Sailors and Berets

Berets have always been popular with sailors. Much comes from practicality, of course; a beret has no peak that get's in the way of machinery, cables and ropes and besides, it is a lot less likely to fly off in a gust of wind than any other cap.

The Basques were the earliest adapts of berets, actually introducing these hats to the Scots and Irish on their way to the whaling grounds off Newfoundland and Nova Scotia (giving birth to the Irish caubeen and the Scottish bonnet). 

Interestingly, these days many navies around the world move back from their traditional military sailors hat (the bachi) to berets, for practical reasons indeed.