Rebel reefers

[whaler]

Ahoy all,

I am facing a move to Hawaii and want to continue doing CW living history. As a result, I have elected to portray the crew of the CSS Shenandoah, which took the war to the yankee whaling fleet in the Pacific, making several stops in the Sandwich Islands to coal, even taking on what may be the only native Hawaiians to fight in the war. The officers and crew were outfitted in Glasgow at the start of their cruise, so I strongly suspect they would have been wearing English Kersey. Now fabric is no problem, but patterns are. Does anyone know where patterns might be had for Naval officer's frock coats and 'monkey jackets'?

Lieutenant J. Kelley,
CSS Shenandoah

and Goldpan Mess

[FootsoreFederal]

Ahoy Mr. Kelley!

I don't know about where to obtain patterns, but I would say your best bet would be to contact Steve Hesson of Hesson-Clothiers (http://www.hesson-clothiers.com). In my opinion, he's the best chap to talk to on the subject of naval uniforms.

Hope this helps!

[bodark]

Greetings -

Two other resources to try:

New Bedford Whaling Museum at research@whalingmuseum.org. I have seen a few CSS artifacts there, and although I have not seen any patterns on display, they do have an extensive research library with full time staff.

National Civil War Naval Museum, in Columbus, GA. I did see some references to uniforms there, but cannot recall if there were patterns or not available.