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.
_________________ Kester.
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