Jump to content

Cocked Hats


Recommended Posts

Does anyone know the actual average height for crowns and width for brims circa 1695-1710?

Hector


"I being shot through the left cheek, the bullet striking away great part of my upper jaw, and several teeth which dropt down the deck where I fell... I was forced to write what I would say to prevent the loss of blood, and because of the pain I suffered by speaking."~ Woodes Rogers

Crewe of the Archangel

http://jcsterlingcptarchang.wix.com/creweofthearchangel#

http://creweofthearchangel.wordpress.com/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would venture to say 5" to 5 1/2" respectively for a VIP.

Down to a 4" brim depending on your position in life I suppose on a Cocked Hat. ( Korne)

However on a felt blank 5 to 6 I believe.

I am not Lost .,I am Exploring.

"If you give a man a fire, he will be warm for a night, if you set a man on fire, he will be warm for the rest of his life!"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:angry: sorry double post.

Edited by HarborMaster

I am not Lost .,I am Exploring.

"If you give a man a fire, he will be warm for a night, if you set a man on fire, he will be warm for the rest of his life!"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hard to say... the only extant tricorns that I have seen (in Museums) have been from the rev war period.

Here is one

and another

If anyone has any links to earlier cocked hats, please share them.

I have a bit more on my website, but the page needs some updating. Its kind of hard to put your finger on any kind of trend as at some dates, they seem to be wider brimmed and other "thinner", then later, wider again.

Personal preference?

I think that I would say that is true for crowns as well. Some are taller, others are "flatter".

The blocks of the period, i understand, were round and not oval... if that helps any.

Take a look at My Webpage and the graphic below for some ideas.

Tricorn-Develop.jpg

GoF

Come aboard my pirate re-enacting site

http://www.gentlemenoffortune.com/

Where you will find lots of information on building your authentic Pirate Impression!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, GoF. In your picture, I see at least one that is clearly flat-topped, and several that suggest it. No idea whether those are pieced or blocked, but at least it shows that the cylindrical crown was in use. If I had to hazard a guess, I would think piecing would be a way to produce a cheaper hat. In any case, nearly all the seams are hidden once the brim is cocked.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just out of Curiosity Tom.... why?

Do you have some felt lying around that you need something to do with it?

I would have thought that there might not be too many ways to make it cheaper for 17th / 18th century.

Felt, is made from wool which is layered, wetted, and agitated to bind it together into a cloth. The cloth is then stretched and steamed over a form to get the hat shape.

I would imagine that "pieces" of felt would be re-incorperated into the felt making process again to make another piece that is would be large enough to make an entire hat.

GoF

Come aboard my pirate re-enacting site

http://www.gentlemenoffortune.com/

Where you will find lots of information on building your authentic Pirate Impression!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just wondering how much of an abomination my tricorn is, that's all. :rolleyes:

I was guessing that it was easier to make flat felt than shaped felt, and piecing it is comparatively simpler (based on the evidence that I managed it, whereas I couldn't possibly block a crown myself.)

Any road, thanks for the education.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The image of 1687 that GOF provided is very interesting. It almost appears the fellow is wearing his hat of the side of his head (or am I seeing this wrong?). Is this just a jaunty way to wear a hat or something else?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jib

There seems to be a fashion amongst the English (lower classes?) for wearing the tricorn "Backwards". There are a good number of GAoP and surrounding era sailors wearing their hats this way. I think that is what is being depicted.

GoF

Come aboard my pirate re-enacting site

http://www.gentlemenoffortune.com/

Where you will find lots of information on building your authentic Pirate Impression!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Capn Mac

That is a good question. I took a cursory look into it, and its a hard one to peg.

The majority of the hats of the 17th C, up until about the 1660-70s seem to be the taller "pilgram" style.

In the 1770s, we see the tricorn style hat, but not cocked up on three styles. Most of the hats we see through the 70s and 80s are "un-cocked" tricorn style hats like in the picture 1685 and the second 1687 above.

It seems that they started cocking the front, then cocking the front and back, and in the 1680s cocking on three sides.

If anyone else can add (or subtract) to that, please do so.

But if I had to venture a guess... I would say that it didn't become a wide spread fashion until the end of the 1680s to early 1690s at best.

