<<The "guernsey frock" has come up numerous times in my research on
sailor's clothing in the early 1800s. But I have yet to find a clear
IDENTIFED picture of one or an existant garment. If anyone could help
me out with trying to nail down what this item was, I'd be eternally
grateful.>>

It's not necessarily a knitted garment (the knitted body garments 
that we call sweaters began to be made about 1850. The very earliest 
I'm familiar with is from Iceland.)

A guernsey frock may be closer to what we would call a smock - a 
loose fitting linen pullover, with very little shaping (and no, they 
didn't always have smocking at the top!)


<<But for fisherman's sweaters and other garments meant to be worn as 
protection from bad weather, the grease is often left in to make the 
garment more water-resistant. Yarn for guernsey
sweaters was tightly spun to begin with and the sweaters were knitted
at a small gauge to make them water-repellant as well.>>

This is a bit of an old wife's tale. Wool, even without its lanolin, 
is naturally water-repellant. Leaving the grease in makes the yarn 
attract dirt, makes it heavy, and the lanolin oxidizes very quickly 
and becomes stiff. In  mills, the wool is stripped of its lanolin (it 
can *really* gum up equipment) but later it is oiled in order to 
control static.

Knitted (and woven) wool was often tarred by sailors, to increase the 
rain-proofing.


<<What's interesting is that there are
many articles that mention that "guernseys" were made for 400 years >>

This is another old wife's tale, or folklore that's been repeated 
over and over, with no foundation. The guernsey/jersey/gansey 
sweaters were a 19c development. The famed white Aran sweaters of 
Ireland are early 20c.


Deborah

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