Ever been out on deck on a cruise ship with numerous multi-coloured flags flapping around and actually stopped to consider what they mean? The flying of various flags on ships today is part of the cruise industries heritage and tradition. Flags are essentially a communication tool, despite technology that surpassed...
Ever been out on deck on a cruise ship with
numerous multi-coloured flags flapping around
and actually stopped to consider what they mean?
The flying of various flags on ships today is
part of the cruise industries heritage and tradition.
Flags are essentially a communication tool, despite
technology that surpassed their use many years ago.
Put simply, flags indicate “who I am, where I’m
from and what I’m doing”.
Originally used to confirm where the ship was
from, ships venturing into foreign ports would
not only fly the flag of their home country but also
the flag of the country whose waters were being
entered to indicate their intentions as “friendly”.
In addition to announcing where a ship is from,
forty colourful flags represent a total communications
system with specific meanings that were
developed by international agreement in 1902.
Twenty six flags indicate each letter of the
alphabet, ten of them represent numerals from 0
– 9, one is set aside specifically for “answering”
and there are three substitutes.
A few examples of flags and their meanings
include….
The half red, half white flag represents the letter
“H” or well known in the travel industry as “Hotel”.
When flying, this means there is a pilot on
board as a ship is entering or leaving a port.
A flag with a white square against a dark blue
background, “P”, indicates the ship will be
pushing off within 24 hours.
A flag on its own with descending blue, white
and red squares, “W” indicates a medical
emergency onboard.
If you ever see the diagonally divided red and
yellow flag “O”, flying on its own, have a look
over the side, as this means “man overboard”!!
