Maritime flag signalling, generally flaghoist signalling, is the principal means other than radio by which ships communicate to each other or to shore (distinguished from flags showing nationality, ownership, or (for naval vessels) organizational status). Virtually all signalling by non-naval vessels is now organized under the International Code of Signals (whether by flaghoist, semaphore, signal lamp, or other means), which specifies a standard set of flags and codes. Naval vessels generally use an extended set of flags and their own codes. This article will touch on the historical development of maritime flag signalling.
In the early days of sail, the use of signals to communicate between ships was primitive, as seen by one admiral's instructions to his fleet in 1530:
"Whensoever, and at all tymes the Admyrall doth shote of a pece of Ordnance, and set up his Banner of Council on Starrborde bottocke of his Shippe, everie shipps capten shall with spede go aborde the Admyrall to know his will."[1]
By 1653, the Royal Navy had issued instructions by which an admiral could signal various orders by hoisting flags in various locations on his ship. Modern naval code signalling began with the invention of maritime signal flags in the mid-17th century by the then-Duke of York (subsequently James II)[2] who was created Lord High Admiral after the Restoration. A ship's message had to be approved by the officer of the watch, and his system was augmented and changed in various ways over the following century. In 1790, Admiral Lord Howe issued a new signal book for a numerary system, using numeral flags to signal a number; the number indicated the message, not the mast from which the flags flew. Substitute flags were also instituted to indicate repeated numerals, and there was consideration of making the flags more distinct.
French developments
A numerical flag code using ten coloured flags was proposed by Bertrand-François Mahé de La Bourdonnais in 1738. Bourdonnais proposed hoisting the flags in groups of three, making a thousand possible messages that could be transmitted by reference to a code book. His idea was not taken up at the time, but it was noticed by Ignace Chappe, the brother of Claude Chappe. The Chappes developed an optical land telegraph which used a numerical code book with many thousands of messages.[3]
In 1763, Sebastian Francisco de Bigot, the founder of the Académie de Marine in Brest, published Tactique Navale ou Traité des Evolutions et des Signaux. This was the first established system for coded flags with a defined protocol for using them. The code had 336 possible signals. De Bigot's book was published in England in 1767, but it was several decades before the Royal Navy developed their own system.[4]
Popham's flag code, "Telegraphic Signals of Marine Vocabulary"
In 1799, Captain Sir Home Popham published his first list of words and sentences which could be referenced by a number (or "code"); three subsequent editions added letter flags, with the 1801 edition numbering 2994 codes.[5][6] It was based on the signal books created earlier by Admiral Lord Howe.[7] Popham's code assigned the digits 0 to 9 to ten signal flags, which were used in combination. Code numbers 1–25 represented letters of the alphabet (omitting J and with V=20 before U=21);[8] higher numbers were assigned meanings by a code book.[9] The code numbers typically would have been hoisted on the mizzenmast, one after another, preceded by the "telegraphic flag" (a red over white diagonally-split flag)[10] to show that the subsequent signals would employ the Popham code.[11] As well as digit flags, the code used "repeat" flags so that only one set of digits was needed; thus the word do, coded as "220", used a "2" flag, a "first repeat" flag here serving as a second 2, and a "0" flag.[12] The end of the message would be indicated by an "end of code" flag (blue over yellow diagonally split).[10][12]
Popham's code was famously used for the "England expects that every man will do his duty" signal at Trafalgar by Nelson: for this, a team of four to six men would have prepared and hoisted the flags onboard Lord Nelson's flagshipHMS Victory, the whole process taking about 4 minutes.[9][10] The message shows one of the shortcomings of Popham's code—even the two-letter "do" required three flags hoisted for the signal.
Previous systems were primarily naval. The first general system of signalling for merchant vessels was Captain Frederick Marryat'sA Code of Signals for the Merchant Service published in 1817. This consisted of six parts of large numbered lists:
A list of English Men of War.
A list of foreign Men of War.
A list of the English Merchant Vessels (from Lloyd's List).
A list of Lighthouses, Ports, Headlands, Rocks, Shoals, Reefs &c.
A selection of Sentences.
The Vocabulary.
