Jump to content
Game-Labs Forum

Period sailor costumes


Brigand

Recommended Posts

By coincidence, I stumbled upon these images of costumes from the days gone by:

 

 

Edit: They are apparently from Carreras's Cigarettes series "History of Naval Uniforms" (1937). There should be 50 of them. Since they are collectors cards from a sigarette brand, distributed with packs of smokes, they may not be period correct. On the other hand, I found them on a website dealing with dresses, clothing and fashion through history, so that leads me to believe that they may be reasonably accurate.

 

8190469.8fcadada.240.jpg?r2

Master, 1777

 

8190468.9e277070.240.jpg?r2

Midshipman of 1775-83

 

8190467.670adc61.240.jpg?r2

Lieutenant, 1773

 

8190463.818e8e53.240.jpg?r2

Gunner, 1750

 

8190462.b62bb372.240.jpg?r2

Seaman, 1744

 

8190461.66bd98aa.240.jpg?r2

Post Captain, 1740

 

8190452.73b86e83.240.jpg?r2

Master mariner, 1740

 

8190451.26c34d5d.240.jpg?r2

Admiral, 1704

 

8190450.03e2fa21.240.jpg?r2

Seaman of 1690

 

8190426.b4c89541.240.jpg?r2

Seaman, 1663

 

8190425.bf213dd7.240.jpg?r2

Ship's officer, 1651

 

8190424.1d011f56.240.jpg?r2

Seaman of 1608

 

8190416.164a9bdb.240.jpg?r2

Seaman, 1588

 

8190415.50986ba4.240.jpg?r2

Ship's officer - circa 1574

 

8190414.d2a67301.240.jpg?r2

Seaman of the Cinque Ports (1509-47)

 

8190405.530ae77c.240.jpg?r2

Sailor of the Drake Period, circa 1574

 

8190404.ddb3bafd.240.jpg?r2

Tudor period (1485-1509)

 

8190403.fee67728.240.jpg?r2

Seaman, 1480

 

Cheers,

Brigand

  • Like 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great find.  Information on the period's uniforms can be difficult to locate.  Interestingly, there were no official uniforms in the British Royal Navy until the late 1740s.  Captains wore the clothing of a nobleman and dressed their crews however they saw fit. 

Edited by Jack Redmen
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Be careful. These are drawings of how a Cigarette Card illustrator conceived things in 1937, not a modern view, not an academic view nor a view contemporary with the clothing illustrated.

 

Thats not to say that they are WRONG - just don't take them as gospel and, perhaps, do a little Googling before accepting them as your best source.

 

For example, here is a link to some drawings (mostly) by Thomas Rowlinson of how Royal Navy crew looked in his day, 1799. So its probably a good source - but always double check, he may have idealised or caricatured his subjects. In fact its clear from the drawings that he has, just look at that Purser!

 

http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConGallery.57/Ranksin-Nelsons-navy.html

 

Often your best bet is to locate the website of a one of the better sets of Renactors / Living History organisiations for the period. They bring together information from many sources and add practical experience of actually wearing the clothes to produce something that is often the best view of how people dressed at the time that can be obtained today. However even then be wary - some organisations will dress to please the viewer and others may do so on occasion - for example when they are appearing in a specific pageant or as extras in a film.

 

Almost all will be a lot cleaner and sweeter smelling than their historical personages though. However, yet again, it pays to be careful. Royal Navy sailors on 'a run ashore' primped themselves up and wore their best clothes and were anyway generally cleaner than the populace, due to the RNs obsession with keeping everything, including the men, aboard ship clean and, therefore, healthy.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Be careful. These are drawings of how a Cigarette Card illustrator conceived things in 1937, not a modern view, not an academic view nor a view contemporary with the clothing illustrated.

 

I found then on a website which is about cloths and old fashion, that is why I initially accepted them as probably correct.

 

Only after more searching, I found they came from as collection cards with a pack of sigaretes. So they may indeed be less accurate than I thought at first.

 

Often your best bet is to locate the website of a one of the better sets of Renactors / Living History organisiations for the period.

I found renactors to be a mixed blessing. On the one hand, you have people who try to fatefully bring history back to live. On the other hand, there is also crap like 'Society for Creative Anachronism' (not to speak of 'Fantasy Renactment') which does a lot to delude history to make it fit their own fantasies and then going out of their way to refabricate sources to make 'history' fit their imagination. I find it very hard to spot the differences.

 

~Brigand

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've found the best resources to be museums.  The National Maritime Museum has quite a few uniforms in it's collection and you can find a lot of them on their website.  There were a few other websites I found some years ago, but I have lost them.  Here are a few links to some info I think is pretty good.

