White Ensign

“ We therefore most humbly submit that Your Majesty may be pleased by Your Order in Council to prescribe the discontinuance of the division of Flag Officers into Red, White and Blue Squadrons, and to order and direct that the White Ensign with its broad and narrow pendant be henceforward established and recognised as the colours of the Royal Naval Service, reserving the use of the Red and Blue colours for such special occasions as may appear to us or to officers in command of Fleets and Squadrons to require their adoption. ”

“ Observe the Red-and-blue Ensign. The White Ensign with St. George's Cross did not become universal in the Royal Navy till 1864.
I have a vivid recollection of a visit to the Minotaur when a boy. Possibly a few extracts from notes made at the time may be of interest. "She has five masts and is a tremendous length. Her upper deck is furnished with a good many small guns for repelling boat attacks. ”

“ It will be remembered that hitherto the white colours consisted of: (1) a plain white flag for the admirals; (2) a plain white ensign with a small St George's cross in the upper canton next the staff; (3) a plain white pendant with a St George's cross at the head. In February, 1702, the Earl of Pembroke, then Lord High Admiral, sent the Navy Board instructions for fitting out the fleet intended to operate against the French; these instructions included:
An account of what Flagg-Ships are ordered to be fitted out at Chatham and Portsmouth, and what Flags they are to wear. ”

“ At a church we occasionally pass, the living being in the gift of the Queen, the Royal Standard is hoisted on such Church festivals as Christmas Day, while at other times, for no apparent reason, the white Ensign is substituted—the special flag of the War Navy. ”

“ Figs. 47 and 50 explain themselves; it is evident that in one case the decorator started with a white ensign and in the other with a blue one, and then, feeling that they were a little small and insignificant looking, tacked on a goodly amount of red material to bring them up to their notion of what would be sufficiently conspicuous in size. ”

“ Besides the ensigns, she had flying at the fore a large white flag, inscribed with the words: 'Sailors' Rights and Free Trade,' with the idea, perhaps, that this favourite American motto would damp the energy of the 'Shannon's' men. The 'Shannon' had a Union Jack at the fore, an old rusty blue ensign at the mizzen peak, and two other flags rolled up, ready to be spread if either of these should be shot away. ”

“ ENSIGN (through the Fr. enseigne from the Latin plural insignia) , a distinguishing token, emblem or badge such as symbols of office, or in heraldry, the ornament or sign, such as the crown, coronet or mitre borne above the charge or arms. The word is more particularly used of a military or naval standard or banner. In the British navy, ensign has a specific meaning, and is the name of a flag having a red, white or blue ground, with the Union Jack in the upper corner next the staff. ”

“ The Blue Ensign is conferred on certain Yacht Clubs by special Admiralty warrant. The Royal Eastern, Royal Barrow, Royal Clyde, Royal Highland, Royal Northern, Royal Western of England, Royal Cinque Ports, Royal Albert, Royal Dorset, etc., fly the Blue Ensign pure and simple; others have a distinguishing badge on the fly, thus the Royal Irish has a golden harp and crown, the Royal Ulster a white shield with the red hand, the Royal Cornwall the Prince of Wales' Feathers, the Royal Harwich a golden rampant lion, and so forth. ”

“ FLAGS Till comparatively quite recent times the Japanese naval ensign was the same as the present jack and mercantile flag. The first battleships flew this white flag with the red ball, and the now well-known Japanese naval ensign only dates from the Itsukushima. It is very rarely correctly represented. The accompanying illustration shows it as it actually is; usually the sun is put in the centre instead of in its proper place. ”

“ Possibly each ship wore an ensign of the same colours as the squadronal flags of the admirals; if so it was the first occasion on which this method was used.
One thing alone is clear; the distinction was not made by the pendants, which appear all to have been white [307] and hung only from the mizen yards. Yet it was the pendant which was ultimately adopted as the squadronal distinction colour. The first definite proposal to this end occurs in the "Notes on Sea Service" [308] submitted by Captain John Young to the Earl of Essex, probably just before the Cadiz [115] Expedition of 1596. ”

