Nelson & His World

Below is a link to the website of the Lord Nelson Inn in Burnham Thorpe. It lists a collection of memorabilia in a museum in Santa Cruz including a flag from the frigate Emerald. The name of the ship is emblazoned on the flag, which, incidentally, looks a trifle odd to me. Is this flag all it is claimed to be? And was it usual to add the name of the ship to its flag? Any comments?

http://www.nelsonslocal.co.uk/ (Click on 'About Nelson' in the left hand column and scroll down to see the flag)

Anna,

I saw this flag a few years ago when I visited Santa Cruz, where it looked authentic enough to me (and I can't really see the Spanish going to all the trouble of making such a flag!) The design would seem unusual to us now, but either the flag regulations were not so rigidly layed down then as they are now (which I find hard to believe) or, which I think perhaps more likely, the flag was made at the time. It was perhaps produced by the ship's sailmaker who added the name of the ship, I believe in paint, presumably for identification purposes and as a rallying point. I would imagine that similar flags may have been made for the other ship's parties, but that these have been lost.

The main feature about it of course is that the diagonal cross of St Andrew incorrectly joins with the vertical bar of the St George's cross, rather than the to horizontal one, which is the accepted form. Perhaps he had a temporary mental block, when he reached that point?

There is at least one other similar flag, but with no name, which flew from Howe's flagship the Queen Charlotte, at the Glorious 1st June in 1794. It has just been restored by the NMM, and there was actually an article about it in their recent newsletter. The article mentioned that it is a 'very rare' example of a pre-1801 Union pattern (ie. without the St Patrick's cross) and also that it is 'very irregular', but it gave no other explanations for the design. Howe's flag is of course far larger, at 4.0m x 5.81m!

Btw, the exhibition in the Almeida Fortress in Santa Cruz is well worth a visit, and of course a 'must' for Nelson fans, if you go to Tenerife.

Here is Howe’s union flag: http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/explor ... ID=AAA0730

Howe’s flag and the Emerald’s flag have exactly the same incorrect alignment of the St Andrew’s cross that Kester refers to.

However I think the Lord Nelson pub web page is incorrect in saying that the Emerald’s flag was hoisted on the Tower of San Cristobal. It looks as though the museum has two flags, and it was the other that was hoisted on the castle. The Emerald’s flag was taken from one of the boats involved in the landing.

Here are the two flags:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28220982@N ... 321771879/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28220982@N ... 321771879/

See also half way down this page: http://www.canariascoleccion.com/SECCIO ... LMEIDA.htm

I get the impression that the Emerald's flag is very much smaller than the one flown from the castle (which also has a much more regular design). As the Emerald's flag was taken from one of the boats, I wonder whether perhaps it was not the ship's flag, but, similar to Kester's suggestion, one made to be hoisted on the captain's barge, which may be why it has the name on it? This is just a guess, so any other views?

Tony,

I'm sure you are right and that it was far more likely that the larger of the two flags was hoisted from San Christobel. I'm not at all sure either that the British felt that 'victorious', according to the Lord Nelson's description – or at least not for long!

Three years ago the flag was restored at a cost of 52,000 euros , so let's hope it is!

http://driza.blogspot.com/2007/07/se-pr ... erald.html