British Sea Officers 1710-1720

[Capt Thighbiter]

What would a fairly well to do officer in HMRN wear in this time period? At sea and when ashore?

Well to do, but not rich or wealthy. Son of a successfull sea merchant. I know there were no standardized uniforms at this point.

[Graydog]

Here is a link to some period paintings you may find useful from a style and color stand point of RN officers (unforunately they are mostly all high ranking)

http://www.nmm.ac.uk/mag/pages/mnuExplore/BrowseByDate.cfm?StartRow=1&PageNum=1&action=date&lettera=&letter=&name=nk&collection=nk&daterange1=1701&daterange2=1750

The link is for the British National Maritime Museum website viewing paintings by date.

Edited November 12, 2009 by Graydog

[michaelsbagley]

The below image in particular, has always struck me as what I would imagine the more average naval officer on a merchant ship would look like.

[Dutchman]

hey mates, i know various pieces of clothing have been discussed in prior threads but i dont recall any discussion on the shirts. from what i can see arounfd the collars and cuffs, it looks like four have paterns of checks or stripes. anyone else seeing it?

edit* as it pertains to the above picture

[Mission]

Hey Michael, could I wear pants like that and be appropriate? Then I wouldn't have quite so much trouble with my damned socks.

[michaelsbagley]

Dutch, I couldn't agree more. I even downloaded the image and blew it up as much as I could on my computer... While it is a bit blurry, I would still say it very much looks like small checks. P.S. I only bothered to zoom in on the gent sitting in the chair in the foreground part of the picture, I didn't bother with the three in the background).

Mission, trousers were pretty typical of sailors, I haven't done any reading as to their commonality on more land-lubbery types... But I see no reason why not. However, I would guess they would still be wearing tall socks. (although it would be impossible to determine for absolute sure if those stockings were long or short, because those pants are long)

[Mission]

It's not the height of the socks that I don't like, it's the fact that the tops slip down revealing bare knees. (Scandalous!) The garters help, but I'd rather hide them under pants.

[Capt Thighbiter]

Hmm notice the striped frock coat on the fellow in the back. Pinstripes? And all ( except the sitting gent) are wearing sashes!

Well these are doable with kit I pretty much have already, for ship board wear.

For shore use, though... I was looking at the paintings in the link above. No foofy wig of course, but a jabot would not be out of line, do you think? What kind of collar is used when a jabot is worn?

[Ivan Henry aka Moose]

The below image in particular, has always struck me as what I would imagine the more average naval officer on a merchant ship would look like.

One of my favorites...