The Portland daily press., 1898-05-11
FLAGS ON A MAN-OF-WAR.
The Fighting Goes On Until the Nationa
Ensign Comes Down for Good.
New York SUM-

q man-of-war who, by his action in pull
ing down the enemys' flag during bat
tie, gained a victory for his commander.
The story illustrates the value of the ma
tional flag in naval action, and how
much depends upon the sailors seeing it
flying from the masthead above them. 1t
was just at the beginning of battle be-
tween two ships that the cabin boy, who
had never been in a fight, asked one of
the sailors how long it would take the en-
envy to surrender, and what his own ship
would have to do to beat the other.
s'Do you see that?" asked the sailor,
pointing to the flag which was flying
from the masthead of the other ship.
'tAs long as that is flying the other fel.
lows will fight, but when it comes down
they will stop and their ship will sur
render
The cabin boy was too small to fight,
but he made up his mind to get the flag
for his Captain. During the battle, when
the ships were lashed together, he crawled
on board the enemy's vessel, and while
the sailors were busy fighting climbed the
rope ladder which ran up the mast, and,
pulling the flag from its place, wrapped
it around his body and carried it back
to his own ship. The sailors were fight
ing bravely, until one, looking up and
seeing that the flag was gone, cried out
to his companions that 1.-THE Captain had
pulled down the flag, and there was no
use fighting longer. The men threw
down their arms, and the mistake was
not discovered until it was too late, for
the cabin boys comrades had seized the
ship.
The flag of bis country is what every
sailor and soldier throughout the world
fights for during battle; when the flag
is gone they lose heart and give up easily.
Some of the brayest deeds have been in
defence Of the flag, and to get it back
again when the enemy have captured it.
Wien u ship goes into battle the national
Tag is run up to the.Emasthead, the high
est point on The vessel, where it flies
until the engagement is over. Sometimes,
whom the other ship is the stronger, or it's
sailors fight better, and the captain sees
that he is bea ion, he pulls down his flag
to show the enemy that he has had
enough and wants to surrender. This
act is called Striking the colors.'' 1t is
usual thing to run up white Gag in
tho place OF the one which has been
hauled down, but often the simple act of
. sJri liking the colors is enough to end q
} battle. So long as the captain of ship
! sees any flag except white one flying
p from the eneny's vessel he will continue
to fire upon it, for it is a sign that the
I "
to light longer.
Sometimes, during a naval battle, the
ropes which hold the flag are shot away,
but in such cases there are always some
brave sailors who will climb the mast
and put another in its place. During
the Revolutionary war, when the ship
commanded by Paul Jones was tighting
an English vessel, the American flag was
shot away and fell overheard into the
water. One of the sailors who saw it fall
jumped after it, and although he was
r wounded SWAN with 1t back to the ship.
= mast again. When the flag went over
beavd the Englishmen began to cheer, for
they thought that Paul Jones had sur
rendered, but when they saw it flying
from The masthead once more they
changed their minds, and finally sur
renderedsthem selves. The action of the
wounded sailor in jumping into the water
fight all the harder.
Every one who has read American his
tory knows about the battle of Lake Erie
and OF how Commodore Perry carried the
flag from his sinking ship and hoisted it
upon another. When the English captain
saw Perry going in a rowboat from the
sinking ship with the flag thrown over
= his shoulder, he ordered his sailors tc
p sink the boat SO that the flag could not
be hoisted ,at the masthead of another
American vessel He knew that if the
American sailors saw that their flag was
lost they would lose heart and surrender
and as he expected, when they saw the
flag flying again they worked the harder
and finally beat all his ships.
a snip going into action carries seyera
fiegs: the national colors, which are
hoiE5ed in the most prominent place; the
U-ion jack, the pennant, which is a
long. narrow streamer flying from the
masthead, and q set OF signal flags which
are used to send messages from one shil
to another. When a squadron of vessel:
under an Admiral goes into a fight thu
flagship dies, besides the other flags men
toned, one which denotes the rank of tha
officer. In the old days, when war yes
sells were made of wood and had thret
nlasts, most OF the flags were hoisted tt
the top of these lnasts. Nowadays, how
ever, many of our fighting ships hay,
only one mast, and several flags may be-
boosted upon that, but the Stars and
stripas are always at the top. Sometime
flag is hoisted at thu end of the yard
arm, usually IN the case of signal flags.
When the squadron is waiting for thu
enemys' ships and they are sighted, thu
singal prepare for action" is run up OF
the flagship. During all the naval wars
it has been the custom for the captain.
of naval vessels to have Oh board the flag
of ether countries besides their own, and
frequently one OF these flags is used t.
advantage. During one of the long ma
val wars between England and some q
the OF r European countries the captain
Il small English war vessel sighted sew
eEe1 big French men-ot-war, which, die
they atates him. would have either sunL
or captured his vessel France and Spair
were fighting against England, so he
made haste 10 pull down the British fae
AMI rup up in its stead a Spanish one