Officers' uniforms

Does anyone know the official colour of the captain's officer's cap? White or Navy Blue?

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HI, why was smith in white uniform when he was on the olympic? but black on the titanic, was there some rule about uniforms?

[Moderator's note: This message, originally a separate thread in a different topic, has been moved to this pre-existing thread about officers' uniforms. MAB]
 
Basically, whites are for summer or the tropics. Blues are for all other times.

The commander of a White Star ship wore a blue cloth dress coat, double breasted, same cut, standard of length, and number of buttons (Company's pattern, bright gilt), as Navy frock coat; cuffs trimmed with four rows 1/2-inch gold lace, straight, with circle at top of upper row.

Caps were to be blue, but with a white ribbed ap cover in summer.

In services where hot weather is prevalent, white drill suits of Navy pattern could be worn. With whites the ranks were worn in gold lace on shoulder straps.

All of this is from the IMM/White Star Line rulebook.

-- David G. Brown
 
Folks,
Hello my name is Richard Houf and as a new member to this group with a keen interest in Titanic and crews uniforms.
On the subject of the Officer's uniform did they have any buttons on their cuffs if so how many ?.
Also would the 6th officer have a loop on his sleeve rank ?.
Again did the Quartermaster and Master-At-Arms have officer type uniforms and what ranks would they have had on the sleeves if any ?.
Also am wanting information on the deck crew uniforms.
Did the sailors were the admiralty pattern M1912 uniform or Royal Navy pattern which consisted of the following items
flat cap with WHITE STAR LINE cap tally or R.M.S. TITANIC cap tally ?.
Royal Naval pattern jumper with U shape front and button cuffs or U shape front with no button cuffs
Naval Guernsey with WHITE STAR LINE embroidered on it
Naval pattern trousers
Would this be correct ?.
Also would they have had any trade badges and good conduct badges on the jumper ?.
The reason for this is that I would like to recreate a period uniform for both ranks as correctly as possible.
Thanks,
For any and all helpful information,
Richard Houf
 
If you type-in British Merchant Navy Uniforms" you'll get it all there.

Jim C.
 
Which uniform were they wearing that night? And also how many of them eventually got lifebelts on?
I guess the watch that hit the iceberg -i.e. Murdoch, Boxhall and Moody- were wearing great coats due to the low temperature, but I could't say as for the others. I'll have to review the inquiries to check out.
 
Christa Erin Pereira said:
Heya!

Can you tell me what the officer's uniforms entailed and if they wore them still while they were off duty?

Also did they just crash into bed when their watch was up or did they have some fun at some point? I find it hard to believe, with all the stories surrounding sailors, that they were the solemn people we see in the photos today. I know that Lightoller was a prankster but what of the others? What about Murdoch, Boxhall, Moody, Pitman, and Lowe (I imagine he would have been an interesting character!).

Christa
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Hi.

Do you mean fooling around and booty calls? I don't think they did. They were gentlemen. Officers courted for years
Christa Erin Pereira said:
Heya!

Can you tell me what the officer's uniforms entailed and if they wore them still while they were off duty?

Also did they just crash into bed when their watch was up or did they have some fun at some point? I find it hard to believe, with all the stories surrounding sailors, that they were the solemn people we see in the photos today. I know that Lightoller was a prankster but what of the others? What about Murdoch, Boxhall, Moody, Pitman, and Lowe (I imagine he would have been an interesting character!).

Christa
Click to expand...
Do you mean fooling around and booty calls? I don't think they did. They came from the era before the era of ww1, They were gentlemen. Officers courted woman for years. Had you Seen how they wrote to thier loved ones? Very passionate and very much in love. Even to thier own parents and siblings.
Titanic officers got married late in life, in thier late 30's. Think it's due to long courtmanship. Most people in our parents and grandparents era only had one or 2 partners over thier life time .

The most fooling around by the officers would be pranks like officer lightoller had done.
 
Just saw this.

RNR Lace braid had unbroken chain links. RNR has wavy unbroken lines.

