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Phillosoph

Magnetic Declination

Methods for finding direction without a compass give you true north.
Strictly speaking, a map shows “grid north”, which may differ from true north, particularly on older maps.
Since we generally use a compass with a map, the difference between true north and grid north isn’t usually a worry.

A compass does not point to true nor grid north, it points at magnetic north.

Magnetic north is somewhere up in Canada, but currently seems intent on defecting to Siberia. The difference between magnetic north and true/grid north is known as the “magnetic declination” or “G-M angle”.

This map of the world shows magnetic declination in different parts of the Earth’s surface. Since magnetic north is moving, this map will be out of date when you read it.
Note that declination has very little correlation with longitude.
The green line shows the agonic line. If on this line a compass will point towards true north.
On the isogonic lines, declination may be more than 20° in the northern hemisphere and even greater values as we travel south. Easterly declinations are in red. Westerly declination are in blue and given as a negative number.
So what effect does magnetic declination have on navigation?
Suppose I am in an area where the declination is 2° west. I’m facing a direction the compass tells me is north, 0°.
I notice something of interest ahead of me and try to locate it on my map. Rather than being on the north-south line the point of interest will actually be at a bearing of 358° from my position on the map. 0° is the same as 360° so 2° west gives 358°.
In another part of the world. I might face towards magnetic north but in fact be facing at a bearing of 13° east, a significant difference.
Magnetic declination will probably be marked in the margin of your map. Some maps have a declination in each corner of the map. Use the value closest to your position on the map. If you are midway or in the centre average the relevant values.
Note that the declination diagram is not drawn to scale. Don’t try to measure it with your protractor, use the values given in the text.
To make our life more interesting, magnetic north moves over time. The magnetic declination information will include an annual rate of change so you can calculate how much the declination has changed since the map was printed.
An old map I have of London tells me the magnetic declination for June 1989 was 6°W and that this was expected to change by 9'E every year.  
In 2001 it would therefore be expected to be 4.2°W.  
In 2016 this map predicts magnetic north will have shifted by 243' from what it was in 1989. There are 60' in a degree so 243' is 4° 3' and predicts magnetic declination in London would be 1° 57' west by 2016.
This website gives the magnetic declination in London in 2016 as actually being 2° 10' west.
In practice, declination is rounded to the nearest half degree/30' or 10 mils. so we would treat both 1° 57' and 2° 10' as 2°.
The difference does illustrate that not only does magnetic declination change over time, but the rate of change may also vary.
If using old maps. it is important to get up-to-date information.

Once you have an up-to-date magnetic declination, what do you do with it?

This is where a lot of people get confused.

Declination, or G-M angle, is the difference between grid north (GN) and magnetic north (MN). The magnetic north line may have half an arrowhead or a barb. The declination diagram may also include true north, often marked with a star (★).

When do you add it, when do you subtract it? Some maps will give you this information, relevant for the area covered in the map. Where present, follow these instructions.

When a  map lacks this information, there are lots of rhymes and aide memoires that have been created to teach you what to do. Some of these, however, are only “true” in certain parts of the world.
Many readers will have been taught use the acronyms “MUGS” and “GUMA”. These stand for “Magnetic Unto Grid: Subtract” and “Grid Unto Magnetic: Add”.
A related rhyme is “Magnetic to Grid, get rid” and “Grid to Mag, Add”. Another acronym pair is “MUCA” and “CUMS”. The “M” stands for map and the “C” for compass in this case, but when stressed you might confuse these with “magnetic” and “chart”, so I find MUGS and GUMA safer, and LARS even better.
 
What MUGS means is that if you have a magnetic bearing, taken with your compass, you must subtract the magnetic declination before plotting the angle on your map. In our example above the magnetic bearing of 0°/360° has the declination of 2° subtracted from it to give the actual bearing of 358°.
When converting a bearing on the “grid” to a magnetic bearing you add the declination (GUMA).
I suspect that the MUGS/GUMA acronyms are probably British Army in origin, since they tend to favour a westward declination and could be used in the UK and most of Western Europe.
To make MUGS/GUMA global in application, we needed to learn one more thing: “West is Best, East is Least”.
“West is Best, East is Least” tells us to treat a west declination as positive and an easterly one as negative.
As you should know, subtracting a negative number adds the value of the number to the total. Adding a negative number subtracts the value.
Hence, from the above examples:
0°/360°(magnetic) – 2°W = 360°-2° = 358° grid (MUGS)
0°/360°(magnetic) – 13°E = 360°- (-13°) = 0°+ 13°= 13° grid (MUGS)

(It is possibly more logical to treat a westward declination as negative, giving us the rather nice acronyms of “MUGA” and “GUMS”. MUGS and GUMA are very well established, however.)

