Flying the Jolly Roger

Durex - party balloons? Brilliant! Thanks, wld never have thought of it!!! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Must admit I agree that they are a bit "naf", but with kids on board.............anyone who objects should be shot!

Of course you could introduce the kids to the ritual of lowering and raising the flag at the appointed times. Maybe get them playing a bugle and saluting the flag at the same time. (Does the Navy use bugles?). Who knows, they could be paid up members of the Flag Etiquette Society by the time they are in their teens!
 
well with kids aboard - as I said earlier, its an adventure innit, /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
the naff bit comes when your neibours are looking for the darlings and realise you dont have any - LOL , I sit chuckling to myself at the picture ...... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Well I did say it was my kids' Jolly Roger - honest I don't fly it when they're not there. The Jolly Roger is the internationally recognised flag signal for "children on board".

But the Durex party balloons - that's another matter - do you think it's more correct to fly them from the port spreader or the starboard spreader? And what do you think people will interpret the signal to mean?
 
I guess it could be construed to mean something akin to the gin pennant, but in a slightly different vien ...... so hardly appropriate to fly with the jr at the same time then !
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And what do you think people will interpret the signal to mean?

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All depends if they've been used or not /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
 
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so hardly appropriate to fly with the jr at the same time then

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Though perhaps Jolly Roger + contraceptives flown together might be interpreted to mean: children on board, but two is enough!?
 
might signify one is a paedophile - /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
 
Righty ho, will give that one a miss then. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
 
As has been mentioned, the JR is the recognised signal for "kids on board". My kids immediately seek out other boats flying the JR in anchorages, marinas, etc. Mine's a cheapy printed job from the chandlery but you see some very nice hand-sewn ones around. I only put it up there when the kids are on board, and most folk I've met do likewise.

When I worked at sea years ago there was talk that flying the JR was illegal, but it seems to have been the unofficial house flag of the RN submarine service in WW2 and more recently. As to its links with actual piracy, ancient or modern, such talk is utter rubbish. 17th century pirates flew the JR in the same way that Vikings had helmets with horns on - in works of fiction.

We see what we want to see. If someone sees my boat with a Jolly Roger up and thinks it's disrespectful to the victims of real piracy, that's absolutely fine by me. If they think I've got lockers full of kiss-me-quick hats, that's fine too. If they care to drop by and discover that it ain't so, that's even better. But when a bunch of boat-children turns up and asks my lot out to play on the strength of the JR at the cross-trees, I'm happy that there is one signal flag that is widely understood by almost all.

Regards, Mudhook
 
Slightly off subject but one of the things which I found fascinating about the Aubrey/Maturin series was the various accounts of deliberately hoisting misleading colours until the enemy was committed and only striking them in favour of the ship's true colours when the great guns were limbered and ready to roar.
 
I like the idea of it being an international signal for kids on board. For me the main thing is not to be the manic sailor who puts the kids off for life.

I want it to be an adventure for them too, and not a boring trip across whatever water we are crossing.

As for the stuff about contraceptives - try explaining that to the kids! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
Actually Prince Charles used it as his house flag when skipper of the Bronnington for a while. Strangely, nobody arrested him.I believe Conquerer flew the skull and cross bones when she returned from sinking the Belgrano- needless to say there were some that thought it insensitive. Re boats with kids on board, I don't mind what the skippers do as long as it's safe. Anything to get them enthusiastic (in fact the junior group of my nearest RYA centre of excellence is called 'Pirates' and guess what they fly). at the end of the day I always need crew- so train 'em up Sea Dreamer and Mudhook
 
I heard it said the skull and crossbones was the battle flag of the fleet of the Knights Templar, back in the 13th/14th century. They were last seen leaving Paris with the contents of the Templar treasury the night before the arrest of Jacques de Molay, the Templar Grand Master, and all the rest of the Order in France.

Another train of thought is that the skull and crossbones was a Hollywood invention, the name taken from an original pirate flag that was flown by French pirates and was a simple red flag, the "Jolie Rouge" or Jolly Red. This was pronounced by English seamen as "Jolly Rouge-ay", later corrupted to Jolly Roger.
German U boats had the tradition of flying the Jolly Roger on return from their patrols as a moral booster to signify they had been successful in sinking ships.

RN submarines don’t have one issued officially but there’s always one on board, the job of making it and looking after it goes to the radio room staff.
Yes, last time it was flown was when HMS Conqueror returned to Faslane after sinking the Belgrano.

So if you want to adopt it to signify Kids on board you may do so, but when someone takes offence remember, it has already been unofficially adopted by the submarine services of many countries to signify acts of war and murdering people to death…. Yes.

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last time it was flown was when HMS Conqueror returned to Faslane after sinking the Belgrano.

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Sadly ironic that a lot of the Belgrano's crew were little more than kids themselves.
 
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spent time there this spring, cut the trip short, pinch faced miserable and ignorant, no apparent s.o.h.
Upon raising the issue back home was told ' once you get to know them they have a wicked sense of humour'
yeah alright maybe compared the north koreans........

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you'd probably find the costa blanca with the lager drinking hordes more up your street.
 
I thought that the traditional flag flown by a sub after making a "kill" was a modified version, a skull and corssed torpedos.
 
I'm thinking of sugesting at our next club committee that anyone wanting to participate in a water fight fly a JR. traditional rules about striking the colours, not flying false colours and not opening fire without colours to apply to the JR. We mostly sail dingies and trailer sailors so we can have some very close manovering under sail while still being quite safe.
 
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