Confusion and possibility of mistakes in identification in action was sometimes caused by the ships of one squadron becoming intermingled with those of another. Nelson solved this difficulty by directing that only the white ensign, which was the ensign of his own squadron,[182] should be used on the ships of all the squadrons at the battle of Trafalgar. [182] He was at the time a vice-admiral of the white and the senior officer present. The three ensigns, with their successive one, two and three-crossed Jacks, had continued to be used in these varying ways during more than two hundred years, until 1865, when the positions of the three ensigns were separated and distinctive duties allotted to each.[183] The number of the rank of admirals was at the same time reduced to three--admiral, vice-admiral and rear-admiral. All of these were to fly, as they still do, the white ensign at the stern, their seniority being indicated by the position of the St. George Jack at the mast head.[184] These ranks are in addition to the rank of Admiral of the fleet, which confers the right to wear the Union Jack instead of the St. George. [183] Order in Council, October 18th, 1865. [184] In the present day, when ironclads have not more than two, and often only one mast, vice-admirals wear the St. George with one red ball in the upper corner, and rear-admirals with two red balls, to indicate their respective rank. The ensigns were described in the Order and directed to be used as follows: _The White Ensign_ (Pl. VIII., fig. 2).--A white flag, with a St. George cross through the whole flag and the Union Jack in the upper canton, to be used at sea only by ships of the Royal Navy or by yacht clubs to which special license has been given. _The Blue Ensign_ (Pl. VIII., fig. 3).--A blue flag, with the Union Jack in the upper canton, to be used only by ships of the Royal Naval Reserve, or by merchantmen which are commanded by officers of the reserve, and have been duly licensed, or by yacht clubs to which special commission has been granted. _The Red Ensign_ (Pl. VIII., fig. 1).--A red flag, with a Union Jack in the upper canton, to be used as a national ensign by all British merchantmen. By the Admiralty Regulations, afterwards issued, instructions are given as to the relative proportions of the parts of these flags. In the Red and Blue Ensigns the Union Flag in the upper quarter next the staff is to be "in length half the length of the flag, and in width half the width of the flag." In the White Ensign the Red Cross of St. George, which runs through the whole of the white field, is to be "2-15ths of the width of the flag." The Union is to occupy the upper quarter next the staff, leaving the whole Cross intact. This was virtually adding the Union Jack to the original English Jack of Richard I. By a special Act it was afterwards more particularly enacted in 1889: