During the Revolution the ships of the American Navy consisted at first of merchantmen armed with a few guns and manned by the hardy seamen of the merchant marine of the colonies. Later men-of-war were especially built for that service and manned by duly commissioned officers and men enlisted into the government service, but the British Navy was so large that the colonials could make no headway against its strong fleets, and a cruising and raiding warfare was resorted to for the purpose of destroying as much British merchant shipping as possible. This warfare was carried on principally by privateers, merchantmen armed and heavily manned for the purpose and in some cases fast ships especially built for such service. These privateers were officered by the splendid sea captains of that date who were granted “letters of marque” by the Colonial Government to carry the flag and prey upon the commerce of the enemy, dividing the profits derived from the captured cargoes in fixed proportion between the owners and crew of the privateers and the Government. Under such conditions there was no fixed uniform, and though the officers frequently provided themselves with a dress patterned after that of the French Navy with which they were allied, the men wore any kind of clothing suited to their fancy. After the Revolution the standing or regular army went out of existence, but it soon became necessary to establish a regular navy which consisted of a few fast, heavily gunned sailing frigates of the type of the _Constitution_, _Constellation_ and _Chesapeake_. When the War of 1812 came on it was this small but remarkably efficient regular navy that alone saved the United States from disaster and dishonor. By 1812 a regulation uniform had been prescribed for the officers of the Navy, but the men were still allowed to wear any kind of clothing suited to their work. Long cruises in distant seas made it necessary, however, for a supply of clothing for the members of the crew to be carried by the purser (the paymaster of that day), and as a measure of economy and convenience these clothes were all made in the same style, a custom which gradually brought about a certain uniformity in the garb of the enlisted personnel of the Navy.