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Kings Point Bandsman

In searching through the National Archives, a friend forwarded me a curious set of images that originated from a file on United States Maritime Service uniforms. It brought up a couple of questions: Where are these from? And, who wore this uniform?

U. S. Maritime Academy band uniform

The first question has an easy answer. The moniker in the specifications – “Maritime Academy” strikes out the uniform as being at any of the other United States Maritime Service-run schools; they were called “training stations” or “schools” during the war. Before Kings Point became known as the Merchant Marine Academy, it was sometimes referred to as the United States Maritime Academy in internal publications through 1943 – this places the uniform’s wear at the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point.

The second question is a little harder to pin down, but all evidence points to a professional bandsman. Like the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis and the United States Maritime Service training stations, the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point had a professional band; the years of its operation are unclear. There is evidence that the Academy had a professional band recruited from local New York City swing bands in 1942. Confusing matters, the Academy also had a band formed by cadet-midshipmen in 1944 – a Regimental “Dance Band.” This band was to alternate performances at Regimental dances with the Academy band. The Dance band eventually became today’s Regimental band.

Polaris, 1942

Could this be a uniform for a bandsman in the professional United States Merchant Marine Academy’s professional band or the cadet-midshipman Dance band? I would suggest, a professional bandsman; perhaps a band leader.

The illustrated uniform does not follow the pattern worn by other United States Maritime Service bandsmen, they wore fairly drab six-button coats without loops and lace. Also, in looking at the notions, the uniform buttons are of Cadet Corps-type, or star-anchor-star – pointing to the uniform as belonging to Kings Point. It is worth mentioning that instructors and the United States Maritime Service Ship’s Service men at Kings Point did not wear these buttons with their uniforms – theirs were the USMS-type. The cap badge is also of the cadet-midshipman type worn until 1944. It follows that bandsmen were not members of the United States Maritime Service but contracted musicians – they are absent from Midships and period Kings Point faculty rosters, except Lt. (jg) James F. Nilan (USMS) as the director in 1942. If we ignore the organizational incongruities and taken together, the cap badge and deck gun date the uniform between 1942 and 1944, and the location definitively is Kings Point. In terms of whether or not the Regimental Dance band wore the uniform (comprised of solely cadet-midshipmen), in 1944 we see both the Dance and Jazz Band wearing a variation of the USNA short coat – which was later donned by the entire Regiment – in 1944. Thus, could this be a professional bandsman uniform from 1942 through whenever the Academy band was disbanded.

Regimental Dance band, 1944.

In a rare photograph from March 1943, as seen below, there is a complement of bandsmen leading a parade of cadet-midshipmen from the Pass Christian Merchant Marine Cader Corps Basic School on Red Cross Day in Louis, Mississippi. The bandsmen are wearing the uniform coat, replete with sleeve braid (albeit muted) and collar insignia as seen in the first photograph; however, differing from the cadet-midshipmen following them and the first photograph, is the fact that their caps have black patent-leather chinstraps. This difference in cap construction, suggests the first photograph details a band leader. It is worth mentioning that the course of study at the Basic School was only a few months in duration, which would mean forming a cadet band would be impractical; thus, the bandsmen are most probably professional musicians.

Bay Street, Louis, Mississippi, Red Cross Day Parade, 22 March 1943.
Choir leader & bugler, Kings Point, 1943.

In taking a careful look at the collar devices of the bandsmen as well as the badge on the sleeve of the choir leader from the Kings Point, 1943 image (on right), it appears that all devices were adopted from the wartime United States Navy band. The image on the right alludes to another, not documented, uniform configuration which mirrors that of midshipmen, but without cadet-midshipman insignia; interestingly. these bandsmen do not wear caps with black chinstraps.

from United States Navy Uniform Regulations, 1941.

Whatever the uniform below represents, it is unlike any other seen at Kings Point. We would only see some form of fancy dress later at Academy when the Regimental band was under Captain Kenneth Force; he introduced pomp in the 1970s. I have not seen any photographs proving or disproving that this specific uniform was in use – perhaps this is the proof. Perhaps.

Kings Point Bandsman, circa 1940s.

usmma caps & cap badge timeline

kings point caps

The United States Maritime Commission Cadet Corps cap is the nucleus around which today’s headwear of the Regiment of Midshipmen at the United States Merchant Marine Academy is based. Following United States Navy regulations, the design of the original Cadet Corps cap was contemporary for the period: a standard Naval service cap with wide crown and wide visor. The following regulations created the distinctive maritime cap look which stood out from caps of the other armed services and maritime professions:

from: Uniform Regulations for United States Maritime Commission Cadet Corps, January 1, 1942.

