“Why, they call out to one another; that is the way they manage the affair.”
“Call out to one another?”
“Yes! ships talk with each other as freely as you do with your companions, though you cannot always hear them speak.”
“Why, how can they talk with one another?”
“By signals; which are of three kinds: day-signals, night-signals, and fog-signals. The day-signals are made by hoisting flags, jacks, and pendants, and by firing guns. The night-signals are made by firing guns and rockets, and by showing lights and false fires; and fog-signals are made by firing of guns, at quick or slow intervals.”
“Well, this is very curious; but how can the hoisting a flag give any particular information?”
“It would take too long, boys, to explain to you the system of signals, if I fully understood it myself, which I do not; but I will try to make you comprehend that it is very easy for one ship to talk with another. Now, look at this print of different flags, and substitutes for flags, taken from that talented work, the ‘United Service Journal,’ and suppose that they stand for the same numbers as are placed under them.”
“Ay! now we shall know something about it.”
“Read also what is written under, about the cypher-flag and the substitutes.”
