FEW CAPS LEFT

Hokitika Guardian, 10 March 1938, Page 2

FEW CAPS LEFT

SAILORS ON WARSHIP.

AMERICANS’ GENEROSITY

No caps could be distributed among their friends by The 600 sailors of the •jsrisiting American crtiiser Louisville while the ship was at Auckand. This friendly international naval custom was practised so extensively in Australia that when the Louisville arrived at Auckland her clothing stores wore almost completely exhausted of replacements.

The American bluejacket’s cap has apparently always been coveted by the temporary hosts of the sailors in strange ports, and so insistent were the demands in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Hobart for these souvenirs that many of the men returned to their ship hatless. The sailors had to wear their reserve caps and then after a while they had to draw on stores, until at last, when the Louisville cleared Hobart, it was obvious that if the men were as generous in Auckland as they had been in Australia some of them would have to return to the United States without any head-covering at all, unless more were made in the ship’s tailor shop. Many of the hats were given away in Australia. Others, however, wore just, taken off their owners’ heads. Some wore even snatched off in the street by cyclists with an eve for the pioturesqneness of tEe headgear. The French cruiser Jeanne d’Arc also Inst a number, of berets, the pom-poms on top being the attraction in their ease.