The Flag of Flattery
By COMDR. HILARY P. MEAD
NO doubt it is a truism to assert that customs and usages attain permanence from insignificant origins, gradually gaining recognition and then being universally adopted, until in the end nobody can tell how, when and where they began. This is the case with regard to a thing called " the courtesy flag," unheard of twenty years ago. It has become a regular convention, apparently believed in by all who serve in the merchant fleets of the world.
About fifty years ago it was usual on board vessels carrying mail to hoist at the fore masthead the ensign of the country whence or whither the mail was being carried. One can well remember at Gibraltar, in the old days, a famous liner of the White Star or Norddeutscher Lloyd company_ lying in the bay and flying the Stars and Stripes at the fore to inform us that she was bringing the mail from the United States, or the German colours to show she was homeward bound with her country's mail This was all very useful to the public; at the outposts of commerce, where the arrival of the mail from home was of the utmost interest and importance, the incoming steamer would announce what country's mail she was carrying, and this information was relayed by certain flags at the port flag-staff. Many people must remember how eagerly the mast at Hong- Kong's Peak was scanned to read whether the incoming mail was from England, Canada, the U.S.A., France or only from various parts of China. These flags on board mail-ships- were known as ensigns of destination or departure; leaving a port they told what country they were bound for, and entering they told what country they had come from. Some time between the two wars the custom gradually grew up of hoisting at the fore the ensign of the country visited, whatever country might be the ship's ultimate destination. This action gave no information not already known, and the whole idea of indicating the mail was given up. The advent of wireless telegraphy or airborne- postage, perhaps, made the old convention no longer necessary. Now all kinds of merchant vessels, general-cargo carriers and tramps, cross-Channel packets, besides mail-steamers, have taken to the new custom.
The flag has come to be known as the " complimentary ensign " or, for some obscure reason, the " trading flag." It has to be flown at the fore masthead all the time during the vessel's stay in a foreign port. If an old-fashioned or obstinate shipmaster does not conform to the new practice, he is deemed to have been lacking in polite behaviour, and, by some sort of blackmailing process, has to submit. * It was the parvenu little countries and minor States that came to enforce the custom, and.. take umbrage if it were not observed. It is probably true to say that nobody in Great Britain would particularly notice, much less object, if a foreign vessel neglected to hoist: the British colours while in- one of our harbours. Yet one has only to walk across London Bridge any day to see some Dutch, Danish or Swedish vessel flying our Red Ensign at her fore masthead, which is kept-up for several days and from familiarity loses all its significance. In more recent times this emblem of flattery has come to be known as the " courtesy flag," and it is even mentioned in the latest Admiralty " Manual of Seamanship," which shows that it has acquired some sort of official status, though without any authority. The latest development arises from an odd and embarrassing: situation. Some foreign vessels visiting. English ports have hoisted the British Union Flag at the fore masthead as- a " courtesy flag." This is quite understandable, since the Union Flag has come to be regarded as the British colours; perhaps the master of the foreign ship had asked his ship-chandler for an English flag and had been served out with the wrong _ piece. The anomaly is that no British master or ship-owner may display the Union Flag afloat under a _penalty of £500. What action will be taken against a foreign ship-master in such a case ? And what body or authority is going to take the initiative ? It has been mentioned that " tactful recdmmend- ations " have been made in order to have the Red Ensign substituted for the Union Flag on board a foreign vessel. But here, again, who is going to make them.?
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