Author: Ian Watts

The United States Lines Archive at the American Merchant Marine Museum on the campus of the United States Merchant Marine Academy holds a trove of United States Lines official photographs from the 1930s and 1940s. Among them is a small collection illustrating the uniforms worn by the company’s unlicensed crew. This essay will describe the uniforms and the context for their wear, along with a discussion of their U.S. Navy analogues. In analyzing them, I will show how the uniforms have similarities with and differ from those worn in the U.S. Navy, and shed light on the ever-elusive subject of period merchant seamen uniforms.

During its heyday in the 1930s and up until the eve of the Second World War, United States Lines attempted to control the image of its seamen through the wear of standard uniforms. This move followed the lead of its European steamship company rivals where they placed their employees in uniforms similar to those of their national navies. Not surprising for the period, the garb United States Lines chose was not too dissimilar from that of the U.S. Navy. This move not only promoted a professional appearance among the ranks but also acted as a potent semaphore for ship passengers; wearing U.S. Navy-like uniforms with their relatively familiar visual cues enabled the passenger to quickly evaluate a crewmember’s place within the ship’s hierarchy. And, whereas welcome aboard booklets detailed the reefer and uniform insignia lexicon of licensed personnel, the intricacies of unlicensed crew – Ordinary and Able Bodied Seamen – uniforms remained unstated. The company assumed the passenger could understand the latter through memetics.

At the turn of the last century, the U.S. Navy moved from a model of wooden ships and iron men to one of mechanized warfare. In turn, naval warfare became less an art than a process. Within this rubric, U.S. Navy leadership preserved the underpinnings of its rigid caste system and elaborated upon it the minute codification of an enlisted sailors’ place within the organization and their roles. This system reached its zenith in the pre-war Navy wherein the U.S. Navy organized the various trades of its sailors into specialty ratings – occupational categories with discrete tasks in which a sailor is proficient – and rate – seniority by virtue of knowledge mastery often gained by time in service. In 1905, the number of ratings numbered sixteen, and almost thirty by 1941. The rating and rate of an enlisted sailor found its way to their uniform sleeve through a series of patches. These patches had idiosyncratic, yet nautical symbols for the trade – such as a “closed clew iron” for Sailmaker’s mate or a “screw” for Boilermaker – and chevron hashes for rate. Chevrons were additive – the greater the number of chevrons marked a sailor with greater proficiency at their trade and responsibility than those without. For a fledgling sailor who did not rate a specialty, their occupation branch was specified by a colored strip on the sleeve seam of their dress and undress uniforms: white or blue (on winter or summer uniforms, respectively) for seamen, and red for fireman. Evocative names were colloquially given for a sailor’s place of work: a seaman aloft in the tops or with work centered on the fo’c’stle and quarterdeck, was “Of the Line”; artificers crafting parts in the ship’s workshop were “Below Decks”; and firemen stoking the boilers in the engine compartment were members of the “Black Gang.” The colors further reinforced the place of work: white for sails, and red for coal fires. That said, the U.S. Navy modified ratings and their identification over time. From 1833 to 1866, the rating badge was worn on the left or right sleeve as determined by tradition. Captain-of-the-Hold, Quartermaster, Quarter Gunner, Sailmaker’s Mate, and Ship’s Corporal had their rating badge on the left sleeve, whereas Boatswain’s Mate, Captain-of-the-Tops, Cook, and Gunner’s Mates wore their badges on the right. In 1866, only Petty Officers “Of the Line” or Deck ratings wore their badges on the right sleeve – e.g. Boatswain’s Mate, Captain-of-the-Tops and Fo’c’stle, Coxswain, Gunnersmates, Master-At-Arms, and Quartermasters – and all others including the relatively newly-created engine room ratings placed their badges on the left. Ships were divided into two watch sections, Port and Starboard; and these were divided into quarters. Throughout the 1800s, sailors wore short, gradated lengths of white or blue tape denoting their watch sections; tape on the left sleeve denoted Port watch and right for Starboard. With fleet mechanization in 1886, the watch tapes were abolished and regulations stated the rating badge worn on the sleeve now corresponded to the watch section of the wearer; thus sailors in the Port watch section wore their badge on the left sleeve, while the Starboard section wore their badges on the right regardless of rating. In 1913, this system was revised and Petty Officers “Of The Line” wore their badges on their right sleeve while all others wore their badges on their left sleeve. This system continued for the duration of the Second World War. By 1949, all rating badges went to the left sleeve. Thus altogether, patches, stripes, and chevrons acted as a sailor’s visual resúmé. By contrast, unlicensed merchant seamen – the ratings of the civil marine – were not so meticulously marked by seniority or overtly uniformed by trade.