The construction of the cap remained relatively static through the 1940s into the 1960s. With improvements in materials, the wicker frame was abandoned in the 1980s and was replaced with a lattice of plastic and synthetic fabrics; the waterproofed cotton poplins gave way to polyester blends – yet the overall appearance of the cap remained the same as the cap of 40 years prior. Re-thinking cap use, Bancroft – a major supplier of caps to the United States military and Merchant Marine Academy – patented a cap style known as “Pac-Cap” in the 1950s. This style enabled the cap owner to fold the stiffener forward by use of hinges for travel purposes and to allow for immediate and flawless cap appearance when unpacked. Despite the innovation lasting into the 1990s, these caps never made their way to Kings Point.

Interestingly enough, the Kings Point Ships Store throughout the 1940s and 1970s removed all manufacturer’s labels from the caps and substituted their own, making tracking down cap suppliers problematic – luckily some left clues on the inside of sweatbands. In recent years, the Academy has procured men’s caps from Bernard Cap Company and women’s caps from Sam Bonk Uniform Cap Company.

high pressure caps vs. covers

At present, caps worn by the Regiment of Midshipmen are referred to as “high pressure covers.” The etymology of the term has its roots in seamen’s union argot of the late 1930s when the caps were called “high pressure caps.” Quite simply, the term was meant to evoke the crisp and snappy appearance of a “cruise ship line” officer’s cap: the cap cover was flush and the cap itself fit snug and squared-away on the wearer’s head. To the imaginative, these caps resembled the car radiator cap, which was also known as a high pressure cap. The term was a mildly derisive and spoke to the divide between the ship’s unlicensed crew with their rumpled workman’s clothes and the spit-and-polish image of licensed officers aboard liners – in the eyes of the former, the latter did not do “real work” and avoided mingling with the hoi polloi below decks. In some union hiring halls, if an individual came in wearing such a cap, it would be forcibly removed and thrown to the rafters. On the other hand, an acceptable cap for someone to wear would be a cap without a flat wire stiffener – which in maritime parlance is called a “grommet” – with a relaxed, floppy cover. These caps were allegedly worn by individuals less concerned with appearance than with doing their job.

“Happenings in Mobile.” The Seafarers’ Log: Official Organ of the Atlantic and Gulf Seamen (Seafarers’ International Union of North America). Vol. I, No. 7. Friday, April 7, 1939, p. 8. The first instance of “high pressure cap” in a union publication poking fun at the dress of young dandies – or pointedly, U.S. Maritime Commission cadets.

When cadet-midshipmen reported aboard ship for their Sea Year, they often came smartly dressed in their newly-issued uniforms and immaculate caps. More often than not, they sailed on freighters or oilers where their dress was incongruous, to say the least. The unionized, unlicensed crew ribbed them for their appearance and insulted their high-pressure caps. After months at sea, cadets brought the salty term back with them to Kings Point where it was passed from class to class. Over time, Kings Pointers began to use United States Navy terminology for uniform items as the Commandant’s office came to be managed by ex-Navymen. For them, caps were known as “combination covers”; thus, the term became “high pressure cover” and in the process, a biting pejorative was remade into a uniquely Kings Point term.

kings point cap badges 1939-1946

At its outset, what distinguished Cadet Corps caps from those of other maritime organizations was its cap badge. The first cap badge was an oversized fouled anchor device and its wear is noted in 1939. This cap badge was in use until October 1943 and completely phased out in February 1944, when Cadet Corps exclusively wore a United States Naval Academy midshipman cap device. Asserting its own identity in the post-war years, the Academy adopted the current defaced the United States Naval Academy midshipman cap badge on February 1, 1946. The 1946 cap badge has remained the cap badge design used by the Regiment up until the present day.


Cadetships in the Merchant Marine of the United States, October 17, 1939 (cover).