Different flags indicated which list was referred to. As an example, flying the Rendezvous (RE) flag (indicating Lighthouses, Ports, etc.) over the numerals 1537 indicates that the ship's home port is Amsterdam. Flying Rendezvous under the number indicated that the ship is sailing from Amsterdam, and flying it at some other mast-head indicates that she is bound for that port. Numbers alone indicate a sentence: "4576" means "I mean to keep sail set, and carry on all night, as I am anxious to get into port." Marryat's code was an immediate success and was translated into several other languages, and the 1854 edition was renamed The Universal Code of Signals for the Mercantile Marine of All Nations because of its widespread usage.[14] The last edition was published in 1879, two decades after the publication of the code that supplanted it; there are reports that it was still being used as late as 1890.[15]
Various other codes were also published,[16] but all these were eventually supplanted by the Commercial Code of Signals published by the British Board of Trade in 1857, which eventually became the International Code of Signals (ICS). A significant development was the addition of letter flags to make the code alphabetical. (The vowels were initially left out to avoid formation of any objectionable words.) [17] During World War I, there was an unprecedented need for ships to communicate, merchant as well as naval, but the ICS was found wanting: "It was not international. It was found that when [signalling] word by word, the occasions upon which signaling failed were more numerous than when the result was successful."[18] This led to major revisions in 1931. This new international code of signals was officially brought into force worldwide on 1 January 1934. Thirteen new flags were introduced, so that the triangular pennants used for letters, C, D, E, F, and G were replaced with new square flags and became the numerals 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. The numerals 6, 7, 8, 9, and 0 were introduced by five new flags, and there were three substitute flags, used when repeating letters in a hoist.[19] Additional changes in 1969 greatly reduced the Code (dropping the Geographical and Vocabulary sections), and more narrowly focused it on communications related to safety of navigation.[20] An indication of the success of the ICS is that most navies now use the ICS flags for representing letters.
Notes
^Wilson 1986, p.77, quoting from W. G. Perrin, "British flags" (Cambridge, 1922).
^Pelham Brenton, Edward, Cptn., The naval history of Great Britain: from the year MDCCLXXXIII to MDCCCXXII., Vol. III, C. Rice, Berkeley Square, London, 1824, p.163
^Popham, Home, Sir, Telegraphic signals; or marine vocabulary 1801, C. Roworth Printer, Bell Yard, Temple Bar, (Transcribed by Peter Ball, January 2006), from signal book at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK
^. Flags of the World. 2006-04-29. Archived from the original on 1 March 2006. Retrieved 16 September 2006.
^"England expects that every man will do his duty". Archives & Collections Society. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
^ abD.Bolton (2002-06-14). . Archived from the original on 2006-04-27. Retrieved 16 September 2006.
^ abcA Brief Interlude 2: Signal Flags (showing the "telegraphic flag" and "end of code" flag) at mymodelsailingships.blogspot.co.uk Accessed 22 October 2017
^Gordon, W.J. (1930). Flags of the World. Past and Present: Their Story and Associations. Frederick Warne and Co.: London and New York. p. 147.
^ abBarrie, Kent (1993). Signal! A History of Signalling in the Royal Navy. Hyden House Ltd. pp. 7, 100.
^The "1" (one) flag is shown with reversed colors elsewhere on the Internet. The form shown here – white on a field of blue – is correct as confirmed by reference to Marryat 1847, Marryat 1854, and Wilson 1986.
The 1931 International Code of Signals (H.O. No. 102) (American ed.), U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office, 1931
(United States Edition, 1969 (Revised 2003) ed.), 1969, archived from the original on 2009-12-04
Bigot, Sébastien (1763), Tactique Navale ou Traite des Evolutions et des Signaux, H.L. Guerin & L.F. Delatour
Holzmann, Gerard J.; Pehrson, Björn (1995), The Early History of Data Networks, IEEE Computer Society Press, ISBN0818667826
Marryat, Captain Frederick (1847), A Code of Signals for the Use of Vessels Employed in the Merchant Service, by Captain Marryat, R.N. (10th ed.)
Mead, H. P. (1933), "Captain Frederick Marryat, R.N.", U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, 59 (361): 371–5
Mead, H. P. (1934), "The History of the International Code", U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, 60 (378): 1083–8
Richardson, G. B. (1854), The Universal Code of Signals for The Mercantile Marine of All Nations, By the late Captain Marryat, R.N. (12th ed.)
Wilson, Timothy (1986), Flags at Sea
External links
Excerpt from Brown's Signalling (1916), showing earlier version of ICS.
Alternate source, courtesy of .
