ensign at sunset

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chrisb

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It has been a custom to drop the ensign at sunset.On my recent trip to northwest Spain taking in falmouth and the Scillies on the return leg i saw many British yachts with the usual red,blue and even white ensigns. They all seemed to have abandoned this custom.To my surprise some of the German and French yachts seemed to have adopted ensign furling.Has this custom died out? I have no particular opinion either way although I still follow the custom
 
If being truly pedantic, ensign disappears at sunset or 2100 hrs whichever is earlier!

Me - I take it down when I go to bed most nights as it saves on wear! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
oops yes, it is hoisting time that changes in winter, between er er er 0900 1st nov to 14th feb otherwise 0800 and lowering as you say at sunset or latest 2100.

I must say thst it very good for the forum and for boating in general that i am not the sort of pretentious twit that has to look up any of this info in a book but can just recollect it with occassional affable prompting from slightly more knowledgeable or less-drunken people such as your good self, ahem.
 
Did you add copper to all your antifoul this year, and have you had a chance to see how it is doing?

Presume you did not add chile powder as well!

I used a new A/F TeaMac erodible - much better than micron and a lot cheaper.



whoops I guess this comes under the heading of thread drift /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
I believe this tradition was started by Samuael Pepys, when 1st Lord of Admirality, he was dismayed by the cost of bunting that was consumed on His Majesties Ships and since they were not much use after dark ordered their removal. I find that the major cause of wear to ensigns is UV, thus the exercise is not very productive.
 
In defence of Samuel Pepys, it's well known that he had <font color="black">bu</font><font color="black">gger</font> all knowledge of UV.
 
An American we met commented on the British habit of leaving the ensign flying all the time. A common view over there is that we leave it up "because the sun never sets on the British Empire".

Of course Americans are indoctrinated into reverance for the flag so they take it all so seriously.
 
Actually, Samuel Pepys was never First Lord of the Admiralty.

He was Master of Trinity House, President of the Royal Society, Clerk of Acts to the Admiralty and finally the first holder of the newly created post of Secretary of the Admiralty.

Yes, he did instigate the removal of bunting at night in vessels operated by government agencies.
He was a man of many talents.
 
Did someone knock my door ????

When I started .... on one ship I had job of running from Poop to Monkey-island for flag change etc. - cadet !! And also lowering raising ensign....

Later most vessels I was on just left it up all time in port on poop staff. When mooring gang knocked off on departure ... ensign went into locker or inside steering-gear room door ready for next port .....

But the best MUST be the Brit Reg. ship that I worked one time about a month ago .... she was loading Fuel Oil and we were putting additive to the cargo .... (sadly I cannot find the photo I took at moment ....)

I asked the Duty Officer when I went on board ... where's the distress ?? Of course he was completely confused - till I showed him the LCD of my digi-cam .... a beautiful UPSIDE down ensign flying at the stern of the ship !!!!
 
I take the view of my headmaster many many many years ago who said the sun never set on the British Empire 'cause God would never trust the British in the dark.
 
I beg to differ, but the British ships I served on from 1963 to 1975 most certainly did follow the ensign procedures. So did the foreign flag ships I was Ch.Off then Master on, but only because I'm a pedantic old soul. BTW, I was arrested in Jeddah, taken to court, and fined--for taking down the Saudi courtesy flag after sunset. Their flag must fly above all others, and remain up 24 hours a day. So now you know.
 
All the British flag ships I served on had a duty quartermaster on gangway duty at all times. Part of his duty was to raise and lower the ensign, house, and courtesy flags at 08:00 and sunset. This was late 70s early 80s. Perhaps these days it is just to hard to explain to the third world crew who speak no English, what it is you want doing with the flags. I suspect that this is why they are left up all the time in port!
I don't ever recall it being called 'colours' That sounds very RN to me.
 
There are two things that have changed, I think.

The first is crew numbers; today there are usually between 16 and 18 in a crew. Since the number of officers is more or less the same....

The second, just lately, has been the ISPS Code. Much more work in port and no leaving the gangway unattended even for 5 minutes.
 
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