Peaked Cap: for people who don't dare to wear a beret
Friday, July 22, 2016
Red Hackles in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy Lieutenants Chris Paulson (left) and Daniel
Sercombe (right) keep watch as they guide HMS Montrose safely on passage. Oh,
and they’re wearing red feathers – or hackles – to celebrate their affiliation
with the legendary Black Watch. For more than 200 years, officers and men of
3rd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland – better known as the Black
Watch – have been granted a privilege unique in the British Army of wearing a
red hackle (a cluster of feathers) in their headgear. And every year, for one
day only, the sailors of Montrose are granted sailors the right to wear the
distinctive red ‘vulture feather’ in their headgear, for one day only.
AB Tom Hardman (pictured), the most recently-joined member
of Montrose’s ship’s company, said: “I had no idea about the Red Hackle before
I joined the Ship but I was proud to wear it, to mark our links with the Army.
I can't wait to go on exercise with the Black Watch later in the year.” The
origin of the red hackle is uncertain, although the most likely story is that
the tradition arises from a 1795 action at the Battle of Geldermalsen
(Netherlands), when a British cavalry regiment retreated, leaving two field
guns for the French. The Black Watch promptly mounted an attack and recovered
the guns and, as a reward, during a king’s birthday parade later that year a
red hackle was given to every man on parade to wear in their bonnet.
Daan Kolthoff is a writer, living between the hills of Wellington, New Zealand and, when not writing, meditating or walking the hills, he is usually researching, reading about or ordering berets from around the world.
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