Four points off the larboard bow the masthead lookout spots a strange sail. "She's a small brig", he reports. "What colors does she fly?" hails the officer of the deck. "A red and white striped ensign, quartered by a red cross, with a Union Jack in the canton." The officer looks perplexed and says, "She's not Royal Navy, or French, or Spanish, so what can she be?" How many Napoleonic naval wargamers would be able to empathise with that poor officer? Perhaps your own fleet is composed of units of the major powers exclusively, due to a lack of information on the minor navies. Well, if that's the case, you're missing out on a lot of what the era has to offer. I'll never forget how foolish I felt, in 1972, when I discovered that the squadron I had painted up to represent Rear Admiral Pavel Ivanovich's (John Paul Jones) command was flying Russian merchant flags! No wonder the Turks beat me. That incident, plus a real interest in the field, led me to begin gathering data on flags. Last year, while doing some research at U.C.L.A., I came across a real find. Down in the rare book room they had a little jewel detailing naval flags of the world C. 1807. I couldn't believe my luck when the librarian actually let me photocopy the whole book. Now that I was armed with sheets and sheets of photo copies, and faithful notes as to the colors of the flags, I knew I had made a giant step toward being able to document the majority of national ensigns in the period. By cross-referencing this information with my other references, I was able to come up with a fairly accurate picture of the flags of the time. MAKING MODEL FLAGS The best material for making naval flags in miniature is aluminum foil. First, measure the material, mark it with a pencil, and cut it out with a small scissors or X-acto knife. Next, paint both sides with white water-based paint. When it's dry, draw the appropriate design on the flag with a pencil, then paint it. Use a few light dabs of household cement to glue it onto the ship. Once it's glued, you can bend it to a very realistic shape to simulate it being blown in the wind. SUGGESTED SIZES OF FLAGS National ensigns should be 11mm x 8mm (for 1/1200 scale) and were always flown at the peak. You can either tie a piece of black thread from the gaff to the boom, or forget the thread and glue it to the top edge of the spanker. The jack should be 7mm x 5mm. Previous to the era we're dealing with, ships flew the jack from a jackstaff half-way out on the bowsprit. With the replacement of spritsails by jibs, this was discontinued except when ships were at anchor in harbors. When not in port, the British flew the Union jack from the foremast, unless it was the flagship of a vice-admiral. The U.S. Navy flew their jack from either the foremast or the mizzenmast. Actually, these two navies seem to be the only ones who made extensive use of their jacks in combat situations. Commissioning pennants were always flown from the main mast. They should be 31mm x 4mm. Commoclores' broad pennants were flown from the mainmast instead of commissioning pennants. They should measure 13mm xmm. Admirals' command flags should be 7mm x 5mm. See specific navies to see where they should be flown. I can't claim that this data is 100% correct, but I've been very careful to include only illustrations that have appeared in at least two sources, unless otherwise noted. Any corrections or additions to the information presented here, with documentation, would be greatly appreciated. BIBLIOGRAPHY Cotton, Evan, East Indiamen, Batchworth, 1949. Gruppe, Henry E., The Frigates, Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia. Low, C.R., History of the Indian Navy, London, 1877. Smith, Whitney, Flags Through the Ages and Across the World, McGrawHill, New York, 1975. Von Pivka, Otto, Navies of the Napoleonic Era, Hippocrene Books Inc., New York, 1980. (No author listed) Naval Flags of the World. National Geographic (Washington, D. C.), October, 1917. (Periodical) Flags Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. VI No. 3 Back to Courier List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1985 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com