On an Old Dress Code

From Diana Preston's well recieved Lusitania:

Crossing the Atlantic, whether by steam or sail, remained a relatively hazardous business, even by the later nineteenth century. The sailing packets were nicknamed "coffin brigs," and one in six ran aground or sank. In 1878 Katherine Ledoux, author of Ocean Notes for Ladies, advised her readers to dress with due care and attention: "I have always felt that a body washed ashore in good clothes would recieve more respect and kinder care than if dressed in those only fit for the rag bag."

Not so much dressing for success as dressing for cessation.