Woollen Caps ("Muts") Worn by Dutch Whalers at Smeerenburg, 17th century

From 1979-1981, an archaeological expedition at Smeerenburg, on Svalbard in the Arctic Ocean, uncovered the remains of a nearly-mythological Dutch whaling station in operation from 1619 to about 1657.  The expedition was apparently somewhat deflated to find that the station was no larger than about sixteen houses and eight blubber-boiling stations, not the bustling metropolis of 10,000 residents with shops, churches, and (of course) brothels they had been led to expect (Nansen apparently had much to do with the exaggerated claims of Smeerenburg's size) -- but there was, poignantly, a cemetery with a hundred or so graves, and I suppose due to the conditions so far north, much of the clothing of the occupants was very well-preserved.  Here are ten knitted caps from Smeerenburg graves, which caps are all on view in the Rijksmuseum today.

Above, NG-2006-110-2, ca.1650-1700, about 61 cm x 30 cm h.  Knitted cap, double, in striped wool with ear flaps and a folded edge.

"The Whale-Oil Refinery near the Village of Smeerenburg" (1639) by Cornelis de Man (accession no. SK-A-235).  De Man did not actually travel much farther north than Denmark, but created this painting of Smeerenburg (literally "blubber-town") in his studio at home from a Danish painting of a Svalbard whaling station and from other images.  (Here, a whale is being carved into smaller pieces and rendered in vats on the beach at left, and the men's barracks can be seen at right in the background.)  Perhaps tellingly in light of the fact that de Man was never at Spitsbergen, few if any of the men in his painting are wearing caps like the ones found in the graveyard --

-- but there is certainly a wide variety here as well, from black burgher's hats to the rather-Mongolian one on the portly fellow in the foreground at right.

I can't seem to find much readily-available on the archaeological finds at Smeerenburg, only a brief mention in the Wikipedia article on the archaeology of Svalbard as a whole, except for a distractingly-interesting article from ScienceNordic, and another from the Basement Geographer.  But knitted caps, that's what I was talking about.

"Muts" is specifically a knitted or crocheted cap in Dutch.  Many of these Smeerenburg caps are knitted in two layers -- obviously for warmth, although the Dutch whalers only rarely wintered there, and apparently not in great numbers even then.  It is pretty cold in Svalbard, with average high-summer temperatures of 3 to 7° C (37.4 to 44.6° F) -- the Rijksmuseum writes in each of their captions that the men were bundled up so tightly against the cold that "[they] recognized one another only by the pattern of stripes on the caps".  It isn't clear, though, from the descriptions, if the caps are double-knitted or simply knitted and then doubled.  Most of the caps are fulled to some extent, which certainly would make them thicker and warmer.  The variety even among these ten is impressive, though there is definitely a "family resemblance" among some.

By the way, a number of these ten caps are noted as having "earflaps" but not a single photo shows what I would call earflaps, so it isn't clear what is meant, and images from various travelers' blogs of the caps on display, on short hat-stands, show nothing more than what is in the photos here, so if anyone can elaborate, I would be grateful!  Presumably they are something like the ones on a cap at the V&A (acc. no.1570-1901) ca.1500-1550, which could be folded up inside the cap.

NG-2006-110-10 ca.1650-1800, about 58 cm x 23 cm h.  Knitted cap, dark blue with horizontal stripes, in chunky wool.  At the bottom edge, the stitches are reversed, so that the right-side of the stitches shows when the brim is folded (bij de rand is de procedure omgedraaid en zitten de tricot-steken aan de binnenkant).

NG-2006-110-5, ca.1650-1800, about 60 cm x 25 cm h.  Knitted cap with double ear-flaps (sic) and folded brim, in fine dark-brown wool, with a small "tail" at the top.

NG-2006-110-12, ca.1600-1800, about 48 cm x 24 cm h.  Knitted cap in green wool with horizontal stripes and blocks in dark and light brown, with ear flaps.  The turned-up edge is about 5 cm deep.

NG-2006-110-3, ca.1700-1800, about 60 cm x 28 cm h.  Knitted cap in fine wool, with ear flaps, striped in red, blue, green, black and light brown, with an inner cap also striped.  "Each part [i.e. the outer and inner caps] has been cut at the top and sewn together" (elk deel is aan de bovenkant ingeknipt en vastgenaaid).  The gauge is 45 rows per 10 cm, presumably after fulling.

NG-2006-110-6, ca.1650-1800, about 60 cm x 24 cm h.  Knitted cap, double, with ear-flaps, in a chunky ikat-striping wool.

NG-2006-110-8, ca.1740-1760, about 64 cm x 33 cm h x 29 cm d.  Knitted cap in fine wool with horizontal stripes in red, green, blue, yellow, and white, lined with a (much thicker) light brown knitted cap.  The inner cap is apparently much smaller than the finer outer one, so that the top of the outer one falls to one side "and the whole therefore looks a bit like a nightcap" (en het geheel lijkt daarom een beetje op een slaapmuts).  The gauge of the outer cap is 55 sts and 100 rows per ten cm, and it was cut and sewn from a piece of flat knitting.

It isn't clear if the Rijksmuseum dates these from other evidence in the burials or from the caps themselves; this one is obviously a step above some of the rougher of these caps, but I don't know if that can be assigned to improved manufacturing techniques or fashion changes, or simply because this one was brought from home where, say, the ikat-striped one above was knitted perhaps by the whaler himself.  (Nor does the museum explain how a whaling station that was abandoned by 1657 could have a grave with goods dated a full century later, though other sources admit that some of the Rijksmuseum caps may have come from another Dutch station.)

NG-2006-110-14, ca.1642-1800 [sic], about 65 cm x 23 cm h.  Knitted cap in fine light-brown wool, double, with ear-flaps and a folded brim.  The brim is about 4 cm, 2 cm when folded, and has two blue stripes on the inside.

NG-2006-110-1, ca.1650-1700, about 52 cm x 22 cm h.  Knitted cap in light, fine wool with a folded hem and a small "button" at the top. 

NG-2006-110-4, ca.1700-1800, about 30 cm x 26 cm h.  Knitted cap with earflaps, knitted in fine multi-colored self-striping wool.  Much repaired.  The inner cap is knitted in light brown, and the two parts are sewn together.

I find it really charming that each of these caps has a unique character, and yet poignant at the same time to think that the caps were buried with their wearers, who must have each had as unique a character as his cap.

Comments

[Jeanne]

PS, Pat Poppy at Costume Historian wrote a long post on these Dutch hats last year --

http://costumehistorian.blogspot.com/2015/04/seventeenth-and-eighteenth-century.html

[Toffeeapple]

This is interesting but I am at a loss as to the ear-flaps. It is very touching to see such old caps.

[Mary Lou]

So interesting - thanks.