red ensign

[Guest]

Cruising in the Med, the most FAQ from non UK skippers is why do british boats fly the red ensign and not the union jack. The standard answer given that it is traditional and that the jack is only flown when a member of the royal family is on board. A more accurate answer would be useful.....better still... an amusing but not neccessarily accurate answer would be fun, especialy to one of those very correct Bavarians

 

[martinschulz]

Hi Chris,
I struggled with sort of the same problem. Just take a look at the "Practical Boat Owners-Reader to Reader" discussion named "National Flag?". There I got more than I bargained for.

 

[Guest]

I don't know why you guys get in such a twist about this subject. We are not the only country to have a special mercantile marine ensign to denote our nationality. We also have an air ensign, not much seen at sea!. The Union Jack, by the way, is only called that when it is worn at the JACKstaff of one of HM Ships. At all other times it is the Union Flag. For a fuller explanation see The Admiralty Manual of Seamanship which should be available in public libraries in most ports.

 

[roger]

I've had the same query in Sweden and Norway recently and whats worse was asked by the Swedish Coastguard what country we were from (nationality not departure point).
The system seems to cause enormous confusion. The blue ensign causes even worse confusion I believe.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Herr Hans Grabbdebalz, I'm glad you asked. We fly the red ensign in memory of all the unarmed merchant seaman who died at sea during two world wars against an unnamed European country. It represents the union jack floating in a sea of blood.

Or, it represents the British flag as seen in the early morning, against a sunrise at sea, and again at sunset, demonstrating the global domination of the British seaman.

Actually, I beleive it comes from the time when the Admiralty promoted naval officers semi-automatically based on length of service, who they knew, and their inside leg measurement. Until a war or two came along and thinned the ranks, it meant they ended up with more admirals than they knew what to do with. Their lordships therefore created three seniorities of Admiral, Admiral of the Red, Admiral of the Blue, Admiral of the White. Each flew a flag of that colour with the Union Flag in the the upper left.

Somehow, as time went by the least senior became the flag of the least senior branch of the navy, the merchant navy. The blue devolved to quasi-naval units like harbourmasters, C&E, police, boy scouts, coastguard, snotty yotty clubs. And the white remains for proper matelots and that club with a big bungalow on Cowes sea front.

 

[Guest]

Pretty accurate and I only know this because I had a rummage in the web! Up until 1864 the red ensign was the flag of the highest level in the Royal Navy, it was alos known as the 'colonial ensign' and was the national flag of America once! From 1864 the hierachy became what it still is today and originally the RYS had a white ensign without the St Georges Cross [which we are not allowed to fly on our boats either!]. All RN ships should fly the Union Jack in harbour [jack is the flagstaff at the stem of the bow] but not at sea. A Union Flag is flown from the yardarm when an admiral is on board and the peak during a court-martial!!

I personally think this is all a bit OTT but that is just my opinion?

 

[jollyjacktar]

Foreigners

That's the trouble with foreigners. Who the heck do they think they are. Everyone knows who rules the waves. They need a good seeing to.

 

[Guest]

Re: Foreigners

Anyone who saw the USS Enterprise in the Solent last weekend will come to the conclusion that it's not us who rules the waves. A quick count of the aircraft on the flight deck alone gave a total larger than the whole of the Fleet Air Arm. (Didn't stop them asking for a radio check on channel 16 though. Must be something in the air!)

 

[Guest]

Sorry to go on but I have consulted my Reed's Almanac and if you REALLY want to test the rules then a 'Pilot Jack' may be flown by any British registered ship from a jackstaff in the bows when the vessel is at anchor or in harbour and wearing her ensign! A 'Pilot Jack' is a Union flag with a white border one fifth of the size of the flag.

The Union Flag is the flag of the Admiral of the Fleet and the St George's Cross is flown when a lesser Admiral is aboard!

 

[Guest]

Re: USS Enterprise

Yes, befoere that they were anchored off Cannes for the film festival, then IOW for the RTI. I wonder to what other sporting/social ocassion have they now gone? Too bad they can't get up the Thames for Ascot and Wimbledon.

 

[Guest]

I'd always been thought the reason British Ships did not fly the Union Flag came from The Act of Union with Scotland. The navy at time being very much the English Navy and therefore would fly only the flag of St George, eventually allowing the Union Flag to be shown in the Corner. The rest as they say is History. But if you know different please let me know