Merchant ship crews did not have same caste strictures as their counterparts in the U.S. Navy; rather, they operated within a system bound by stratified roles. Seniority in shipboard position, license-status, and union affiliation divided seamen, not regulations. These factors, coupled with personal taste and tradition, influenced what a seaman would wear, but did not dictate a formal uniform as was the case for sailors in the U.S. Navy. When a seaman wore a uniform, it was at the mandate of the company that employed them or that of their union. During the interwar years, the military and civil maritime professions held a complementary relationship with each other in terms of uniforms. Both U.S. Navy officers and merchant marine licensed officers visited the same tailors and wore the same cut of uniform; the main difference between the two was what buttons and cap badges they chose from a tailor’s card. The same craft industry also manufactured articles of wear for both enlisted sailors and unlicensed seamen; dungarees and chambray shirts came from the same source.

In the years leading up to and during the Second World War, maritime workers unionized en masse and came to dictate the terms of their employment. Concurrent with the ascendency of maritime unions, uniforming of unlicensed seamen became a contentious topic. Militant unions resisted its members wearing a uniform, while others actively promoted its members to wear one. On one extreme, the National Maritime Union not only pushed for legislation against unlicensed crew to wear anything remotely looking like a uniform save a union pin; whereas the Masters, Mates, and Pilots Union went as far as to design and promote insignia evoking those of the U.S. Navy. Despite eschewing regimentation, members of the Sailors Union of the Pacific cultivated an image evocative of a uniform: black Frisco jeans, white derby hats, and Hickory shirts. The argument promoted by the Congress of Industrial Organizations’ and the National Maritime Union (NMU) was if a merchant seaman wore a uniform, the enemy might mistake them for a member of the military. The concern was if a seaman found themselves captured by a hostile force, the enemy would treat them like a combatant; as an aside, this was a pointless argument, since merchant seamen were captured just the same, placed in prisoner-of-war camps, and sometimes executed – regardless of union status, or uniform or not. However, it was the company and the master of the ship who had the final say in what a crewmember did or did not wear. Often, in the name of preserving shipboard harmony, a master would only prescribe uniforms for licensed members of the crew to instill a sense of authority over the unlicensed.

In the case of United States Lines, in the years before the Second World War, the company mandated uniforms. It is no surprise that unlicensed members of the ship’s crew looked quite similar to their enlisted U.S. Navy counterparts; the marked difference being a lack of rank and rate insignia. Similar uniforms were an economic measure where the company did not need to contract custom work to ship chandlers since U.S Navy uniform stock was always readily available among suppliers. The lack of distinctive insignia patches precluded the invention of an evolving array of ship-wide rates – which most unions shunned and were pointless in a civilian setting. The company limited formal insignia to licensed officers and members of the steward’s department. Hence, having no rating patch was marker enough of one’s status aboard.

1930s

The 1930s were the heyday of the United States maritime fashion. Both civilian and military mariners wore an array of non-interchangeable uniforms depending up the season and context of work. In an enlisted sailor’s seabag there were winter dress, undress, and work uniforms; these were mirrored where practical in summer, often with the uniform colors in negative. As headwear went, there was the flat hat, the “white cotton domed hat” or simply “white hat” (also known at the time as the “Bob Evans hat”), and knit wool caps. For heavier wear, there was the pea coat, wool jersey, or denim coat, and for rain, the oilskin slicker. The United States Lines unlicensed seaman, to some extent, wore virtually the same.

