A NEW AND IMPROVED SYSTEM OF SIGNALS; FIRST, POR COMMUNICATING BY DAY, BY MEANS OF FLAGS AND PENDANTS, BETWEEN SHIPS AT SEA OR OTHER OBJECTS FAR DISTANT FROM EACH OTHER, IN WHICH SYSTEM THE COLOURS OF THE FLAGS AND PENDANTS, WHICH HAVE HERE- TOPORE SERVED TO DISTINGUISH THE SIGNALS ONE FROM ANOTHER, AND WHICH, BY DISTANCE OR OTHER CAUSES, ARE EXTREMELY SUBJECT TO BE MISTAKEN, MAY
Year: 1827

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, HENRY
RAPER, of Baker Street, in the Parish of Saint Mary-le-bone, in the County
of Middlesex, a Rear Admiral in the Royal Navy, sends greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-first day of June, in the eighth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Henry Raper, His especial licence that I, the said Henry Raper,
my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Raper,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at
all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also within His Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, my Invention of "A NEW AND IMPROVED SYSTEM OF
SIGNALS; FIRST, POR COMMUNICATING BY DAY, BY MEANS OF FLAGS AND PENDANTS,
BETWEEN SHIPS AT SEA OR OTHER OBJECTS FAR DISTANT FROM EACH OTHER, IN
WHICH SYSTEM THE COLOURS OF THE FLAGS AND PENDANTS, WHICH HAVE HERE-
TOPORE SERVED TO DISTINGUISH THE SIGNALS ONE FROM ANOTHER, AND WHICH,
BY DISTANCE OR OTHER CAUSES, ARE EXTREMELY SUBJECT TO BE MISTAKEN, MAY

page_text: BE DISPENSED WITH ALTOGETHER; AND, SECONDLY, FOR COMMUNICATING BY NIGHT
BETWEEN SHIPS AT SEA AND OTHER OBJECTS PAR DISTANT FROM EACH OTHER, BY
MEANS OF LIGHTS, AND WHICH SYSTEM OF SIGNALS IS MORE CONSPICUOUS, EXPE-
DITIOUS, AND CERTAIN, THAN ANY WHICH HAS HITHERTO BEEN EMPLOYED FOR THE
LIKE PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso
obliging me, the said Henry Raper, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the
same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Raper, do hereby declare that the nature of my Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, is described and ascertained as
follows, that is to say :-
The principal peculiarities of this system consist in,-1st, the classing of the
signals according to their significations, and distinguishing the classes from each
other by combinations of flags and pendants; and, 2nd, when colours are not
visible, the employment of the distant signals by which they are made to express
every signal, and even the telegraph. These signals are numeral, and are for the
first time classed under distinct heads, such as movements of the fleet, signals
to chasing ships, signals by chasing ships, engaging compass signals, distress,
ships' numbers, telegraph, &c., and every signal is numbered in its respective
class. Each class is distinguished by an appropriate combination of flags and
pendants, by which means the most conspicuous combinations are adapted to the
signals of the most importance, such as signals for engaging, chasing, distress;
and the colours of the flags and pendants which compose each combination
point out the number each signal bears in its particular class. Eleven flags
and eleven pendants are required. See Examples 1 and 2 in the margin.
Experience may improve these forms, but the colours are of little importance,
as will be shewn further on. The Examples 3, 4, 5, and 6, in the margin, will
illustrate the principle of this system. It is evident that whenever a flag can
be distinguished from a pendant a signal to a chasing ship cannot be mistaken
for a movement of the fleet, nor can either of these be mistaken for a signal made
by a chasing ship, or for the number of a ship on the list of the Navy; and the
same reasoning applies to all the other combinations. Therefore, as the class
of the signal still continues to be conspicuous after the colours of it fail (as in
the examples 5 and 6), the number the signal bears in its class remains

page_text: only to be pointed out. For this purpose a ball is to be shewn by the ship
addressed, to denote that the number of the signal is not made out; on which
the ship which made the signal is to haul it down, and then represent its number
by the following distant signals, which differ from all former distant signals
by having no specific meaning in themselves, but only expressing the number
of the signal in the class which has been previously pointed out by the
combination. See the distant signals, Example 7 in the margin.
The flags and pendants set forth in Examples 1 and 2 may be used for the
distant signals, or, if convenient, others may be formed of old bunting or any
other material; and any symbol of a circular surface may be used for the
ball. A ball or circular symbol is peculiarly adapted to express that the
distant signals must be used, as it cannot be mistaken for any other symbol,
and also as it does not come into use as a distant signal until after it has shewn
the necessity of employing them; while the distant signals now employed are
not only so complicated that they are rarely resorted to, but the signal which
directs them to be used is composed of three flags (instead of one symbol
only, as in this system), which of course ceases to be available as soon as
colours fail, and, consequently, at the very instant when it ought to be most
effective. Should any doubt arise as to the combination itself the ship
addressed is to shew a wheft at a mast head, on which endeavours are to be
made by the ship making the signal to render the combination more
conspicuous; but should she fail in so doing the ship addressed will again
shew the wheft, and the signal will then be denoted by the distant signals by
shewing the number of the page of the signal book and the number of the
signal in that page. By these resources, hitherto unattempted, double means
are obtained of preventing mistakes. The distant signals may be hoisted
where most convenient, observing only that the tens are to be more elevated
than the units, and the hundreds more elevated than the tens.
Telegraph Signals. The telegraph is only to be employed to convey
information which, not having been anticipated, cannot be found in the signal
book. It is made with the same flags and pendants as the other signals, and
is of two kinds: the first formed of two flags and two pendants, producing
four combinations. See Examples 8, 9, 10; and 11, in the margin. Each
combination denotes a series of one hundred pages of a dictionary previously
agreed upon. The two upper symbols denote their number the particular
page in that series, and in like manner the two lower denote the word in
that page; therefore the signal denoting the page may for convenience be
separated from that denoting the word, observing only that it must be more
elevated. Thus forty thousand numbers are obtained, and, as the English

