The Flags of the World Part 10

The flag of Servia, another small kingdom of Eastern Europe, is shown in Fig. 243; the royal standard is similar, except that the arms are placed in the centre of the blue stripe. It will be seen that the flag of Servia is that of Russia, Fig. 218, reversed. By the Berlin Treaty of 1878, Servia received a large increase of territory, and was created an independent State, its princely ruler being crowned king in March, 1882.

The State of Bulgaria is another of the creations of the Berlin Treaty. It is governed by a prince who is nominally under the suzerainty of Turkey.

Its war flag is shown in Fig. 241; the mercantile flag has no leonine canton, but is simply a tricolor of white, green, and red.

Having already dealt with the United States, we propose now to turn our attention to the other Governments of the New World. The simple and effective ensign of Chili is represented in Fig. 161. This flag is used both by the Chilian men-of-war and by the vessels of the mercantile marine.

Fig. 157 is so much of the pendant of a man-of-war as the limits of our page will permit. The Chilian Jack is the blue canton and white star of Fig. 161, treated as a distinct {122} flag, and the flags of the various naval ranks are also blue with a varying number of white stars.

Fig. 164 is the merchant flag of New Granada; the Government ensign has in addition the shield of arms in the centre of the blue stripe. It will be observed that the colours in this tricolor are the same as those of Roumania, Fig. 242, only differently disposed. New Granada is composed of nine small States, and in 1863 these bound themselves into a closer confederation, and changed their collective name from New Granada to that of the United States of Colombia, and adopted a tricolor of yellow, blue, and red, only disposed horizontally instead of as in Fig. 164, vertically.

This sounds identical with the flag of Venezuela, but in the centre of the Colombian flag is placed a different device, and the yellow stripe takes up half the s.p.a.ce, the other two being only half its width. Fig. 165 is the flag of Uruguay, a State that was formerly a province of Brazil, but declared its independence in the year 1825. The next flag on our plate, Fig. 166, is the war ensign of Guatemala: the shield in the centre bears a scroll with the words "Libertad 15 de Setiembre, 1821," surmounted by a parrot, surrounded by a wreath, and having behind it crossed rifles and swords. The merchant flag is the plain blue, white, blue, without the shield. In the year 1525 the country was conquered by Don Pedro de Alvarado, one of the companions of Cortes, and it remained subject to Spain until 1821, when it gained its independence, the "Libertad" of the scroll.

It then went in vigorously for several years of civil war, and the outcome of this was that the country known under Spanish rule as Guatemala, a country embracing all Central America, split up in 1839 into five Republics, all absolutely independent of each other, viz., Guatemala, San Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.

The next flag, Fig. 167, is the ensign of Costa Rica: the one represented is that of the Merchant Service. The war ensign differs from it in having in the centre the arms of the State, surrounded on either side by a trophy of three flags, and beneath all a wreath. Fig. 168, the flag of Paraguay, is very suggestive of the colours of Holland, though the device in the centre serves to differentiate it. Paraguay is the only State in America that has no sea-board, and therefore no Mercantile Marine.

Brazil, discovered by the Portuguese in 1500, remained in their possession until a revolutionary struggle in the year 1821 ended in favour of the Brazilians, when an Empire was shortly afterwards established. Compared to the other States of South America, it has pa.s.sed through long periods of rest and prosperity, but of late years its political position has been one of considerable uncertainty, the Emperor having been dismissed and the rival {123} ambitions for the Presidentship leading to civil war. These political changes have necessarily produced modifications in the flag. The present flag, Fig. 169, is not altogether unlike that of the late Empire, though in this latter case the yellow diamond on the green ground held a shield and Imperial crown, flanked by sprays of coffee and tobacco. In the present flag this yellow diamond has a blue sphere spotted over with stars and a white band running across it, that bears in blue letters the legend _Ordem e progresso_.[81] Fig. 173 is the upper portion of the man-of-war pendant, a blue ground with white stars. Fig. 169 is the ensign, both of the War and Merchant Navy of Brazil.

The yellow, blue, and red tricolor, Fig. 170, is the merchant ensign of Venezuela; the war flag has the same stripes, and in addition the shield of the arms of the State is placed on the yellow band at the staff corner.

