U.S. Maritime Service Commissioned and Warrant Officer hat
Winter hat; navy blue wool with wicker frame, ½-in. wide. gold bullion chinstrap and two 22½-ligne gilt cap screws. (note: if strap is ¼-in., hat would be that of a warrant officer). Circa Second World War.
It is one thing to collect, and another to actually know what one is collecting. As follows is a reference bibliography of use to collectors of Second World War period maritime insignia; I owe a great debt of gratitude to Herbert “Sarge” Booker for sharing with me his archive of The Crow’s Nest as well as placing me in contact with Rudy Barsuto, Steve Soto, and Dave Collar. Each of these individuals has proven an excellent correspondent in matters of maritime insignia.
Some of the references below deserve a bit of an introduction. The Crow’s Nest is mainly a pictorial review in zine format shared among aficionados of maritime insignia and self-published by Sarge; in its various issues are India ink drawings done by Sarge complemented with photographs of various insignia and charts from uniform manuals; it is an interesting zine the likes of which I have never seen before (and perhaps never again). Of particular interest are the self-published monographs by Steve Soto and Rudy Basurto; they synthesize and order collections. In regard to Insignia by Mr. Basurto, it is a singular work that presents civilian insignia – it is a bit loose on time period, but most of the illustrations are from around the Second World War; Sarge was the artist, designer, and typesetter of study – he insisted I make this work available on this site.
Works that may be downloaded or purchased online have their titles in bold.
Rudy Basurto & Herbert Hillary “Sarge” Booker, 2nd Insignia of America’s Little Known Seafarers, 2nd Ed. Privately Printed, nd. Insignia of America’s Little Known Seafarers, 3rd Ed. (edited and revised by Steve Soto and Cynthia Soto). Privately Printed, 2008.
N.B. May be purchased by contacting Mr. Soto.
Dave Collar
“Insignia of the Army Transportation Service in World War II.” ASMIC: The Trading Post October-December 1994: 29-43.
“Insignia of the United States Maritime Service, World War II.” ASMIC: The Trading Post April-June 1995.
“Insignia of the United States Shipping Board.” ASMIC: The Trading Post October-December 1996.
William K. Emerson
“Section XIII. The Army’s Navy: Chapter Thirty-Six. Army Transport Service and Harbor Boat Service” in Encyclopedia of United States Army Insignia and Uniforms. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996. 331-352.
Steve Soto & Cynthia Soto A collector’s guide to the History, Uniforms and Memorabilia of the U.S. Merchant Marine and Army Transport Service during World War II. Privately Printed, 1996 (revised 2008).
N.B. May be purchased by contacting Mr. Soto.
For a collector of period items, there is nothing more vexing than a fake offered as an original, vintage item. The higher the rarity, the greater the amount of “fakes” circulate. Although the field of collecting merchant marine insignia is small and insignia is relatively undocumented, spurious items often appear with incorrect attribution. Exploiting this lacuna, from the 1980s through the early 2000s, a single individual muddled the field and thoroughly confused collectors: Alan C. Beckman of Fox Militaria. Mr. Beckman never purported his creations to be “Official Issue” – those reselling them do now. Since education for the collector is critical, hopefully, this post will help set the record straight.
Particularly frustrating in researching and collecting Second World War Merchant Marine items is the lack of documentation. An early researcher in the field Rudy Basurto quipped in personal communication, “manufacturers be damned.” It is no wonder – the American Merchant Marine at the time was marshaled under the guidance of the War Shipping Administration to transport people and materiel in support of the war; and, with each re-alignment in Federal organization, insignia changes followed suit. Managing steamship operators did not issue handbooks or pamphlets detailing their uniforms, and government agencies – such as the United States Maritime Service – did not leave behind uniform circulars like the United States Navy. Compounding the issue, insignia houses have come and gone with their archives going the way of the wastebasket. With scant clues as to who made what insignia when and for whom, the overall lack of information has lead to speculation and guesswork.
NB.: If you wish to skip my editorial, below the text are a series of galleries of some of the items from Mr. Beckman’s stock.
Enter Alan C. Beckman
Such an unresearched and poorly documented field as Merchant Marine insignia is ripe for unscrupulous insignia dealers. No one dealer seems to be more reviled than Alan C. Beckman, the ex-proprietor of Fox Military Equipment|Fox Militaria|eBay seller usnusa. When Manion’s had a public marketplace, he set up shop there as well. Through these various channels, Mr. Beckman was a distributor and manufacturer of many restrikes, fantasies, and cinderellas. Once collectors found him peddling bad wares, they branded him as a persona non grata. Since he never gave full provenance or a complete description of the stock he sold, it enabled him to feign innocence when an angry customer confronted him.
Before he passed away, I occasionally corresponded with Mr. Beckman and learned of how he was able to offer such a broad array of items. He began manufacturing items in earnest in the early 1990s through the mid-aughts. Through a fluke of luck, I discovered he placed a large order for NOAA wings with International Insignia in Rhode Island. After a conversation with International Insignia, I learned most of Mr. Beckman’s items were not period, but restrikes. It is worth mentioning International Insignia is a supplier to Vanguard Industries and holds the archive of N.S. Meyer dies; the proprietor of International Insignia is the son of the last president of N.S. Meyer, Robert Raeburn. Through his contract with International Insignia, Mr. Beckman was able to offer many high-quality items and cinderellas (which may be collectible in their own right if one is into fantasies). Mr. Beckman’s spray-painted casts were his own experiments and came as a result of him trying to mass-produce items for market.
It is useful to offer some definitions; a leader in the field of Phaleristics – Alexander J. Laslo – provided an important terminology in his Interallied Medals of World War I. Coming from the world of numismatics, I find they offer a useful framework when considering merchant marine insignia and cap badges in particular:
Official Issue: produced for general distribution by a government or commercial firm under contract, license, or sanction of the issuing authority. Collectors will most often want to acquire these items. These may be found either unissued or used. Depending upon one’s collecting interests, one or the other is valued. For the latter, provenance is often a key determiner of value.
Reissue: A later strike of an official issue. This may involve die or finish variations. I would also include far later official issues of items; items such as the Merchant Marine discharge button currently issued by Vanguard fall into this category – same die, different bronze alloy, but given to veterans by MARAD.
Unofficial Issue: An item produced by a commercial firm and available from the firm or a vendor for the purpose of providing seamen a replacement of the official issue or an interim item to wear until the distribution of the official issue. These are “theatre manufactured” items and include sand casts of cap badges as found in collections as picked up by seamen in foreign ports as far afield as Alexandria or Sydney. I would also include items manufactured under license for general distribution, but not released (see Russell Uniform Co. below).
Reproduction: An item produced by a commercial firm for the purpose of satisfying the needs of collectors. These are sometimes referred to as “fakes.” These are only fakes if they purport to be official, vintage issues. And like reissues, they will have die and finish variations; such as lack of hallmarks or stoning of enamels. They fill gaps in a collection.
Fantasy: An item produced by a commercial firm that has no official status. These may be created to create the idea of an official issue. These may also be called “cinderellas”; cinderellas are collectible in their own right.