Sea Flags (Joseph McMillan)
Commander H. R. Mead's article on Captain Marryat
Captain Howeth: Historic Modes of Naval Communication
Flags of the World: Maritime Signal Flag History
March 11, 2023
maritime, flag, signalling, generally, flaghoist, signalling, principal, means, other, than, radio, which, ships, communicate, each, other, shore, distinguished, from, flags, showing, nationality, ownership, naval, vessels, organizational, status, virtually, s. Maritime flag signalling generally flaghoist signalling is the principal means other than radio by which ships communicate to each other or to shore distinguished from flags showing nationality ownership or for naval vessels organizational status Virtually all signalling by non naval vessels is now organized under the International Code of Signals whether by flaghoist semaphore signal lamp or other means which specifies a standard set of flags and codes Naval vessels generally use an extended set of flags and their own codes This article will touch on the historical development of maritime flag signalling Contents 1 Early developments 2 French developments 3 Popham s flag code Telegraphic Signals of Marine Vocabulary 4 Marryat s Code of Signals 5 International Code of Signals 6 Notes 7 See also 8 References 9 External linksEarly developments EditIn the early days of sail the use of signals to communicate between ships was primitive as seen by one admiral s instructions to his fleet in 1530 Whensoever and at all tymes the Admyrall doth shote of a pece of Ordnance and set up his Banner of Council on Starrborde bottocke of his Shippe everie shipps capten shall with spede go aborde the Admyrall to know his will 1 By 1653 the Royal Navy had issued instructions by which an admiral could signal various orders by hoisting flags in various locations on his ship Modern naval code signalling began with the invention of maritime signal flags in the mid 17th century by the then Duke of York subsequently James II 2 who was created Lord High Admiral after the Restoration A ship s message had to be approved by the officer of the watch and his system was augmented and changed in various ways over the following century In 1790 Admiral Lord Howe issued a new signal book for a numerary system using numeral flags to signal a number the number indicated the message not the mast from which the flags flew Substitute flags were also instituted to indicate repeated numerals and there was consideration of making the flags more distinct French developments EditA numerical flag code using ten coloured flags was proposed by Bertrand Francois Mahe de La Bourdonnais in 1738 Bourdonnais proposed hoisting the flags in groups of three making a thousand possible messages that could be transmitted by reference to a code book His idea was not taken up at the time but it was noticed by Ignace Chappe the brother of Claude Chappe The Chappes developed an optical land telegraph which used a numerical code book with many thousands of messages 3 In 1763 Sebastian Francisco de Bigot the founder of the Academie de Marine in Brest published Tactique Navale ou Traite des Evolutions et des Signaux This was the first established system for coded flags with a defined protocol for using them The code had 336 possible signals De Bigot s book was published in England in 1767 but it was several decades before the Royal Navy developed their own system 4 Popham s flag code Telegraphic Signals of Marine Vocabulary EditIn 1799 Captain Sir Home Popham published his first list of words and sentences which could be referenced by a number or code three subsequent editions added letter flags with the 1801 edition numbering 2994 codes 5 6 It was based on the signal books created earlier by Admiral Lord Howe 7 Popham s code assigned the digits 0 to 9 to ten signal flags which were used in combination Code numbers 1 25 represented letters of the alphabet omitting J and with V 20 before U 21 8 higher numbers were assigned meanings by a code book 9 The code numbers typically would have been hoisted on the mizzenmast one after another preceded by the telegraphic flag a red over white diagonally split flag 10 to show that the subsequent signals would employ the Popham code 11 As well as digit flags the code used repeat flags so that only one set of digits was needed thus the word do coded as 220 used a 2 flag a first repeat flag here serving as a second 2 and a 0 flag 12 The end of the message would be indicated by an end of code flag blue over yellow diagonally split 10 12 Popham s code was famously used for the England expects that every man will do his duty signal at Trafalgar by Nelson for this a team of four to six men would have prepared and hoisted the flags onboard Lord Nelson s flagship HMS Victory the whole process taking about 4 minutes 9 10 The message shows one of the shortcomings of Popham s code even the two letter do required three flags hoisted for the signal Marryat s Code of Signals Edit Marryat s flags 13 Previous systems were primarily naval The first general system of signalling for merchant vessels was Captain Frederick Marryat s A Code of Signals for the Merchant Service published in 1817 This consisted of six parts of large numbered lists A list of English Men of War A list of foreign Men of War A list of the English Merchant Vessels from Lloyd s List A list of Lighthouses Ports Headlands Rocks Shoals Reefs amp c A selection of Sentences The Vocabulary Different flags indicated which list was referred to As an example flying the Rendezvous RE flag indicating Lighthouses Ports etc over the numerals 1537 indicates that the ship s home port is