Stevedore Cap

Skilled Work Along the Shore

To understand the cap, start with the work it was worn for. A stevedore is a person who works at loading or unloading a ship, and in North America the occupation is called longshoreman, a name derived from a contraction of the word or phrase for a person who is along the shore, an along-the-shore-man. The job involves far more than mere labouring. It is skilled work that requires operation of loading equipment, the proper packing and unpacking techniques for cargo, and the correct handling of hazardous materials. In earlier days stevedores had to tie down cargoes with rope, and the trade keeps its own vocabulary from that era: a special form of stop knot is called the stevedore knot, and the methods of securely tying up parcels of goods are called stevedore lashing or stevedore knotting.

Even the materials of the hold carry the trade's practical knowledge. While packing a vessel, a stevedore will employ dunnage, pieces of wood set down to keep the cargo out of any water that might be lying in the hold, or placed as shims between cargo crates to keep them from shifting during a voyage. Work of this kind is done outdoors in all types of weather, on decks and quays where wind, cold and rain are part of the working day and where a hat must stay on while the wearer looks up, bends, lifts and moves around cargo and equipment. Headgear for such work cannot have a loose brim to catch the wind or a shape that needs protecting when it is taken off.

A Cap Shaped by the Working Day

The cap stevedores adopted answers those conditions point by point. It has a snug fit, so it stays in place in dockside wind and during physical work without straps or fastenings. It is warm, because outdoor loading work continues through cold weather and a close cap protects the head and ears through a full shift. And it is easily put away in a pocket, so when the work moves indoors, under cover, or into a hold where a cap is not wanted, the stevedore can stow it in seconds and have both hands free. These are a type of beanie or watch cap, called variously stevedore cap or stevedore hat, and the double name simply records the same close knitted form under its trade name and its general headwear names.

The naming pattern is worth noting because it preserves the occupation inside the garment's name, in the same way the stevedore knot preserves it inside a rope term. Today a commercial stevedoring company is one involved in shipping logistics between sea and land transport, and the workforce remains represented and organised: two unions within the AFL-CIO represent longshoremen in the United States, the International Longshoremen's Association on the east coast, the Great Lakes and connected waterways and along the Gulf of Mexico, and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union along the west coast, in Hawai'i and Alaska, and through an affiliate in Canada. In the United Kingdom the definition of a stevedore varies from port to port, and in some ports only the highly skilled master of a loading gang is referred to as a stevedore. Through all those variations of title and organisation, the cap's logic stays constant: snug, warm, pocketable working headgear for skilled people whose workplace is the shore in every kind of weather.