How the "Big Boys" fly flags

Leastwise on Princess Cruises cruise ships.

Left to right (port to starboard):
Private flag (Princess Cruises)
Alpha -- diver down (diver inspecting hull, preparatory to dry docking)
Bravo -- dangerous cargo (in this instance, "I'm refueling")
Courtesy provincial flag -- British Columbia
Courtesy ensign -- Canada



Private flag
Q -- request pratique (immigration clearance)
Courtesy state flag -- California
Courtesy ensign -- USA



Private flag
Hotel -- pilot aboard
Courtesy state flag -- Alaska
Courtesy ensign -- USA



National ensign -- Bermuda

If you are interested in this stuff, then Lindsay Lord's classic "Nautical Etiquette and Customs" is a nice resource:
Amazon.com: Nautical Etiquette and Customs (9780870333569): Lindsay Lord: Books

If these are indeed correctly displayed, very nice to see. I wouldn't know. I wonder how many of us could "read" flags today. Not me (although at a young age I did learn the "flag alphabet" as well as "boxing" the compass, both of which pieces of now arcane knowledge have long dissipated into the ether). Until the end of the 19th century (not that long ago for some of us whose grand parents were alive then), flags (and lights) at sea and in port were THE method of communicating ship to ship and ship to/from shore. We've come a long way baby in a short time. Or have we?

I had to learn all 40 of them to get my Surface Warfare pin in the Navy. I can still recognize enough of them to read them.

To get our Signalmen to sign us off we would have to find the one flag out of order in our dress ship sequence. And then fix it.

markpierce said:

Leastwise on Pacific Cruises cruise ships.

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Gimme a break. I meant Princess Cruises. :lol:

dwhatty said:

If these are indeed correctly displayed, very nice to see. I wouldn't know. I wonder how many of us could "read" flags today.

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Flags: continuous (as long as flown) and silent (thank you) communication.

dwhatty said:

If these are indeed correctly displayed ...

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They are professional sailors, subject to law and its penalties. So, what are the odds the flags are incorrectly displayed?

Note where Princess flies their own flag, at the Port spreader, not at the bow staff.

markpierce said:

They are professional sailors, subject to law and its penalties. So, what are the odds the flags are incorrectly displayed?

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thanks for the post and true nautical interest...

but.......I can't resist...

you mean like these professional sailors...


The captain and second officer of a container ship that ran aground last year, resulting in New Zealand's worst maritime environmental disaster, were jailed for seven months.
Maritime New Zealand said in a statement Friday that skipper Mauro Balomaga and Navigator Leonil Relon — both Philippines nationals — were found guilty of a total of 11 offences, including operating a vessel in a manner causing unnecessary danger or risk, discharging harmful substances, and willfully attempting to pervert the course of justice by altering ship's documents subsequent to the grounding.
The cargo vessel, Rena, hit a reef off Tauranga in clear conditions on Oct. 5, 2011, spilling at least 350 tons of fuel into the sea, killing thousands of sea birds and contaminating the pristine beaches of Tauranga's Bay of Plenty.

markpierce said:

Gimme a break. I meant Princess Cruises. :lol:

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I fixeded it for ya'.

I couldn't help but notice the US Ensign was one size under the California flag in one of those pics. (might just be perspective)

There is very deliberate attention to flag precidence on ships. Even when dressing the ship for special occasions (code flags), there is a VERY particular order in which they are displayed. They are double checked each time.

So screw the flags which no one pays attention to anyway these days. How was your cruise and what did you see or experience that was new to you?

Marin said:

So screw the flags which no one pays attention to anyway these days. How was your cruise and what did you see or experience that was new to you?

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It was great. Had the kind of weather you (Marin) enjoy. Winds up to 70 knots over the deck. It was cold and it rained at every PNW port except Victoria and Skagway, fortunately not Skagway, the only time I left the ship to take a narrow-gauge train trip to British Columbia for a second time.



Cruises always seem to visit Victoria, Ketchikan, and Juneau.

For the FOURTH time did not see Tracy Arm. Went to Endicott Arm again. Seems there is always fog, too much ice, or it's too crowded in TA. Endicott Arm, still spectacular:



The piano player (Larry/Laurence Dunsmore) was great and enjoyed his singing, playing, and joking as much as we did on our last Alaskan Cruise two years ago.

Regardless, flag watching was interesting.

koliver said:

Note where Princess flies their own flag, at the Port spreader, not at the bow staff.

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There was a small flag on the bow staff, but never got a good view of it.

For several years six of the steel coaches used on the White Pass excursion train sat in the yard of a small metal fabrication shop in the Skagit River delta. The trucks for the coaches sat next to them. I have no idea what was being done to them. We drove by them every weekend. They were all painted and lettered. I don't know if the shop had a contract to refurbish them or what. Then one day they were gone.

Hmmm brings back memories. Last time I was there ( 5yrs ago ) was with my only sister who since passed but it was a highlight for our family reunion. Just awesome scenery.

Elwin

Marin said:

For several years six of the steel coaches used on the White Pass excursion train sat in the yard of a small metal fabrication shop in the Skagit River delta. The trucks for the coaches sat next to them. I have no idea what was being done to them. We drove by them every weekend. They were all painted and lettered. I don't know if the shop had a contract to refurbish them or what. Then one day they were gone.

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The WP&Y always seems like it's reconditioning old and building new coaches. Its fleet of cars seems to continually increase, well beyond the number of original, truly-authentic old-time cars of its own and defunct railroads like Sumpter Valley (Oregon) RR's round-roofed cars.

The coaches in the fabricator's yard were steel with a simple curved roof.

Marin said:

The coaches in the fabricator's yard were steel with a simple curved roof.

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Yes, they're following the Sumpter's design on selected cars. See Rails, Sagebrush and Pine by Mallory Hope Ferrell as published by Golden West Books (have a 1967 copyright version).

markpierce said:

Yes, they're following the Sumpter's design on selected cars. See Rails, Sagebrush and Pine by Mallory Hope Ferrell as published by Golden West Books (have a 1967 copyright version).

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So do I, along with about twenty bazilion other RR books. But it's been a long time since I've looked at it so I'll have to check out the SVRR's coaches. I have an HOn3 brass model of one of their 2-6-6-2s that they acquired from the Uintah and converted to tender use.

Story goes that Tom Perkin's super-mega-yacht Maltese Falcon sometime flies flags that spell out "Rarely does one have the privilege to witness vulgar ostentation on such a grand scale."

Marin said:

I have an HOn3 brass model of one of their 2-6-6-2s that they acquired from the Unintah and converted to tender use.

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Lucky you!

On the other hand, I've a model of one of the two last of Southern Pacific RR's (compound-steam) Mallet locomotives, also in 2-6-6-2.



Keeping in spirit, here is a steam-powered boat in Juneau:

Boydster said:

Story goes that Tom Perkin's super-mega-yacht Maltese Falcon sometime flies flags ...

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Perkins sold Maltese Falcon in 2009.

Ah Flags...served in the Royal Navy as a signal man in a previous life, including a period on Britannia many moons ago. In order of precedence halyards and flag hoists are read from masthead, stbd outer halyard, port outer halyard stbd inner halyard, port inner halyard. i.e. if you wish to communicate two signals at the same time the stbd outer halyard is more "important" than the hoist on the port inner.

Thanks for the interesting flag post, Mark. Always helps to get a refresher on the proper way to fly the flags. Where I come from and the way I was raised, respect for the flag means something. Not all appreciate it, but many of us still do. Thanks!!