really consisted cf hand to hand conflicts between soldiers in boats, armed with sword and shield and covered with mail. The next epoch brings us down to the time of piracy and the familiar figure of the Buccaneer with his tri-ccrnerd hat, his "short jacket, his wide belt, his knee breech es, and leather boots. The naval uniforms un-iforms of this period were not sd pronounced, and in fact were a rather ra-ther nondescript collection, very little lit-tle attempt being made to dress a- like. Just prior to the time of England's Eng-land's greatest, naval hero, Lord Nelson, an attempt was made at standardization. A hat was generally gener-ally worn cf braided straw with a black band having two streamers down the back, then a short blue jacket with huge brass buttons . which was always worn open the trousers were beltless being laced with a tie-tie in the back, and a broad leather belt which covered the intervening space between the dress cf a sailor of the merchant's ship and the sailor of the navy at this time. i It was at this period that the sailor perhaps reached his peak in the realm of gaudiness. A red and 1 white horizontal striped under-1 under-1 shirt was worn beneath the blue 1 jacket, huge ear rings and nose rings were very common. Gaily colored handkerchiefs and neckerchiefs were also worn. Our navy uniform of today is an adaptation of these various features. The jumper, or blouse, is the resultant result-ant of the blue coat which was worn open and unbuttoned. The bread collar is the resultant of the sailor's attempt to display his hair in a pig-tail long after this fashion had been discarded by our forefathers. The two stars on the broad collar have been Interpreted in two different differ-ent ways, the one being the attempt to honor the stars by which the ship was steered at night, and the other reason being the attempt to commemorate the four cardinal points of the compass. The three white stripes on the jumper have long been traditional of the three famous victories of Lorn namely Copenhagen, the Nile, and Trafalgar. It was only natural that a good many cf the British customs should be adopted into cur navy. At the time of our separation from Great Britain as our mother country-many country-many cf our sea captains had served serv-ed under the British flag afloat. Many of our Americans had been trained as midshipmen under the tutelage cf British officers. It will be remembered that George Washington Wash-ington was ready to step aboard a Briti'h-man-of--ar fcr a training period as i midshipman, and was dissuaded frcm this project by the tears In the eyes of his mother when the time came for him to leave his home. The trousers cf our naval uniform have thirteen buttons at the waistband. waist-band. This has been interpreted in two ways, the first as a desire to represent rep-resent each of the thirteen original colonies, and second because of the fact that the criginal appropriation of the first Congress of the United States for the building cf ships Us fiETht the Revolutionary War, was just sufficient to build thirteen fighting fight-ing ships. There is no belt worn with the trousers of this uniform. This is because in sailing days when it was necesary to go aloft to furl or unfurl un-furl ail it was not desired to have j any loops or any aricles of clothing which could in any way be caught ! on the marline spikes and Pin rails : which were everywhere projecting. I Then too, the cured leather of those ! days was unable to withstand the , continual moisture and dampness of the sea air, and fast became of no use. Thus today in our sailor's uni- j forms, our trousers are still made ! with a waist tight fit, the waist be-j ing secured by the thirteen buttons: above mentioned, the form fitting being further assured by the gusset in the- back laced with the well-known well-known tie-tie. Before the time of motor launches and gasoline engines, access to and from the shore was obtained by rowing boats. Well made landings and docks were conspicuous by their absence, and harbors were undeveloped. undevel-oped. It was necessary quite often to come through the surf and drag the boat up on the beach out of reach of the tide. It was necessary in order to accomplish this that from four to six men should, leave the boat, go over the side and into the water. An ordinary pair of trousers would not easily roll above the knees for such a duty as this. The result was the adoption of bell Ibottcm trousers. These too . were necessary in daily life aboard ship. Due to the smallness in tonnage of sailing ships and the fact that green seas broke continuously over the top deck, it was necessary that most deck hands perform their daily tasks barefoot with their trousers so rolled, roll-ed, and thus we have the reason for the bell bottom . trousers as being simply because they more readily permit rolling them up to the thigh. It has been said that prior to the 1 time of Lord Nelson's death in the Battle of Trafalgar all British sail-. sail-. ors wore various colored neckerchiefs . nf brilliant blue, oranee and creen hues, and that after Nelson's death a black neckerchief was adopted as a mourning badge of respect for this great sailor. While this tradition strikes the heart as a matter of deep sentiment it is quite erroneous. Sailors Sail-ors of this age were accustomed to slick down their hair with a mixture of tallow in order to make their pig-tails hang stiff and straight. This greasy mixture spotted a lighter color col-or cf neckerchief to such an extent that the black neckerchief was a-dopted a-dopted first as a detachable article cf clothing which was worn as a further protection against the soiling soil-ing of the blue jacket by this same mivt.urp nf tallow. Another influence in the style of the uniform