{"id":235,"date":"2013-05-30T10:00:16","date_gmt":"2013-05-30T14:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/?p=235"},"modified":"2024-12-12T10:21:16","modified_gmt":"2024-12-12T15:21:16","slug":"flags-could-speak-at-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/flags-could-speak-at-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"Flags could \u2018speak\u2019 at sea"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Nautical<\/a>By James Breig<\/a><\/p>\n

Writing in a Boston publication in 1849, an anonymous person shared his \u201cNotes of a Voyage in the Plymouth Rock.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cruise from Boston to Liverpool, England, lasted 20 days, a span that provided the author with plenty of leisure time to observe life on the ocean. He remarked on story-telling among passengers, exercise routines, schools of porpoises and the opportunity to send letters home.<\/p>\n

The latter activity required the deployment of flags at sea<\/a>, which the writer said involved \u201cspeaking\u2026a ship at the distance of several miles.\u201d \u201cSpeaking a ship\u201d meant communicating across the waves with another vessel \u2013 in this instance, a boat headed westward.<\/p>\n

As the two ships neared each other, the passengers scrambled to quickly pen notes to relatives and friends. Meanwhile, the captain brought out the flags.<\/p>\n

\"Chart<\/a>
Official chart of signal flags<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe pleasing part,\u201d wrote the author, \u201cwas the telegraph. This is managed by little flags, of various colors, each representing one of the numbers\u201d from zero to nine. \u201cThese, being fastened together in various ways, may be made to represent any number.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once they knew the number, the captain of each ship consulted signal books, which disclosed what the numbers stood for, including standard questions and answers, like \u201cWhere are you bound?\u201d Thus, by using the pennants, the ships could \u201cspeak\u201d to each other.<\/p>\n

First, the Plymouth Rock raised the American flag<\/a> to identify its point of origin. The other hoisted a British banner<\/a>. That exchange of cloth greetings moved the author, who wrote, \u201cWhen I beheld the national emblems of two of the first nations in the earth fluttering in the breeze, and recollected that I had many friends and relations in both those countries, I felt a glow of something like pride.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next to go up the mast were \u201cfive little flags representing the name of our ship,\u201d an act echoed by the other vessel. It was The Superb, but it was bound for Quebec<\/a>, not Massachusetts<\/a>. All of the eager letter-writers slumped to learn that their mail would not be going home.<\/p>\n

As the two boats parted, the author called the use of the flags an \u201ceveryday occurrence\u201d to sailors, but one \u201cwhich had afforded us land-men considerable amusement.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By James Breig Writing in a Boston publication in 1849, an anonymous person shared his \u201cNotes of a Voyage in the Plymouth Rock.\u201d The cruise from Boston to Liverpool, England, lasted 20 days, a span that provided the author with plenty of leisure time to observe life on the ocean. He remarked on story-telling among… continue<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[69,66,68,70,67],"class_list":["post-235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history-lessons","tag-message-flags","tag-nautical-flag","tag-plymouth-rock","tag-signal-flag","tag-speaking-a-ship"],"yoast_head":"\nSpeaking a Ship: Communicating via Boat Flags<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how sailors communicated between ships at sea through the use of flags back in the 1800s.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/flags-could-speak-at-sea\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Speaking a Ship: Communicating via Boat Flags\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learn how sailors communicated between ships at sea through the use of flags back in the 1800s.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/flags-could-speak-at-sea\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gettysburg Flag Works Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-05-30T14:00:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-12T15:21:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/NauticalFlagsFlying.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Breig\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Breig\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/flags-could-speak-at-sea\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/flags-could-speak-at-sea\/\",\"name\":\"Speaking a Ship: Communicating via Boat Flags\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/flags-could-speak-at-sea\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/flags-could-speak-at-sea\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/NauticalFlagsFlying.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-05-30T14:00:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-12T15:21:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/048662cff3dee1c17360c4683b5fe03a\"},\"description\":\"Learn how sailors communicated between ships at sea through the use of flags back in the 1800s.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/flags-could-speak-at-sea\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/flags-could-speak-at-sea\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/flags-could-speak-at-sea\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/NauticalFlagsFlying.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/NauticalFlagsFlying.jpg\",\"width\":\"100\",\"height\":\"391\",\"caption\":\"Nautical Flags Flying\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/flags-could-speak-at-sea\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Flags could \u2018speak\u2019 at sea\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Gettysburg Flag Works Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/048662cff3dee1c17360c4683b5fe03a\",\"name\":\"James Breig\",\"description\":\"James Breig is a veteran author who specializes in history. 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