British Flags: Their Early History, and Their Development at Sea: With an Account of the Origin of the Flag as a National DevicePerrin, William Gordon
History
British Flags: Their Early History, and Their Development at Sea: With an Account of the Origin of the Flag as a National Device
Perrin, William Gordon
Flags -- Great Britain
27. Item in case it shall happen
that any of the said galleys has any
occasion of necessity that it has need
of aid, then it shall make a signal
with a banner amidships of the galley
and immediately the other galleys
shall approach that place, towards
such galley to aid it, under
the penalty named.
28. Item none of the galleys shall
face one another before they shall
see a banner on my Lord's galley
pointed from the poop towards the
prow, and immediately each of the
galleys, under the penalty named,
shall face one another[347].
29. Item if it has happened that
one of the galleys has lost the others
and then returns to them to make a
recognition signal by day, that one
which shall be to leeward, either
that one or the one which is at anchor,
shall raise the standard of its
Commune amidships of the galley
and the other galley shall return the
signal and raise the standard of its
Commune in the prow. Each one
shall (then) carry its standard to its
place on the poop[348]. Then they will
know which are friends, and this
under the penalty aforesaid.
It will be seen that both these sets of instructions give prominence
to a signal for calling a Council and both, curiously enough, betray
the same confusion of thought. From the opening sentence it would be
supposed that the captains of the ships are assembled to advise the
Admiral in Council; from the closing sentence it would appear that they
are only called to hear the result of the council's deliberations. The
"etc." in the English Instructions and the repetition at the end of
Article 10 in the Savoy Instructions seem, however, to indicate that
the texts have not reached us in their original state. In the English
fleet the "Banner of Council" signal remained in use until the close
of the eighteenth century[349]. As a rule this signal was made with
the royal standard, though in 1369 a special gonfanon was provided and
in the reign of Henry V the "Trinity Royal" had a banner of council
containing the royal arms and the cross of St George[350]. When the
fleet was large, as in the Cadiz Expedition of 1596, the royal standard
was hoisted for the "selected" or inner council while the flag of St
George called the captain and the master of every ship to the flagship
for a general council.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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