UNIFORMS OF THE BRITISH NAVY
Midshipman. Admiral. Flag-Lieutenant. Secretary (Fleet Paymaster).
A "Monmouth cap" is said to have been worn by both seamen and soldiers, and to have resembled a "tam-o'-shanter", but there appears to be some doubt about it. It seems possible that it may equally well have been what we now call a "fisherman's cap", or a cap like that worn by the bands of the Household Cavalry, but with the peak turned perpendicularly upwards. We sometimes see pictures of boats' crews in such caps at about this period.
In 1706 blue seems to have been superseded by grey, seamen being directed to wear "grey jackets and red trousers, brass and tin buttons, blue and white check shirts and drawers, grey woollen stockings, gloves(!), leather caps faced with red cotton;" also "striped ticken waistcoats and breeches". Naval officers apparently wore what they pleased, though there are indications that red was the favourite colour right up to 1748, when a blue uniform with white facings and gold lace was ordered by the King. But it is said that naval officers did not take kindly to it at first, and in some ships tried to evade the order by having but one or two uniform coats on board, which were only worn by officers when sent away on duty where questions might be asked.
Red was now the recognized military colour, and, as mentioned elsewhere,[24] naval officers took a long time to forget the old military status of the commanders of the royal ships. Blue with white linings or facings is said to have been the uniform of two regiments of marines—who were "to be all fuzileers without pikes"—raised in 1690; but this had no connection with King George's selection, which is stated to have been due to his having seen the Duchess of Bedford, wife of the First Lord of the Admiralty, riding in the park in a habit of blue faced with white, which prodigiously took His Majesty's fancy. The seamen seem to have worn grey and red up to about this time, when green and blue baize frocks and trousers were provided for them. The sailor of this period is described as wearing "a little low cocked hat, a pea-jacket (a sort of cumbrous Dutch-cut coat), a pair of petticoat trousers, not unlike a Scotch kilt, tight stockings, with pinchbeck buckles on his shoes". The "little cocked hat" is elsewhere described as having its flaps tacked close down to the crown, which made it look like "a triangular apple pasty". This hat was gradually replaced by a tarpaulin or straw hat, not a bit like that worn at the present day, but more nearly resembling a low inverted flowerpot with a narrow curly brim. Short, open, blue jackets began to be worn—"round jackets" they were called—showing the check shirt or a red or buff waistcoat. The trousers were longer than previously, and round the hat was often worn a bright blue ribband bearing the ship's name. Black, or occasionally coloured, bandana handkerchiefs were loosely knotted round the neck. In Nelson's days it was a favourite practice of the seamen to sew strips of white canvas over the seams of their jackets by way of ornamentation, and to adorn them with as many buttons as possible. Pigtails were in full fashion and of a portentous length and stiffness, leading to the adoption of the square "sailor collar" to protect the cloth jackets from grease. But though a regulation uniform had been prescribed for officers there was no strict regulation as to the seaman's dress before 1857, an exact reversal of the previous state of things.
In the early part of the nineteenth century captains very often dressed their crews in "fancy rigs", but the short jacket, trousers taut on the hips and long and loose in the legs, with a straw or tarpaulin hat—now with a flat brim and lower crown—remained the general costume of the British sailor until, after the introduction of continuous service, a regulation uniform was laid down, as mentioned above. The marines, who had originally been under the War Office, and had worn different facings in their different regiments, were, in 1755, formed into the present corps under the Admiralty and dressed in red with white facings, which were changed to blue in 1802 on the occasion of the distinction "Royal" being granted them, on the representations of Lord St. Vincent, as a recognition of their services both in action and in the suppression of various disorders in the fleet. One more change was made in the uniform of naval officers, by William IV, who instituted red facings. It was a temporary one only, for in about ten years the navy was glad to be allowed to resume the time-honoured blue and white.
CHAPTER VIII
The "Turks" in the Channel
"All, all asleep within each roof, along the rocky street,
And these must be the lovers' friends, with gently sliding feet—
A stifled gasp! a dreary noise! 'The roof is in a flame!'
From out their beds, and to their doors, rush maid, and sire, and dame—
And meet, upon the threshold stone, the gleaming sabre's fall,
And o'er each black and bearded face the white or crimson shawl—
The yell of 'Allah!' breaks above the prayer and shriek and roar—
Oh, blessed God! The Algerine is lord of Baltimore!"
The Sack of Baltimore, by Thomas Osborne Davis.