white band around it, while the United States of America takes the star-bestrewn azure canton from the national flag, Fig. [146], and similarly surrounds it with the broad band of white.
Penalties are recoverable, as they clearly should be, if any ship uses or displays signals which may be mistaken for either pilot calls or signals of distress.
The United States uses flags for its weather signals at the various meteorological stations. A violent storm is prognosticated by a red flag with a black centre. A red pennant signifies "storm approaching station," while a yellow pennant signifies "call at station for special information." A plain white flag betokens fine weather and a plain blue one rain or snow, and there are various combinations of other flags that indicate direction, intensity, velocity and so forth. It is evident that this employment of flags could be made a very valuable one.
Another instance of its use with which we are acquainted, is at the London office in St. Paul's Churchyard of the Draper's Record, one of the largest in circulation of any trade paper in the world. The citizen of London may see displayed from its roof by private enterprise the whole of the forecasts issued by the Meteorological Office, viz., the 11 a.m., the 3.30 p.m., and the 8.30 p.m. for the South of England, which officially includes St. Paul's Churchyard. A white flag is hoisted for clear weather, a blue one for rain, while local showers are prognosticated by a flag half blue and half white. Changeable weather is indicated by a flag like Fig. [267], and a coming fog by a yellow flag with black ball in its centre, like Fig. [258]. Snow is foretold by a flag like Fig. [278], and squally weather by a swallow-tailed flag, having its upper half black, and the lower white. A plain red triangular flag is used to indicate temperature; when this is hoisted above other flags, it indicates rising temperature; when placed below, falling temperature; and when omitted we are to conclude that things are stationary. Thus the red flag, then below it the white one, and then the blue hoisted together, would mean that we might expect warmer weather, at first fair, but succeeded by rain, while the blue flag above the red would indicate that wet weather was before us, and a fall of temperature.
At the 1894 meeting of the National Rifle Association at Bisley a system of this kind was inaugurated, in order to give those in camp an idea of the weather that might be expected for the ensuing twelve hours, the hoisting of a blue flag indicating fine weather or moderate wind, a red one foretelling stormy weather or strong wind; green, pointing to unsettled weather or gusty wind, and a yellow flag indicating thunder or rain storms. For shooting purposes a knowledge of the strength of the wind is very valuable.
The development of a code of flag signals seems to have exercised a great fascination on many minds, and the result has been that until the general adoption of the International code things had got into a somewhat chaotic state. Some systems had many excellent points in them, while others broke down under the strain of practical use. In some cases, too, the claims of patriotism influenced the choice, it being difficult for an Englishman or an American to believe that the scheme of a Frenchman or German could possibly be better than the home-grown article.
The systems best known in this country are the Admiralty codes of 1808, 1816, and 1826, Lynn's in 1818, Squire's in 1820, Raper's in 1828, Philipps' in 1836, Eardley Wilmot's in 1851, the code of Rogers, the American, in 1854, the French code of Reynolds in 1855, and the system devised by Marryat in 1856, all being superseded by that of the Board of Trade.
The International code of signals was prepared and first published in April, 1857, in accordance with the views and recommendations of a Committee appointed by the Lords of the Privy Council. Three members, Admiral Beechey, Captain Robert Fitzroy, and Mr. J. H. Brown, the Registrar-General of Seamen, were named by the Board of Trade; one member, Admiral Bethune, by the Admiralty; an elder brother, Captain Bax, was appointed as a member by the Trinity House; Mr. W. C. Hammett and Captain Halstead were the members named by Lloyds; while the Liverpool Shipowners' Association, and the General Shipowners' Society, each, by the nomination of a member, had a voice in the discussion.
After a deliberation of more than a year, the examination of the thirteen then existing codes and due attention to any practical suggestion made to them, a mature and valuable scheme was promulgated. Eighteen flags in all, viz., one burgee, four pennants, and thirteen square flags, were employed, and these represented the consonants of the alphabet. These are depicted in the three upper rows on plate XXIV. Figs. [307] to [324], the letter it stands for in the code being placed by each flag. These flags are combined in various ways, either in twos, threes, or fours, and are always read downwards, thus Fig. [325] must be read B.D.T.F; if we read it the reverse way, as F.T.D.B, it would have an entirely different significance.