Another disadvantage of MUGS and GUMA is that the movement of magnetic north is changing the magnetic declination of the British Isles and parts of Western Europe to easterly.
As I update this article in February 2024, magnetic declination in London is now 1°51' East.
Yet another system, which is probably more useful in the future, is “LARS” = “Left: Add/ Right: Subtract”.
This uses the declination diagram on the map. You need to move right/clockwise to get from a westerly magnetic north line to the grid north line, so you subtract the G-M angle to convert from magnetic to grid azimuth. From the grid line to magnetic north is left/anticlockwise, so add the difference for calculating magnetic from grid.
For an easterly declination, the grid line will be to the left/anticlockwise of magnetic north, hence magnetic to grid adds the G-M angle and grid to magnetic (right/clockwise) subtracts in this case.
I recommend that you learn and use the LARS method.
Treat the G-M angle as an absolute value (always positive) and follow LARS: Left Add, Right Subtract.

The method in the illustration above will be familiar to many compass users.
Rather than aligning the needle with the “N” arrow on the face it is possible to compensate for magnetic declination by holding the needle pointing at the declination value on the dial.
Hence if the local declination is “10°W”, you hold the compass so the needle points to the “350°” mark on the bezel rather than “0°”.
You may use LARS to calculate the offset (the value the needle should point at).
You are making a magnetic bearing into a grid one.
MAGMGA: Magnetic Azimuth +/- G-M Angle = Grid Azimuth.
For a easterly declination (East/Left Add) add the G-M angle to 0.
For an westerly (West/Right Subtract) , subtract the G-M angle from 360°/6400 mils.
As a check, the needle and the north mark should resemble the declination diagram. In other words, if the G-M angle is easterly, the needle should be to the right/clockwise of the north mark.
This is useful when walking to a bearing, although you are better walking towards a landmark rather than walking staring at your compass (or phone!) all the time.
When sighting with a compass, the values you will get will still need conversion.
Remember that metal objects on your person or in your surroundings may affect a compass reading. Overhead power cables may influence the needle from as far as 55 metres away!
“West is Best, East is Least”
MUGS
GUMA
LARS
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Phillosoph

Poles and Furcas

I once was tasked with the job of moving a heavy, bulky object. I forget what it actually was. It may have been a chest of drawers or a heavy cathode-ray TV.
I asked a colleague to assist me. Moving the item proved to be much easier than I anticipated, so much so I felt I had wasted my colleague’s time.
He wisely replied “Two men can carry a piano. One man cannot carry half a piano.”
  Yesterday, I was reading an article that asserted that because of heavy weapons such as the 50 lb Javelin ATGW, the weight carried by modern soldiers was unlikely to decrease in the near future.
There then followed proposals for high-tech solutions such powered exo-skeletons and cargo carrying robots that would follow a soldier like ducklings.
Why carry such things on a soldier’s back?
Why not use a light handcart? Granted, a handcart cannot be used on all types of terrain so it would also need provision for being picked up and carried when necessary.
Following such trains of thought I came across this webpage.
As the author notes, carrying poles are seldom used in the West except when hunters wish to carry a kill.

The ironic thing is those same two hunters probably walked into the woods sweating and carrying heavy backpacks. The idea of using a pole to carry those probably never occurred to them.
Carrying poles are still widely used in the East. Here are two interesting scientific papers on their use:

An interesting image. Western depictions of sedan chairs show the porters carrying the entire weight in their hands.
If you think about it, that seems rather unlikely and some form of strap or harness seems more likely.
Note that in the illustration below of the stretcher, the man at the rear is using a sling to take some of the weight.
The Chinese sedan chair pictured above uses two short poles to allow the load to be spread between four and their shoulders rather than their hands used.

If you are on your own, a carrying pole can still be used if your load can be divided.
There are lots of images of heavy and/or bulky loads being carried by single individuals with carrying poles, but the one below is probably my favourite.

Another way to carry a heavy load with a pole was the Roman furca.
Apparently, the real name was “aerumnula”, but Roman soldiers preferred to call it by the same name as the structures criminals were crucified on.
The furca is often described as a “forked stick” but in actuality was two sticks bound in a “T” shape, the longer being about four feet.
A furca could probably be used as a support to rig a makeshift shelter.