When it comes to Merchant Marine insignia, it is often difficult for the untrained to determine what is truly an “Official Issue” or “Fantasy” given the paucity of information and the relative sophistication of the modern manufacturing process. Coupled with the aforementioned, insignia were often altered, defaced or invented by bored mariners. Provenance and determination of “genuineness” are at times problematic. Fortunately, a small number of references devoted to the subject do exist: a self-published book by Rudy Basurto acts as a general catalog and starting point for anyone interested in the subject – it is not an academic treatment of insignia, rather is more a collection of images and pithy descriptions with some of the depicted insignia existing only in long-lost regulations; a smattering of articles published in the American Society of Military Insignia Collectors Trading Post by Dave Collar and Bill Emerson have depth to their descriptions and illustrate insignia quite well; a more specialized treatment of U.S. Maritime Service and Army Transport Service (in its various guises) is found in a self-published work by Steve Soto and Cynthia Soto; ATS-only topics are treated by Bill Emerson in his encyclopedia survey of U.S. Army Insignia; perusing Herbert Hillary “Sarge” Booker’s newsletter “Crow’s Nest” details some of Basurto’s material and offers variations of maritime insignia; Joseph Tonelli, in his Visor hats of the United States Armed Forces presents some handsome examples of many common and not-so-common head wear of the sea services, with the Maritime Service and Merchant Marine included. Readily accessible, Collar and Emerson are indispensable; and take care in consulting Basurto’s book – although it is a good starting point. I have a running list of references here.
There is always the question of what is or is not genuine. Considering Alexander J. Laslo’s and my definitions, the terms fake and reproduction are subjective; as are fantasies and test patterns. The coin-collecting world is less kind, terms used are “forgeries” and “replicas”; the former is meant to deceive and the later to collect. Objectively, Alan C. Beckman was a businessman, and he sold insignia; the onus of knowing what one purchased from him lies solely with the purchaser. The purchaser was always free to ask questions of him, and more often than not, Mr. Beckman would respond; if the purchaser was unhappy with the product he offered, they could always return it to him, no questions asked. Collectors, though, often have an acquisitiveness about them and will purchase items no questions asked. This is dangerous and where collectors in search of first-strike, original period oftentimes get “burnt.”
There are two schools of thought when it comes to cap badges. One school will not entertain re-strikes or copies. […] Under normal circumstances not only are original badges difficult to come by but they will be very expensive.
When an original metal cap badge is made the manufacturer is supplied with the metal die from which to produce them. Sometimes the manufacturer produces more than requested so that he has a few spares left over in case of any rejects and if there are no rejects then the spares are no good to him.
When the contract is finished the die should be returned to the customer and it has been known for these to end up on rubbish skips. So a restrike is one that is made to the original customer and manufacturer’s specifications using an old die but was never actually authorized.
Mr. Beckman got his start in buying and selling militaria during his time in the U.S. Army while stationed in Europe. Using West Germany as his base, he went on collecting trips where he bought up stock and sent it back home to the United States. Since he was active in the 1960s, militaria was relatively plentiful and inexpensive in Europe; this formed the core for his business – Fox Militaria operating out of Clarendon Hills, Illinois. Over the years, he was fortunate in his ability to cultivate relationships with individuals in the insignia manufacturing business; he had contacts in Rhode Island – which was a major insignia manufacturing center – and was able to purchase unsold or incomplete stock as well as old dies and tools. From these old, worn-out dies, he made his earliest items, but they were of the poor pot-metal type of reproductions. A friend taught him the art of casting, but his efforts often ended up with all the tell-tale signs of a poor cast: bubbles, wavy lines, parting lines (and file marks), &c. In time, he was able to acquire some bits and bobs from places going under such as Pasquale and Wolf-Brown, but his most valuable connection was that with International Insignia.
Mr. Beckman fabricated an amazing story to capture the imagination of his customers and to appear he had struck a collector’s dream: the coup of a personal invitation to purchase N.S. Meyer’s unsold stock at the company’s liquidation. He asserted from that sale in Manhattan he acquired many of their submarine and aviator “wings” as well as a significant amount of their old dies and unsold stock. There is a ring of truth to his story; N.S. Meyer was acquired by Vanguard in 2000, and some assets were sold – but not dies and not insignia lying in boxes on warehouse shelves. The truth is far more interesting. Mr. Beckman had a close relationship with N.S. Meyer and did buy much of their unsold stock – but not wings, rather the small notions soldered on other pieces of insignia to make up MSTS rank pins. It was through this contact that in the late 1990s – right after N.S. Meyer suffered a flood in one of their die-sheds in Rhode Island at their International Insignia subsidiary – that he was brought in to re-catalog their dies and tools. The flood completely decimated the cardboard wrappers around the dies, and the company was left wondering what they had. Since he was an avid collector of insignia and a veteran of militaria shows, he offered his services to identify their assets. In that die-shed, he discovered a trove of tools and dies used from the outset of N.S. Meyer’s creation. Armed with expert knowledge and a dash of educated guesses, he labeled and inventoried the dies and tools.
Knowing what International Insignia had on hand enabled Mr. Beckman to order rare items from them to sell to the militaria collecting community. He often jobbed out lots of one hundred pieces at a time and sold them at a trickle careful not to saturate the market. Early on, he placed his orders with International Insignia using what he surmised were original materials: a base metal plated in silver or gold; however, when precious metal prices made their use cost-prohibitive, he began placing orders for pieces in bronze, brass, and gunmetal. The later pieces of insignia, Mr. Beckman described as the rarest of rare items. Using International Insignia as a manufacturer gave him the sort of quality control over high-demand items he did not have in his own workshop. The light-chocolate bronze N.S. Meyer wings as produced by Internation Insignia were “works of art” and truly well-crafted and as the manufacturer claimed – they were complete down to the 45-degree angle catches.
Alan C. Beckman claimed many of the cinderella designs that came out of his N.S. Meyer stock were trials or leavings from small batch jobs. He explained that often a client would approach N.S. Meyer and ask if they could produce something. N.S. Meyer would make trial strikes and either make a sale or not. In fact, in the insignia business, tools are considered assets and if they were kept around, they were taxed; most, if not all of these hubs for trials went the way of the scrapyard. Mr. Beckman never owned an N.S. Meyer die, despite what he intimated to me. In regard to the dies themselves, he speculated correctly on some – and others not so. Since Mr. Beckman was a United States Navy veteran, he had a particular fondness for offering submarine badges and maritime-related insignia badges. And, being a friend of Rudy Basurto, Mr. Basurto’s work informed Mr. Beckman, and Mr. Beckman offered Mr. Basurto examples of his work and Herbert Hillary “Sarge” Booker drafted line drawings for Mr. Basurto’s monographs lending legitimacy to the fakes; it was a self-feeding circle. The cinderella pieces were Mr. Beckman’s own imaginative creations. In propping up his legend, he wrote me when I asked where does one find all of his merchant marine insignia:
As far as other information the only thing I can offer is “keep your eyes peeled”! You will learn information about the Merchant Marine from the most unlikely sources. Before Russell Uniform Co. closed their doors I was able to buy a lot of Merchant Marine insignia from them-a most unexpected source! If you can make a trip to the Merchant Marine Academy at King’s Point it might be well for you to do so.
Private correspondence with Alan C. Beckman, July 10, 2009.