Officers did not fool around on board. Most of the time they had to grow up very quickly and were too bloody tired for that nonsense. Juniors were on a 4 on-4 of rota seniors were on an 4 on-8-off rota that was for 7 days a week Count the hours for yourselves..
Seniors were really well off, they only had to work a 56 hour week. Everyone could also be required to sign 2 year articles whereby they worked for 2 years non stop and did not get leave until they touched a UK or Continental port. Personally I had 6 weeks leave in 4 years.
I was married to the same person for 60 years. It lasted that long due to a love that can only be imagined and which was planted early in a field of mutual respect.
Of course the "chemistry" was there. But our thoughts frequently rose above the belt buckle level.

I was 55 years in the business and got married when I was very young.
Letter writing was not only an art form, it was a form of recreation. The words you wrote you thought about before you wrote them. The worst thing that could happen was to get a "Dear John".

As someone said, "words are cheap". Perhaps the fact that nowadays, due to wall-to-wall phones, so many folks talk for the sake of doing so simply because they can. They say the first thing that enters their mind then think about it after saying it?
Never mind, in 100 years time, babies will be born mute and with a thumb and forefinger in each hand. They will spend their entire lives sitting on a cushion staring at a square bit of synthetic "stuff" upon which they can communicate as much nonsense as their poor wee digits can produce. They will probably have an APP for procreation.
 
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Jim Currie said:
they can communicate as much nonsense as their poor wee digits can produce. They will probably have an APP for procreation.
Click to expand...
They may even have an AI APP that can do the thinking for them. That way they won't even have to think or use whatever digits they have too much. Just watch one AI APP communicating back and forth with another AI APP all day. :cool:
 
Samuel Halpern said:
They may even have an AI APP that can do the thinking for them. That way they won't even have to think or use whatever digits they have too much. Just watch one AI APP communicating back and forth with another AI APP all day. :cool:
Click to expand...
The :eek: mind boggles at contemplation of the finished article
 
No. They won't need digits to tap their screens. Everything will be implanted, wifi, internet app in their brains at birth. Their DNA sequence code will be their log on password. On saturday mom and dad will take them to see the pre skynet humans like us...at the ZOO.
 
Yep, guys have lost thier ways in personal touch.

the officers knew how to talk women in person, knew how to write loving caring letters, only had eyes for one woman and knew how to treat a woman . Now men have no idea how to woo - court women, nor even how to talk to women in person.

I believe titanic officers had more luck with the women then men today. They were gentlemen that acted like men, today men are complete opposite. Not appealing at all.
 
Aly Jones said:
Hi.

Do you mean fooling around and booty calls? I don't think they did. They were gentlemen. Officers courted for years
Do you mean fooling around and booty calls? I don't think they did. They came from the era before the era of ww1, They were gentlemen. Officers courted woman for years. Had you Seen how they wrote to thier loved ones? Very passionate and very much in love. Even to thier own parents and siblings.
Titanic officers got married late in life, in thier late 30's. Think it's due to long courtmanship. Most people in our parents and grandparents era only had one or 2 partners over thier life time .

The most fooling around by the officers would be pranks like officer lightoller had done.
Click to expand...

Smith was married when he was 37, Wilde 26, Murdoch 34 and Lightoller 29. Lights only knew his wife for about 5 weeks before a proposal. I doubt there were any booty calls... being Edwardians and all but falling in love mid ocean was doable.
 
Aly Jones said:
Yep, guys have lost thier ways in personal touch.

the officers knew how to talk women in person, knew how to write loving caring letters, only had eyes for one woman and knew how to treat a woman . Now men have no idea how to woo - court women, nor even how to talk to women in person.

I believe titanic officers had more luck with the women then men today. They were gentlemen that acted like men, today men are complete opposite. Not appealing at all.
Click to expand...
Sadly, I lost my wife of 60 years recently. You are spot- on with your assessement of the modern male. However, keep in mind that it takes 2 to tango. Many a young sailor received a "Dear John" letter... myself included. I will ot go into my assessement of the modern male...I have 5 of them in my Clan.
As for the modern sea-person( I must remember I'm living in the bright , new pc world)? I heard recently that poor sailors have been ship-bound for up to 4 month due to Covid and have only had their mobiles to keep in touch with freinds and loved ones...poor wee souls!
Back in my day and in the days of Titanic...90% of sailors signed 2 Year Articles and that meant they could not get home unless th ship docked in the UK or Continent. Apprentices worked 12 hours a day, 24/7 and did not receive overtime payment..
As a matter of intere st, my first wage was £75 per year when the average was about £480 per year.:rolleyes:
 
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