USL Winter Dress Uniform, 1930s

The U.S. Navy Service Dress Blue was a woolen uniform prescribed for Enlisted sailors under the rank of Chief Petty Officer for dress wear in temperate climates and during fall and winter. It was comprised of a flat hat, silk neckerchief, jumper, and trousers. All components were dark-blue except for the cap tally and the neckerchief both being black. The jumper’s cuffs had white tape as well as a back flap that had the same white piping along its border. The trousers had a 13-button broadfall front opening, a lace-up back to adjust for size, and flared trouser leg bottoms. On occasion, a white hat was worn in less formal settings.

The U.S. Navy uniform was adorned with insignia indicating a sailor’s rating, rate, and department. White tape stripes on the sleeve cuffs denoted the pay grade for rated and un-rated sailors holding rank below Petty Officer. A sailor would be considered un-rated before attendance and graduation from specialty schools. No stripe would denote a trainee, one stripe an Apprentice Seaman and Seaman Third Class at Pay Grade 7, two stripes a Seaman Second Class at Pay Grade 6, and three stripes for a Seaman First Class at Pay Grade 5. Stripes around the sleeve opening would be worn prior to specialization. All seamen wore a distinguishing branch or department mark on the seam of the jumper – white for seamen “Of the Line” of the deck department and red for firemen of the engineering department.

At first glance, the United States Lines unlicensed seamen’s dress uniform appears as a facsimile of the U.S. Navy enlisted uniform. A closer look contradicts this impression. For United States Lines unlicensed seamen, there was no flat hat like their U.S. Navy counterparts; instead, they wore a white hat. They did wear the same square-knotted black silk neckerchief; however, this is the only actual similarity in dress uniforms. United States Lines unlicensed seamen had a distinct lack of tape on the cuffs and no distinguishing branch stripe. Moreover, the United States Lines unlicensed seamen wore the button-fly trousers; whereas U.S. Navy sailors wore 13-button broadfall trousers the lace-up backs. Concerning broadfall trousers, civilian mariners did not wear them; in fact, in the complement of wartime U.S. Maritime Service Training Organization-issued uniforms, button-fly trousers (and later zipper-fly trousers) were the rule. The use of U.S. Navy dress blouses for undress was not uncommon among other maritime organizations before the Second World War – cadets wore the same unadorned blouses at the various state-run nautical schools.

USL Winter Work Uniform, 1930s

Undress denoted a general duty working uniform made of wool for the enlisted sailor worn in temperate weather conditions. The “undress” designation indicated the uniform was not meant for dress wear rather for work above deck or in an office or classroom setting. Undress uniforms were worn with or without the neckerchief depending on the sailor’s job designation and the task at hand. An undress jumper was simplified in construction, not adorned with white piping, and had flared sleeve openings instead of buttoned cuffs. The trousers remained broadfall. The hat was the sailor’s white hat or black-dyed wool watch cap. In cold weather, the sailor was prescribed to wear a heavy, worsted-wool pea coat with a rating and rate badge on the sleeve; the buttons on the coat were adorned with an anchor and thirteen stars.

The U.S. Navy and United States Lines shared a basic configuration of work uniforms for use in the Winter: both had their enlisted sailors and unlicensed seamen in undress uniforms, pea coats, and black-dyed wool watch caps. Unlike the U.S. Navy, United States Lines unlicensed seamen did not wear white hats in the winter; and, United States Lines used the same jumper in both a dress and work setting, suggesting unlicensed crew in a work setting kept to a high standard of personal appearance or the company desired a light seaman’s seabag.