The 1939 cadet cap badge is without a design precedent. Its wear remained a constant throughout the Cadet Corps’ early years up until the Dedication of the United States Merchant Marine Academy on September 30, 1943. The replacement of the 1939 cap badge by the United States Naval Academy midshipman cap badge is puzzling, and the exact date for the latter’s adoption is unknown. However, its replacement occurred at some point between October and November 1943. During the month of October 1943, while the First Class Council was actively tinkering with the idea of War Shipping Administration “Ships for Victory” insignia to be worn on cadet-midshipmen collars, the Cadet Corps was made aware of the issue of Merchant Marine Service Emblems by the Seamen’s Service Awards Committee. It is probable that the aforementioned in concert with Dedication compelled Kings Pointers to align themselves closely with the Naval Service. Since cadet-midshipmen were in the United States Naval Reserve, the United States Naval Academy and USNR midshipman cap badge served to emphasize the fact that Kings Pointers were members of the same tribe.

Polaris, April 1944 (cover).
A singular appearance of the embroidered USNA cap badge.

The stamped metal cap badge of 1943-1944 was undoubtedly issued at the Cadet Basic School San Mateo and worn through early 1944 as images of cadet-midshipmen after their return from Sea Year and reporting at Kings Point attest. The often incongruous appearance of two types of cap badges in period photographs and publications point to a policy of cap badges and devices not undergoing immediate replacement when regulations changed or fashion dictated; instead, the local Ships Store issued incoming sections new devices upon arrival at the Cadet Basic schools or to individuals who wished to purchase the new cap devices – any uniform insignia was purchased by the cadet-midshipman. Thus, if there was a wear-out period, as was the case in the United States Navy, cadet-midshipmen did the same unless so compelled.

Preceding Richard R. McNulty’s assumption of the post of Academy superintendent by two months, the Cadet Corps issued its first post-war book of regulations, United States Merchant Marine Cadet Corps Regulations and Instructions on February 1, 1946. Part IV “Uniform Regulation for the United States Merchant Marine Cadet Corps” defined the style of a new cap device for the Cadet Corps:

from United States Merchant Marine Cadet Corps Regulations and Instructions,Part IV “Uniform Regulation for the United States Merchant Marine Cadet Corps” IV-16, February 1, 1946.

This new cap badge was disbursed in September 1946 just prior to the Academy’s funeral services for Captain Tomb – some months after its appearance in the 1946 Regulations. With this cap badge, there was no wear-out, since it was issued Academy-wide at once. It is fitting that while the Cadet Corps paid tribute to King Points’ first superintendent, the 1946 cap badge, also paid homage to the legacy of President Franklin D. Roosevelt with its inclusion of the Merchant Marine emblem in miniature that he authorized for all Merchant Mariners. This cap badge encapsulates the dual nature of the education a Kings Pointer receives: the training of a licensed merchant marine officer and a military one akin to that of a midshipman at Annapolis. The cap badge also points to when the Cadet Corps came into its own: the Second World War.

from Polaris, November 1946. Photograph taken ca September 1946.
First published image of the 1946 cap badge.

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Two garrison caps

At its outset, the United States Merchant Marine Academy’s predecessor, the United States Maritime Commission Cadet Corps bucked the prevalent sartorial trend and uniformed its members in the garb of a ship’s officer, eschewing the popular eight-button coat of the maritime cadet or midshipman. This ethos of non-conformity continued through the Second World War – culminating in the Kings Point cadet-midshipman jazz band taking the round coat of their Annapolis peers and eventually extending its wear to the Regiment. Headwear was no exception.

Garrison caps were first called “aviation caps” in Cadet Corps regulations; for good reason, they were the primary headgear worn by aviators; for some reason, Naval aviators did not have the tradition of wearing “crushers” like their Army Air Corps contemporaries (although sub sailors did). These caps first appeared in Cadet Corps sea bags in Summer 1941 and came in khaki with blue piping – piping was a notably a U.S. Army innovation; the color of the cord translated to the Corps a soldier belonged. Thus in a maritime setting, the Cadet Corps adopted this novel headgear before midshipmen at Annapolis or New London, or cadets at Fort Schuyler.

In terms of insignia on Cadet Corps garrison caps, the United States Maritime Commission (USMC) pin was worn on the left side from 1939 to 1942 with a blank blouse; at some point in 1942 it was replaced with Cadet Corps Shield and the piping was deleted from the cap. The anchor appeared on the blank curtain (triangle of folded cloth at the front) in June 1943. The shield remained until November 1943; after this date, the Merchant Marine service emblem replaced both the anchor and shield.  It should be noted that the reason why there was no anchor device on the blouse between some point in 1942 and mid-1943, was because no anchor device existed at the time – only in 1943 did U.S. Navy officers begin wearing miniature devices on garrison caps.

