WW2 knitting instructions, garments for Canadian sailors c.1940

Nice pamphlet issued by the Navy League of Canada, cover image of smiling Canadian sailor.

The League undertook “the immense task of supplying knitted garments, sweaters, caps, scarves, leather and fur jerkins and other much-needed comforts to Canadian and Allied seamen in the ports of Canada on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts’.

There were 60,000 sailors in the RCN and many thousands more in the Merchant Navy.

Issued by ‘THE NAVY LEAGUE OF CANADA Ontario Division 1118 Bay Street, Toronto, Ont.’

Instructions for:

• Socks
• Scarf
• Seaman’s Cap
• Square-Neck Sleeveless Sweater
• Gloves
• Sea Boot Stockings
• Turtle-Neck Tuck-in
• Naval Artillery Mitts
• Nineteen Forty Helmet
• Aero Cap
• Mine Sweeper’s Mitt
• Ditty Bags

Also has a page of Sailor’s letters received by the League and page of Q&A’s

16 pages

Folded vertically. Small tear right side of cover

 9 ½” x 6 ⅝”

The Navy League of Canada is a non-profit organization founded in 1895 and incorporated in 1918. Originally formed to promote maritime issues to Canadians, the Navy League is the non-governmental partner of the Department of National Defence in the delivery of the Royal Canadian Sea Cadets program.

With the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, the Navy League was once more involved in War Services activities. This included the operation of 24 hostels in various port areas, such as the Sea Gull Cub in Halifax, the provision of amenities and special clothing supplies for visiting seamen, as well as those of the RCN and Canadian Merchant Navy. The Navy League came to consider itself "the nursery of seamen" for the RCN.

WIKIPEDIA