Nelson & His World

On the Sam Sutton thread, there is a picture of a red ensign that I thought might be Sam's admiral's flag - but this is not so.

Kester suggested that it might be the ensign of Sam's last ship. I thought the red ensign was the flag of the British Merchant fleet. Did RN ships ever fly the red ensign? In what circumstances? When did it become the ensign of the merchant fleet?

Who was entitled to fly a 'pennant'? Nelson had one as a Commodore. Was this something peculiar to this status?

The Royal Navy used the white, blue and red ensigns from the mid-17th century; which flag used depended on the Admiral commanding. Squadrons were ranked in order red (senior), white and blue.

This situation of 'squadronal colours' continued until 1864 when it was discarded. After this, it was ruled that Red ensigns would be allocated to merchant vessels; white to the RN and blue to auxiliaries and other government offices.

Pennants ( often spelled as Pendant in the Navy - but always pronounced as 'pennant') - are used for a variety of purposes.

Every RN ship wears a narrow 'Commissioning Pennant' when in commission; when paying off (being taken out of commission) a VERY long pennant is flown, known as .... 'the Paying Off Pennant'


There is also a 'broad pennant' - this is a swallow tailed flag used as the distinguishing flag of a Commodore. Up to 1864 it was in the colour of the squadron, but since then has been white with a broad red cross

Anna,

It might also be worth pointing out that the Red Ensign was also the flag of the Merchant Navy from 1674, by order of Charles ll, but was actually in use by them before that date. The first quarter, or canton, bore the St George's cross on a white field, but this of course changed to the first Union Flag of 1707, then the second in 1801. This usage might in part be the reason that it reverted to merchant use in 1864.

I suppose this might seem confusing to the layman, but of course to a seaman of the time the differences between a warship and a merchant vessel were relatively easy to spot, regardless of the ensign worn. The warship's commissioning pennant would have been one means of identification. (The guns might be another seemingly obvious one, but merchant ships such as Indiamen also carried guns).

One point about the Red Ensign as worn by naval vessels was, I believe, that it was also flown by a warship when not forming part of a squadron, and when on detached service as being the Navy's senior ensign. The commissioning pennant of such a vessel had a St. George's flag in the hoist, but was striped horizontally red, white and blue in the fly.