blue ensign

[FullCircle]

Well, PeterGibbs, you have convinced me to apply for a Warrant forthwith, as is my right as a Royal Club member.
It is always sad to see groups lumped together with the same behavioural traits as you have so keenly done on this thread. You seem to think that flying a Red Duster grants automatic immunity from being a prat, and also seems to grant superhuman boat handling skills, and a degree of politeness not witnessed since the days of the Raj.
I must say that having flown a Red Ensign for the last 20 years, I never felt imbued with any of those attributes, and observed reds & blues misbehaving or making errors in equal margin.

People who know me will now have a fit of laughter.
I do so hope we meet up on the water, so I can target your craft for some abuse, bad manners, boorish behaviour, and look down on you as not being good enough to share the patch of water that God & The Queen granted me exclusive access to.

Now all I need are some elocution lessons to make it sound really authentic.

 

[landaftaf]

have you got the monogrammed blazer and gold peaked skippers hat already then /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[FullCircle]

Blazer remains undefaced, but is at least industry standard DAKS Squadron, rather than one of those Johnny-Come-Lately chinese copies. It also has the patina of age so necessary not to mark you out as a new pretender, like someone with a new Barbour jacket at shoots.
The hat is an area which will need attention, as I only posess a Tilley Endurable, which of course marks out a certain level of class, rather better than those awful Peter Storm things favoured by Red Ensign wearers everywhere. I also have a three cornered Pirate hat for piratical socials, and a Goretex Bobble hat with the boat name embroidered into the turn up. I see the benefit of the gold peaked affair, but one must have the correct quality of gold braid rather than the gaudy couloured thread so beloved by the MOBO fraternity. This will require some extra attention, as the decent hatters have been in decline for years.

I will purchase the club cravat for additional credence, and also develop a louche stance at the helm.

Pip pip!

 

[landaftaf]

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

we well might pass each other in the future - pretending not to notice each other of course - LOL /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[chrishelen]

Re: WOT ABOUT

And to join them you need a minimum two years in the RN,RNR,RM, RMR,SCC, etc,You pay 60quid to join and 30 quid a year after that,then you can wear the blue ensign,dont know what the benefits are ,if any.

 

[Koeketiene]

[ QUOTE ]
You have convinced me to apply for a Warrant forthwith, as is my right as a Royal Club member.

[/ QUOTE ]

You've changed, you know /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[porteous]

Well, in for a penny in for a pound! As the ancient owner of an equally ancient Westerly 22 flying a defaced Blue Ensign I thought I'd contribute. As far as my ensign is concerned I fly it because, as long as I fly my club burgee (Army Sailing Association) and carry my warrant to fly the Blue on board, as I am required to do, then it is the correct Ensign for my boat. If I don't fly my club burgee and carry my warrant then the Red is the correct ensign. Next time you are bulldozered by a defaced blue have a look at the burgee and complain to his commdore, if he isn't flying the burgee he's not entitled to fly the ensign as far as I'm aware.

Having done some brief research I have come up with this:

In British maritime law and custom, the ensign proper to a British ship is one of several flags with a red, white or blue field, with the Union Flag in the canton (the upper corner next the staff), known as the red, white and blue ensigns respectively.

I believe it is a legal requirement that vessels over a certain length out of their own countries terratorial waters must carry a national ensign.

A civil ensign (Red) is worn by merchant and pleasure vessels.

A state ensign or government ensign (Blue)is worn by non-military government vessels, such as coast guard ships.

A naval ensign (White) is used by a country's navy.
Many countries don't distinguish between these uses, and employ their standard national flag in all three contexts; such a multiuse flag is termed a national ensign. Others (like the United Kingdom, Italy, Russia, South Africa, New Zealand, and Japan) use a variant of the national flag as the naval ensign. (Such flags are often strictly regulated as usable only on warships; civilian ships, with very few exceptions, would not fly naval ensigns.) Distinct civil ensigns are also common. In rare cases a distinct design is used for the state ensign, such as the blue ensign of the United Kingdom.

Prior to the reorganisation of the Royal Navy in 1864, the plain blue ensign had been the ensign of one of three squadrons of the Royal Navy, the "Blue Squadron." This changed in 1864, when an order in council provided that the Red Ensign was allocated to merchantmen, the Blue Ensign was to be flag of ships in public service or commanded by an officer in the Royal Naval Reserve, and the White Ensign was allocated to the Navy.

Thus, after 1864, the plain blue ensign is permitted to be worn, instead of the Red Ensign, by two categories of civilian vessel:-

British merchant vessels whose officers and crew include a certain number of retired Royal Navy personnel or Royal Navy reservists, or are commanded by an officer of the Royal Navy Reserve in possession of a Government warrant. The number and rank of such crew members required has varied over the years, as have the additional conditions required, since the system was first introduced in 1864.

Yachts belonging to members of certain long-established British yacht clubs, for example the Royal Northern & Clyde Yacht Club. Permission for yachts to wear the blue ensign (and other special yachting ensigns) was suspended during both World War I and World War II.

Since 1864, the Blue Ensign is defaced with a badge or emblem, to form the ensign of United Kingdom government departments or public bodies.

Government vessels of UK overseas territories. This usage stems from the fact that in 1867–69, orders in council provided that the ensign for vessels in the service of any of the British colonies was to be the Blue Ensign, charged in the fly with the seal of the colony. Any British colony with ships in its service thus had reason to use the Blue Ensign. This worldwide, imperial use is the origin of the use of the Blue Ensign by many areas today, such as the Australian states.
The defaced blue ensign was formerly used as:
The jack of the Royal Canadian Navy from its inception until the adoption of the Maple Leaf flag in 1965. (see Flags of the Royal Canadian Navy 1910–1965) The blue ensign was approved by the British Admiralty in 1868 for use by ships owned by the Canadian government

The real point, of course, is that no ensign entitles any of us to ignore colregs or behave outside the normal rules of civilised courteous and safe behaviour on the water. ( If you are pootling about in Portsmouth harbour and an approaching big grey boat with a white ensign toots at you five times it is probably you that is out of order and not him being difficult!).

Safe anchorage to all.

 

[alan_d]

[ QUOTE ]
The real point, of course, is that no ensign entitles any of us to ignore colregs...

[/ QUOTE ]

Great! I shall continue to be an ensign nudist in that case. (Or have I picked up the wrong end of the ensign staff?)

 

[TheBoatman]

Also if it's flown it MUST be accompanied by the club burgee flown from the stb x/tree.

Don't yer just luv tradition?

Peter.