Part 4 (2/2)
SPECIAL FLAGS.
The flag of the Lord High Admiral is crimson, having on it an anchor and cable, and it is hoisted on any s.h.i.+p of which that high officer is on board. It is also hoisted at the fore top-gallant-masthead of every s.h.i.+p of which the Queen may be on board. The flag of an admiral is white with the cross of St. George on it. It is only flown by an admiral when employed afloat, and then at the main, fore, or mizen top-gallantmast-head, according as he is a full, vice, or rear admiral.
The Union flag and the Blue Ensign are, with the addition of certain distinctive badges, used as personal flags by certain high officers, and also in particular departments of the service. For example, the flag of the Lord-lieutenant of Ireland is the Union with a blue s.h.i.+eld in the centre, charged with a golden harp. The Governor-general of India has the Union with the Star of India in the centre surmounted by a crown, and this also is the flag of British Burmah. British ministers, charges d'affaires, fly the Union with the royal arms in the centre within a circle argent surrounded by a wreath. Our consuls have the Blue Ensign with the royal arms in the fly. There are also differences in the Union or Ensign with distinctive badges for other offices and departments, and for the Colonies.
THE PENDANT.
The Pendant is a well-known flag in s.h.i.+ps of war. It is of two kinds, the long and the broad. The first is a long, narrow, tapering flag--the usual length being twenty yards, while it is only four inches broad at the head. An Admiralty Memorandum regarding the history of our flags bears that the origin of the long Pendant is generally understood to have been this:--After the defeat of the English fleet under Blake, by the Dutch fleet under Van Tromp, in 1652, the latter cruised in the Channel with a broom at the mast-head of his s.h.i.+p, to signify that he had swept his enemies off the sea. In the following year the English fleet defeated the Dutch, whereupon the admiral commanding hoisted a long streamer from his mast-head to represent the lash of a whip, signifying that he had whipped his enemies off the sea. Hence the Pendant, which has been flown ever since. This certainly has been the popular tradition, and the English admiral may, on the occasion referred to, have adopted a flag of the description and for the purpose mentioned, but it was not altogether a new form of flag. In the Tudor MS. we find a description of a long tapering flag of somewhat the same description. It is called a Streamer, and is appointed to ”stand in the top of a s.h.i.+p or in the forecastle, and therein is to be put no armes but a man's conceit or device, and may be of length 20, 30, 40, or 60 yards, and is slitt as well as a guydhomme or standard.” From this description the streamer would appear to have been a personal flag bearing ”the conceit or device”--crest, badge, or motto--of the owner.
As now used in our navy the long pendant is of two colours--one white with a red cross in the part next the mast; the other blue with a red cross on a white ground. The first is flown from the mast-head of all her Majesty's s.h.i.+ps in commission, when not otherwise distinguished by a flag or broad pendant. The other is worn at the masthead of all armed vessels in the employ of the government of a British colony. (See Plate III. No. IV.)
The broad pendant or ”burgee” is a flag tapering slightly and of a swallow-tailed shape at the fly. It is white with a red St. George's cross, and is flown only by a commodore, or the senior officer of a squadron, to distinguish his s.h.i.+p. If used by a commodore of the first cla.s.s it is flown at the main top-gallant-masthead. Otherwise it is flown at the top-gallant-masthead.
SIGNALS AND OTHER FLAGS.
Signal flags are those which are used for communication between s.h.i.+ps at sea. In the system inst.i.tuted by James II. intelligence was communicated or messages interchanged by a confused number of flags exhibited at different parts of the s.h.i.+p. Now, signalling has been reduced to a complete system. The flags are of various shapes and colours, each flag representing a letter or number, and by a recent arrangement a universal code has been adopted by which vessels of different nations can now communicate.
A flag of truce is white, both at sea and on land, but on board s.h.i.+p it is customary to hoist with it the national flag of the enemy--the white flag at the main and the enemy's ensign at the fore. On one occasion during the war in 1814 when the French frigate _Clorinde_ was about to be attacked by the British frigate _Dryad_, the commander of the former, being desirous to ascertain what terms would be granted in case he surrendered, hoisted French colours aft and English colours forward.
Under cover of this the French frigate sent a boat with the message. The answer was a refusal to grant any terms, but the boat was allowed to return to the French frigate in safety before the _Dryad_ filled and stood towards her.
The Ensign and Pendant at half-mast are the recognised signs of mourning. Sometimes also it is an expression of mourning to set the yards at what seamen call ”a-c.o.c.k-bill,” that is all the yards topped up different ways on each mast; but this is chiefly done by foreigners, who, on Good Friday and other occasions, set their yards thus. It is also customary as a sign of mourning to paint the white lines of a s.h.i.+p of a blue colour. In older times, when s.h.i.+ps were more gaudily painted and gilded than they are now, they were painted black all over as a sign of mourning.
The red or b.l.o.o.d.y flag is a signal of mutiny, and as such it was displayed in our own navy on two noted occasions in the end of last century, when the fleet at Spithead mutinied, and afterwards that at the Nore. In the latter case the mutineers hauled down the flag of Vice-admiral Buckner and in its stead hoisted the red flag. It is a singular fact, however, and characteristic of the British seaman, that on the 4th of June, the king's birth-day, while the mutiny was at its height, the whole fleet, with the exception of one s.h.i.+p, evinced its loyalty by firing a royal salute, and displaying the colours usual on such occasions, the red flag being struck during the ceremony, and only re-hoisted when it was over.[40]
[40] James' _Naval History_, ii. p. 73.
The yellow flag is the signal of sickness and of quarantine.
USE OF FLAGS IN NAVAL WARFARE.
Such are the princ.i.p.al naval flags. Of the circ.u.mstances in which they may or may not be legitimately used, especially in naval warfare, some interesting stories might be told.
Although it is prohibited to merchant s.h.i.+ps to carry the colours used in the navy, this may be done in time of war to deceive an enemy. I may mention one instance when it was practised with happy effect. In the French war in 1797 the French Rear-admiral Sarcy, when cruising with six frigates in the Bay of Bali, came in sight of five of our Indiamen--one of them, the _Woodford_, Captain Lennox. They were homeward bound, and all richly laden, and to all appearance they had no chance of escape, when Captain Lennox rescued them by an act of great judgment and presence of mind. He first of all hoisted in his own s.h.i.+p a flag which the French admiral knew well--that of the British Admiral Rainier, blue at the mizen, and he made all the other s.h.i.+ps in his company hoist pendants and ensigns to correspond. But he did more. He detached two of the Indiamen to chase and reconnoitre the enemy; and as these advanced towards the French reconnoitring frigate the _Cybele_, the latter, completely deceived, made all sail to join her consorts with the signal at her mast-head--”The enemy is superior in force to the French.” On this the French admiral, believing that he was in the presence of a powerful British squadron, made off with his frigates under all sail, and Captain Lennox and his consorts completed their voyage in safety.
When Admiral Sarcy discovered afterwards the ruse that had been practised on him, and which had lost him a prize of such great value, his mortification may be imagined.
In going into action it is the custom with the s.h.i.+ps of all nations to hoist their national colours. Nelson at Trafalgar carried this to excess, for he hoisted several flags lest one should be shot away. The French and Spaniards went to the opposite extreme, for they hoisted no colours at all, till late in the action, when they began to feel the necessity of having them to strike.[41] Nelson on that occasion ran his s.h.i.+p on board the _Redoubtable_, a large seventy-four gun s.h.i.+p, and fought her at such close quarters that the two s.h.i.+ps touched each other.
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