 

National Maritime Museum

http://www.nmm.ac.uk/

You can view many of their exhibits online and search their archives

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Navy_ranks,_rates,_and_uniforms_of_the_18th_and_19th_centuries

This is a wikipedia page so take it as you may, however this is an old established article I have found to be fairly accurate and quite informative

 

http://www.st-george-squadron.com/sgs/wiki/index.php?title=1748_Pattern

This is some research done by a society mate years ago and compiled on our society website.  It has quite a few pictures, many of which came from sources like the National Maritime Museum

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think a key point is that only certain people wore Uniforms, and even then they weren't worn by those people on every occasion or 'according to regulation' when they were. Otherwise you wouldn't have senior officers like John Jervis issuing orders to enforce the wearing of full uniform, with the correct hats (no 'Round Hats'). There were also cases of more traditional officers wearing obsolete uniforms and of Captains insisting that their officers wear flashy non-regulation dress. There would have been differences between nominally identical uniforms as well, depending on which tailor was used, how rich an officer was and how much sea-service had worn the clothes. Uniforms were anything but Uniform!

 

Most importantly, the seamen had no uniform, although individual ships or fleets would be likely to have some common features in their mens dress, due to having been supplied with 'slops' from a particular contractor. They would also customise them - tailoring them themselves and doing things like sewing ribbons into the seams of their shoregoing rig. There were also specialist items of dress - if you look at the Rowlandson illustration of 'Chips' he is wearing the traditional woolly hat of the Ships Carpenter.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

But its clear, clothings, costumes are not only 17ct, 18ct different, you are nearly able to differ between decades, its obvious, at least 'officers', those are anytime very fashioned ;).

I am member of the german society of historcial costumes and weaponry so my preferences are clear not to mix 1650 'hats' with 1750 'tricorns' but also clear game means for players most time implement all which looks cool 'to me'.

So i will see wheather napoleonic 'uniforms' will be combined with 30 years war 'civil' clothing or baroque 1700 wigs.

A small hope for me that it won't be like PotBs, there is to much operetta carnival costumes.

Edited by Theuerdank
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sailor2.jpgSailor1.jpg

Sailor 1700

 

British_Sailors_3.jpg

British sailors 18th century.

 

Also, a very good article:

 

http://www.st-george-squadron.com/sgs/wiki/index.php?title=1748_Pattern

The First Royal Naval Uniform

 

The First Royal Naval Uniform

In 1748 the first regulations for a Royal Naval uniform for officers was released by the board of Admiralty. This was based on a number of designs submitted by senior captains and closely follows the fashion of the time.

There are some items that are common to all uniforms and ranks. Though of course the quality would vary depending on the wealth of the officer.

  • Hat: All ranks would wear a black tricorne with gold trim and a black silk cockade.
  • Tie: A white silk tie would be worn by all ranks except Midshipmen.
  • Shirt: White, the fashion was for large shirts.
  • Breaches: Navy blue with brass buttons.
  • Stockings: White
  • Shoes/Boots: Black

 

 

On looking at the evidence there are two main issues that are not present with modern uniforms.

Variation within the pattern

This may be caused by artistic licence of the painter or variation of the uniform as each tailor interpreted the pattern. There was no single supplier of uniforms and tailors would have had little experience of naval uniforms or other examples to copy. This would result in some variation of the details.

Lack of consistent style

The admiralty invited a number of senior officers to submit designs for the first uniform. These were then presented to the board who selected either entire uniforms or details from each. This would explain why the dress and undress uniforms for Senior captains where so different in design. It doesn't even appear than one person designed all the undress and someone else designed the dress. Sir Augustus Kepple was one of the officers involved in the design process, and there's a strong possibility that he designed the undress uniform for junior and senior captains. This friction between styles was one of the main issues addressed in the 1767 pattern which replaced the 1748.

If I was to guess I'd say that the Dress uniforms for Lieutenant, Senior captain and Flag officer where designed by one person and Midshipman and Junior Captain by another. The cuff style seems to support this although I've yet to find solid evidence of who designed what.

  

 

 

Waistcoat / Vest

Lieutenants, Captains and Flag officers each had a uniform waistcoat in white with gold edging. The same pattern was used in Undress and Dress uniform. Midshipmen did not have a waistcoat although a plain white waistcoat might have been worn.

 

 

 

  • 59px-RNMidshipmanWaistcoatRoughDM062011.

    Midshipman Waistcoat

  •  
  • 59px-RNLieutenantWaistcoatRoughDM062011.

    Lieutenant Waistcoat

  •  
  • 59px-Vest.png

    Junior Captain (under 3 years) Waistcoat

  •  
  • 42px-SOVest.png

    Senior Captain (over 3 years) Waistcoat

  •  
  • 42px-RN1748FlagOfficerDressWaistcoat.png

    Flag officer Waistcoat

Uniform templates created by 'Not By Appointment' who owns the copyright. Permission given for non-profit use.

Dress Uniforms

There are dress uniform regulations available for Midshipmen, Lieutenants, Junior and Senior Captain and Flag officers. These uniforms would be worn at official engagements on shore or whenever the officer wished to look his best. It could also be worn during battle as a sign of respect to the enemy.