Generally the furca is shown carried rather like a hobo’s pole.
The website below explains how the system is more comfortable if used in conjunction with the shield and cloak.
The Roman soldier carried a similar weight to that of many modern soldiers.
Unlike an overloaded rucksack, the furca could be quickly discarded in the event of an ambush.
The same is true of other loads carried by pole. 

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Phillosoph

Compass and Clinometer Measurements

As promised in the previous post, some scans on the angle measuring instructions that came with my “Italian Army” compass.

The first paragraph refers to the clinometer. If you work in certain fields the contents of column V will be familiar to you. This column can be read as either fractions or gradients. That is, for example, 25% = ¼ = 1 in 4. A slope of 14° therefore drops or rises one metre for every four metres of horizontal distance. A 45° slope is 1/1 so changes by a metre for every horizontal metre.
In the illustrated example below a hilltop is measures as being at 14° to the viewer so its height must be a quarter of the distance between the two. The converse is also true. If you know the height of an object and can measure the angle you can calculate the distance. A building storey is 3 metres so a three story building will be 9 metres. If the observed angle to the top of the third storey is 6° then the distance must be 90 (9 x 10) metres.

The same system can be used with horizontal angles, taken from bearings of each side of an object. Also illustrated is a way to use the graduations on the window in the cover to calculate the distance from an object of known width.

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Phillosoph

Italian Army Style Lensatic Compass

         A friend of mine brought the “Italian Army Style Lensatic Compass” to my attention. I have a bit of a thing for interesting compasses so decided to treat myself. Being on a limited budget this is probably a copy rather than the actual issue model. This will be a relatively modest review since it only arrived last night.

 

         The first thing that you notice, even before it is out the box, is the weight. My electronic balance tells me the compass weighs 290g or 10¼ oz. The box has the company names of “Sturm” and “Mil-tec” and the text outside is a mixture of English and German but, ironically, no Italian!

 

         The compass itself is an interesting mixture of familiar and novel features. Like the US lensatic compass the cover is raised to the vertical for taking bearings of terrain features. Opened fully it can be used on a map as a 15cm ruler. The other side is a 1:25000 scale, which corresponds to 4cm per kilometre. This scale is marked in thousands of metres, in 10 metre increments.

        The most obvious of the novel features is the clinometer, a black plate that folds over the compass dial. The clinometer has two scales, one marked in degrees and the other in percentage gradient. According to the manual the clinometer pointer has a lock to stop it swinging about. This appears to be that if you push it just past the fully vertical position it will stay there by friction.
         The other novel feature is the eyepiece near the lanyard ring. With many lensatic or engineer’s compasses there is a lens that you fold up and use to look at the far side of the compass dial. In this model the viewer is built into the compass body. The eyepiece can be adjusted to compensate for discrepancies of vision. This system gives a really good view of the compass dial. The view is magnified so it is very simple to distinguish the single degree increments of the dial. The bearing is in black and the backbearing is printed above in red. All very clear and easy to read. I really like this feature!
         The cover has a large clear window with various markings. One part appears to be designed to serve as a map detail magnifier. Just above the eyepiece is a fine notch that can be used to align the sighting line on the cover. This has a “pinhole camera” effect that brings the line into sharp focus. You eye easily moves from the sighting notch to the eyepiece below so bearings can easily be taken. Very well thought out and executed!
         The base also incorporates a bull’s eye spirit level, a feature I’ve not found on my other compasses.
         One surprise was that the compass bezel did not appear to rotate. Perhaps I am too used to Silva and Suunto designs, I mused. This part seemed quite solid. But why knurl the edges if it was not intended to rotate? Why bother printing it with a degree scale and etching reference marks on the glass surface? The image in the manual labels the bezel as a “pivoting dial” and this is listed in the features on the side of the box as “rotating compass ring”. Turns out (pun intended!) that the bezel does rotate but it is initially very firm. Persist with it and it will begin to work as intended. A word of caution, however. The bezel is marked in tens of degrees so “3” = 30 degrees and “30” =300. Setting the bezel helps you keep on the intended bearing. I’ll not bother describing how this is done in this post since the method will be familiar to many readers already. A future post will cover compass techniques.
         The compass came with a small but comprehensive instruction booklet. The appeared to be all in German but halfway through the text was repeated in English. This section was actually titled “Englishch” which was not promising. In fact the translation isn’t as bad as I feared! The first few paragraphs cover the obvious basics. How to take a bearing, using the compass with a map and how to move on a bearing. Then there are instructions on using the clinometer.
         The manual also includes a table. The first three columns are for converting between degrees, milliradians and grads (does anyone still use grads?). The fourth column is a % scale and the fifth column is fractions derived from height divided by distance.
         The manual then gives information on how this table can be used to determine features such as object height at a known distance, or distance from an object of known size. All this is done without the need for trigonometry tables. I will describe this in greater depth when I have had opportunity to scan the table and some related sections.
         The compass has one final trick under its skirt. If you flip it over you will find the table in the manual is reproduced on the bottom of the baseplate. The columns are even labelled in Italian! On the downside the font of this table is very small, and consists of black raised letters on a black background. It may be a good idea to copy the table in the manual and laminate it.
         The compass is a bit on the heavy side, so if you love ultra-light gear this is not the model for you! The hinge between the base and cover seems rather slim so I will have to see if this loosens up or gives other problems. Because of the way it is orientated the clinometer will be at its most accurate if one person sights while another stands beside to read the scale. I think this is a very good compass for the price. It is certainly easy to use and I love the magnified and adjustable viewer.