page_text: language does not contain so many, a sufficient number remains for sentences
or any other purposes. The second telegraph is composed of a pendant
combined with two flags, or a flag combined with two pendants (except the
combination of a flag above two pendants), which is appropriated to show
ships numbers (see Example 6), and thus produces five thousand numbers,
which is more than can be found necessary for professional purposes; but as
it requires a vocabulary arranged on purpose, and as the flags and pendants
cannot, as in the former telegraph, be shown in different places without being
sometimes liable to be mistaken for other signals, the former plan is deemed
most eligible. The communications by the telegraph may, if requisite, be
expressed by the distant signals in the same manner as the other signals.
This is, on important occasions, a resource which has not been hitherto
deemed attainable.
The following example will fully illustrate the manner of making signals by
this system-A ship having important intelligence for the admiral, on first
seeing the fleet, to make herself known shews her number on the list of the
Navy (556, for example) by hoisting the flag No. 5 over the pendants Nos. 5
and 6, (a flag over two pendants being the combination assigned to denote the
"List of the Navy." (See Example 6.) The ship nearest to her, unable from
distance, the state of the atmosphere, or other causes, to discover the colours of
the signal, sees the form only of it, as shewn in Example 12 in the margin.
Instead, therefore, of losing time in useless attempts to make out the colours,
or waiting until they become visible by the stranger advancing towards her, as
has of necessity been hitherto the case for want of a distinctive quality inde-
pendent of colours similar to that which is here adopted, immediately hoists a
ball, on which the stranger hauls down her signal, and represents its number
by the distant signals, as in Example 13 in the margin, and proceeds to
telegraph her intelligence in the manner already explained. Thus ships may
recognize each other much sooner and with greater certainty than by the
"private signal of the day;" for it has been known than an enemy has success-
fully used the private signal when he would have betrayed himself by shewing
ship's number. To these advantages it may be added, that this system pro-
duces a saving of more than one half the expence of the code now employed,
which employs 48 flags and pendants, while 22 only are here required. This
economy adapts it peculiarly to the merchant service, which has hitherto in a
great measure been debarred from the use of signals by the great expense
attending them; and, in fact, the expense of employing this system may be
reduced to almost nothing by employing the distant signals only. The numbers
of the flags and pendants and the significations of the classes may be changed
a

page_text: at pleasure, even in the presence of an enemy possessed of the signal book,
without his being able to obtain the smallest knowledge of the alteration.
The night signals are also divided into classes. Class 1st, signals for general
purposes, shewn by one long blue light. Class 2nd, signals for engaging,
shewn by one short blue light. Class 3rd, signals for chasing, shewn by
rockets. There are two modes of making the numbers in the two first classes
of the night signals-1st; by lanterns combined with blue lights when the
weather is favorable for their being seen; and 2nd, by blue lights only when
the weather is unfavorable for lanterns. 1st, by lanterns with blue lights :-
No. 1, two lanterns horizontal. No. 2, two lanterns horizontal after a long
blue light. No. 3, two lanterns horizontal before a long blue light. No. 4,
two lanterns horizontal after a short blue light. No. 5, two lanterns horizontal
before a short blue light. No. 6, two lanterns vertical. No. 7, two lanterns
vertical after a long blue light. No. 8, two lanterns vertical before a long
blue light. No. 9, two lanterns vertical after a short blue light. No. 0, two
lanterns vertical before a short blue light. 2nd, by blue lights only:-No. 1,
a short blue light. No. 2, two short blue lights, quick time. No. 3, two
short blue lights, slow time. No. 4, one short and one long blue light, quick
time. No. 5, one short and one long blue light, slow time. No. 6, a long
blue light. No. 7, one long blue light and one long blue light, quick time.
No. 8, one long blue light and one long blue light, slow time. No. 9, one long
and one short blue light, quick time. No. 0, one long and one short blue
light, slow time. Note, quick time is an interval of five seconds; slow time
is an interval of the quarter of a minute glass.
It is not intended to confine this system of signals to the combinations, to
the colours or forms of flags and pendants, to the particular use of the ball and
wheft, or to the particular numbers of the night signals herein set forth; the
signification, form, colour, and use of these respectively may be varied as con-
venient, and they are only particularized here to illustrate the examples given
of the principles of this system, viz., the classification of signals, the distant
representation of each class, the use of a distant signal to show that colours are
not visible, and to direct the employment of the distant signals, and the general
application of the distant signals to every class.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Raper, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirteenth day of August, One thousand eight hundred
and twenty-seven.
HENRY (L.S.) RAPER.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourteenth day of August, in
the year of our Lord 1827, the aforesaid Henry Raper came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Fourteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven.