The flag of the Russian merchant service is represented in Fig. 218. This was originally instead of being white, blue, red, a flag of blue, white, red. Peter the Great borrowed this from the Dutch, amongst whom he learnt ship-building. The Dutch flag, Fig. 237, it will be seen is a tricolor of red, white, blue. Peter simply turned this upside down, and afterwards, for greater distinction, charged the central white space with a small blue St. Andrew's Cross, as we see in Fig. 219, which represents this early form of flag. Later on, for still greater clearness of distinction, the blue and the white strips changed places, and so we get the modern Russian mercantile flag, as shown in Fig. 218. It was evidently undesirable that the flag of the great Empire of Russia should be the same as that of a reversed Dutch ensign--a signal of distress and disaster. Based upon these two simple forms, the government Cross of St. Andrew, Fig. 217, and the commercial tricolor, Fig. 218, we get a great variety of official flags. Thus Fig. 220 is a very happy blending of the two forms in the flag of a Consul-General, since he is an official of the State, and at the same time his duties deal largely with commercial interests; and much the same ground may be taken as regards the blending of the two flags in Fig. 221, the flag of a Russian Chargé d'Affaires. Fig. 223 is the ensign of a Russian transport; if of the second division the field of the flag is blue, and if of the third it is red, in each of these cases the crossed anchors being white. The Russian signal for a pilot is the Jack shown in Fig. 215, but with a broad white border to it. {105} A Russian Ambassador or Minister Plenipotentiary flies the flag shown in Fig. 222. In the Imperial Navy we find a considerable variety of flag types. While the full Admiral flies the Imperial Naval Flag, Fig. 217, that of the Vice-Admiral has along its bottom edge a horizontal strip of blue, and that of the Rear-Admiral in the same position a strip of red. The flag of the Minister of Marine is the official flag, Fig. 217, except that instead of the four plain white spaces there seen these triangles hold each of them a golden anchor, the fluke end outwards. There are many other modifications that we need not here particularise. Fig. 216 is the official flag of Poland; the device in the canton in the upper corner, the white eagle on the scarlet field, is the ancient Polish flag, when Poland was yet a nation.