Studio: international art (85.1923)

ESSENTIALS OF SEA ARMORY


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Portugal

Spain

Japan

Finland.

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White on Red

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colour on colour

This flay has, been. A
criticised on. the
ground that the
,JBlazon ckscriBinq
Kin the Raya!
Trodamation of
fSot u’ucjgsts that
the white dcfiruj
To the At. yeorye
Slid be a rtareoro
fimEriation "only.

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Corps H.Q.

Army H.Q.

The Union Flacgj (Naval Pattern) .

JVUaBene — Attachment of Flag to Mast is si mm conventionally throughout.

FIG. 5

The Cinque Ports' flag is one of the
oldest in existence. In a modernised shape
it is still hoisted over the residence of the
Lord Warden. The early banners were
frequently wider than their length—nowa-
days sea flags are longer than their width—
our own flags are twice as long. The
Cinque Ports' flag illustrates one of the
many rules of proportion laid down by the
early heralds, that which allows the field
to a “ charge " to be of two metals or two
colours equal in area. With a modern-
shaped flag, the violent movement in the
fly makes detail in it difficult to distin-
guish ; consequently, there has long been a
tendency to shift a design inwards. This is
seen in the ensigns of many nations to-
day, notably Japan, Portugal and several
states of Northern Europe (Fig. 5). Such
considerations led also to the present pro-
portions of the French tricolour, in which
the blue is the narrowest, and the red the
widest band, and it is probable that the
point was realised at a much earlier date
also. Enough, therefore, has been said to
show that—though the colour-rule holds
good—modern conditions do not always
allow the old rules of proportion to be held

sacred at sea, and the Admiralty-pattern
Union Flag, against which the darts of
armorial critics have been occasionally
levelled, was presumably not designed
without due thought.* 000

There are some who believe that, in
attempting to reconstruct technical detail
for some scene of a past day—e.g., an
historical decoration—the real thing is
much superior to the invention of a
twentieth century brain. It was with some
such idea that the writer began, some fif-
teen years ago, to dig here and abroad into
a subject, on which there is but little re-
liable literature available. The search is a
fascinating one and probably endless. The
few references to earlier flags in this
article may perhaps prove suggestive—
opening up an interesting field of research
to others also. 0000

* But some think that the wide edging to the
St. George's cross was meant to represent the white
cross of France. The Union Flag, used by many of
our regiments as a King’s Colour, is more nearly
square in shape than is the naval flag (sometimes
referred to as the ''Union Jack ”). The proportions of
the crosses are also different, the edging to the St.
George being narrower in the military than in the
naval pattern. The military pattern is sometimes
referred to as the "Great Union.” 0 0

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