If any Shyp of a fleete shall find her selfe in daunger of founderinge in the Sea, by springeinge of a leake, or any the like mischaunce; if this bee by daye shee maye shoote off three pieces of Ordinance, and withall cause a youncker to goe upp to the Maine-topp and shewe a waft: And if this happen in the night time; then to continue this shooteinge ever and anon of a single piece, and withall to shewe a light, that notice may be taken by the Gunne and her selfe found out by the light, and so relieved. And because ther may be many occasions wherby a fleete may be far dispersed, and yet afterwards gett togither againe, and that itt is fitt, that upon the first ken one of another, they may be knowne one unto another and soe noe mistakeinges ensue, an apt Signall to this purpose, may be by the puttinge out and takeinge in of a flagge soe many times one after another as shall formerly be agreed upon, or by the soe often strikeinge of a Topp-sayle or the like; the which they are to answer one unto another. Boteler's suggestion of yellow and blue flags as signals for calling a Council is of especial interest as being the earliest proposal to use special flags for making signals. Until the year 1654, signals--at any rate in English fleets--were with two exceptions always made with the flags already in use for other purposes, that is, with the Flags of Command or Colours of Distinction, whose primary uses we have already discussed. These two exceptions are the red flag of war and the white flag of peace. The red flag, or "bloody colours" as it was often called, and the white flag are not mentioned in any of the early instructions. They were, in fact, international signals and formed part of the traditional "Custom of the Sea" which was never completely codified and, except so far as it was gathered into such collections as the Rooles d'Oléron and the Consolado del Mar, can now only be recovered by the laborious process of collecting precedents.