Among signals of distress by means of flags--which from their nature are of international use and common to both men-of-war and merchant ships--the earliest appears to have been made by tying the ensign in a knot in the middle, or making a weft as it was called. Another, which appears to have been in use in the seventeenth century, was to invert the ensign; this, of course, could not be done with those ensigns (such as the modern French) which are symmetrical in design. The signal appears sometimes to have been given by placing the ensign in an unusual position, such as at the main topmast-head or in the shrouds. An instance in which the ensign was placed inverted in the shrouds will be found on page 199. FOOTNOTES: [338] Herodotus, VII, 128. [339] Thucydides, I, 49. [340] _Ibid._ II, 84; VII, 34. [341] Thucydides, III, 90. [342] Polyaenus, _Strategemata_, I, 48 (2). [343] Livy, XXXVII, 24: "Eudamum in alto multitudine navium maxime Hannibal, ceteris omnibus longe praestantem, urgebat; et circumvenisset ni signo sublato ex praetoria nave, quo dispersam classem in unum colligi mos erat, omnes quae in dextro cornu vicerant naves ad opem ferendam suis concurrissent." [344] This work Λέοντος ἐν Χριστῷ τῷ Θεῷ αὐτοκράτος τῶν ἐν Πολέμοις τακτικῶν σύντομος παράδοσις [Greek: Leontos en Christô tô Theô autokratos tôn en Polemois taktikôn syntomos paradosis] is usually assigned to Leo VI (the philosopher), but it is possible that it may have been written by Leo III (the Isaurian) and dates therefore from the eighth century. It has not been translated into English. [345] Probably 1338, _vide Monumenta Juridica_; _The Black Book of the Admiralty_, ed. by Sir Travers Twiss (Rolls Series), Introduction, p. xxx. [346] _Due Ordinanze Militari Marittime del Conte Verde_, Anno 1366, by Capitano di Corvetta Prasca in _Rivista Marittima_, June 1891. I have supplied as literal a translation as the state of the text admits. [347] The object of this manoeuvre is not clear, but since the ram and the guns pointing forward were the only weapons of the galley it can be readily understood that friendly galleys would only face one another in exceptional circumstances. [348] Commander Prasca suggests that _lon_ should be read as _bon_ and that the meaning is: to a place on the poop where the banner can be well seen. I suggest that it should be read as _son_. [349] It was omitted from Howe's signal-book of 1790. [350] _Exchequer Accounts_, 49/29 (7-10 Hen. V): "j banner de consilio de Armis Regis et Sancti Georgii." [351] Transcribed from a Vatican MS. in Jal's _Archéologie Navale_, II, 107 et seq. [352] Fernandez de Navarrete, _Coleccion de los Viages y Descubrimientos que hicieron por mar los Espanoles_, I, 410 et seq. [353] Cada patron con un cómitre. [354] Published with notes by Jal in the _Annales Maritimes et Coloniales 1842_, Part II, pp. 54 et seq. [355] Calcet. [356] Cappitaine. He is thinking only of the galleys.