woa2 Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 The last Union Jack from Trafalgar is to be auctioned off. There is a piece on the BBC Website. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8297418.stm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tugger Posted October 11, 2009 Share Posted October 11, 2009 The flag, measuring 7ft 4in x 11ft 7in, is made of 31 panels sewn together by the crew on board the ship. And still they couldn't get the bloody thing right...:rotfl: Admitedly it had only been in circulation for 4 years. Anyone else spot the 'deliberate wrongness' of it? I may be also completely off the mark, but the Jack was/is only flown whilst at anchor or in harbour, otherwise the white ensign would have been in use. So why was the Jack flown in battle? :??? Wikipedia, (the font of all that is not quite right) says the white ensign was certainly being used in that period . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted October 11, 2009 Share Posted October 11, 2009 The White Ensign, as we know it, was introduced in about 1800. Befroe the Navy used all three ensigns White, Red and Blue, as divisons of the Admiralty. 1805, Trafalgar the White would have been flown. I;m not completly sure of the White became the sole RN ensign. Yes a Jack is only flown when alongside , the rest of the time it is a flag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bystander Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Just been looking at some engravings of Trafalgar in a book. Yes all vessels seem to have been flying the white Ensign from the stern; however quite a variety of flags seem to have been flown from the masthead including a few Union Jacks, the Cross of St George (rather more frequently) and pennants. I guess that it was an issue of sticking a flag wherever possible, so that the colours were still flying after flags had been shot away. I also thought that I ought to look at the dismasted Belisle at the end of battle as it took a lot of punishment and reports talk about several sets of colours being shot away and the colours finally being nailed to the stump of the mainmast, sure enough this final set of colours is a Union Jack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 Bear in mind at the time, communication was limited to line of sight. Each Admiral had thier own flag. Each division had its own Admiral, so you needed to know where they were to watch for flag signals relevant to your division. Hence the term 'Flagship'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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