When the Spaniards arrived off the coast in the year 1499, they found on landing that some of the native Indians were living in huts built on piles, hence they called the country Venezuela, or little Venice.

Bolivia, formerly comprised in the Spanish Vice-Royalty of Colombia, derives its present name from Simon Bolivar, the leader of the revolution that gained it its freedom. Its commercial flag is shown in Fig. 171; the war flag only differs in having the arms of the State placed in the centre of the red strip.

The familiar green, white, red of Italy is repeated in the flag of Mexico, but instead of the cross of Savoy, we have the eagle and serpent. The Mexican merchant ensign is the plain tricolor of green, white, red, the central device we see in Fig. 172 marking it as the war flag. Mexico was discovered in 1518, and conquered, with infamous cruelties, by Cortes.

After a lengthened revolutionary struggle, the yoke of Spain was finally thrown off in 1829, and the independence of Mexico was recognised by all the great European Powers.

Peru was discovered by the Spaniards in 1513, and was soon afterwards, under the command of Pizarro, added to the dominions of the King of Spain.

Peru remained in subjection to the Spaniards (who murdered the Incas and all their descendants, and committed the most frightful cruelties) until 1826, when the independence of the country, after a prolonged struggle, was completely achieved. The Peruvian war ensign is given in Fig. 174, the merchant flag being the plain red, white, red.

San Salvador, the smallest of the Central American Republics, {124} established itself in 1839, on the break-up of the Spanish State of Guatemala. Its flag is shown in Fig. 175.

The country now held by the Argentine Republic was discovered in 1517, and settled by the Spaniards in 1553. The war ensign is represented in Fig.

176; the merchant ensign has the three stripes, but the golden sun is missing.

The Government of Ecuador has Fig. 177 as its war flag, the merchant ensign being without the ring of white stars. The last flag on the sheet (Fig.

178) is the merchant flag of Haiti; the Government flag has the blue and red reduced to a broad border, the central portion of the flag being white.

In the centre of this white portion stands a palm tree, and below it a trophy of arms and flags, flanked on either side by a cannon.

The flag of the Cuban national forces in conflict with Spain has at the hoist a triangular portion of blue, one side of this triangle being the depth of the flag itself, and on this blue field is a white, five-pointed star. The rest of the flag is made up of the following horizontal and equal stripes--red, white, red, white, red.

j.a.pan--known to the j.a.panese as Niphon, derived from _Nitsu_, Sun, and _Phon_, the rising--the Land of the Rising Sun,[82] has adopted this rising sun as its emblem. j.a.pan claims to possess a written history of over 2,500 years, but the fairly authentic portion begins with the year 660 B.C., when the present hereditary succession of rulers commenced. English merchants visited j.a.pan in 1612, and the Portuguese almost a century before. By 1587 the converts of the Portuguese Jesuit Missions numbered some six hundred thousand. At this time some Spanish Franciscans appeared on the scene, and political and religious discord soon followed. The j.a.panese ruler took alarm at the Papal claim to universal sovereignty, and the Buddhist Priesthood and the English and Dutch Protestant traders fanned the flame of suspicion and jealousy. This was done so effectually that the j.a.panese Government banished all foreigners, and closed the country against them.

This state of things lasted for over two centuries, and it was only in the year 1853 that j.a.pan was re-opened to the outside world. The flag of j.a.pan, the rising sun, is represented in Fig. 244. The red ball without the rays is used as a Jack, in which case it is placed in the centre of the white field. Fig. 245 is the Standard of the Emperor. The chrysanthemum is the emblem of j.a.pan, and its golden flower, somewhat conventionally rendered it must be admitted, is the form we see introduced in Fig. 245.[83] Figs. 246 and 248 are the transport flag and the guard flag respectively of the j.a.panese war marine. {125}

The Imperial Standard of China is yellow with a blue dragon. The official flag book of the Admiralty gives the flag of a Chinese Admiral as made up of the following horizontal stripes: yellow, white, black, green, red, a blue dragon on a white ground being the canton in the staff-head corner.

The merchant ensign is shown in Fig. 247. Amongst the Chinese flags captured in 1841, and preserved in the Royal United Service Inst.i.tution, is one with a blue centre with an inscription in white upon it, and with a broad notched border of white; another has its centre of a pale blue and a darker blue dragon upon it, the whole being surrounded by a broad and deeply-notched border of red.