White garrison caps first appeared in January 1941 in U.S. Navy sea bags; at the time, they were only worn with tropical uniforms (short sleeve shirts and shorts).  As the Navy began building up shore installations in the Pacific, officers found their usual visor cap and sometimes pith helmets impractical (if not visually silly). The Navy looked to the U.S. Army for inspiration where garrison caps were the rule for “informal formal” wear. Clotheshorses that they were, since Naval officers needed something to wear with their tropical uniforms as they did with their service uniforms Stateside, voila: white garrison cap.

Maritime Commission Cadets on parade, Summer 1943

In Summer 1943, the recently-formed Merchant Marine Academy and its Basic Schools issued white service uniforms to its cadet-midshipmen along with a white garrison cap. The cap appears to have been first issued to members of the Cadet Corps at Cadet Basic School in Pass Christian, Mississippi; and curiously, it was seen on the parade ground in combination with the white service uniform – the military discipline of day (to which the Cadet Corps subscribed) forebade the public to ever see a service member in a garrison cap since it was considered undress; it was a gaffe on the order of a gentleman being seen in shirt sleeves in public. By Spring 1944, the white garrison cap was a memory.

In 1974, the United States Merchant Marine Academy removed a unique piece of headwear from midshipman seabags after twenty-eight years of use: a denim garrison cap. This cap was a unique uniform item only used at Kings Point and not at anywhere else among the sea services; the other state maritime or federal academies issued their inmates in white hats (Plebes wore a blue-rimmed hat at USNA) and eventually command ball caps.

November 1945 vs. December 1946

This garrison hat was issued from November 1946 through at most Spring 1974. The denim garrison cap supplanted khaki garrison caps that were previously worn with dungarees and chambray work shirts; its first appearance is noted in a photograph of a new thermodynamics laboratory. The change from khaki to denim makes sense as grease strains are extremely difficult to clean from khaki; and khaki garrison caps were worn for inspection and for “official, unofficial functions” and as such stains would reflect poorly on the wearer. Luckily, dungarees were work clothes and not subject to the rigors of inspection, except shirts were expected to be bloused. It was worn by Engineer midshipmen in shop and laboratory spaces, and by midshipmen assigned to maintenance activities in the dormitories (e.g. swabbing the deck). As for insignia, extant photographs show it featured both the midshipman anchor and Merchant Marine Service emblem, and without the anchor (like this example); this is due to the fact that cadets in their preliminary phase of training – their first couple of weeks at the Basic Schools – were not full members of Cadet Corps, and were in a preliminary state. Once they survived the first two weeks, they rated an anchor pin on their caps and hats. The disappearance of the Service Emblem occurred in the late 1950s, with the anchor remaining its only adornment.

In later years, the dungaree uniform, which came in both long and short-sleeve versions, was supplanted by the boiler suit. This uniform was an integral pair of trousers and a shirt in dark blue. It was a popular article of wear in civilian machine shops and was de rigueur in U.S. Navy hull repair and engineering spaces. From 1973-1975, there were two years of un-uniformity in Kings Point’s working uniforms and allied headwear.

Last sighting of denim garrison cap, Midships 1973 & 1975

In Fall 1974, the denim cap was removed as an item of wear for the class of ’76 and replaced with a command ball cap after nearly thirty years of official wear. Kings Pointers afterward wore caps like those worn at Annapolis – and no longer was a distinctive visual emblem of the Cadet Corps. Prior to full abolishment of the denim cap, degrading Kings Point’s distinctive look was the retirement of dungarees; apparently, the Superintendent’s wife thought midshipmen wearing the dungaree uniform made them look like “hippies” (it must have been the flared pant legs of their Seafarer dungaree trousers). Their uniforms were summarily replaced with polyester boiler suits in 1973. The switch over was not complete across all classes as upperclassmen still wore their dungarees (see the image above). By the end of the 1970s, Kings Point willfully shed most of its idiosyncratic uniform components and adopted a marked Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps appearance – the denim garrison cap was the third uniform item, after the Zombo shoulder boards and hippie dungarees in a long line of abandonments.

Command ball caps at Annapolis and Kings Point, Fall 974

Special thanks are due to Thomas F. McCaffery, USMMA ’76.