DOI Heft:
No. 359 (February 1923)
DOI Artikel:King, Cecil: Essentials of sea armory: with illustrations by the author
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21397#0110
ESSENTIALS OF SEA ARMORY
reason : the flags liable to be encountered
in any longitude of a world opened up from
side to side are now so numerous that
such variations are difficult to ensure as
will render confusion at long distances
impossible. The fusion into nations, of
small principalities and city-states, may
have tended to reduce the number of flags
employed in that portion of the globe
known to our mediaeval ancestors, but such
amalgamations or changes of regime tend
also to complicate the design of a flag or a
shield of arms with the passage of time
(Figs, i and 4). That the ensuing confusions
are not entirely a product of our day the
following observations may indicate. 0
Another matter which sometimes de-
tracts from the simplicity—and consequent
effectiveness—of a flag is the adoption of
proper charges. From the representation of
a mermaid in “ natural colours ” to a land-
scape was an easy step, and such features
in a shield of arms became generally
accepted as time went on ; indeed, it is
possible that the individual, who would
hesitate to acclaim as perfect a decoration
executed half in the manner of Puvis and
half in that of Meissonier, or would look
with disapproval on an actor playing
Henry V in armour and a bowler hat, will
still regard with complacency a shield com-
posed of the flat, simple conventions of the
early heralds mingled with attempts at
picture-painting. These developments
may even lead to the inclusion, in modern
arms, of such mediaeval survivals as a
realistic locomotive or a wireless trans-
mitter, and their influence extends also to
flags, as can be seen from the truly re-
markable badges in the ensigns of some of
our smaller dependencies. 000
Without any pretence to a knowledge of
the herald's metier, one can easily see how
the principle of placing metal on colour or
colour on metal (white and yellow being re-
garded as “metals"—silver and gold) serves
the ends for which armory was devised, and
the illustrations here may help to emphasise
the point. This colour-rule the writer re-
gards as being one of the essentials of sea
armory, simplicity being the other, and
students of heraldry may perhaps agree
that they were also essential to land armory,
from which that used at sea naturally de-
veloped. But it must be admitted that the
complications which necessarily occurred
as heraldry became widely adopted, were
at first of slight practical importance,
owing to the small areas over which battles
were fought in the late Middle Ages. 0
A book on the flags of this nation has
recently appeared which satisfied what was,
in many opinions, a long-felt want. In it
the author refers to the fact that certain
signal flags, used in the eighteenth century,
had to be abolished, because the colours in
Red.TVt'Blue
Red. niuR
Blue. UK Red
(Is described in. the
Signal-Book- of, tjCo.
These jlagS irtoluCe
Uit colour- rule —
meted on colour or
odour on metal-
& were abolished.
Prelent Day SiqvtaiPla,qs
Signal-Flags 18m CentT
90
FIG. 2
reason : the flags liable to be encountered
in any longitude of a world opened up from
side to side are now so numerous that
such variations are difficult to ensure as
will render confusion at long distances
impossible. The fusion into nations, of
small principalities and city-states, may
have tended to reduce the number of flags
employed in that portion of the globe
known to our mediaeval ancestors, but such
amalgamations or changes of regime tend
also to complicate the design of a flag or a
shield of arms with the passage of time
(Figs, i and 4). That the ensuing confusions
are not entirely a product of our day the
following observations may indicate. 0
Another matter which sometimes de-
tracts from the simplicity—and consequent
effectiveness—of a flag is the adoption of
proper charges. From the representation of
a mermaid in “ natural colours ” to a land-
scape was an easy step, and such features
in a shield of arms became generally
accepted as time went on ; indeed, it is
possible that the individual, who would
hesitate to acclaim as perfect a decoration
executed half in the manner of Puvis and
half in that of Meissonier, or would look
with disapproval on an actor playing
Henry V in armour and a bowler hat, will
still regard with complacency a shield com-
posed of the flat, simple conventions of the
early heralds mingled with attempts at
picture-painting. These developments
may even lead to the inclusion, in modern
arms, of such mediaeval survivals as a
realistic locomotive or a wireless trans-
mitter, and their influence extends also to
flags, as can be seen from the truly re-
markable badges in the ensigns of some of
our smaller dependencies. 000
Without any pretence to a knowledge of
the herald's metier, one can easily see how
the principle of placing metal on colour or
colour on metal (white and yellow being re-
garded as “metals"—silver and gold) serves
the ends for which armory was devised, and
the illustrations here may help to emphasise
the point. This colour-rule the writer re-
gards as being one of the essentials of sea
armory, simplicity being the other, and
students of heraldry may perhaps agree
that they were also essential to land armory,
from which that used at sea naturally de-
veloped. But it must be admitted that the
complications which necessarily occurred
as heraldry became widely adopted, were
at first of slight practical importance,
owing to the small areas over which battles
were fought in the late Middle Ages. 0
A book on the flags of this nation has
recently appeared which satisfied what was,
in many opinions, a long-felt want. In it
the author refers to the fact that certain
signal flags, used in the eighteenth century,
had to be abolished, because the colours in
Red.TVt'Blue
Red. niuR
Blue. UK Red
(Is described in. the
Signal-Book- of, tjCo.
These jlagS irtoluCe
Uit colour- rule —
meted on colour or
odour on metal-
& were abolished.
Prelent Day SiqvtaiPla,qs
Signal-Flags 18m CentT
90
FIG. 2