Some companies went as far as to change the buttons on crew uniforms with company livery; United States Lines did not follow this current for their unlicensed crew – their buttons were of plain hardened rubber or gutta-percha sap. Unlike the U.S. Navy pea coat, United States Lines buttons lacked the motif of stars ringing an anchor; this precedent was followed in later years by the War Shipping Administration when it uniformed trainees during the Second World War.

The 1930s United States Lines pea coat was of the same cut as that adopted by the War Shipping Administration, Training Organization during the Second World War.

USL Summer dress uniform, 1930s

Before the Second World War, U.S. Navy sailors wore a white uniform in the summer months and tropics. Instead of wearing the blue flat hat, they wore the white hat, and their dress jumpers were white except for the flap and cuffs – both remaining blue. The flap was detachable. The trousers were flared and were button fly without a lace-up back. Undress whites had an integral white flap and open cuffs. The undress white also had the sailor’s last name stenciled below the jumper’s neck opening.

The United States Lines Summer Dress uniform is same as the U.S. Navy Undress whites, except for the addition of a black silk neckerchief and lack of stencil.

Summer Work uniforms in United States Lines is exactly the same as the United States Lines Winter Dress uniform with the exception of the uniform lacking a neckerchief. This representation of a work uniform may be for a seaman in passenger spaces, and not doing deck work. These uniforms are a complete departure from U.S. Navy tradition and custom. I suspect this is captioned incorrectly and the actual above-decks work uniforms follow the U.S. model: whites without neckerchief.

USL Dungarees, 1930s

The U.S. Navy enlisted sailor wore dungarees below decks, out of the public eye or above decks doing particularly dirty work. In the mechanized Navy, sailors engaged in chipping, painting, shining, and scrubbing compartments all day, every day while in port or out at sea; thus dungarees were part and parcel of a sailor’s everyday rig. Less commonly Officers and on occasion Chief Petty Officers also wore dungarees if the work they were engaged in might soil their dress. During the 1930s, these uniforms were without insignia and the headwear for the enlisted sailor varied depending upon season: white hat for summer and fall, and knit wool cap for winter. Chief Petty Officers and officers wore their combination-style caps with dungarees if out of doors. Candid images from Archives and Ocean Ferry allude to the same with United States Lines seamen following the same; Able Seamen having the relative status to that of U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officers.

In winter and fall, sailors wore work coats made of blue denim with two lower patch pockets and matching, flared trousers. These trousers were made of denim and had a white lace-up in the seat. Sailors could wear navy blue sweaters in cold weather. In warmer weather, a cotton blue chambray work shirt would be worn under the work coat. The United States Lines seaman deviated from the U.S. Navy model in terms of trousers. The trousers – although dungaree – were non-standard and of cut and style at the seaman’s prerogative. All shirts during the period were blue chambray with apparently thin metal buttons – matching those of period U.S. Navy shirts.

1940s

The U.S. Navy carried the same standards of uniform dress from the 1930s into the 1940s. Work clothes and dress uniforms remained the same, except the U.S. Navy began experimenting with rank insignia worn on collars and khaki uniforms. The United States Lines maintained its uniforms, although it appears it took cues in work clothes from the U.S. Navy. Among the unlicensed crew, there was still a lack of distinguishing insignia. The photographs in this section detail uniforms found on the SS America; this ship was in the United States Lines fleet relatively briefly – from 1939-1941 before requisition by the U.S. Navy and commissioned as the USS Wakefield.

USL Winter Work Uniform, 1940s

One of the most marked changes noted in United States Lines Winter Work Uniforms is the denim trousers. Instead of straight-legged trousers rolled at the cuff, the merchant seaman in the photograph is wearing flared-leg trousers with patch pockets.  He is wearing a self-purchased leather belt; in terms of wear, he is not observing the how U.S. Navy sailors would wear the belt – buckle in line with the shirt and trouser openings – rather it is centered with the trouser pocket in a side-hitch. This was a practical measure; the buckle was not smooth like a U.S. Navy buckle and could become caught on rigging or other hazards on deck, or had the potential to damage white work. In the first photograph he wears a chambray shirt and knit wool cap, as would his contemporaries in the U.S. Navy.

