![]() ![]() ![]() The Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Navy are more flexible and still permit full set beards with the proviso that they must be modified or shaved off if operational reasons require it. The Royal Canadian Navy has done likewise. The US Navy did away with beards in 1985 to emphasize ‘pride and professionalism,’ and for safety reasons. (Moustaches and sideburns can still be worn in accordance with dress regulations and accommodation is usually made for personnel with religious and medical exemptions.) The bearded mariner is a dying breed, largely due to operational reasons to ensure the safety of sailors using respiratory protection. I personally did not have a beard in my early days in the Navy but grew one later, and sport it to this day.īut times are a-changing. The future Edward VII, prevented by his mother Victoria from engaging in active service nevertheless famously sported a magnificent full naval beard as did the ‘Sailor King’ George V who did see much naval service, as a young officer in the Far East adding as well a tattoo of a red and blue dragon on his arm. If, after a period without shaving, it becomes clear that the individual cannot grow a proper full set, his commanding officer may order him to shave it off. ![]() Since that time sailors have had to request ‘permission to cease shaving’ before growing a beard and moustache (‘a full set’). In 1869 the Admiralty officially gave permission to discontinue the use of the razor. Therefore it had better be as proposed, the entire beard, only it should be kept short and very clean.’ ‘Her own personal feeling,’ she went on, ‘would be for the beards without the moustaches, as the latter have a rather soldier-like appearance, but then the object in view would not be obtained, viz. ‘Has Mr Childers ascertained anything on the subject of the beards?’ the Queen wrote to the First Lord of the Admiralty. In Queen Victoria’s time it was proposed that sailors in the Navy should henceforward be allowed to wear beards. By the time a sailor returned from some faraway place, he could have grown a full beard. This probably reflected Admiralty concerns for hygiene as unclean beards could harbour unwanted guests…ĭuring the 19th century, merchant marine sailors traditionally stopped shaving from the time they left their last port of call until the time they reached home. One of their number acted as a barber using a cut-throat razor and they were shaved regularly. In Kydd’s day, perhaps surprisingly, the men of the lower deck rarely sported beards. Peter the Great, who did much to reform the Russian navy, did not believe that beards were the way to go in his modernisation. A beard also gave protection against the elements, especially for those venturing into frigid waters.īut beards at sea were not always universally popular. One of the reasons beards were favoured by seafarers is undoubtedly the fact that fresh water was often in short supply in the days of wooden sailing vessels. And of course there was Blackbeard, the English pirate with his ferocious facial hair. The ancient mariner in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem wore a ‘long grey beard’ and Captain Ahab in ‘Moby Dick’ had a dark, almost sinister, beard. Ferdinand Magellan sported one when he circumnavigated the globe and proved that the world was round, as did Sir Francis Drake, who helped England become a mighty sea power in the 1500s. He has a mariner’s beard, charming becalmed persona…īeards and the mariner have a long association. The Bearded Mariner A recent newspaper piece about me rather flatteringly began: ‘If ever an author epitomised the lure of the sea and the sagas it can serve up Julian Stockwin is your man. ![]()
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