Ladies and gentlemen it's your friend mike brady from ocean liner designs now if you've ever
looked closely at photographs of titanic and her sister ship olympic in around 1911 or 1912 you've
probably noticed that there are a lot of different flags flying from the ship at different times now
the flying of flags on ships can be for purely ceremonial or decorative reasons as dictated by
traditions or it can be for more regulated reasons or perhaps mandated by an authority
like the government or the board of trade so today why don't we have a look around the flags
that titanic flew and get an understanding of why she carried them in the first place
first of all the largest flag carried by the titanic and probably its most distinctive
and well known was the blue ensign flying on the stern of the ship this is actually a derivative of
the red ensign which is a british merchant flag nicknamed the red duster this is a flag carried
and flown by all british merchant ships since 1801 with previous versions dating back to about 1620.
the dusters are flown from the stern of a ship if its port of registry is
in britain as in the case of titanic the blue ensign was issued and flown if the captain and
at least 10 other officers or ratings of the ship were members of the royal naval
reserve in titanic's case this included captain edward john smith who held the rank of commander
chief officer henry wilde who was a lieutenant first officer william murdoch who was also a
lieutenant second officer charles lightoller a sub lieutenant and so on because of this titanic flew
the blue ensign during daylight hours these flags were huge about 15 feet long and six feet high
here i am for scale there are about four of these flags carried on the titanic for frequent rotation
to avoid the inevitable wear and tear next probably the most iconic flag flown on the
titanic was the house flag of the white star line this was a crimson red burgee a swallowtail burgee
which is a type of flag and featured a scented white star in the middle of it now this identified
the ship's operators and owners the oceanic steam navigation company aka the white star
line the flag was actually surprisingly big it looks really small in photographs but in
reality it was about six feet tall by nine feet long the flag was flown on halyards which are
a type of rope on ships intended for raising flags sails letters and the like attached to
the main mast which is the mast towards the stern of the ship it was actually only flown
during daylight hours from eight am to sunset when it was hauled down and stored overnight
meanwhile up on the foremast things were a little bit different because a number of
different flags were flown here including the united states ensign and the french ensign now
this was actually a courtesy flag flown as a mark of respect because when a ship enters the harbour
of a foreign country it's actually considered quite uh disrespectful and something of an insult
to not fly the flag of that country during daylight hours now the titanic in her
day-to-day operations was expected to visit the waters of two foreign nations that is of course
france when she stopped at sherborg and the united states when she arrived in new york
harbor interestingly though titanic flew the stars and stripes when she left southampton to mark out
her ultimate destination but this flag was hauled down just after she left titanic briefly flew the
french ensign at sherborg before sunset and then at queenstown ireland which was her last landfall
she was flying the stars and stripes again and the flag was hauled down before she left
just below the house flag you would have found the royal mail and the u.s
mail flags titanic was a carrier of british royal mail and united states mail and as such
she was entitled to carry flags to denote this status when docking or departing these flags
would have flown low down from halyards on the main mast but only while she was in port
meanwhile up at the very tip of the bow there was actually a space to fly a very special ceremonial
flag this flag was known as the pilot jack and it was originally used back in the day
to summon a pilot who would be able to guide that ship through unfamiliar waters
when entering a harbour for example by titanic's day the flag had actually been superseded
by an internationally recognised signal flag so this was actually still flown but only for
ceremonial purposes the pilot jack is essentially just the british union jack surrounded by a thick
white border and it was kept for special occasions such as when the ship was dressed
dressing the ship involved rigging dozens of colourful signal flags along the ship's entire
length for decorative special events titanic was briefly dressed on april 4 for her first arrival
in southampton flag lines were rigged from stem to stern and at her foremast the blue
ensign was flown while at the very tip of the bow the pilot jack could be seen
there's actually a very small hole at the very tip or prow of the ship where the jack staff or
flagpole could be fitted and this was the jack star from which the pilot jack would be flown
titanic also carried a full set of signal flags intended for communications with nearby ships
there is an entire alphabet of these which can be combined to spell out individual words letter
by letter but sometimes flying only one of these flags can convey a special meaning the
flag for the letter p was also known as the blue peter and this was a flag which when
flown by itself indicated that all people should report aboard the ship as soon as possible
that it was about ready to depart titanic probably flew this at southampton just before she left
now between the foremast and the first funnel was rigged a heavy line so that halyards could be run
from the bridge and this is where the signal flags would be flown from titanic and olympic
both had their own special distinguishing signal as well this was a four-letter code
which would be flown from the bridge halyards to identify the ship to another ship or shore station
titanics was hvmp olympics hsrp and britannic jmdk although i don't think i've seen any
photographs of the ships actually flying these flags it would have been quite a rare event
and probably just a haulover from before the days of uh wireless telegraphy communication
so there you have it while at ce titanic probably only flew the blue ensign at her stern during
daylight hours and no other flags meaning that on the night she sank she would probably
have been totally flagless titanic adhered to the flag protocols of her day and many of these are
actually still in place if you see a british ship in port today she will probably still be flying
the red duster ladies and gentlemen it's your friend mike brady from ocean liner
designs thank you so much for watching i hope you enjoyed the video if you did like and subscribe
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