has been that of space. I There is perhaps no other organization organi-zation in the world which has exceeded ex-ceeded the navy, in their attempt to efficiently utilize the space at hand. This can be readily understood under-stood when we consider the great number of men carried on board ship as compared to the cubic capacity capa-city of the living quarters assigned. A coat and a pair cf trousers In order or-der to be presentable must be hung in a free space. The adoption of the blue flannel uniform was greatly influenced by the fact that a sailor stows his clothing in a sea-bag. and that in order to get the maximum amount of clothing in this comparatively com-paratively small sea-bag it Is necessary nec-essary to roll the uniforms into small individual cylinder shaped bunles. A blue flannel uniform and a white uniform may be so rolled and stowed that when unrolled for wear it will be absolutely impossib.'e , to detect a single wrinkle. Another ! influence In the type of uniform is i that of sanitation. The adoption of j the white and the blue and. the I type of cloth is such that a uniform may be frequently scrubbed, and the healthful working conditions for which our navy is famous are thus maintained. From antiquity we also have the custom that a sailor could fairly easily stand a watch in three, or a watch in four. This would mean that he would be on duty for four hours and off eight hours, or on duty du-ty four hours and off twelve. This was adopted as general routine, each four hours being called a watch. The half-hour glass was set at the beginning of each watch, it being the duty of one man to strike a bell each time the glass was emptied. Thus we have eight bells in a sea watch; that is, for ach four hour. the eight bells are accumulative and then start all over again. The watches at sea designated the mid-watch from midnight until four a. m., the Morning Watch from 4 a. m. to 8 a. m., the Forenoon Watch from 8 a. m. to noon, the Afternoon Watch from noon to 4 p. m., the First Dog Watch from 4 to 6, the Second Dog Watch from 6 to 8, and the First Watch from 8 p. m until Midnight. The four hours from 4 p. m. to 8 p. m. are dogged into two watches because of the fact that the 24 hours cf the day are r-qually r-qually divisible by both three and four, and thus if a watch in three or a watch in four are continuous four hour watches, each man would stand his watch the same hours of every day. By dogging the watches a iin advances one watch each day if standing a watch in four, and retard; re-tard; one watch each day if standing stand-ing a watch in three and prevents his duty hours being the same each day. The hours cf four, eight and twelve are the hcurs at which eight bells are struck; at 12:30 one bell, at 1 o'clock two bells, at 1:30 three bell-, at 2 o'clock four bells, at 2:30 five bells, and so en up to four o' clock, whon eighi bells are again struck. The same procedure is fallowed fal-lowed again: at 4:30 one bell, and so on. Thus it will never be correct to speak of more than eight bells. The only time when the bells and the hcurs coincide are at 8 o'clock in the morning and 8 o'clock at' right. ! Another tradition which has come! down to us, but which has been' sir.se cfst aside, i the assigning of j the p Wishing cf the ship's bell r.oi the ship's cock on board a naval ! vos el. This came about through 1 tradition given to us from ths French navy. During the time cf King Charles the First the French Navy had cornered a certain portion j of the English Fleet, and being superior su-perior in numbers intended to en-' en-' gage in battle and destroy .them, j as -oon as they could effect n;res-jrary n;res-jrary repairs in crder to ffeht. The ' major p: rtion of the British Fle"t was within striking distance an-.l it was desired to intercept the f 1 t frigates frcm this small portion ss 1 as to keep them from inform ii; ; the major body who would then join up and destroy the French F'eet in a combined action. Due to neglect neg-lect cn the part of the person responsible re-sponsible fcr the winding of thu ship's chronometers, the chronomet ers were allowed to run down and the navigators were unable to estimate esti-mate with any degree of accuracy their position in longitude. The result re-sult was that the English frigates slipped through the French line, in-termed in-termed the British major fleet as 10 the precarious condition of this smal.tr body which the French Fleet had surrounded, and this smaller tody was aLile to jeiu up with the British major fleet and inflict heavy -jss upon the French. King Charles became s; enraged when he discov-c.'d discov-c.'d the cause of the defeat that :ie decreed that no meal should b served ts a French sailer at noon uiiul the chronometers had been v-.eund.To this day the ship's cook iii the French navy winds the chronometers chro-nometers and strikes the bells at ncen. Our tradition merely caused liu ship's ccoks to be assigned the uty of shining and p.li.hing ths ihips bell. The la t item whish we shall mention men-tion today is really not a tradition but an adoption cf an expression which conies to us bee uise of the Navy. Abeut a hundred years a-go a-go flogging as a punishment was a common occurrence, not only in navies na-vies but aboard a'l merchant vessels a ; well. The culprit was lashed ti the gratings by his feet, and to the rigging by his wrists. All hands were piped aft ts witness punishment punish-ment and the flogging was admin -I istered by the boatswain of the ship with the well known "cat-o-nine-! tails." The cat was kept in a green canvas bag. Thus, originated th? expression "The cat's out of thi bag." At that time it meant trouble ahad, but it has deteriorated intj a mere modern version depicting a ! slip of the tongue. |