The vocabulary section of the Code is frequently used for messages which do not strictly refer to matters maritime. The valedictory ‘Farewell’ or the cheerful ‘Welcome’ may be transmitted with quite as much ease as the purely nautical ‘Square your mainyard.’ Even in departments of human activity so far removed from marine affairs as art or politics, the Signal Code may find some application. During the summer cruise of the British fleet in the Mediterranean in 1869, and whilst the ships were steaming through the Straits of Messina, a steamer flying the Turkish flag was sighted steering towards the harbour. The Code ‘pennant’ hoisted under her ensign indicated a desire to communicate; and on the signal being answered from the flagship of the commander-in-chief, the Turkish vessel made the following communication: D.G.N.H. = Irish; C.P.B.R. = Church; C.S.L.P. = dislocated; D.J.K.P. = Her Majesty’s government; D.M.G.T. = surplus. This being rendered into the vernacular, was understood to mean that the Irish Church Disestablishment Act had been passed by a large majority. The captain of the steamer, who was an Englishman in all probability, was laudably anxious to communicate a piece of information which could not fail to be full of interest to the people of the English squadron. His use of the verb ‘dislocated’ was forced upon him by the absence of the word ‘disestablished’ from the Code; and a similar reason necessitated the substitution of ‘surplus’ for ‘majority.’ Having regard to the circumstances, it will probably be admitted that the courteous captain’s arrangement, if not strictly syntactical, was certainly apposite.