United States Lines Seamen Uniforms
United States Lines uniformed its unlicensed seamen in garb quite similar to that worn by sailors in the U.S. Navy. Besides being an economic measure where the company did not need to have custom work done by ship chandlers in New York since the uniforms were readily available, having a ship’s crew wear a uniform like those of their military counterparts both promoted a professional appearance and acted as a visual metaphor for the passenger: they could link the crew ‘s uniforms to those of the U.S. Navy and quickly determine a crew member’s place within the ship’s hierarchy.
Many uniform components were shared; however, USL did deviate from the U.S. Navy. A distinct difference may be seen in the Winter dress and undress trousers; whereas the U.S. Navy sailor wore 13-button trousers, the USL seaman wore trousers with a fly. Some companies went as far as to change the buttons on the uniforms they provided to their ship’s crew; USL did not follow this pattern – buttons on unlicensed crew uniforms were plain – e.g. on the P-coat, unlike the U.S, Navy their buttons lacked anchors and stars. And unlike the U.S. Navy, USL crews did not wear rank or rate badges.
All images are from col.: AMM HAI-653 “Personnel USL sailor in winter Uniform to Herbert W. Zink”
Note: photograph captions are from notes penciled on the back of each or from archive descriptions.