THREE WHITE STRIPES
Sir,-In a recent broadcast of the above session (September 3) from Station 1ZB, a_ question was asked régarding the origin of the three white stripes which are on the square blue collar worn by our sailors, and. as I feared, the answer given was that they served as a reminder of Lord Nelson’s three great victories--Nile, Trafalgar, and Copenhagen---and this answer was allowed as correct. May I be permitted, through your columns, to enquire whether there is any reliable authority for such a statement, or whether it is just the sentimental nonsense that I fear it is? I expect many pounds have been
won in "quiz sessions" ‘through the years for giving this very afswer: it has been taught in schools, but I have never been able to find any reputable: authority for this assertion. On the contrary, I have read in many writings with.a nautical flavour that this is not’trué to. fact, and that these white stripes" are, and always were, merely ornamentation. To ‘confirm this, in a recent broadcast prdgramme about H.M.N.Z.S. which I presume was intended to edugate as much as to entertain us, ‘thesChaplain of that establishment quite definitely announced that there was no truth in the common belief. In Origin of Some Naval Terms and Customs Tyvead* the quoted words of one present at the meeting at which the naval-uniform was decided upon and he states that Nelson’s Mame was never mentioned during the discussion regarding the number of stripes to be worn on the blue collar. This may seem a very trifling thing to most people, but my point is that there is surely nbd need to teach mere _sentiment to the .young, when there. is jso much truth to be taught in so
N.
TURNER
(Herne Bay):
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 19, Issue 486, 15 October 1948, Page 5
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297THREE WHITE STRIPES New Zealand Listener, Volume 19, Issue 486, 15 October 1948, Page 5
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