The sea bag is also known as a duffel,whereby the word was originally used to describe ‘a coarse woollen cloth having a thick nap or frieze’. The cloth was produced in the Belgian town of Duffel, situated not far from Antwerp in the 17th century, it was exported to Spain and Portugal and because of its durable qualities it was used as a covering material on ships.
American Sea bag, 1842-1862 (x) and another American Sea bag, ca. 1795 (x)
It is suggested that Spanish and Portuguese sailors used offcuts of the material to fashion crude bags for their belongings. It is believed that the sea bag came to England and America in the late 19th century. However, as there are already known examples from the middle and late 18th century, it is more likely that the sea bag was established earlier. The most common way of storing in the 18th and early 19th century, was still the sea chest. Especially for officers.
The Ditty Bag
The Ditty Bag is a smaller version of a sea bag or a small box and contains small tools, toiletries and other personal items.
Sailor’s Ditty Bag with Accoutrements, circa 1875, bag marked, “L.G. 1875”
constructed of canvas and sailor’s fancy rope work, consisting of slide
ruler, sailors palm, bosun’s whistle, tool fold, scrimshawed horn with
needle wax, weaving shuttle, and a jack knife.
Where the name originally comes from is debatable, some people think it comes from the Hindi word dittis, which describes a kind of duck or canvas cloth produced in Manchester England. Others suspect it comes from the Anglo-Saxon word dite, which means tidy.
Sailor’s Housewife or Hussif
There can be some confusion here, because often the Housewife or Hussif is also equated with the Ditty bag, but described differently. The Housewife is often described as a storage for sewing tools, a sewing roll with needles, thread, buttons and so on to repair his own things or to do a craft like embroidery or sewing.
