Cultural and Historical Influences on the Uniforms and Devices of the United States Public Health Service By CAPT Steven Hirschfeld, MD PhD LCDR Danny Benbassat, PhD June 2019 Cultural and Historical Influences Table of Contents Of Symbols and Snakes ................................................................................................................... 3 The Fouled Anchor .......................................................................................................................... 5 A General Cultural Paradigm .......................................................................................................... 5 U.S. Government Maritime History: A Brief Overview ................................................................... 6 Forged by Fire ................................................................................................................................. 6 Reorganization and Expansion ........................................................................................................ 8 New Leadership and Symbols ......................................................................................................... 9 New Frontiers................................................................................................................................ 10 Of Uniforms in General ................................................................................................................. 13 Eighteenth & Nineteenth Century Maritime Uniform History ..................................................... 14 First U.S. Navy Uniform Regulations ............................................................................................. 15 Twentieth Century ........................................................................................................................ 19 World War II Era ............................................................................................................................ 21 Twenty-First Century .................................................................................................................... 23 Closing Comment .......................................................................................................................... 23 References .................................................................................................................................... 26 Table of Figures Figure 1. Examples of the Caduceus of Mercury and Rod of Asclepius .......................................... 4 Figure 2. United States Public Health Service 1914 Insignia and Ratings ..................................... 14 Figure 3. Drivers of U.S. Maritime Uniform Styles and Functions ................................................ 15 Figure 4. Service suite-undress uniforms c. 1900 ......................................................................... 18 Page 2 of 31 Cultural and Historical Influences Of Symbols and Snakes It is possible that our story begins more than 5,000 thousand years ago in the mountains and forests of the Eastern Mediterranean and the lands that lay to the East. People had experiences they could not predict, control or understand, so they attributed their experiences to powerful, but emotional, pagan gods that lived in the forests, mountains, waters, and the sky. Every observable phenomenon and every sensation had a god behind it. There were even gods, and messengers to gods, specifically dedicated to travel and commerce. The stories of these gods, their personalities, and roles, were distributed by sea faring merchants. Symbolism, in an era with a limited number of literate people, was critical to impart meaning. For example, the concept of snake, with its flexible body, was used in several ways. The snake represented evil power and chaos in some contexts but also renewal (through the shedding of its skin), healing, and fertility in other contexts. A Sumerian god named Ningishzida, who was worshipped around 5,000 years ago and was associated with vegetation and the underworld, had the symbol of a staff with two snakes intertwined around it. Hermes, the Greek messenger between the gods and humans, carried a winged staff with two snakes that represented harmony and travel. Interwoven snakes, with or without a winged staff, indicated merchants and commerce in many cultures. Commerce is, in principle, a peaceful endeavor, so messengers bearing the snakes were interpreted as coming in peace. The double intertwined snakes on a staff with wings became known as the Caduceus. The Roman name for Hermes is Mercury and the caduceus is commonly referred to as the Caduceus of Mercury. A single snake combined with a single rod was used to indicate the interchangeability between stiff and flexible states for illness and healing. Here is an example from the book of Numbers, Chapter 21: 6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many people of Israel died. 7 And the people came to Moses, and said: “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD, and against you; pray unto the LORD, that the LORD takes away the serpents from us.” And Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the LORD said unto Moses: “Make a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he views it, shall live.” 9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it upon the pole; and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked unto the serpent of brass, he lived. Page 3 of 31 Cultural and Historical Influences The single rod and snake are also associated with the Greek god Asclepius, a healer, son of Apollo, and grandson of Zeus. A legend is that Asclepius was kind to a snake that consequently taught him healing skills including resurrection from the dead. The wingless rod, narrow on one end and wide on the other with a single snake wrapped around it, became known as the Rod of Asclepius and, subsequently, a symbol for healing in Western culture. As printing became established, through the combination of movable type and alphabet scripts, in Europe over the past five hundred years, publishers began to use symbols to catalog different types of texts. Both the Caduceus of Mercury and the Rod of Asclepius were used in many contexts and manuscripts, sometimes interchangeably, which led to conflation of the two symbols. Figure 1 provides some examples of the double snake Caduceus of Mercury along with the single snake Rod of Asclepius, integrated with other design elements. Caduceus of Mercury Coat of Arms of the city Flag of Chinese customs Roman mint, 74 A.D. of Jyvaskyla, Finland office (note the crossed design) U.S. Army Medical Public Health Service Rod of Asclepius Corps patch device Figure 1. Examples of the Caduceus of Mercury and Rod of Asclepius Page 4 of 31 Cultural and Historical Influences The Fouled Anchor Foul is a nautical term that refers to entangle or entwine; however, a broader definition is that something is wrong or difficult. The term foul, applied to the state of an anchor, means the anchor has become hooked on some impediment or the anchor cable is wound round the stock or flukes. The fouled anchor, as a naval insignia, represents the challenges mariners must face and overcome. The fouled anchor is a common nautical symbol in the western world. It is also rather common in cemeteries. The image on the right depicts a memento mori for a seafaring merchant in Nunhead Cemetery, England (note the use of the double snake design). The fouled anchor was the personal seal of Sir Charles Howard, Baron of Effingham. He was appointed the Lord High Admiral of England by Queen Elizabeth I in 1585 and oversaw the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. During this historical period, it was customary that the personal seal of a great officer of state was adopted as the seal of his office. The fouled anchor still remains the official seal of the Lord High Admiral of Great Britain, an honorary position held by Prince Philip at the time of this publication. Sir Charles Howard is also credited, along with Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins who served as Treasurer of the Navy, of promoting a fund to support disabled seamen who fought in the war against Spain. The fund, financed by deductions from active seamen’s pay in the Royal Navy, began in 1588 with the money deposited in a chest at Chatham Dockyard in Kent. The fund thus became known as the Chatham Chest fund. When a sailor established that he suffered from a disability, the fund would pay relief and maintenance. The Chatham Chest fund continued until 1803, when it was merged with the Greenwich Hospital fund due to irregularities in the maintenance and security of the funds in the chest1,2. The Greenwich Hospital was founded in 1692 as a home, with a medical wing, for retired sailors. A General Cultural Paradigm Maritime customs in the United States were influenced by British Naval customs. Within the United States, the U.S. Navy is the usual driver for the customs and policies of the other maritime services, although occasionally one or more of the other maritime services diverge from or anticipate changes in the Navy. Any consideration of the uniforms and customs of the U.S. Public Health Service should recognize this paradigm. Page 5 of 31 Cultural and Historical Influences U.S. Government Maritime History: A Brief Overview The U.S. Navy, following the American Revolution, was a protective force primarily for U.S. shipping interests and the U.S. economy. The