“ Wade replied. "But next day the nine of them walked down here, arm in arm, Humphreys with Melrose, Rhett with Tupper, Janney with Bowe, and Captain Spence and Parks and Uncle Wade, with seven or eight more veterans. Colonel Melrose stuck that flag on Colonel Spence's grave, himself."
René looked at the flag as if he had never seen it before.
"I perceive the point," he said. "Your experiment is entirely successful. I agree with you. I have seen nothing in America as wonderful as that little faded flag. I understand what it is of which you especially boast. ”

“ An Ensign is the boy of the colours—the page to regimental victory, whose chin should never bear a beard while he holds the post—a youthful soldier,—a Mars of fifteen, with the staff of his country’s flag fixed firmly in the earth, supporting and supported by him, while the rough mustachioed band like rocks surround and shield him from the tempest of the fight. ”

“ I rejoice to see the flags and pennants gracefully waving from the masts of the outward or the inward bound ship; to see our beautiful national ensign,—the ensign that is destined sooner or later, so all loyal and patriotic men and women hope and believe, triumphantly to float over the largest, the freest, the happiest, the most prosperous country in the whole wide world,—to see the stars and stripes fluttering in the breeze from the city flag-staff and the village liberty-pole ”

“ The term flag is a generic one, and covers all the specific kinds. It is suggested that the word is derived from the Anglo-Saxon verb fleogan, to fly or float in the wind, or from the old German flackern, to flutter. Ensign is an alternative word formed on the idea of the display of insignia, badges, or devices, and was formerly much used where we should now employ the word colours. The company officers in a regiment who were until late years termed ensigns were at a still earlier period more correctly termed ensign-bearers. ”

“ The White Service Uniform for Warrant officers is the same as that for the commissioned officers except that the shoulder marks are not worn on the coat, the rank being indicated by metal insignia worn on the collar as described for the blue service coat, and the insignia worn upon the cap being two gilt foul anchors crossed and surmounted by a silver shield. ”

“ If anything could enhance to me the value of this representation of our national ensign, so elegantly executed and so gracefully bestowed, it would be the consideration that its price has been devoted to the comfort and restoration of those heroic men who have suffered and bled in our flag’s defense. We never should, and I am sure, never shall be niggard of gratitude and benefaction to the soldiers who have endured toil, privations and wounds, that the nation may live. ”

“ This ensign, which is called their "old colors," must have been the ensign spoken of and described in Queen Anne's proclamation. (See Fig. 7, Plate I.) Since we have seen one ensign prescribed 1707, for the merchant ships and vessels of Great Britain, and the dominions thereunto belonging, and that no change was made until 1801. This being the case, the ensign of the colonial cruisers, inasmuch as they were armed merchant vessels, must have been the British ensign displayed at the maintopping lift. ”

“ The dissatisfaction was intense, and the Major absolutely alone and unaided in his efforts to stem the tide of sedition and mutiny in his camp, but his firmness and coolness made him master of the fiery spirits with whom he had to deal, and simply by appealing to their better nature won them from their desperate resolves, and very soon peace reigned in White’s battalion. But never for a day did the men forget their first love, or turn away their longing hearts from sighing after their lost independence. ”

“ I also plainly saw that a blue ensign was hoisted, but this was no proof that the vessel belonged to the squadron of Sir Horatio Nelson, for blue was also the colour of Lord St. Vincent’s flag. My attention was instantly distracted from my book, and my dear mother was rather displeased with my evident preoccupation, for I did not venture to confess my hopes lest I should raise hers too high, and cause her the pain of disappointment. ”

“ A small swallow-tailed flag.
Ensign (corruptly written "ancient" during the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries) . This word was borrowed from the land service in the sixteenth century to denote the striped flag then introduced on the poop of ships. In explaining the meaning of this word in the Army, Barret [8] remarks: "We Englishmen do call them (Ensigns) of late Colours, by reason of the variety of colours they be made of, whereby they be the better noted and known to the companie." ”

