Steve Sanford
Well-known member
Good morning, All~
Yesterday morning I received an e-mail from gunning partner Jamie Woods. He wanted to know if I had an old Jones Cap. I told him I was not certain whether I still had one - from back in my days on saltwater - but found it right away in "deep storage".
Having just been enjoying the many fascinating - and even harrowing - tales in Larry Eckhart's thread about boats we have owned, I was inspired to begin this one - another excursion back into the sands of time to distract us from Hurricane Covid. This time, the topic is "gunning hats I have owned".....
For my couple of decades gunning the waters around Long Island, I mostly wore a traditional Jones Cap - popular among duck hunters for about a century when I adopted it circa 1980.
View attachment S05 SJS with Black Duck.jpg
As per https://www.mollyjogger.com/products/timber-jones-cap "The original Jones Cap style was developed by the Jones Hat Company of St Joseph, Missouri established in 1881. Rugged cotton canvas, lined, and fold-down ear flaps. Designed for the fall and winter seasons."
It served me well for many seasons and was worn to the office many times as well. It did give way, though, to warmer headgear later each season when the Mercury dipped into the twenties and teens.
I lost my first Jones Cap at an off-season event. One of our younger colleagues was getting married and so his bachelor party was arranged by another colleague. Not the conventional "margins of society" affair (worthy of YouTube nowadays), this prenuptial celebration foregathered in the middle of Bellport Bay at the Pattersquash Gun Club's shack. I sailed over in my gaff sloop WILLET after work one mid-Summer afternoon. I recall approaching the dock in the lowering sunlight with the help of the "tin jib" - the 6-horse Johnson I needed in the warm light airs. In the spirit of the group, my Jones Cap sat atop my noggin.
I do not remember where I slept but I do know that I arose early. After a brief swim, I set sail for the mainland into a pea soup fog. Although sunny "over on the beach", my destination was shrouded in a thickening grey-white with clear vision limited to perhaps a hundred yards. I poked around until I happened upon the mouth of Carmans Rivers and ultimately made it to WILLET's berth and thence into the office on time. When next I needed my cherished chapeau, however, 'twas nowhere to be found.
To replace it - and I do not remember who made my first one or from whence I had purchased it (maybe Old Guide out of Massachussetts?) - I tried one from L. L. Bean. Although well-made, it did not fit right (my head was not built with most hats in mind). So, I found one from Duxbak that did the trick. Here it is with the patina that proves it had gotten lots of use.
View attachment Jones Cap - 2020.JPG
My next favorite topping was a woolen (blend I'm sure) Driving Cap. I bought it from the J. C. Penney right across the road from the old DEC headquarters in Albany. The details of such hats vary markedly. I liked this one for its color and - most important - its willingness to mold itself to the contours of my skull (a phrenologist's dream - or nightmare?).
View attachment G7 - SJS Rookery 5 - DSC05819.JPG
The darkish-grey hue - the same I use for wings on many decoys - fit right in amongst the dead timber and brush where we hide most of the time up here in dairy country. The wool shed just enough rain to keep me warm and comfortable. Paired with a grey fleece neck gaiter it would take me right 'til the end of the season - or at least until I dressed in "whites" for the last days.
It was lost somewhere in Brooklyn. My son lived for a time in the Flatbush section of this NYC Borough (once a separate city of its own - and home to the pre-Los Angeles Dodgers). On more than one occasion, my trusty Honda Element served as a moving van for Ben. I recall being parked across Flatbush Avenue from his apartment with a multitude of "personal effects" filling the hold of said Element. As we unloaded, the open doors and hatches let a stiff North wind scour right on through. When I later drove home to the rural benevolence of Washington County, I was left to conclude that the half-gale had absconded with my gunning hat. I have since envisioned it riding jauntily atop some homeless person....
It has been replaced with something similar - but definitely not the same.
So, please share your stories of your own head gear (or other irreplaceable garments, et cetera).