The flag of Siam is scarlet with a white elephant thereon. Before Xacca, the founder of the nation, was born his mother dreamt that she brought forth a white elephant, and the Brahmins affirm that Xacca, after a metempsychosis of eighty thousand changes, concluded his very varied experiences as this white elephant, and thence was received into the company of the Celestial Deities. On this account the white elephant is held a sacred beast, and the Siamese rejoice to place themselves beneath so potent a protector. The flag of Korea bears the tiger. In the thickly-wooded glens of the interior, the royal tiger is found in formidable numbers.

The flag of Sarawak, a territory of some forty thousand square miles, on the north-west of Borneo, is shown in Fig. 252. The Government was obtained in 1842 from the Sultan of Borneo by an Englishman, Sir James Brooke, and it is still ruled by one of the family, a nephew of the first Rajah.

In Africa, the only flags that we need particularize are those of the Orange Free State, Liberia, the Congo State, and the South African Republic.

The Orange Free State was founded by Dutch emigrants from the Cape of Good Hope. It was proclaimed British territory in 1848, but by a Convention entered into in 1854, the inhabitants were declared to be "to all intents and purposes, a free and independent people, and their Government to be treated thenceforth as a free and independent Government." The flag, Fig.

249, is the only one that has orange in it, clearly in allusion to the name of the State, while the canton of red, white, and blue, equally shows the pride of the people in their Dutch origin.

The flag of the Independent Negro Republic of Liberia, is shown in Fig.

250. The population largely consists of freed slaves, emigrants from America and their descendants, plus the aborigines. The flag, it will be seen, even to the thirteen stripes, is largely based on that of the United States, though one would have thought that that would have been about the last thing they would have selected. {126}

The Congo Free State in Central Africa was established in 1885 by the King of the Belgians; its flag is the golden star on the blue ground that we see in Fig. 251, a device at once simple, expressive and pleasing.

In 1840, a number of Dutch Boers, dissatisfied with the Government of Cape Colony, established themselves in Natal, where their treatment of the natives was so unjustifiable that a general rising was imminent, and the British Government was compelled to interfere, and itself take charge of the district. This the Boers resented, so they crossed the Vaal and established themselves afresh in the wilderness. In 1854, the British Government recognised the Transvaal or South African Republic, and in 1881 a fresh Convention was agreed to by which the Boers were confirmed in full possession of the land, subject to the recognition of the British suzerainty. The flag of the Transvaal Government is shown in Fig. 253.

Now have we journeyed the whole world over and found in every land the emblems of nationality and patriotism. Unfamiliar as many of these may appear to us, they each represent a symbol endeared to thousands or hundreds of thousands of hearts, and thus are they full of warm human interest. For these various strips of gaily-coloured bunting, men have given without hesitation their lives, have poured out blood and treasure without stint or count of cost, and wherever they encounter them the wide world over, the wanderers forget for a while the alien sh.o.r.e or waste of ocean as their thoughts turn to the dear homeland.

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CHAPTER V.

Flags as a Means of Signalling--Army Signalling--the Morse Alphabet--Navy Signalling--First Attempts at Sea Signals--Old Signal Books in Library of Royal United Service Inst.i.tution--"England expects that every man will do his duty"--Sinking Signal Codes on defeat--Present System of Signalling in Royal Navy--Pilot Signals--Weather Signalling by Flags--the International Signal Code--First Published in 1857--Seventy-eight Thousand different Signals possible--Why no Vowels used--Lloyd's Signal Stations.

We propose in this, our final chapter, to deal with the use of flags as a means of signalling; a branch of the subject by no means wanting either in interest or in practical value.

The flags used for army signalling are only two in number if we consider their design, though, as each of these is made in two sizes, the actual outfit consists of four flags. The large size is three feet square, and the smaller is two feet square; the larger sizes are clearly more visible, but on the other hand the smaller save weight and consequently labour; and with good manipulation and clear weather their messages can be followed by observers, with ordinary service telescopes, up to a distance of twelve miles or so. The poles are respectively five feet six inches long and three feet six inches, and the flags themselves are either white with a blue horizontal stripe across the centre, or wholly blue. Only one flag is used at a time, the first being used when the background is dark and the second when light, so as to ensure under all circ.u.mstances the greatest visibility.