“ Chapter V Colours of Distinction Boteler, in his Dialogues, reminds us that "Flaggs (to speake properly) are only those which are borne out in the Topps of Shyps, and they serve as Badges, and that as well for the distinguishing of Nations as Commanders ... the others are named the Colours or Ensigns and Pendants." To these was added in 1633, while he was writing these Dialogues, the jack, or small Union flag flown at the bowsprit, which, with the ensign and pendant, completed the "suit of colours" for a ship of war. ”

“ From the above, we cannot fail to perceive, in the past as well as in the present, the tendency, throughout the world, to imitation, in the adoption of national ensigns; also, that the adoption of a particular ensign marked some epoch in the history of the particular nation which adopted it.
Thus the various changes in the Roman standard marked the epochs of their conquest, first of the Greeks, then of the Barbarians. The adoption of the eagle by the Franks, their conquest of the Romans. The cross, the era of the Crusades. ”

“ The white uniform consists of a single-breasted sack coat of white duck of the same general design as the blue dress coat but trimmed with white braid and having straps of the same material as the coat upon the shoulders reaching from the shoulder seams to the base of the collar, white trousers and a white cap. The insignia indicating the corps, department or arm of service are worn upon the collar of the coat in bright metal and the insignia of rank are worn upon the shoulder straps. ”

“ ENSIGNS, FLAGS AND PENNANTS.
[Pg 61] For the general officers and post commanders of the United States Marine Corps flags and pennants of similar design, but with the addition of the Marine Corps insignia in white added, are provided.
A Guidon is a small flag or pennant carried by each troop of cavalry, company of mounted engineers, battery of field artillery, mounted company of the signal corps, field hospital, ambulance company and motor truck company, to designate the unit which carries it. ”

“ Prior to 1889 it was usual in the Royal navy for one of the junior officers to draw up a scheme for "dressing ship" on ceremonial occasions for the approval of the captain, but since that date the order of the signal flags, some 60 in number, has been laid down in the Signal Manual so that uniformity is secured, the national ensign (or ensign of a foreign power if the occasion warrants the use of this) being exhibited only at a masthead. ”

“ As long as the colours were flying, and a piece of the standard left, the soldiers were to follow the Ensign to the death, till all should lie in a heap on the battle-field, that no evildoer or blameworthy person should be sheltered by the flag; if any one should transgress against the banner oath, the Ensign was to furl the banner, and forbid the transgressor to march under it or mount guard, and he was obliged to go among the bad women and children with the baggage till the affair was arranged: the Ensign was not to leave the colours a single night without permission ”

“ It looks like Mary’s stove hook when she sticks it in the lid.”
“That,” was the rather short answer, “is my abdomen, and it isn’t growing from the tip of my body, but from the top of my thorax. It seems to me you have never seen an ensign fly before.”
“No, I never did. Please, what does ensign mean?”
“The dictionary will tell you that. All I know is some man got an idea that we carried our abdomens aloft like a flag or ensign, and so named us ensign fly. We are not flies, to begin with, but we have to keep any idiotic name they choose to tack on us. ”

“ With the large increase in the Army in 1812 came a change in the headgear of some corps and also a change in insignia. The light artillery was to wear a yoeman-crowned (i.e., wider at the crown than at the base) black cap with "gilt plate in front," and the infantry platoon officers and enlisted men were finally to have the black cylindrical caps (first prescribed in 1810) with "an oblong silver plate in front of the cap bearing the name of the corps and number of the regiment." [46] The rifle platoon officers and enlisted men were also to wear infantry caps, but with yellow trimmings. ”

“ In the United States Army and Marine Corps the prevalent color for the field service uniforms is some shade of the dull brown commonly known as “khaki,” and the bright gilt and silver buttons, corps and regimental devices and numbers and belt buckles have been replaced to a great extent by dull bronze buttons and ornaments, insignia of rank for officers only being still made of silver and gold. ”