  • Midshipman: Blue single breasted coat with white cuffs, blue 'mariners cuff' detail and brass buttons. The collar is turned down at the neck exposing the white lining. Plain white waistcoat (vest) with brass buttons, worn buttoned up to the neck.
  • Lieutenant: Blue single breasted coat with large white cuffs and brass buttons. Waistcoat (vest) is white with simple gold trimming around the bottom, front and pockets.

 

  • Junior Captain: Blue double breasted coat with white lapels buttoned back with brass buttons. White cuff with large 'mariners cuff' in blue. simple gold trim around the jacket and cuff. Waistcoat (vest) is white with simple gold trimming around the bottom, front and pockets.
  • Senior Captain: Blue single breasted coat with large white cuffs and brass buttons. Double gold trim on the coat and 3 gold stripes on the large white cuff. Waistcoat (vest) is white with double gold trimming around the bottom, front and pockets.
  • Flag officer: Blue single breasted coat with brass buttons. Single and large gold trip on the coat with gold trim button hole detailing. Large white cuffs with gold detailing. Waistcoat (vest) is white with double gold trimming around the bottom, front and pockets.

 

  • 48px-Midshipman_Dress.png

    Midshipman Dress Uniform

  •  
  • 48px-Lieutenant_Dress.png

    Lieutenant Dress Uniform

  •  
  • 48px-Junion_Captain_Dress.png

    Junior Captain (under 3 years) Dress Uniform

  •  
  • 50px-RN1748SeniorCaptainFullDressDM10201

    Senior Captain (over 3 years) Dress Uniform

  •  
  • 49px-RN1748FlagOfficerFullDressDM102011.

    Flag Officer Dress Uniform

Uniform templates created by 'Not By Appointment' who owns the copyright. Permission given for non-profit use.

Undress Uniforms

Undress uniforms where designed for everyday wear. Made of more durable fabrics to stand up to the rigours of life at sea. There was no undress uniform for Midshipmen, but all other officer ranks had an undress pattern.

  • Lieutenant: Blue single breasted coat with large blue cuffs and brass buttons. Waistcoat (vest) is white with simple gold trimming around the bottom, front and pockets.
  • Junior Captain: Blue double breasted coat with blue lapels buttoned back with brass buttons. White cuff with large 'mariners cuff' in blue. simple gold trim around the jacket and cuff. Waistcoat (vest) is white with simple gold trimming around the bottom, front and pockets.

 

  • Senior Captain: Blue single breasted coat with large white cuffs and brass buttons. Double gold trim on the coat and 3 gold stripes on the cuff. Waistcoat (vest) is white with double gold trimming around the bottom, front and pockets. This appears to be the same as the Junior officer Dress uniform.
  • Flag officer: Blue double breasted coat with white lapels buttoned back with brass buttons. Double gold trip on the coat with gold trim button hole detailing. Waistcoat (vest) is white with double gold trimming around the bottom, front and pockets.

 

  • 48px-Lieutenant_Undress.png

    Lieutenant Undress Uniform

  •  
  • 48px-Junion_Captain_Undress.png

    Junior Captain (under 3 years) Undress Uniform

  •  
  • 48px-Senior_Captain_Undress.png

    Senior Captain (over 3 years) Undress Uniform

  •  
  • 49px-RN1748FlagOfficerUndress.png

    Flag officer Undress Uniform

Uniform templates created by 'Not By Appointment' who owns the copyright. Permission given for non-profit use.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 9 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

A few plates showing French Napoleonic naval dress.

 

 

Ship officers uniforms (by P. Courcelle):

 

post-14746-0-68962600-1454097919_thumb.jpg

 

 

Warrant officers and crew dress (by P. Courcelle and M. Pétard):

 

post-14746-0-68518800-1454097957_thumb.jpg

 

http://miniaturasmilitaresalfonscanovas.blogspot.ch/2013/03/les-equipages-del-empereur-1804-1808.html

 

Text belonging to the latter (Figurines 55, Décembre 2003 - Janvier 2004, p. 42; in French):

 

post-14746-0-23699700-1454097999_thumb.jpeg

Edited by Wagram
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

A few plates showing French Napoleonic naval dress.

 

 

Ship officers uniforms (by P. Courcelle):

 

attachicon.gifCourcelle, Uniformes marine de 1800 à 1815, officiers.jpg

 

 

Warrant officers and crew dress (by P. Courcelle and M. Pétard):

 

attachicon.gifCourcelle, Uniformes marine de 1800 à 1815, troupe.jpg

 

http://miniaturasmilitaresalfonscanovas.blogspot.ch/2013/03/les-equipages-del-empereur-1804-1808.html

 

Text belonging to the latter (Figurines 55, Décembre 2003 - Janvier 2004, p. 42; in French):

 

attachicon.gifPétard, Équipages 1804-1808, Text.jpeg

if we get proper crew models everyone's going to want to play those classy gentlemen

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...