[175] Ibid. i, 62, p. 53. See [Plate VIII], fig. 3.
[176] The Commissioners (Blake, Deane, and Popham) for exercising the office of "Admiral and General of the Fleet" created by Act of Parliament 24th Feb. 1649, usually known as the "Generals at Sea." They stood in much the same position as that formerly occupied by the late Lord High Admiral, the Earl of Warwick, so far as the management of the fleet was concerned, though without the Lord Admiral's full legal powers, which were vested in the Council of State.
[177] S. P. D. Inter. i, 65.
[178] See [Plate VI], fig. 5. This flag, which tradition connects with Blake himself, has been preserved at Chatham Dockyard from time immemorial, but was recently loaned by the Admiralty to the Royal United Service Institution, where it may now be seen. Mr Fraser has discussed its connection with Blake in his book The Fighting Fame of the King's Ships, 1910, p. 110.
[179] E.g. R. Nooms (Zeeman), Zeegevecht voor Livorno (1653), and J. A. Beerstraten, Zeeslag by ter Heide 1653, in the Rijks Museum at Amsterdam. Also in etchings by Zeeman. See [Plate V], fig. 3.
[180] Letters and Papers relating to the First Dutch War (N. R. S.), iii, 189.
[181] Bodl. Rawlinson A 227. Order of Navy Commissioners hastening supply of flags for the fleet, dated 2nd March, 1653: "3 Standards of ye usuall colors wth ye field Red, 4 fflags of ye Jack colors." Cf. also Instructions of Vice Adm. Goodson to Penn 21 June, 1655: "You shall wear the jack-flag upon the maintop masthead during your continuance in the service aforesaid" (Memorials of the Professional Life and Times of Sir Wm Penn, ii, 116.)
[182] S. P. D. Inter. i, 78, p. 627.
[183] See [Plate VI], fig. 6. The quarterly form was best adapted to admit of this surcharge, as the harp was to occupy the centre of the Union flag.
[184] S. P. D. Inter. cxcv, 162. Presumably "ye former fashion" refers to the pre-Commonwealth flags still in store, as the Parliament jack and flag would not lend itself to conversion into the new form.