Mr. Beckman encouraged me to seek out insignia at estate sales. He told me trips to Florida netted him a trove of Pennsylvania Nautical School cap badges he was about to sell (N.B. P.N.S. never used stamped metal cap badges – a belt buckle, yes). I followed his advice and started to look around and was confused about what I saw and what he offered. At one point, I asked Mr. Beckman about the incongruity I noticed between the insignia I found in estate sales versus his offerings – all the old salts were selling sterling or gold. He slipped up told me the reason why the insignia he offered were in strategic materials – and not in silver plate – was due to collectors not wanting silver items. In a later sale, I mentioned to him I had done a scratch-test on one of his items; he told me gold substitute (e.g., Rust-oleum) is easier to procure than real gold. He then did a quick followup, writing, “Good eye.” He refunded my money, and told me the cap badge was mine for free.
It is interesting how Alan C. Beckman both challenged and in a sense educated me to learn more about merchant marine insignia and their production. It is almost as though he wanted me to unravel his business model.
Galleries
Fox Militaria | eBay Seller: usnusa
These images were gathered between September 2010 and August 2012. Alan C. Beckman as the eBay seller usnusa would sell stock often in batches of 15-20 items every few weeks among them would be Merchant Marine or Maritime insignia. After 2012, I left eBay and no longer watched his auctions. Each piece of insignia had an average sale price of $40-50.
Fox Militaria II
After a couple of years of inactivity, I learned Mr. Beckman’s stock was appearing once again on eBay. I was astounded, and then learned Mr. Beckman was not well. Images of his stock as sent me are below; most I already knew from the fliers he sent me years prior. One thing that always stands out about Mr. Beckman’s cap badges is how he consistently re-used the anchor from the N.S. Meyer U.S. Marine Corps Eagle/Globe/Anchor cap badge construction.
Some collectors through the years have come to recognize their purchases as items having a provenance leading to Mr. Beckman. Below find a gallery of some of those pieces.
Fox Militaria | Russell Uniform Co.
In late November 2018, I was approached and asked if I knew anything about insignia marked as coming from Russell Uniform Company. I spoke with Alan C. Beckman about his offerings a decade prior and he told me he was invited to the company’s offices in New York to take their existing stock when they were going out of business. With this amazing piece of information, I had purchased (and later returned a piece of Russell Uniform Co. insignia) from Mr. Beckman. Upon closer inspection, I found the insignia was a spray-painted cast. He congratulated me for my good eye and later told me that he had the cardboard privately printed (Tektronix printer) and he based the insignia on “unpublished” warrant officer regulations – he later told me he did not have the regulations:
Rudy has them in his book.
There was no going-out-of-business sale, and the unpublished regulations were made up. The United States Maritime Service used U.S. Navy warrant officer devices on collars and garrison hats; the only wreathed insignia were found on cuffs devices and shoulder boards. Russell Uniform Company did exist, it was a seller of police insignia and once the official uniform providers to the New York Police Department and New York State Police. Particularly problematic regarding much of the insignia is its corrosion – wartime insignia was not made of brass; especially when these items were purported to have come out: 1944-1945.
Fake MSTS Clerk
Fake MSTS Radio Officer
Fake USMS Warrant Engineer
Fake USMS Warrant Fantasy rate
Fake USMS Warrant Fantasy rate (reverse)
Fake USMS Warrant Carpenter
Fake USMS Warrant Carpenter (reverse)
Fake USMS Officer device
Fake USMS Warrant Carpenter
Fake USMS Warrant Chaplain
Fake USMS Warrant Clerk
Fake USMS Warrant Electrician
Fake USMS Warrant Engineer
Fake USMS Warrant Gunner
Fake USMS Warrant Pharmacist
Fake USMS Warrant Photographer
Fake USMS Warrant Radio Officer
Fake USMS Warrant Supply Officer
“Rudy Basurto” Collection
When I first posted this page, I received an anonymous comment with the images created below. Apparently, between August 2010 and February 2011, a number of merchant marine insignia flooded eBay. I dubb these “Rudy Basurto” Collection since they all looked very similar to items depicted in Rudy Basurto’s privately-printed book, Insignia of America’s Little Known Seafarers. To an item, each appeared at one time or another in usnusa eBay auctions. These images are important as they depict the reverses of many of the pieces of insignia, and they show detail otherwise absent from the scans above.
Fox Militaria Mailer | Sarge Booker
In the early aughts, Mr. Beckman contacted all of his previous customers and sent them direct mailers with items that may interest them given past purchases. These images were scanned and provided to me by Sarge Booker. Although not in this flier, Sarge intimated that Mr. Beckman has woven badges jobbed out all his woven badges to a firm in Pakistan. All of the items, with the exception of the “Maritime Service Midshipman 1942-1945,” “MSTS,” and “MSC” items are not official issues. Apparently, the USMS Midshipman badge was an actual trial struck for use at Kings Point; the Administration declined.
One day, I asked Sarge how Mr. Basurto and Mr. Beckman got in contact – they were both subscribers to a zine Sarge put out called “Crow’s Nest.” Mr. Basurto was had the idea of writing a monograph called “Insignia of America’s Little Known Seafarers” and the three collaborated to add content; some pieces actual and some speculative.
Commentary
This post has seen many revisions since it was first drafted; in its first iteration, it was merely a commentary on my opinion regarding what is problematic about a particular insignia item. That commentary is as follows.
ATS Chief Petty Officer This device comes up in online auctions from time-to-time with examples in bronze. Alan’s signature is the hand-applied and soldered “rope.” The wire is loose, and the reverse solder is sometimes blotchy. His pieces have N.S. Meyer hallmarks – this is due to the fact he purchased many unfinished pieces and dies were sold at auction in the 1990s when the N.S. Meyer plant closed – every year about 3-4 of these badges find their way to sale.
USMS Chief Petty Officer The applied anchor is a dead giveaway. No USMS CPO devices were ever manufactured that have said application. Alan offered the same device with silver applied anchors. In regard to the anchors themselves, these are actually old N.S. Meyer appurtenances struck in the late 1930s for use with U.S. Maritime Commission Cadet Corps Scholastic Award Ribbon.
This is a fun badge. The eagle is actually a MSTS eagle with a USCG shield and USN anchors. US C&GS hat badges from the time of the Second World War are exclusively woven. Only postwar did metal hat badges come to be manufactured; with those matching NOAA examples from the present day.
US Coast & Geodetic Survey Senior Chief Petty Officer
This badge is a mash-up of ideas. It was not until 1968 that the US Navy Uniform Board approved a Master and Senior Chief Petty Officer cap insignia – similar to their collar devices, with one or two silver stars superimposed on the anchor, inverted and centered on the stock. The US Coast Guard soon followed the US Navy’s lead in 1970, as did the regulations for US C&GS/NOAA. The US C&GS had a small core of Chief Petty Officers up until the 1950s, afterward they converted to unlicensed, un-uniformed Federal, civil-service employees. Proposed insignia tables were published in 1965 without examples being produced. With the transfer of the agency to the Environmental Science Services Administration, all non-commissioned officer positions were removed and finally ceased to be with the 1970 reorganization into the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Students of naval insignia will note that on this particular hat badge is the fact that the star is not of the type used by any of the licensed manufacturers of US Military establishment insignia, and and the anchor itself is that of a US Navy ROTC/Annapolis midshipman. The only US CG&S true device is the triangle within the circle.
