Part 10 (2/2)
In Africa, the only flags that we need particularize are those of the Orange Free State, Liberia, the Congo State, and the South African Republic.
The Orange Free State was founded by Dutch emigrants from the Cape of Good Hope. It was proclaimed British territory in 1848, but by a Convention entered into in 1854, the inhabitants were declared to be ”to all intents and purposes, a free and independent people, and their Government to be treated thenceforth as a free and independent Government.” The flag, Fig.
249, is the only one that has orange in it, clearly in allusion to the name of the State, while the canton of red, white, and blue, equally shows the pride of the people in their Dutch origin.
The flag of the Independent Negro Republic of Liberia, is shown in Fig.
250. The population largely consists of freed slaves, emigrants from America and their descendants, plus the aborigines. The flag, it will be seen, even to the thirteen stripes, is largely based on that of the United States, though one would have thought that that would have been about the last thing they would have selected. {126}
The Congo Free State in Central Africa was established in 1885 by the King of the Belgians; its flag is the golden star on the blue ground that we see in Fig. 251, a device at once simple, expressive and pleasing.
In 1840, a number of Dutch Boers, dissatisfied with the Government of Cape Colony, established themselves in Natal, where their treatment of the natives was so unjustifiable that a general rising was imminent, and the British Government was compelled to interfere, and itself take charge of the district. This the Boers resented, so they crossed the Vaal and established themselves afresh in the wilderness. In 1854, the British Government recognised the Transvaal or South African Republic, and in 1881 a fresh Convention was agreed to by which the Boers were confirmed in full possession of the land, subject to the recognition of the British suzerainty. The flag of the Transvaal Government is shown in Fig. 253.
Now have we journeyed the whole world over and found in every land the emblems of nationality and patriotism. Unfamiliar as many of these may appear to us, they each represent a symbol endeared to thousands or hundreds of thousands of hearts, and thus are they full of warm human interest. For these various strips of gaily-coloured bunting, men have given without hesitation their lives, have poured out blood and treasure without stint or count of cost, and wherever they encounter them the wide world over, the wanderers forget for a while the alien sh.o.r.e or waste of ocean as their thoughts turn to the dear homeland.
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CHAPTER V.
Flags as a Means of Signalling--Army Signalling--the Morse Alphabet--Navy Signalling--First Attempts at Sea Signals--Old Signal Books in Library of Royal United Service Inst.i.tution--”England expects that every man will do his duty”--Sinking Signal Codes on defeat--Present System of Signalling in Royal Navy--Pilot Signals--Weather Signalling by Flags--the International Signal Code--First Published in 1857--Seventy-eight Thousand different Signals possible--Why no Vowels used--Lloyd's Signal Stations.
We propose in this, our final chapter, to deal with the use of flags as a means of signalling; a branch of the subject by no means wanting either in interest or in practical value.
The flags used for army signalling are only two in number if we consider their design, though, as each of these is made in two sizes, the actual outfit consists of four flags. The large size is three feet square, and the smaller is two feet square; the larger sizes are clearly more visible, but on the other hand the smaller save weight and consequently labour; and with good manipulation and clear weather their messages can be followed by observers, with ordinary service telescopes, up to a distance of twelve miles or so. The poles are respectively five feet six inches long and three feet six inches, and the flags themselves are either white with a blue horizontal stripe across the centre, or wholly blue. Only one flag is used at a time, the first being used when the background is dark and the second when light, so as to ensure under all circ.u.mstances the greatest visibility.
The person sending the signals should hold the flag pointing upwards to the left, and with the pole making an angle of about 25, with an imaginary vertical line pa.s.sing down the centre of his body. The signals are based upon the dot and dash system of Morse. The dot or short stroke is made by waving the flag from the normal position to the corresponding point on the right hand, while for the dash or long stroke the flag is waved till the head of the pole nearly touches the ground.
The Morse alphabet is so constructed that the letters of most frequent occurrence are represented by the shortest symbols, and no letter requires more than four of these for its expression, while figures are all represented by five signs. {128}
The letters of the alphabet are thus represented:--
A - A (ae) -- B - C -- D - E F - G -- H I J --- K -- L - M -- N - O --- O (oe) --- P -- Q --- R - S T - U - U (ue) -- V - W -- X -- Y --- Z -- Ch ----
The following code is adopted to represent figures:--
1 ---- 2 --- 3 -- 4 - 5 6 - 7 -- 8 --- 9 ---- 0 -----
A s.p.a.ce about equal in length to the dash is left between each letter, and a time interval of about three times the duration between each word. This alphabet, once learned, it is evident can be utilized in many ways.
Steamers, by means of short and long whistles, can spell out messages to each other; seamen, across a harbour, can communicate by waving their arms; prisoners by opening and shutting their hands. It is also utilised in the light-flashes of the heliograph, in telegraphy again, and in various other directions.
Cla.s.ses are held at the School of Army Signalling at Aldershot, and from thence the knowledge permeates the Army and the Auxiliary Forces.[84] The requirements are steadiness, intelligence, quickness of eye-sight and of action, and the power to spell correctly; and it takes a man from fifteen to twenty days, at five hours drill a day, to learn the alphabet and the proper manipulation of the flags. The standard of efficiency is ten words a minute with the large flag or sixteen with the small. If our readers will take the trouble to count the letters in the first sixteen words in this present sentence they {129} will find that they are sixty-nine in number, and they will further find, if they take the additional trouble to translate these letters into Morse, that it will take 105 dots and 60 dashes to do it. Our readers will probably then go on to conclude that as it takes one hundred and sixty-five motions of the flag, plus sixty-eight intervals between the letters to signal these sixteen words, a speed of ten words a minute is a very creditable performance either for the sender to work off or for the receiver to read.
Besides the ordinary spelling out of the words, various arbitrary signs are used, thus a continued succession of dots is used to call attention to the fact that a message is going to be sent, and a series of dashes ------ means that it is finished. G means ”go on,” R is a request to ”move more to the right” and L to ”s.h.i.+ft a little to the left”; B means ”use the blue flag,” and W ”use the white flag,” K.Q is ”say when you are ready,”
F.I means that figures are coming, and F.F indicates that the figures are finished. Those who have to receive the message may see that the background behind the transmitter is not quite satisfactory for the due observation of the flags, and they may then flash back H or O, meaning either ”higher up”
or ”lower down,” as the case may be, and in case of any misunderstanding, they will signal I.M.I, which means ”please repeat,” and as soon as all is clear, they will signal R.T, meaning ”all right.”
As our man-of-war's-men are also instructed in this system of signalling, communication can be established during an expedition between the s.h.i.+ps and the troops on sh.o.r.e. The signal for communication is a white pendant with two black X.X on it. Should this special flag not be forthcoming, the X.X ---- (see code of letters) is flashed at night or waved by the flag by day, and as soon as the preparative dots have been acknowledged, the message is dispatched. When the message is of a general character, nothing more need be done, but when it is intended for a particular vessel, the communication is preceded by the special sign apportioned to that vessel.
Though the Morse system has its place, as we have seen, in the drill of our blue-jackets, it does not altogether meet naval requirements. A man waving flags on board s.h.i.+p would be a scarcely conspicuous enough object, and intermediate vessels in a squadron would block out all view of him from those farthest off, hence naval communications are ordinarily made by means of flags exhibited from the mast head or other clearly visible position.
Instead of one flag being used, our men-of-war have over forty, and these are all conspicuously distinct from each other. The messages are not spelt out, as in land operations, but the flags are used in various combinations, and the meaning of the signal is found by reference to a {130} code-book.
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