All the best,
SJS
Yesterday morning I received an e-mail from gunning partner Jamie Woods. He wanted to know if I had an old Jones Cap. I told him I was not certain whether I still had one - from back in my days on saltwater - but found it right away in "deep storage".
Having just been enjoying the many fascinating - and even harrowing - tales in Larry Eckhart's thread about boats we have owned, I was inspired to begin this one - another excursion back into the sands of time to distract us from Hurricane Covid. This time, the topic is "gunning hats I have owned".....
For my couple of decades gunning the waters around Long Island, I mostly wore a traditional Jones Cap - popular among duck hunters for about a century when I adopted it circa 1980.
View attachment S05 SJS with Black Duck.jpg
As per https://www.mollyjogger.com/products/timber-jones-cap "The original Jones Cap style was developed by the Jones Hat Company of St Joseph, Missouri established in 1881. Rugged cotton canvas, lined, and fold-down ear flaps. Designed for the fall and winter seasons."
It served me well for many seasons and was worn to the office many times as well. It did give way, though, to warmer headgear later each season when the Mercury dipped into the twenties and teens.
I lost my first Jones Cap at an off-season event. One of our younger colleagues was getting married and so his bachelor party was arranged by another colleague. Not the conventional "margins of society" affair (worthy of YouTube nowadays), this prenuptial celebration foregathered in the middle of Bellport Bay at the Pattersquash Gun Club's shack. I sailed over in my gaff sloop WILLET after work one mid-Summer afternoon. I recall approaching the dock in the lowering sunlight with the help of the "tin jib" - the 6-horse Johnson I needed in the warm light airs. In the spirit of the group, my Jones Cap sat atop my noggin.
I do not remember where I slept but I do know that I arose early. After a brief swim, I set sail for the mainland into a pea soup fog. Although sunny "over on the beach", my destination was shrouded in a thickening grey-white with clear vision limited to perhaps a hundred yards. I poked around until I happened upon the mouth of Carmans Rivers and ultimately made it to WILLET's berth and thence into the office on time. When next I needed my cherished chapeau, however, 'twas nowhere to be found.
To replace it - and I do not remember who made my first one or from whence I had purchased it (maybe Old Guide out of Massachussetts?) - I tried one from L. L. Bean. Although well-made, it did not fit right (my head was not built with most hats in mind). So, I found one from Duxbak that did the trick. Here it is with the patina that proves it had gotten lots of use.
View attachment Jones Cap - 2020.JPG
My next favorite topping was a woolen (blend I'm sure) Driving Cap. I bought it from the J. C. Penney right across the road from the old DEC headquarters in Albany. The details of such hats vary markedly. I liked this one for its color and - most important - its willingness to mold itself to the contours of my skull (a phrenologist's dream - or nightmare?).
View attachment G7 - SJS Rookery 5 - DSC05819.JPG
The darkish-grey hue - the same I use for wings on many decoys - fit right in amongst the dead timber and brush where we hide most of the time up here in dairy country. The wool shed just enough rain to keep me warm and comfortable. Paired with a grey fleece neck gaiter it would take me right 'til the end of the season - or at least until I dressed in "whites" for the last days.
It was lost somewhere in Brooklyn. My son lived for a time in the Flatbush section of this NYC Borough (once a separate city of its own - and home to the pre-Los Angeles Dodgers). On more than one occasion, my trusty Honda Element served as a moving van for Ben. I recall being parked across Flatbush Avenue from his apartment with a multitude of "personal effects" filling the hold of said Element. As we unloaded, the open doors and hatches let a stiff North wind scour right on through. When I later drove home to the rural benevolence of Washington County, I was left to conclude that the half-gale had absconded with my gunning hat. I have since envisioned it riding jauntily atop some homeless person....
It has been replaced with something similar - but definitely not the same.
So, please share your stories of your own head gear (or other irreplaceable garments, et cetera).
All the best,
SJS
.