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Phillosoph

On Prejudice

“Prejudice” is a word I expect we will be hearing a lot over the next few months, so I would like to share an observation. 
“Prejudice” derives from “pre-judged”. A good definition may be making up your mind before you have all the facts, or in spite of the facts. Many people who claim they oppose prejudice are quite happy to hold prejudiced views about groups they do not like. We see open prejudice against groups such as law-abiding gun owners. This is considered permissible.
The “logic” is that anyone who owns a weapon is potentially a killer and murderer. If we continue with this train of logic it will also be recognized that all men are potential rapists, all women are potential whores and all parents are potential child abusers.
If I were to make the statement that “Hilary Clinton is potentially a whore and a child abuser” many people would be offended but I am only applying the same treatment that she and other gun abolitionists apply to others. I hope this gives you pause for thought.

If you wish to oppose prejudice, make sure you yourself are not really perpetuating it.

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Phillosoph

Tomahawk Strengths.

Researching tomahawks has led me down some interesting paths. One such path led me to an interesting site on boarding axes:
“Ships carried a large quantity of tools to meet any eventuality. These of course included axes for fire fighting – fire being an ever present hazard on wooden ships – for general repairs, and for tree felling and wood gathering ashore.
The main uses of an axe when fire fighting, whether at sea or on land, were for breaking open doors, smashing windows or knocking holes in walls and roofs to affect a rescue, releasing smoke or creating fire breaks. The thin angle of the blade as well as the spike could also be driven into the gaps around doors and windows to lever them open. At sea during battle this would also include damage control such as clearing fallen rigging and spars by cutting and dragging them clear and to pry out embedded hot cannon balls before they set the wood alight.
Axes were therefore always part of a vessel’s equipment and it is from these that the Boarding Axe evolved to fill a niche created by the art of naval warfare at the time of the great sailing ships.  
As well as being used for damage control they were also used as a combat tool in any boarding action between vessels, and it was this action that generally concluded the fight. The boarding axe was used to cut through anti-boarder nets and lines, to cut through rigging or ropes holding gun ports open, to smash through the doors and windows of cabins to attack the opposing crew who may be defending that as a stronghold. And of course in melee an axe may not be as good as a sword or cutlass but it was still a handy personal weapon.

A boarding party would always include a complement of axe carriers to support the main body of marines and sailors armed with musket and cutlass. As the axes were generally stored in racks near each gun they were also handy for defence against enemy boarders, being quickly available to the gun crews to cut grappling lines or defend themselves.”
This nicely sums up why a tomahawk or similar tool can be so useful. Not only can it create shelter or provide fuel, it can also be used to help create escape routes, particularly in an urban environment. A Falklands veteran I know of insisted his knife should be capable of cutting through the side of a helicopter sinking in the sea, having been in such an unfortunate situation.
A kukri will make short work of a wooden door. So too will a good tomahawk or hatchet. Many other survival knives will not, even though they cost several times more.
As I detail in “Survival Weapons: Optimizing Your Arsenal” a good kukri can be acquired for very reasonable prices. The catch is you have to get them from Nepal, although postage is also quite reasonable. On the other hand, you can find reasonably priced hand axes and hatchets in any hardware or DIY store.

