Flying the flag - upside down?

M

Miker

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I watched a TV programme about the Monarchy this week and I'm sure that the Union flag was flown upside down on a visit to Estonia. This evening on Newsnight the Union flag was shown on the moon and it was again upside down. Perhaps I am wrong but I always thought that the wider white diagonal on the side next to the flagpole should be on top. Or have I been mistaken all these years, and it doesn't matter?
 
Has anyone complained to their MP, the BBC, etc? Might make a nice question for PMQs.

As several national flags look the same whichever way up they are it has never been an international signal of distress, or do French or Belgian sailors never have the need?
 
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As several national flags look the same whichever way up they are it has never been an international signal of distress, or do French or Belgian sailors never have the need?

..........................................................................

Its a pequliar Britsh thing from the Empire days. Not aware of it appling to any other nation.
 
Flying an inverted flag was a recognised signal for requesting assistance in the days before International agreements.

Its probably safe to assume that French and Belgian skippers did realise that people were not responding too readily to their signals, and would use some other means of requesting help.

Thats probably too why International Agreements do not include it as a distress signal /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
An extremely common misapprehension. Flying the Union Flag upside down is not a distress signal. For a start you'd need a good pair of binoculars to work it out even if you know what it's supposed to look like the right way up. If however you fly an ensign upside down it is immediately obvious something is wrong.

The signal in any case is only relevant to British ships in British waters and is not one of the 15 methods of signalling distress recognised in the International Code of Signals.
 
It most certainly does matter for a whole variety of reasons. Not least because it is yet another sign of the slapdash attitude that, if allowed to go unchallenged, will send the country even further down the ever steepening slope towards total mediocrity.

I regret to say that, whilst I saw it on the moon news, I did not pick it up on the Monarchy programme. Perhaps a good thing as, if I had done so, my wife would have had to put up with yet another rant from me (one that she has heard many times before) thus spoiling her viewing.

Another similar gripe - saying/writing Union Jack inappropriately rather than Union Flag. I have lost count of the number of letters I have sent to the Times on that one.
 
Get rid of the thing and lets use the German flag. They always wanted to be in charge of us and now I think they are.
 
[ QUOTE ]
It most certainly does matter for a whole variety of reasons. Not least because it is yet another sign of the slapdash attitude that, if allowed to go unchallenged, will send the country even further down the ever steepening slope towards total mediocrity.

I regret to say that, whilst I saw it on the moon news, I did not pick it up on the Monarchy programme. Perhaps a good thing as, if I had done so, my wife would have had to put up with yet another rant from me (one that she has heard many times before) thus spoiling her viewing.

Another similar gripe - saying/writing Union Jack inappropriately rather than Union Flag. I have lost count of the number of letters I have sent to the Times on that one.

[/ QUOTE ]

Nice troll ! Bit more subtle than most. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Cor lumme - read my words! I didnt say owt about flying an 'ensign' upside down. I said - 'a flag'. House Flag, Skull and Crossbones - you name it. As long as it was obvious. The Union Flag is not, amongst others, an ideal candidate for such a signal.
 
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Toggle on top, belay below and hey presto it's the right way up. What a load of eejits....

[/ QUOTE ]
That could have gone on the other thread here with a little juggling:

Toggle on top, above the belay,
And, hey presto, it's up the right way.

Alright, I'm getting my coat.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Quote:-
As several national flags look the same whichever way up they are it has never been an international signal of distress, or do French or Belgian sailors never have the need?

..........................................................................

Its a pequliar Britsh thing from the Empire days. Not aware of it appling to any other nation.

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually not quite. The official US Army manual concerning flags and how to fly them/wear them etc; version current around 1990, does note that flying the US flag upside down is a sign of distress. So it is common to many countries but it could never be internationally accepted because the of the French. (Theirs is the same either way up).
 
Quite a few methods of signalling distress are pretty ineffective. I had a problem in sight of an RNLI beach lifeguard crew and tried waving my arms up and down in the approved manner. I might as well have talked to the seagulls. I did hear of a boat on a mooring during Cowes Week inadvertently calling out the lifeboat by having a smoking barbecue on deck.

I suspect that if you hoisted your ensign upside down in the middle of the Solent at a weekend you'd get anything other that the odd mutter of 'look at that prat'.
 
At least they had the right flag. A mate of mine was OOD onboard one of HM's war canoes, which had a delegation from China coming onboard. Unfortunately, instead of raising the one for the People's Republic of China, they hoisted the flag for the Democratic Republic of China (i.e. Taiwan). How to make yourself popular......
/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
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