In the second photograph, the dark blue or navy work shirt cut mirrored, period U.S. Navy-period worsted wool work shirts with 25 ligne black anchor-embossed buttons. This shirt’s use in the U.S. Navy has a convoluted use and is a marker for period uniforms. It was first written into regulation in 1917 as a pullover shirt with a rolled collar with three black buttons; it was redesigned in 1922 as a pullover shirt with a pointed collar, three black anchor rubber buttons, and without pockets. Uniform Regulations United States Navy, Change 5 – which was approved between 1924 and 1929 – not only changed the shirt to a button-up design as worn by the United States Lines seaman but also called for two patch pockets with flaps. At this time, Chief Petty Officers and Officers exclusively wore the shirt; it was, in effect an undress uniform shirt when a jacket and shirt and tie were impractical. This shirt “of conventional design” remained in stasis until May 1941 until new regulations dictated the removal of the right chest pocket and prescribed a four-in-hand tie to be worn with the shirt. Postwar, both pockets returned per regulations published in 1951; regulations in 1947 did not specific the existence or not have “patch pockets.” Wear of the shirt fell out of favor and was replaced with khaki shirts of various weights until it was revived in the Fleet in the 1970s. Despite the coming and going of the shirt outside of Vickery Gate, it remained a fixture at the United States Merchant Marine Academy with two patch pockets with flaps up until the 1980s; postwar, Kings Pointers wore with it a distinctive gray four-in-hand tie. There is no stated rationale for the omission of the pocket.

Summer Work Uniform, 1940s

The United States Lines seaman deviates completely from the dress of a U.S. Navy enlisted sailor in his Summer Work Uniform. In the above photograph, the merchant seaman is wearing the second model of the blue flannel shirt except it is constructed of bleached duck cloth; it has three black unadorned buttons and a deep collar placket. The trousers are of lighter material. The seaman is wearing a white sailor hat, which his contemporaries in the U.S. Navy would wear.

USL Dungaree Uniform, 1940s

The U.S. Navy adopted the familiar blue chambray shirt and dungaree trousers in the 1930s. It was based on the common industrial wear of the time; with the noted exception of the trousers, being flared for easy use to roll up when swabbing deck or coming ashore from a launch. It was an all-season uniform that was prohibited to be worn off-ship or off-station. It was worn with a white hat when topside. When the shirt was first introduced, it was not worn with any insignia, patch or pin of any sort. This remained the case throughout the wars up until the 1950s. The United States Lines unlicensed seaman wears the same – having abandoned lace-up back dungaree trousers.

The white hat worn by the merchant seaman deserves some mention. In the war years, the U.S. Navy issued hats with the same design as the white hats, only made of dungaree-material, and War Shipping Administration trainees started to wear navy blue hats in 1943. The navy blue hats were exclusive to the Merchant Marine, and sailors in the submarine force often wore dungaree hats. This rule of thumb is useful in sailor versus seaman identification – especially when considering photos such as the one above.

It is easy to confuse uniforms worn by individuals in the U.S. Merchant Marine and U.S. Navy especially from the decade before the Second World War since the two groups dressed similarly. Just as the chambray shirt and dungaree trousers are found in both communities, so is the white hat and jumper with a flap – thus, errors in identification are partially due to benign misunderstandings arising from those in the maritime trades sharing similar clothing items. Not discussed in this essay is the further misunderstanding that the merchant seaman was a de jure member of the armed services. In reviewing photographs from the United State Lines Archive, I hopefully shed light on some of the subtle differences the untrained eye might pass over.

Many thanks are due to the following individuals for giving me access to materials at the United States Lines Archive and for giving me important hints on period garb:
Dr. Joshua Smith of the American Merchant Marine Museum, Mr. Robert Sturm, Curator at the United States Lines Archive, and Mr. Justin Broderick of uniform-reference.net