Amsterdam Flying Rendezvous under the number indicated that the ship is sailing from Amsterdam and flying it at some other mast head indicates that she is bound for that port Numbers alone indicate a sentence 4576 means I mean to keep sail set and carry on all night as I am anxious to get into port Marryat s code was an immediate success and was translated into several other languages and the 1854 edition was renamed The Universal Code of Signals for the Mercantile Marine of All Nations because of its widespread usage 14 The last edition was published in 1879 two decades after the publication of the code that supplanted it there are reports that it was still being used as late as 1890 15 International Code of Signals EditMain article International Code of Signals Various other codes were also published 16 but all these were eventually supplanted by the Commercial Code of Signals published by the British Board of Trade in 1857 which eventually became the International Code of Signals ICS A significant development was the addition of letter flags to make the code alphabetical The vowels were initially left out to avoid formation of any objectionable words 17 During World War I there was an unprecedented need for ships to communicate merchant as well as naval but the ICS was found wanting It was not international It was found that when signalling word by word the occasions upon which signaling failed were more numerous than when the result was successful 18 This led to major revisions in 1931 This new international code of signals was officially brought into force worldwide on 1 January 1934 Thirteen new flags were introduced so that the triangular pennants used for letters C D E F and G were replaced with new square flags and became the numerals 1 2 3 4 and 5 The numerals 6 7 8 9 and 0 were introduced by five new flags and there were three substitute flags used when repeating letters in a hoist 19 Additional changes in 1969 greatly reduced the Code dropping the Geographical and Vocabulary sections and more narrowly focused it on communications related to safety of navigation 20 An indication of the success of the ICS is that most navies now use the ICS flags for representing letters Notes Edit Wilson 1986 p 77 quoting from W G Perrin British flags Cambridge 1922 Pelham Brenton Edward Cptn The naval history of Great Britain from the year MDCCLXXXIII to MDCCCXXII Vol III C Rice Berkeley Square London 1824 p 163 Holzmann amp Pehrson 1995 p 12 Holzmann amp Pehrson 1995 pp 12 13 Wilson 1986 pp 79 81 Popham Home Sir Telegraphic signals or marine vocabulary 1801 C Roworth Printer Bell Yard Temple Bar Transcribed by Peter Ball January 2006 from signal book at the National Maritime Museum Greenwich UK Popham s Signal flags Flags of the World 2006 04 29 Archived from the original on 1 March 2006 Retrieved 16 September 2006 England expects that every man will do his duty Archives amp Collections Society Retrieved September 14 2011 a b D Bolton 2002 06 14 Signals Archived from the original on 2006 04 27 Retrieved 16 September 2006 a b c A Brief Interlude 2 Signal Flags showing the telegraphic flag and end of code flag at mymodelsailingships blogspot co uk Accessed 22 October 2017 Gordon W J 1930 Flags of the World Past and Present Their Story and Associations Frederick Warne and Co London and New York p 147 a b Barrie Kent 1993 Signal A History of Signalling in the Royal Navy Hyden House Ltd pp 7 100 The 1 one flag is shown with reversed colors elsewhere on the Internet The form shown here white on a field of blue is correct as confirmed by reference to Marryat 1847 Marryat 1854 and Wilson 1986 Marryat 1847 Marryat 1854 Mead 1934 excerpted at Archives amp Collections Society Mead 1934 Wilson 1986 pp 83 84 see also Hulme Flags of the World 1898 excerpted at Archives amp Collections Society ICS 1931 preface New Sea Language The Mercury Tasmania 27 December 1933 p 4 Retrieved 1 June 2016 via National Library of Australia ICS 1969 See also EditFlaghoist signalling International Code of Signals International maritime signal flags Naval flag signalling Yellow flag contagion References EditThe 1931 International Code of Signals H O No 102 American ed U S Navy Hydrographic Office 1931 International Code of Signals United States Edition 1969 Revised 2003 ed 1969 archived from the original on 2009 12 04 Bigot Sebastien 1763 Tactique Navale ou Traite des Evolutions et des Signaux H L Guerin amp L F Delatour Holzmann Gerard J Pehrson Bjorn 1995 The Early History of Data Networks IEEE Computer Society Press ISBN 0818667826 Marryat Captain Frederick 1847 A Code of Signals for the Use of Vessels Employed in the Merchant Service by Captain Marryat R N 10th ed Mead H P 1933 Captain Frederick Marryat R N U S Naval Institute Proceedings 59 361 371 5 Mead H P 1934 The History of the International Code U S Naval Institute Proceedings 60 378 1083 8 Richardson G B 1854 The Universal Code of Signals for The Mercantile Marine of All Nations By the late Captain Marryat R N 12th ed Wilson Timothy 1986 Flags at SeaExternal links EditExcerpt from Brown s Signalling 1916 showing earlier version of ICS International Code of Signals United States edition 1969 pdf download International Code of Signals United States edition 1969 Alternate source courtesy of Sea Scouts Sea Flags Joseph McMillan Commander H R Mead s article on Captain Marryat Captain Howeth Historic Modes of Naval Communication Flags of the World Maritime Signal Flag History Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Maritime flag signalling amp oldid 1051276731, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