The person sending the signals should hold the flag pointing upwards to the left, and with the pole making an angle of about 25, with an imaginary vertical line pa.s.sing down the centre of his body. The signals are based upon the dot and dash system of Morse. The dot or short stroke is made by waving the flag from the normal position to the corresponding point on the right hand, while for the dash or long stroke the flag is waved till the head of the pole nearly touches the ground.

The Morse alphabet is so constructed that the letters of most frequent occurrence are represented by the shortest symbols, and no letter requires more than four of these for its expression, while figures are all represented by five signs. {128}

The letters of the alphabet are thus represented:--

A - A (ae) -- B - C -- D - E F - G -- H I J --- K -- L - M -- N - O --- O (oe) --- P -- Q --- R - S T - U - U (ue) -- V - W -- X -- Y --- Z -- Ch ----

The following code is adopted to represent figures:--

1 ---- 2 --- 3 -- 4 - 5 6 - 7 -- 8 --- 9 ---- 0 -----

A s.p.a.ce about equal in length to the dash is left between each letter, and a time interval of about three times the duration between each word. This alphabet, once learned, it is evident can be utilized in many ways.

Steamers, by means of short and long whistles, can spell out messages to each other; seamen, across a harbour, can communicate by waving their arms; prisoners by opening and shutting their hands. It is also utilised in the light-flashes of the heliograph, in telegraphy again, and in various other directions.

Cla.s.ses are held at the School of Army Signalling at Aldershot, and from thence the knowledge permeates the Army and the Auxiliary Forces.[84] The requirements are steadiness, intelligence, quickness of eye-sight and of action, and the power to spell correctly; and it takes a man from fifteen to twenty days, at five hours drill a day, to learn the alphabet and the proper manipulation of the flags. The standard of efficiency is ten words a minute with the large flag or sixteen with the small. If our readers will take the trouble to count the letters in the first sixteen words in this present sentence they {129} will find that they are sixty-nine in number, and they will further find, if they take the additional trouble to translate these letters into Morse, that it will take 105 dots and 60 dashes to do it. Our readers will probably then go on to conclude that as it takes one hundred and sixty-five motions of the flag, plus sixty-eight intervals between the letters to signal these sixteen words, a speed of ten words a minute is a very creditable performance either for the sender to work off or for the receiver to read.

Besides the ordinary spelling out of the words, various arbitrary signs are used, thus a continued succession of dots is used to call attention to the fact that a message is going to be sent, and a series of dashes ------ means that it is finished. G means "go on," R is a request to "move more to the right" and L to "shift a little to the left"; B means "use the blue flag," and W "use the white flag," K.Q is "say when you are ready,"

F.I means that figures are coming, and F.F indicates that the figures are finished. Those who have to receive the message may see that the background behind the transmitter is not quite satisfactory for the due observation of the flags, and they may then flash back H or O, meaning either "higher up"

or "lower down," as the case may be, and in case of any misunderstanding, they will signal I.M.I, which means "please repeat," and as soon as all is clear, they will signal R.T, meaning "all right."

As our man-of-war's-men are also instructed in this system of signalling, communication can be established during an expedition between the ships and the troops on sh.o.r.e. The signal for communication is a white pendant with two black X.X on it. Should this special flag not be forthcoming, the X.X ---- (see code of letters) is flashed at night or waved by the flag by day, and as soon as the preparative dots have been acknowledged, the message is dispatched. When the message is of a general character, nothing more need be done, but when it is intended for a particular vessel, the communication is preceded by the special sign apportioned to that vessel.

Though the Morse system has its place, as we have seen, in the drill of our blue-jackets, it does not altogether meet naval requirements. A man waving flags on board ship would be a scarcely conspicuous enough object, and intermediate vessels in a squadron would block out all view of him from those farthest off, hence naval communications are ordinarily made by means of flags exhibited from the mast head or other clearly visible position.

Instead of one flag being used, our men-of-war have over forty, and these are all conspicuously distinct from each other. The messages are not spelt out, as in land operations, but the flags are used in various combinations, and the meaning of the signal is found by reference to a {130} code-book.