GoF

Come aboard my pirate re-enacting site

http://www.gentlemenoffortune.com/

Where you will find lots of information on building your authentic Pirate Impression!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

While we're on the subject, can anyone (Hint Foxe :lol: ) tell me when the tri-corn came into being?

Do I have ot do all the work around here... grumble grumble...

It's difficult to say Mac, the tricorn hat sort of evolved slowly out of the cocked hat (technically, a tricorn is a modern name given to cocked hats with 3 sides up, but a hat only needs to have one side up to be a cocked hat.) My own instinct would have been to say that we don't really see the true tricorn until the 1690s and a quick scan of GoF's excellent picture supports that. The cocked hat from which the tricorn evolved was around from much earlier in the century (fashionable in England from about 1660ish, but earlier in mainland Europe).

Foxe

"With this Fore-Staff he fansies he does Wonders, when, God knows, it amounts to no more but only to solve that simple Question, Where are we? Which every chi'd in London can tell you." - Ned Ward The Wooden World Dissected, 1707


ETFox.co.uk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, you see it back then... when I used to do RevWar, guys in my unit would wear hats backwards to "piss off the officers"... because we know orders were issued from above telling officers to make soldiers wear their hats the right way. More proof that they were like us.

My Home on the Web

The Pirate Brethren Gallery

Dreams are the glue that holds reality together.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Recalcitrant... that's what my last C.O. wrote me up for back in 1987, USN.

I refused to buy a pair of corafram (patent leather shiny) shoes for inspections, and insisted on wearing my ISSUED dress shoes. No matter how long I spent or how hard I worked to shine them, he would always fail me. Even my division officer said mine were the best shined shoes in our division. Finally one day before the Atlantic Admiralty, at inspection, he asked me why I wouldn't buy the patent leather kind. I was so pissed off by this time, that I gave him the same answer the Navy gives a seaman when asked "why can't we have_____?"

IF THE NAVY WANTED ME TO HAVE THEM, THEY WOULD HAVE ISSUED THEM... SIR!"

Well... you can guess the rest... RECALCITRANT!

Capt. Bo

Link to comment
Share on other sites

She's wearing a hat? :lol:

Foxe

"With this Fore-Staff he fansies he does Wonders, when, God knows, it amounts to no more but only to solve that simple Question, Where are we? Which every chi'd in London can tell you." - Ned Ward The Wooden World Dissected, 1707


ETFox.co.uk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Only the hat? What ya mean, puts boots On?

Truly,

D. Lasseter

Captain, The Lucy

Propria Virtute Audax --- In Hoc Signo Vinces

LasseterSignatureNew.gif

Ni Feidir An Dubh A Chur Ina Bhan Air

"If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me." Deuteronomy 32:41

Envy and its evil twin - It crept in bed with slander - Idiots they gave advice - But Sloth it gave no answer - Anger kills the human soul - With butter tales of Lust - While Pavlov's Dogs keep chewin' - On the legs they never trust... The Seven Deadly Sins

http://www.colonialnavy.org

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Only the hat? What ya mean, puts boots On?

Well she's obviously not a pirate then.... :lol:

hector


"I being shot through the left cheek, the bullet striking away great part of my upper jaw, and several teeth which dropt down the deck where I fell... I was forced to write what I would say to prevent the loss of blood, and because of the pain I suffered by speaking."~ Woodes Rogers

Crewe of the Archangel

http://jcsterlingcptarchang.wix.com/creweofthearchangel#

http://creweofthearchangel.wordpress.com/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For a closer look at her, ah...Hat, right click on the picture, select "properties" copy the url and paste in the address bar. Then, change the number just before the .jpg in the address. It begins at "01", but I do not know how far it (or she) goes. And her name is Vanessa.

3ff66f1f.jpg

My occupational hazard bein' my occupation's just not around...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ed Porter

If you check out my first post in this thread, I linked to some 1770-80s cocked hats that I think would be very similar to a 1760s cocked hat.

Good luck

GoF

Come aboard my pirate re-enacting site

http://www.gentlemenoffortune.com/

Where you will find lots of information on building your authentic Pirate Impression!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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...