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Phillosoph

Tomahawk Fast Draw

           As regular readers may know, I am a big advocate of the kukri. I am also, however, a big fan of Horace Kephart’s writings so am interested in tomahawks too.
           Last year I acquired a copy of “The Fighting Kukri” by Dwight C. McLemore. There is nothing wrong with this work but I personally found his techniques “over-systemized”. I can understand the reasons for his approach and recognize the influences, but it was not to my personal taste. This may be because I have my own ideas about using a kukri, as readers of Attack, Avoid, Survive or Crash Combat will know.
           One technique I did note was a defensive/ ready posture that had the forearms in a sort of pyramid configuration. If an enemy has his own kukri or a similar weapon I’d not like to leave my forearms as such a tempting static target. If he has an inferior weapon then my arms are going to be moving and letting my kukri bite!
           Yesterday I got to look at a copy of “The Fighting Tomahawk” by the same author. I found this quite informative.
           One advantage a kukri or other knife has over a tomahawk is that it can more rapidly and more smoothly be brought into action. A knife is generally worn so that its handle can be grasped first. A tomahawk is generally worn so that the first part grasped is the head or the shaft just under it. How do you move your hand to the end of the handle in a combat situation?
           You can, of course, flick the tomahawk upwards and catch the end. Or you can let it slide down out of your hand and catch then end. There is a significant chance that you may fumble this and lose your tomahawk! McLemore’s solution to drawing and readying the tomahawk will be the subject of today’s blog. It has applications for other implements such as hammers or entrenching tools.
           I call this technique “Brace and Slide” or “Slip, Brace and Slide”.
  • Grasp the tomahawk just under the head and pull upward to clear it from your belt.
  • Brace the butt of the handle against your hipbone or another convenient body part.
  • Slide your hand down the handle and grip near the end.
 
           It is possible that an enemy will have rushed your before you have the tomahawk fully drawn and readied. I have often stated, you should defend or avoid an initial attack before attempting to draw a weapon. That said, a tomahawk or hammer gripped just beneath the head can still be used to augment your unarmed techniques.
           Tomahawks and similar small axes usually come with a protective cover. Typically such covers feature belt loops or some other means to attach the cover to your belt. When carried in this way smoothly and rapidly drawing a tomahawk to defend yourself becomes very difficult. A better option is to use the cover just as a cover and rig another means for carrying the tomahawk. A tomahawk or axe with a sheathed head still works pretty well as a club!
           Many photos of WW2 German soldiers show them with entrenching tools slipped through the front of their belts rather than in the belt-mounted carrier, which was worn on the left side. The intention was to make the entrenching tool more readily available as a weapon.
           If used only as a cover many tomahawk sheathes are probably over engineered and have a lot of unnecessary weight and bulk. The photo below shows a rather elegant alternate edge protector. Such a thing could be easily constructed from materials other than leather.
 
           Cops often carry their nightsticks by a simple belt ring. Workmen carry hammers slung from a cloth loop. These methods can be adapted to carry a tomahawk. A diagonal strap can be added to prevent the tomahawk being lost when climbing or crawling and this provides greater security than simply slipping it through a belt.
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Phillosoph

Boy Scout Axe

           I fully intend to write some more on the topic of tunics.
For today, however, a briefer post.
           I’ve really been enjoying the series “Westworld”. This has inspired me to resume playing “Red Dead Redeption”, which in turn has got me thinking about various topics including that of  tomahawks/ hatchets/ hand axes. There will probably be posts along these lines in the near future.
           For today I will just post this interesting example of an English boy scout axe. Length is apparently about 14". The head is backed with a point suitable for such tasks as digging latrines/ catholes.

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Phillosoph

Roman Tunica and Simple Clothing.

Recently I was re-reading an article a friend of mine wrote about military clothing being too hot. One of the contributing factors to this is that the design of military uniforms is often influenced by civilian conventions. It is usually a fairly conservative interpretation too so a design will often be based on conventions at least a generation old!
If we look back in history we see that for many centuries the outdoor wear of a soldier, hunter or farmer consisted of a tunic, cloak and (usually) some form of leggings. Sometime about the 18th century it close fitting jackets became more common. The cloak persisted a little longer but was eventually replaced in military circles by the greatcoat and then the parka. By the 20th century what the military was still calling a tunic was effectively a sort of close-fitting sports coat. As the use of body armour became more common soldiers were expected to wear their tunics/ combat jackets underneath it, and not surprisingly this was hot and uncomfortable. Recently there have been attempts to address this with “underarmour shirts”. Effectively these are sweatshirts with camouflaged sleeves. Most that I have seen appear to be fairly snug fitting. A better solution would be a smock that can be worn over the armour.
Many of us are not restricted by military dress regulations. If things go really pear-shaped we are going to value functionability over fashion or convention.
Following the train of thought I was once again looking at the clothing of Roman legionaries. Roman soldiers operated all the way from the border of Scotland to what is now Israel. The basic clothing they used apparently worked in all these climates did not change much over several centuries.
Cloaks have been discussed in several previous blogs so today I will look at the Roman tunic. I’ll retain the Latin term “tunica” to distinguish it from the Saxon/ Viking/ Medieval variant.

