Flags
Facts A
All square
ll fl ags are, in some way or other, signals, sending a message even if unintended.
Indeed, signalling was their prime purpose, especially in ships of war. Largely because of how pleasure yachting began – civilian yacht owners conducting manoeuvres like ships of war – much yacht club fl ag practice copies naval practice or tradition – and nowhere is this more evident than in the practice of yacht clubs having special fl ags for their Flag Offi cers – but why? The clue lies in the name. In a navy the Flag offi cers are those who rank above other commanders and – in the days before radio – passed out their orders to those under their command by means of fl ags. Their ships had to be kept under constant watch by the subordinates, ready for the next fl ag signal carrying their orders. So these offi cers’ ships wore distinctively large fl ags – broad pennants – to make them readily identifi able
in the formation and had subtle differences in the pennant and its markings to distinguish the seniority of the Flag offi cer. The easiest method was to stitch an easily recognisable shape, usually a square cross or a round disc, of contrasting material to the fl ag that would show up when viewed from a distance. The tradition – now more a mark of courtesy, like the Mayor’s chain of offi ce – continues and the usual pattern is that a Rear Commodore (the most junior Flag rank in most clubs) has two coloured crosses or discs – known as balls – on their fl ag, a Vice Commodore one and a Commodore none. More senior Flag offi cers – Admirals and Patrons – have fl ags with distinctive shapes, such as long swallow tails. Nowadays it is all just a bit of fun: but in days gone when the senior offi cer moved from ship to ship his fl ag went with him (known still as ‘shifting the Flag’) so that all the juniors would know which ship was now issuing the orders. A further bit of fun had in some yacht clubs is to fl y the appropriate broad pennant when a Flag offi cer is presiding over the Club’s activity for the day, be it a regatta or a formal dinner. Indeed some take it to the rather silly extreme of changing the fl ag every time a Flag offi cer walks in or out the door, a piece of arch-posery that has no basis in the real reasons behind the practice.
of St George, the Confederacy and the Republic of Texas are out, off limits – verboten. There is thus no legal requirement for most of us to display any
fl ag at all when pottering around in our own home waters – but if we do it has to be the right (more to the point: it must not be the wrong) one.
The British Ensign ‘Ensign’ is simply the name given to the fl ag a ship or boat displays to denote her nationality - it is a fl ag, like any other fl ag, save that it carries that extra signifi cance. Unusually, but not uniquely, Britain has more than one national ensign: in fact it has four, three of which can carry subtle but signifi cant variations. These are the red ensign, the blue ensign, the white ensign and the unique pale blue ensign of the Royal Air Force. (This last is now rarely seen afl oat, the RAF Marine Craft Section being long disbanded but in defaced form it is still worn – with justifi able pride, one assumes – by members of the Royal Air Force Sailing Association.) The red and blue are similar in design, the white is distinctive.
The red and the blue are plain fl ags with a miniature Union fl ag in the upper corner nearest the staff (called the upper canton, in fl ag-speak), the white ensign is similar but has carries also a red St George’s cross. In addition there are defaced versions of the red and blue ensigns (‘defaced’ means, in this context, decorated with the addition of a badge – whether that is defacing in the more usual sense of the term is a matter of not always unanimous opinion).
So who wears what? Any boat, ship or vessel owned by a British citizen is entitled by law to wear the red ensign – but Britain being still the class-conscious society that it has long been (and hardly unique in that) we British have managed to bring class distinction, snobbery, pride in our maritime heritage or call it what-you-will into even the simple process of fl ying a fl ag. For our yachts we have a host of fl ags available – but in fact the choice is restricted. To wear any of the
52 cywinter 2011
‘privileged’ ensigns the law requires certain conditions to be met: fi rst the owner must
be a member of the organisation that has been granted the privilege; second the owner must be aboard or in effective command; third the individual permit that the law requires the organisation to give to the owner must be aboard; fourth the boat must fl y, in addition to the privilege ensign and at all times while it is being worn, the burgee of the Club or organisation that has been granted the privilege; and fi fth, the boat must have, displayed on its transom, the identifying initials of the Club or organisation that has been granted the privilege. It is agin the law, in short, to wear or fl y a blue ensign just because it matches the colour of your boat.
Flags of choice So much for the fl ags we are not allowed. What of those we can choose? Well, so long as we don’t wear or fl y anything that misrepresents the vessel we can after that do more or less what we like. Even if there is no legal requirement, as when wearing a
privileged ensign, must of us like to wear the fl ag of the club or organisation to which we belong – and many of us belong to quite a few while equally as many don’t belong to any at all. If you do not belong to a yacht club you may cheerfully design
your own fl ag (so long as it cannot be mistaken for one of Her Majesty’s fl ags) and have it any shape and colour you chose. Virtually all yacht clubs have their own fl ag, available only to members. The most common, for use by all members of the club, is the burgee: that small (or not so small) triangular fl ag with a distinctive colour or design. The variety is enormous and ranges from plain white, red or blue to combinations of the same lined or separated by crosses and stripes and adorned with badges ranging from ducks and medieval ships to bells, aeroplanes, crowns and, of course, anchors. Among the sniffi er cognoscenti it is considered
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