USMS Supply Officer
Russell Uniform Company had a cache of badges they created as patterns for the United States Maritime Service, but they were never is sued. These badges were simply too large to be worn on the collar; what the USMS did instead was to wear USN warrant officer badges. When Russell Uniform Company closed shop (formerly of 1600 Broadway & 192 Lexington Ave., New York City and the original uniform shop for NY State Troopers), Alan purchased their stock; thus these badges fall in the gray area of Official and Unofficial issues.
After I wrote the above, I contacted Alan, and he mentioned the cards he provided with the insignia were sometimes privately printed. He did admit to combining some USN warrant officer pins with Russell Uniform Company wreaths – just look for the sheared-off posts. If there is pitting, the wreaths were cast by him.
US Navy Commissioned Officer
This is not quite a restrike. The die was designed, yet the badges never went into production. I have an actual, issued US Navy Commissioned Officer hat badge of the “pre-1940s” type in another post. Alan also had this badge as what he called a WSA cap badge. The WSA badge had bronze anchors and three stars on the shield; this would have been a fantasy issue since the WSA never issued such a badge; the three stars were a misunderstanding/attribution of MMP cap badges with the thought of what a USSB cap badge would have looked like.
USMS Gunner Although the USMS had a gunner rate, these gunners only served at training stations. It is a nice thought, though. Thoroughly unofficial ATS examples use the same central device within a wreath and are woven and not struck.
ATS Radioman
This is sometimes advertised as either an ATS Electrician or Radioman. See above.
ATS Craftsman See above.
ATS Clerk
See above.
US Army Harbor Boat Service – Tug Boat Service
The US Army Quartermaster Corps operated the Harbor Boat Service; the individuals would wear an anchor with a Quartermaster Corps device soldered on the anchor. The HBS included launches, tugboats, and other utility boats in support of ATS vessels and US Army waterfront bases. Thus, TBS never existed; once again this a fantasy filling in a perceived gap in Army insignia.
Harbor Boat Service Officer
This is a fantasy, and a fun one, at that. Following the interwar US Army penchant for identifying units by placing small devices on other pieces of insignia – numbers and Corps devices (for example), this places a miniature Quartermaster Corps device on the shield of a US Navy Commissioned Officer’s hat badge.
Mersey Docks Harbourmaster/Pilot hat badge Wool backing and wreath of silver thread. Central device, stamped white metal. Circa Second World War era.
A fact often overlooked by those interested in convoy history is that each ship that entered or left a port area was piloted by an individual versed in the particulars of the waters surrounding the port; when a ship was straffed by airplane fire, those on the bridge were targeted first with many a casualty being the pilot.
To this day, pilots are still employed and are organized in associations and pilotage authorities much as they have been for the past hundred years. A major pilotage house, such as the Virginia Pilot Association, has about 40 active pilots, who steer a yearly 2000 or more vessels in and out of Hampton Roads. These days, they are fortunate that their launches are motorized, as in years past, the vessels were predominantly powered by sail and oars. Following in the Anglo-American tradition, apprentice pilots live on station, work some seven days a week around the clock, and are subject to U.S. Coast Guard examinations, tests and practical demonstrations. Moreover, to prove their knowledge of the sea about them, apprentices must re-create mariner’s charts of Hampton Roads from memory. All of these skills are needed for a knowledgeable and professional group of pilots – all ready at a moment’s notice to bring an oil tanker or yacht to port, the former’s stopping distance measured in miles. These individual work hard, and without whose dedication to knowing their waterways shipping depends, precious cargoes would remain offshore. In interesting article about pilots on the C&D canal may be found here, View from the Bridge.
Much like Hampton Roads, Liverpool was a major embarkation port and convoy terminal during the Second World War; the city’s port and train facilies were key links in the Allied war effort’s supply chain, and as such the Germans considered it a major strategic target. Despite the constant barrage of aerial bombings, on average a convoy either entered or left Merseyside each day for the duration of the War. Interestingly enough, the last house destroyed by Luftwaffe bombing was Hitler’s half-brother Alois’ previous residence at 102 Upper Stanhope Street in Toxteth.
Presented is Mersey Docks and Harbour Board offical’s hat badge. This device was worn by both Harbourmasters and pilots in the Liverpool Pilot Service. In the United Kingdom, a Harbourmaster is an appointed position once held exclusively by Navy Officers, they issue local safety information, oversee the maintenance and provision of navigational aids within port areas, co-ordinate maritime emergency response, do vessel inspections and oversee pilotage services. In a large port, such as Liverpool’s Merseyside, there is a head Harbormaster assisted by a small staff of assisting officers – during the Second World War, about 20; a priviledge of office is a white-bordered Union Flag with a white central disc bearing the initials “QHM” (or “KHM”) beneath the crown, which is flown from the gaff or yardarm either afloat or on land.
The Liverpool Pilot Service has historically been an independent cooperative association, and is now operated and licensed by the Mersey Docks & Harbour Board (MD&HB) the Port of Liverpool authority. Its stations are located at Point Lynas on the North coast of Anglesey and at the Mersey Bar. At its inception up until the 1960s, the Liverpool Pilot Service covered the approaches to all ports around the Eastern Irish Sea from Holyhead in the South, to Barrow in the North, and the East coast of the Isle of Man; now, pilots are employed to guide ships to the River Mersey ports, which include the Liverpool and Birkenhead Docks, the Manchester Ship Canal and Garston. It is worth mentioning that at latter, vessels are handed-over to a once fierce rival: the Manchester Ship Canal Company Pilots.
Mersey Docks, Hat badge, obverse. Metal and silver wire on wool backing. Metal central device. Circa Second World War. In terms of harbor agencies and government boards, this hat badge follows the British standard design of large laurels leaves with a municipal central device. More often than not, the leaves for other agencies are gold bullion – the Mersey Docks wreath is unusual in that respect, but still within “symbolic bounds.” The central device is quite interesting being that it is Athena in a throne over Posideon; this hearkens to Liverpool’s claim to being the “Athens of the North.” Interestingly this same device is not found anywhere in Mersey Docks and Harbour Board Offices building except on the uniform buttons of the Harbourmasters and pilots.
Mersey Docks, Hat badge, obverse. Metal and silver wire on wool backing. Metal central device. Circa Second World War.
Mersey Docks, Hat badge, obverse, detail. Metal and silver wire on wool backing. Metal central device. Circa Second World War.
Mersey Docks & Harbour Company, Reefer
In 1970, MD&HB – after being relinquished by the government – became a public company and was rebranded “Mersey Docks and Harbour Company” (MDHC). Its functionaries wore a reefer such as the one detailed below.
By the end of the 1960s, the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board was sinking fast. The government finally released the money-losing body, selling it to the private sector in 1970—one of the first of Britain’s nationalized businesses to be privatized—while listing the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company on the London stock exchange. The new company entered business without its debts—as the government forgave it more than £100 million. The British government, meantime, kept a 20 percent share of the company.
U.S. Maritime Service Chief Petty Office hat badge (1st design, 2nd pattern)
One piece construction. Seal, 25mm diameter; Anchor, 50mm length.
