Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1870-06-09
From Little Corporal.
SIGNALING AT SEA.
BA An OLD NAVIGATOR.

Z " bnb lAHAoudll1 NllO 10 III ~
cry. day intercourse with his fellow
man, it will appear strange that we,
who are sometimes for weeks and
months confined on board ship at
sea, can communicate with passing
ships on the lonely waste ofwaters,
both asking and answering ques-
tions, as well as if speaking to them
by word Of mouth. This is done
by means Of flags; and when the
colors and numbers Of the different
flags are understood, it is a very
amusing and instructive recreation.
1 Very ludicrous mistakes are some
times made, but very rarely. These
mistakes happen throHgh hosting
the wrong flags, or by foreigners
not understanding their use plor-
erly, The flags are numbered from
one Il J to the cypher COY, nothing,
forlnstance. No. l is a square,
white flag with small blue square
in the center No. . is 4 blue,
white, and blue longitudinally. No.
3 is square flag, one-half white
and the other half red. No, 1 is a
swallow tailed flag, blue ground,
with a white cross in the middle; /;
and so on.
Four of these flags in line are
hoisted, say 4, 8, l, D, which, on re-
ferring to the book Of signals
mean, What ship is that? ?" The
ship you are asking may be seven
or eight miles of but with good
spyglass, the flags are easily dis
tinguished. She answers by hoist
ing 4, 6, l, ,, with a small pennant
above. On referring to the book
you find her name to be the Amer
lea" You then hoist 3, Q, 0, 2:
"From what port, and where bound
to 7" She answers with four flags,
as before, and what is called rem
devious flag, above What is your
longitude? answered in degrees
and miles, with u small flag be-
tween the degrees and miles and
SO on.
Almost any question can be
asked and answered, as Have you
had bad weather? Can you spare
me any provisions? Ny crew arc
sick. | have fever on board
Heayc to, and | will send a boat
on board. And some hundreds of
other questions and answers can
he made by merely transposing the
flags. And while sailing in compa-
NY with ship OF the same speed, it
relieves the tedious monotony Of a
long passage, to be expert in the
use Of the signals, the nignal books
being translated into all thcs differ
ent European languages Of all mar
atime nations, the numbers and
colors of the flags Of course re-
naming the same.
Two years ago, while i'll com
mand Of n very dull sailing vessel,
from Marseilles to New York, l
had very long passage Of one
hundred days, and during that time
my bread and other provisions
ran short at sea. By the use OF
these signals to passing vessels, l
was several times supplied by
them, until l at last reached New
York, my crew, as well as myself,
pretty much worn out.
l will relate to my young read
ers a ludicrous mistake made by a
French ship, in company with me,
once. l was bound from the Bra
zils to Liverpool, while master OF
the bark Cherokee. The winds
were very light near the Western
Islands, when a French bark came
sailing up, and soon passed the
! Cherokee, bound for France. About
a week after, on Sunday morning,
the winds being still light, though
favorable, we deserted vessel not
far off, when l ordered the signals
to be brought on deck, and hoist
ed 4, 8, l, 0, "What ship is that ?'
Four flags were hoisted in answer
but without any pennant, or dis
tinguishing flag above. On look
ing at the signal book, to our as
tonishment, we found the answer
for his four flags was, II am in a
sinking state" Immediately
called all hands and bore away to
his assistance. On coming near
we recognized the Frenchman who
had passed us q week before and
the captain, hailing me, called out
in good English, II will come on
board"
His boat was lowered, and he
was soon on board the Cherokee.
A fine, lively, gentlemanly captain
was this Frenchman. We spoke
about the light winds and fine
weather we had had, and it ap-
peared that he had been becalmed
for two days before we came up
with him again. | called his at
tention to the four flags that were
still flying from his peak, and on
looking at the book, he at once
perceived the mistake that had
been made by emitting the distin-
gushing pennant, or fifth flag
which is always used for the names
of vessels.
We had q hearty laugh over the
mistake, when he invited me on
board to dinner / went on board
of his boat, and found his
vessel a model of neatness and
cleanliness. He showed me the
! ct,,.. g a. 7 oor,o,, of Honor IoTa-