One of the things that strikes you about the tunica is how simple it was. A tunica is just a large rectangle of cloth, or a pair of rectangles sewn together. The cloth was usually woven on a vertical loom and then cut so the selvedge edges were the bottom or top and bottom, minimising the need to hem. If you are not much of a tailor, this is the garment for you!

Typically a tunica did not have sleeves, its width being sufficient that the shoulder edge drapes over and covers the upper arm. Short sleeves were made from simple rectangles of cloth. The Romans considered long sleeves to be a bit wimpy and Julius Caesar was mocked for preferring a long sleeved tunic. Colder climates and the influence of other cultures seem to have changed this attitude over time. Long sleeved tunics were cut from a single piece of cloth, with ample volume beneath the armpits. Sometimes they were woven as a cross-shaped piece of cloth. When the sleeves were made from separate pieces they probably were cut to create the same shape.

The other thing that is notable about the tunica is that it is big. Records show tunics were made from cloth 1.55m by 1.4m. (60 x 55”). Unbloused, a tunic would hang to the wearer’s knees. One military punishment was to take a legionary’s belt and make him wear the tunic in this fashion. The belt was considered a symbol of soldiering so prohibiting its wear was a humiliation. It may have been that this was seen as demasculinizing since the tunic would have resembled to longer tunics worn by Roman women. Making an offender dress in women’s clothing is another recorded punishment.
Worn correctly the tunic was belted and gathered up above the belt so it was mid-thigh length. Why was the tunic so long? Perhaps the intention was that it could also serve as a nightshirt. However, there are records of tunics being shortened with tucks at the waist. At least one Roman writer suggests that the tunic should simply be made shorter in the first place. This page for re-enactors suggests creating a tunica from two rectangles of 36-48” by 30-48”.
The fit of the tunica is interesting. In the Mediterranean countries it probably allowed air to freely circulate around the body. Even when wearing armour there would have been some circulation to the underarm region, without the need for modern contrivances such as zippers. Combined with a cloak the folds of the tunic probably trapped air and kept the wearer warm.
The large neck opening of the tunica seems to have been less liked by some Romans. There are illustrations and records of the tunica being knotted at the back of the neck to restrict the opening. One of the reasons for the large opening was that during tasks such as manual labour the tunic was sometimes worn with one shoulder bared. The wearing of a neck scarf was very common, particularly when armour was worn. The scarf would prevent the armour chaffing the neck. The scarf may also have served a function similar to the detachable collars of later centuries. Notably tunics worn by later and more northern cultures had less of a neck opening.
The tunica was not used in isolation, of course. Unless it was very hot an under-tunic of the same basic design would have been worn. This would have provided additional insulation and reduced the need to launder the outer garment.

The tunica was long enough that it did not need to be worn with leggings. The Romans considered trousers to be barbarian and effeminate. The practicalities of military life overrode this prejudice. Bracae were breeches that reached to just below the knee. Trajan’s column shows infantry legionaries bare legged but cavalry and officers wearing bracae. Long trousers or a form of gaiter  or puttee seem to have been adopted where conditions required.

Some form of lower underwear was used. If the legionary was wearing bracae or trousers the lower part of the undertunic might have been gathered around the loins, as was common with the undershirt in medieval times. There are records of some form of underpants, “subligariorum”. Short, linen bracae-type garments are known. Loincloths were also used. The example shown in the picture below was probably “outerwear” for athletes and gladiators, a soldier wearing something less bulky and simpler.

On the theme of simple to create clothing, I came across this illustration of a Japanese loincloth. Simply a rectangle of cloth 6-14” wide with a ribbon or tape sewn to one edge. The second illustration is a curious variant with a bib front and a loop to go over the neck.

Categories
Phillosoph

Ninja Boating

Yesterday I was watching an interesting video on tools used by historic ninja. At the start, almost as a throwaway comment the speaker mentions that the box he keeps them in also happens to be a boat!
Rooted around a bit, and found a video of this ingenious device.