Obscured AE CO N.Y. hallmark (American Emblem Company).
Anchor and device stamped nickel; blue enamel band and red, white & blue shield.
This is the second pattern of the first design of the USMS CPO hat badge; it was worn from 1942 until the dissolution of formal Coast Guard management of training program and its transfer to the War Shipping Administration in July 1942. The summer of 1942 saw a re-design of U.S. Maritime service insignia, and with it, the USMS CPO hat badge. Both the first pattern of the first design and second design have been respectively treated before, here and here.
This specific badge is often misidentified as a USMS Warrant Officer device; this is an understandable error, as mid-war, individuals who trained at USMS Radio Officer schools were issued USMS CPO hat badges and collar disks, and upon graduation held the appointed rank of Warrant Officer within the U.S. Maritime Service. Compounding some of confusion is that by war’s end, USMS Regulations published in 1944 stated that officers in the Radio Department, depending upon vessel tonnage and class, and certificate status could rank anywhere from Lieutenant to Ensign, vid.: U.S. Maritime Service Officers’ Handbook, 1944 p5.
USMS CPO Hat badge, obverse.
USMS CPO Hat badge, obverse detail.
USMS CPO Hat badge, reverse.
Note that the screw post and pins have been sheared off and replaced by a flat pin.
British Petroleum Shipping Co. Officer hat badge Metal, gold wire and colored thread on wool backing. Circa 1960s.
With contemporary events unfolding regarding the catastrophe in the Gulf, it is worth pausing for a moment to think about transport of petroleum products. One of the safest, economical and most expedient methods to transport liquid petroleum and its derivatives is via ship. In fact, about 34% of all worldwide seaborne trade is devoted to the transport of oil. This entry is the first of several regarding oil tanker fleets and officer insignia.
British Petroleum was originally formed as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in 1909 to exploit oil deposits in Persia. The British Tanker Co. Ltd started in 1915 to handle sea transport and achieve a contained, integrated oil company model akin to its American counterparts. The parent group was renamed the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company in 1935. In 1951 the company’s Iranian assets were nationalized, a crisis partly resolved by negotiation in 1954 when the company was re-named British Petroleum. In 1955, the fleet was re-christened BP Shipping. During the 1970s BP extended its oil interests to the North Sea and Alaska, and eventually moved to major oil fields in the Middle East and Gulf of Mexico. The fleet and its manning remained in the province of BP until 1986 when staffing went the way of a modern crimping system known as “agency manning” concurrent with BP re-flagging its fleet under various flags of convenience.
At present, BP Shipping is based out of Singapore and operates a fleet of 77 vessels and charters an additional 115. Its vessels are comprised of crude oil tankers, product tankers and LNG (liquefied natural gas) carriers. In its employ are some 2300 mariners and 600 onshore personnel. In all, 50% of BP’s maritime cargo is carried on these ships worldwide. BP remains one of the few major oil producing corporations that continues to man a fleet under its own house flag.
British Petroleum Shipping hat badges may be found in three distinct variations: 1. 1915-1926. Merchant Navy-style hat badge with the current house flag – a red flag with a horizontal white band expanded at the centre in the form of a circle, the band bearing the black letters “BTC”, the “T” being larger. I have read of the red being bordered in black; however I have yet to see an example.
2. 1926-1955. Similar to the illustrated hat badge, with then current house flag – a St. George’s flag with a green diamond in the center – with a golden lion passant gardant above all.
3. 1955-1968 (present?). The illustrated badge; the golden lion replaced by a red lion rampant.
Images and analysis of several of the older badges may be found here.
British Petroleum Shipping Co. Officer hat badge, obverse Metal, gold wire and colored thread on wool backing. Circa 1960s.
In terms of British hat badges, the BP Shipping follows the British standard design of house flag as central device, Royal Navy wreath and Tudor maritime crown surmounting all. Over time, the embroidered leaves have grown thicker; and catalogs may denote the badge as belonging to the agency placing Deck and Engineering officers aboard BP vessels – Chiltern Maritime Ltd.
British Petroleum Shipping Co. Officer hat badge, detail.
British Petroleum Shipping Co. Officer hat badge, variation. Circa 1950s.
Note the bronze-toned Tudor crown and the British Merchant Navy-style wreath.
British Petroleum Shipping Co. Chief Petty Officer hat badge, obverse. Metal, gold wire and colored thread on wool backing. Circa 1960s.
British Petroleum Shipping Co. Chief Petty Officer hat badge, detail.
British Petroleum Tanker Co. Ltd. House Flag. 914.4 x 1422.4 mm Circa 1955-67
The house flag of the BP Tanker Co. Ltd. On a white field, there is a red St. George’s cross with a green diamond in the center, bearing a red lion, rampant. This design was in use from 1955 to 1968 and was re-introduced in 1984. The flag is made of a wool and synthetic fibre bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn. The lion is printed. A rope and two Inglefield clips is attached.
British Petroleum Tanker Co. Ltd. House Flag. Circa 1940s.
The house flag of the BP Tanker Co. Ltd. from the 1940s. On a white field, there is a red St George’s cross with a green diamond in the center, bearing a golden lion passant gardant. This design was in use from 1926 to 1955. The flag is made of a wool and cotton bunting. It has a cotton hoist and is machine sewn. The lion is printed.
U.S. Maritime Commission Cadre / U.S. Maritime Service Chief Petty Office cap badge (Type 1) One piece construction. Seal, 25mm diameter; Anchor, 50mm length. Obscured AE CO N.Y. hallmark (American Emblem Company) Anchor and device stamped brass; blue enamel band and red, white & blue shield. Early Second World War era; 1942.
This is the first design of the USMS CPO hat badge; it was worn in 1942 up until the formal transfer of the Prospective Licensed Officer training program from the USCG to the WSA/USMS in July 1942. The badge itself may be found in plain brass, as well as plated silver or nickel. This brass pattern was issued in 1942, followed by plated silver or nickel badges and then a new design came about in August 1942. A description of the second design may be found here. In practice, in the period leading up to the Second World War, USMS CPOs, more often than not wore the more handsome embroidered hat badges – which were of the same design as the stamped metal device, albeit without the band of stars – as evidenced by an image in the article “Heros of Wartime Science and Mercy” in National Geographic Magazine, December 1943 page 717, as seen here. These badge were worn mostly by officer trainees – who held the rank of Chief Petty Officer.
Concurrent with WSA control of the USMS, and the stripping away of the ship-building component of the USMS, came a color and design shift: for the hat badge: the illustrated deco motif of a stylized Federal “classic shield” gave way to a detailed foul anchor charge on “official shield” of finer detail. Whereas the first design was predominantly blue, the color changed to red – perhaps to echo the red of chevrons and other woven cloth devices found on an enlistedman’s uniform. My research has alluded to that late in the war, the CPO badge further changed to match the pattern found on USMS buttons (1942-1954); I will post an image of this badge at a later date.
J. Tonelli in Visor Hats of the US Armed Forces incorrectly asserts that the illustrated hat badge was worn by USMS Warrant Officers; however, regulations of the time state that Warrant Officers wear the same devices as regular, commissioned officers. This is a commonly made mistake when attempting to devise a typology of hat devices for a relatively small organization with a small array of hat insignia.
Overall, the USMS only had a handful of CPOs and these were attached to USMS enrollment offices, training stations, officer schools and the US Merchant Marine Academy; CPO insignia was not issued to regular seamen who were matriculated from or were certified by the USMS. CPOs represented unlicensed seaman hired by the USMS skilled in the maritime industry with some seniority or specialized skills not satisfying the grade of Warrant Officer; it is useful to think of USMS CPOs as experienced Able Seamen (AB).
USMS CPO Hat badge, obverse. This device was worn by Merchant Mariners attached to the US Maritime Commission involved in training duties; this badge eventually found its way to be only worn by senior unlicensed personnel (CPOs). This hat badge continued to be issued until stocks were depleted and eventually replaced by a badge of the same design – albeit in nickel (pre- and early war), and then replaced by the more familiar USMS CPO device. There is some speculation that the USMC/USMS CPO device was modeled after the US Coast Guard enlisted hat badge; the USCG badge went into production in 1942, around the same time as the production of the USMC/USMS badge.
The mystery of the design lies in the double-anchor and seal motif. If analyzed closely, the badge hearkens to the precursor agency of both the US Maritime Commission and US Coast Guard: the US Revenue Cutter Service. In this light, the anchor stock and flukes, and as well as the rope on the stock themselves echo the old seal. At the time of its creation, it was not stated in USMC regulations, but the uniforms and ranks of the soon-to-be-formed USMS were eventually codified to mirror that of the US Coast Guard. In time, in an effort to create an esprit de corps and the forging of an independent identity, the badge change to the second design.
USMS CPO Hat badge, reverse.
USMS CPO Hat badge, reverse (detail). Note the curious “CO N.Y.” hallmark – the complete “AE CO N.Y.” mark is obscured by the post – this is of the American Emblem Company of Utica, New York. This firm produced a number of Merchant Marine and Maritime Service items during the Second World War, most notably the ubiquitous Merchant Mariner pin. In regard to this specific badge, NS Meyer produced a very similar insignia set for USMS officers using a similar central device. With the button and device change in 1942, AE Co. was no longer contracted to make USMS CPO badges; rather, the jobbing went to Coro.
U.S. Merchant Marine Cadet Corps (pre-1942)
Yellow-goldenrod thread.
Embroidered anchor on wool backing and mohair band.
Pre-to-early Second World War era; 1939-1942.
From the period following the First World War through the Depression, the U.S. Merchant Shipping industry was in a shambles: once profitable companies faltered and fell, ocean-going trade evaporated and even intercoastal shipping dried up. As a result, companies went bankrupt, very few ships were built and crews manning the ships dwindled to a very few. It is also during this period that U.S. maritime unions started operating in full swing, and involved themselves in vicious internecine fighting and bitter struggles with steamship carriers. Of those seamen that survived the wreckage, their efficiency and morale was at an all time low. With the passing of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, Congress abolished the ineffective U.S. Shipping Board and ushered in a new age for the U.S. Merchant Marine. The formerly under-regulated industry came under federal control and found itself subject to an array of programs and regulations. A few of salient features of the Act were the formulating and subsidizing the construction of U.S.-flag ships, as well as the formal training of men to man the ships.
With the passage of the Merchant Marine Act, the U.S. Maritime Commission came into being. The organization was ostensibly “to further the development and maintenance of an adequate and well balanced American merchant marine, to promote the commerce of the United States, and to aid in the national defense.” It too, became embroiled in the old system of unions and steamship carrier falterings. To prop up the maritime industry, the USMC eventually bought out insolvent carriers thereby ringing whole shipping lines under federal control. With the storm clouds of war looming on the horizon, the Merchant Marine Act defined the entirety of the U.S. Merchant Marine as a military auxiliary in the event of war; furthermore, officers and crew of U.S.-flag ships could be pressed into the service of the U.S. Navy.
One of the most sweeping changes made by the act was that the Merchant Marine be “manned with a trained and efficient citizen personnel.” The Act did not offer any specifics for the USMC; but soon after, the Bland Amendment of June 1938 created the United States Maritime Service for “training of licensed and unlicensed merchant marine personnel.” Shortly thereafter, Congress enacted the Naval Reserve Act bringing all officers of U.S. public vessels into the U.S. Navy reserve as well as cadets (now cadet-midshipmen) at Federally-funded state maritime and the soon-to-be-created Federal system. It is worth mentioning that the U.S. Maritime Commission’s first report to Congress in January 1939 suggested the establishment of a federal cadet system augmenting the pool of graduates from state and private schools – moreover along with traditional sea-handling, the system should emphasize naval science. Congress acted quickly and a series of Maritime Service cadet schools opened in the Pacific, Gulf and Atlantic coasts. Navy, Coast Guard and USMS personnel trained the cadets, with licensure remaining in the hands of the Coast Guard. With the declaration of war, the training of the Merchant Marine Cadet Corps was transferred to the Coast Guard in February 1942 and then to the War Shipping Administration in Fall of the same year.
The presented hat badge dates from the period between the founding the the Federal Merchant Marine Corps just prior to the Second World War and the institution of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in 1942 through the creation of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Cadet Corps Regiment on Dedication Day, November1943. By early 1944, midshipman-cadets began wearing midshipman hat badges mirroring their colleagues at the U.S. Navy Academy in Anapolis. This hat badge is an embroidered anchor on a wool backing and mohair band; this specific example was removed from a hat and stored over the period of several years. Bands, such as this were an integral part of the hat to which it was affixed, and did not slide off easily as is the case with removable covers and bands of the present-day; hats were spot cleaned or taken to the cleaners. With the United States’ formal entry into the war, the U.S. insignia industry servicing maritime and Naval concerns changed its means and modes of production. The older, elegant hat devices made of woven bullion and metallic thread were replaced by metal hat badges and other removable devices; although, those who had means and money continued to purchase and wear embroidered insignia. For cadets, who were rapidly moved through the federal training system, it was more expedient and cost-effective to use stamped metal devices and removable bands. This badge is the last of an era; from this point forward, stamped devices were and continue to be employed.
U.S. Merchant Marine Cadet Corps hat badge (pre-1942), obverse.
Period photographic evidence points to the fact that leading up to the Second World War and in the initial year of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy’s operation, cadet-midshipmen wore embroidered hat badges, rather supplanted by the more common stamped metal (brass, gold plated or gold fill). The presented item may be a custom piece – as the majority of cap devices of the period were comprised of metal thread (bullion) on wool backings – as opposed to silk or composite thread. It is important to remember that the USMMCC was quite small in the period leading up to the institution of the USMM school system and uniforms were not always that – uniform – young men on the Gulf coast did not always wear the same kit as their colleagues on the West or even the East coast.
U.S. Merchant Marine Cadet Corps hat badge (pre-1942), obverse detail.
U.S. Merchant Marine Cadet Corps cadet-midshipman, SUNY Maritime period (1939-1941).
U.S. Merchant Marine Cadet Corps cadet-midshipmen, SUNY Maritime period (1939-1941).
The cadet-midshipmen are shown photographed in working khaki manning a monomy in Long Island Sound. Note that the young gentlemen are not wearing garrison hats, pointing to the fact that this photograph is pre-Regiment. The make of their combination hats is consistent with late-1930s and early Second World War construction. Their uniform shirts lack insignia of any sort, underscoring the same.
U.S. Maritime Service Chief Petty Office cap badge (Type 2 – Variant 2)
One piece construction. Seal, 25mm diameter; Anchor, 50mm length.
Coro (Cohn & Rosenberger) hallmark.
Anchor and device stamped brass, sterling plated (marked); red enamel band and shield.
Mid-to-post Second World War era; 1942-1947.
This is the second design of the USMS CPO hat badge; the first was worn briefly from 1941, up until WSA control of the USMS in July 1942 with the illustrated badge appearing in August 1942. The former badge may be found in plain brass as well as in plated silver – as is the case of this badge. The second design is almost always found in silver plate or less common brass; any others are patterns or reproductions. Enterprising merchant seaman have been known to buff the plate off, showing yellow medal underneath. The illustrated badge is of the second type and variant two – it differs from the first with a few stylistic differences – a difference in shield configuration and the inclusion of a motto, and punctured anchor ring. The first employs blue enamel as opposed to red. Interestingly enough, the changed design did not stylistically match that of the contemporary uniform coat, cap and shoulder board buttons and snaps which were altered at the same time as the hat badge.
A miniature of this device was authorized and manufactured for wear on overseas caps.
USMS CPO Hat badge, obverse.
USMS CPO Hat badge, reverse.
A close-up of the reverse details the Coro (Cohn & Rosenberger) hallmark as well as the Sterling denotation. Coro, as a corporate name came to be in 1943; however, the incuse hallmark “Coro” with a distinct curly-queue C in serif font dates to 1940 and underwent minor variations until 1945. Moreover, due to wartime metal shortages, Coro produced Sterling insignia items under Government contract from 1942-1947. With the aforementioned in mind, this hallmark adequately dates the device to the early-to-mid 1940s, contemporaneous with USMS insignia change.
USMS CPO Hat badge, production hub.
This hub is composed of hardened steel; of interest are the alignment pins used in the creation of dies. I have already written about production methods specifically outlining the purpose of a hub, here. If you visit the image’s page on Flickr, and select “All Sizes”, the original size can give you a better idea of the intricacy of design and even the parts of the hub that have been buffed and chiseled.
One reason that dies do not show up often in collections is that as dies wear out, they are taken out of production, defaced and melted down; hubs survive due to the fact that more than one master is required for die production. In terms of USMS hat insignia, hubs are few and far between as there were not a whole lot of insignia houses producing USMS devices.
This specific die was sourced from an estate in Rhode Island; which corresponds to the fact that this is perhaps indeed a Coro hub (see above). Prior to, during and following the Second World War, Coro had a large jewelry factory in Providence, Rhode Island. Thus far, I have only seen period USMS CPO (Type 2 – Variant 1 & Variant 2) badges with Coro hallmarks.
War Shipping Administration Ship Pilot cap badge Two piece construction; 60mm (l) x 55mm (h). No hallmarks. Eagle and shield gold-filled; anchors gold-filled. Circa Second World War era; 1943-45.
Logistics and control of the supply chain is a perennial thorn in the side of military planners. In the interwar period, the U.S.’s sea-borne commerce was handled by a handful of independent shipping companies and corporations. With the clouds of war looming over Europe, and with the country gripped by the Depression, the federal government created the United States Maritime Commission (USMC) so as to provide stimulus to and a regulatory framework for United States maritime commerce; this was welcomed by industrialists as a protectionist measure. Of its many roles, the USMC was responsible for the training of men for service in the United States Merchant Marine, overseeing ship construction and the militarization of the U.S.-flag fleet in the event of war.
After Pearl Harbor and in the early days of 1942, by executive order, President Roosevelt created the War Shipping Administration (WSA). In one stroke, the WSA seized all U.S.-flag merchant ships for wartime duty. Among other responsibilities, the fleet chartering functions of the USMC were transferred to the new agency; by mid-war, the WSA owned and operated or chartered 80% of all sea-going merchant vessels in the U.S., with the rest being owned or chartered by the U.S. Army and Navy. An estimated 90% of all military and essential cargo was carried in WSA ships; the Administration’s responsibilities extended to all aspects and phases of shipping. This agency worked closely with Merchant Marine unions, operators, the U.S. Army and Navy as well as with the British Ministry of War Transport to ensure logistical control of the maritime supply lines. Despite service in-fighting and other institutional setbacks, the WSA did fulfil its role in maintaining ever-important seaborne logistics control.
The National Archives provides the following timeline and other pertinent information:
Administrative History
Established: In the Office for Emergency Management by EO 9054, February 7, 1942, under authority of the First War Powers Act (55 Stat. 838), December 18, 1941.
Predecessor Agencies:
* Division of Emergency Shipping, Office of the General Director of Shipping * U.S. Maritime Administration (Feb. 1941-Feb. 1942)
Functions: Acquired and operated U.S. ocean vessels except those of the armed services and the Office of Defense Transportation; trained merchant crews; and coordinated utilization of U.S. shipping.
Abolished: September 1, 1946, by the Naval Appropriations Act (60 Stat. 501), July 8, 1946.
Successor Agencies: U.S. Maritime Administration.
And regarding seized functions, HyperWar provides the following text culled from a WSA memorandum penned by Adm E. S. Land:
Under the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, the United States Maritime Commission was established as an independent agency to direct and control all phases of overseas shipping and shipbuilding. It became apparent immediately when this Nation entered the war that a special agency to deal with the operational problems peculiar to war was necessary to supplement the Maritime Commission. That need brought about the creation of the War Shipping Administration on February 7, 1942, which took over from the Maritime Commission virtually all of the Commission’s major statutory functions with the exception of shipbuilding. Thus WSA became the Government’s ship operating agency and the Maritime Commission its shipbuilding agency.
It is important to remember that the WSA owned, operated and chartered sea-going vessels. The personnel manning these ships could be of several classes:
Mariners, licensed or unlicensed, union or non-union.
U.S. Maritime Service trained.
“Old salts”, or mariners not federally but state trained.
Civil service, civilian mariners.
Maritime shipping company employees.
But, WSA did not man a majority of vessels under its jurisdiction – this was done, by and large by unions. Yet, the WSA did contract out personnel to pilot and sometime deliver ships. The cap badge illustrated belonged to an employee of the WSA that worked aboard WSA vessels prior to delivery to a shipping line. A bit of high-level maritime culture is required to understand how this cap badge fits into the small constellation of sea-service and federal maritime insignia…
Since the WSA was not a uniformed service (but did have a uniformed component: the United States Maritime Service), some individuals employed by the WSA proper could and did procure uniforms and insignia at their discretion – such as the illustrated cap badge. By comparison, those mariners who went to the various state maritime schools or the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, during the war, would be inducted into the U.S. Merchant Marine as an active or a reserve officer – those individuals had the privilege of wearing U.S. Maritime Service insignia – as they still do today. However, in the early days of the war, not all officers aboard ship were graduates of said schools and would wear uniforms in the fashion of the day depending upon their status: mate, engineering officer, master, &c. (along the lines of U.S. Coast Guard licensed positions). If in the employ of a company, they would wear the company’s insignia. Or they could wear whatever struck their fancy and within reason.
WSA officer cap badges (cap devices), usually looked very similar to the U.S. Navy cap badges, albeit with “a twist” of being completely in gold plate.
These cap badges are few and far between given the relatively small number of WSA ship officers. This cap badge came from ship’s pilot working in a shipyard. These individuals turned the newly-built ships over to crews comprising of freshly-minted officers from United States Maritime Service (USMS) schools or existing shipping company crew members. The latter usually kept their existing insignia or defaced USMS insignia with a company flag – as illustrated in previous entries.
War Shipping Administration ship pilot Cap badge, obverse. This is ostensibly composed of components from the officer cap badges of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Public Health Service (anchors and eagle-shield, respectively). One might proffer a claim of incongruity by calling attention to the fact that the eagle is without the tell-tale “cow lick” on its crown which many use to “date” some U.S.N. commissioned officer cap badges. However, through careful examination of the toning patterns of the badge itself, the overall patina is consistent with sterling and gold-plated badges from the 1940s; and this die variation was very much in use at mid-war by Vanguard. And, since the WSA was without uniform regulations, these badges were more than likely purchased by an officer eager to adorn his cap with something distinctive.
War Shipping Administration ship pilot Cap badge, reverse. Note the absence of any hallmarks of any sort; the eagle of the usual Vanguard variety and anchors of Viking in design.
War Shipping Administration ship pilot Cap badge, reverse bolt detail. The slight lozenge-shaped brass keeper bolt is of a contemporary issue.
U.S. Navy commissioned officer cap badge, pre-May 1941
Two piece construction; 65mm (l) x 55mm (h).
H & H (Hilborn & Hamburg) hallmark on eagle wing. Viking hallmark on the anchor.
Eagle and shield sterling (marked); anchor gold-filled (1/10 14K GF).
Circa pre-Second World War era; late 1930s.
Following the Revolutionary War and dissolution of the Articles of Confederation, the early American republic decidedly wished to break with the aristocratic traditions of old Europe – if not in practice, then in symbolic language. Crowns were removed from coinage, royal was dropped from place names, and liberty became the byword of the era. With the birth the Federal government, the American bald eagle emblazoned with a shield representative of the first thirteen states, and clutching arrows in one claw and an olive branch in the other – not so subtle visual metaphors of both the defense and peace-providing nature of the young republic – cropped up on government seals and on military uniform buttons. Despite the desire to promote a democratic and egalitarian society, removing holdovers of rank titles and uniform clothing of a recent hierarchical and aristocratic past from the military proved exceedingly difficult – tradition dies hard, even when trying to supplant it with another (case and point: it was only after numerous bureaucratic and social changes wherein the naval rank of Admiral was finally allowed decades after independence).
The Navy, in particular, was (and still is) an organization requiring strict discipline and order in its ranks. Reticence to ape European traditions spurred the U.S. Navy to create its own socially relevant native American symbols of rank and hierarchy. Nevertheless, it fell in line with the prevailing tradition of leaves and lace. One of the more curious phenomena illustrating this is the permutations that U.S. Navy officer’s cap badge has gone through over time; these also offer insight as to contemporary concerns of the U.S. Navy establishment and can be used to date items to a specific time period. Early on, the cap device denoted rank or rate through color and arrangement of woven images of live oak leaves, acorns, olive branches and other devices such as old-English letters. These show that in the period immediately preceding the Civil War, concern revolved around an officer’s job aboard ship: Navy uniform regulations outlined differences in line or specialties of officers, e.g. engineers, surgeons, chaplains or deck. With the close of the Civil War, Federalism was the rule in the governance of the United States, and the strength of the Union was represented even more so than before on naval insignia. The elaborate differences once found on commissioned officers headgear gave way to an elegant and uniform means of identification: an eagle-anchor device worn on a uniform cap centered above the visor. This device served as a potent visual statement of how officers were in the service of the government, and not merely members of a ship – those indicators found themselves on the sleeve and epaulets. Plates in the 1869 regulations illustrated a gaunt republican eagle facing the wearer’s left and surmounting a large United States shield in silver with embroidered gold anchors underneath. A definitive statement on the device’s construction was published in 1889; afterward, it went through small manufacturer design changes until the publication of the Uniform Regulations of May 31, 1941. Previously, as stated before, the eagle faced to the left whereas the new regulations stated that the eagle face right. A memorandum from the Director of Naval History to Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Naval Forces, Europe of 13 December 1963 states that:
The shift of the eagle’s aspect to right-facing from left-facing is logical from the perspective of heraldic tradition, since the right side (dexter) is the honor side of the shield and the left side (sinister) indicates dishonor or illegitimacy.
I am sure the original configuration was nothing that serious. It was most probably due to a manufacturer creating a product, it selling at the right price and the design continuing to be used without anyone thinking about the possible sinister repercussions or undertones. I imagine the subject was brought up at a garden party and later memos were typed and decisions were made…
The stamped metal eagle accompanying this entry is from the period immediately preceding the entry of the United States into the Second World War; it is also during this period that Hilborn-Hamburger began hallmarking insignia with the distinctive H-H in a stylized eagle-star device, and also when Viking began producing anchors for officers’ insignia. Unlike other times of earlier uniform change, personnel of Navy during mid-twentieth century quickly adopted insignia as dictated by new regulations and few sailors found themselves contrary to regulation. This eagle was not worn during the war; it found its way into a cigar box and was secreted away for decades. Although, regarding the expedient change of insignia… apparently flag officers were exempt or just very slow to change as seen in these LIFE snippets from 1941 and 1942:
Adm. King is detailed on 24 November 1941 (p 92).
J. Auld is curious about the cap badge on 15 December 1941 (pg 2).
Adm. Leahy apparently hasn’t updated his wardrobe by 28 September 1941 (cover).
Some design notes: this cap badge is convex and has two screw posts; one small, behind the eagle’s breast, and another, larger holding the shield and anchors together. Toward mid-war, the former screw all but disappeared and was replaced by two pins near the wing tips – as can be discerned here. This eagle’s body is similar in design to the U.S. Army Transportation Corps – Water Division cap badge which appeared in 1944. The aforementioned eagle was almost exclusively manufactured by Gemsco. This anchor design continued to be employed until the Korean War by jewelers and private-purchase insignia houses.
U.S. Navy commissioned officer.
Cap badge, obverse.
U.S. Navy commissioned officer.
Cap badge, reverse.
U.S. Navy commissioned officer.
Cap badge, reverse detail.
Some details of note are the notches on the shield for the flush placement of the anchor stock and chain, and the presence of the convex washer. Later varieties lack notches, and the anchors are placed behind the eagle-shield device; at times slightly bending the anchors. The washer has also changed through time and has become flat – which it is at present.
U.S. Navy commissioned officer.
Cap badge, reverse hallmark detail.
Note the H-H hallmark on the reverse of the right wing and Sterling on the left. The Viking hallmark is on the left anchor stock; in later designs, Viking placed hallmarks on the anchor shank and sometimes on the arms. I have yet to determine an adequate chronology for Viking hallmark placement.
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London: Greenhill Books, 2006.
