Association Forum - Flag Etiquette

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Flag Etiquette

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

djn
Master Marine Consultant

Member Avatar

USA
1561 Posts

Initially Posted - 11/19/2006 : 10:31:18

Hi All, I lifted this from our Clinton River Catalina Association newsletter. It is interesting and thought it might be of interest. Cheers.

Flag Etiquette

At the last general membership meeting this subject was raised. In an effort to clarify I offer the following guidelines. Please note that there are few actual legal requirements. Most of Flag Etiquette is just that, etiquette. This information is for sailboats and are quotes from various sources.

¡ö Rule No. 1¡ªThere are no real rules. Customs observed in various foreign waters differ from each other. We¡¯ve seen cases where not flying or flying a courtesy flag improperly causes some awkward moments; you may be regarded as impolite, but nothing more. In others, it¡¯s local law to fly the flag. Officials can¡ªand do¡ªimpound passports or assess fines until the proper flag¡ªwhich, of course, can only be purchased locally at great expense¡ªis flying on board. If in doubt, inquire of other cruisers and observe other craft from your country for guidance.

¡ö Do not fly a courtesy flag until your vessel is properly cleared by customs and immigration. Until clearance is complete, fly the yellow Q (quarantine) flag.

¡ö On a sailboat, the courtesy flag is flown at the starboard spreader. If the sailboat has more than one mast, the courtesy flag is flown from the starboard spreader of the forward mast.

¡ö Don¡¯t fly a foreign courtesy flag after you return to U. S. waters. It may show that you¡¯ve ¡°been there,¡± but it¡¯s not proper etiquette.

¡ö NATIONAL FLAG - This flag denotes the nationality of boat or her owner. On a sloop-rigged sailboat a national flag is to be flown, if possible, 2/3 up the backstay, not at the transom on a flagstaff. Flying a flag at the transom is for a powerboat.

¡ö Use the following rule to proportion a national flag to your vessel -1" of flag length per foot LOA.

¡ö It is bad etiquette to leave a national flag hoisted while the vessel is unattended

¡ö No flag ¡ª state, heritage, Confederate, pirate, gag or otherwise ¡ª except for the vessel¡¯s national flag, should EVER fly from the stern of your vessel. This is considered a place of honor, for the vessel¡¯s national flag and no other.

Our ¡°foreign¡± country, Canada, is not particularly fussy about flag etiquette. At least they¡¯re not in our area. Still there should be little reason not to observe a few simple courtesies.

Ted Wing ¡°Bear Paws¡±

Dennis
No Boat
S.E. Michigan

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 11/19/2006 : 12:08:29

Good info--thanks! Now I'll have to get the details for the "other" type of boat...

Edited by - on

mhartong
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
152 Posts

Response Posted - 11/19/2006 : 15:37:50

The display of national flags on the high seas is regulated by customary international law, articles 90-94 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (to which the United States is not a party), and article 5 of the 1958 Geneva Convention on the High Seas, "each State shall fix the conditions for the grant of its nationality to ships, for the registration of ships in its territory, and for the right to fly its flag." Further, "each State shall issue to ships to which it has granted the right to fly its flag documents to that effect."

Federal Law regarding display of the the US Flag can be found in Title 4, United States Code, Chapter 1

Naval Procedures for the dispay of the flag ashore, afloat underway, and afloat at anchor or pier side are found in Naval Telecommunications Publication (NTP-13) Flags, Pennants & Customs

The position of honour on a ship is the quarterdeck at the stern of the ship, and thus ensigns are traditionally flown either from an ensign staff at the ship's stern, or from a gaff rigged over the stern. Nowadays when a ship is at sea the ensign is often shifted to the starboard yardarm. The usual rule that no flag should be flown higher than the national flag does not apply on board a ship: a flag flown at the stern is always in a superior position to a flag flown elsewhere on the ship, even if the latter is higher up.

Nautical etiquette requires that merchant vessels dip their ensigns in salute to passing warships, which acknowledge the salute by dipping their ensigns in return. Contrary to popular belief the United States Navy does dip the Stars and Stripes in acknowledgement of salutes rendered to it. Merchant vessels also traditionally fly the ensign of the nation in whose territorial waters they are sailing at the masthead or yard-arm. This is known as a courtesy flag. The flying of a ship's ensign upside-down is a mark of distress. The flying of two ensigns of two different countries, one above the other, on the same staff is a sign that the vessel concerned has been captured or has surrendered during wartime. The ensign flying in the inferior, or lower, position is that of the country the ship has been captured from: conversely, the ensign flying in the superior, or upper position, is that of the country that has captured the ship.

Unlike most other countries, the right of American ships and boats to fly the American flag is not explicitly spelled out by law or regulation. It stems rather from a combination of the laws determining what constitutes a vessel with American nationality, judicial precedent, and the customary international law that gives vessels of a particular nationality the right to display that flag.

The first law governing the nationality of vessels in the United States, "An Act for Registering and Clearing Vessels" (1 Stat. 55) was enacted on September 1, 1789. It provided that only a ship built in the United States, owned by an American citizen, and under the command of an American master could be registered, and being registered "shall be deemed and taken to be, and denominated, a ship or vessel of the United States." Three years later, "An Act Concerning the Registering and Recording of Ships or Vessels" (1 Stat. 287) added that registered vessels of the United States were "entitled to the benefits and privileges appertaining to such ships or vessels." Under customary international law, one of those privileges is flying the United States flag.

Under the current statutory authority on documentation of American vessels, the Vessel Documentation Act of 1980, ships and boats of more than five measurement tons are eligible to be documented by the U.S. Coast Guard. The Coast Guard considers that documentation to provide authoritative evidence of a vessel's U.S. nationality. Not all vessels over five tons are required to be documented, however; those not involved in trade are exempt.

For undocumented vessels, The Assistant Attorney General of the United States, arguing the case of Billings v. United States before the Supreme Court in 1914, stated that "A yacht belonging to a citizen of the United States, even though not a vessel of the United States in the sense that it is entitled to registry or enrollment, yet flies the American flag, and is the object of peculiar protection by the United States" (232 U.S. 261). Furthermore, the right of free expression guaranteed by the first amendment to the Constitution would also guarantee to any U.S. citizen the right to fly the American (or any other) flag.

Many countries require either as a matter law or of customary practice that foreign vessels in their territorial waters display the host country's flag. This flag is known as a "courtesy ensign." When a host country has a merchant ensign that differs from its national flag used ashore, it is the merchant ensign that is displayed as the courtesy ensign. According to The Commander's Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations, however, "a warship cannot be required . . . to fly the flag of the host nation." U.S. policy is that public vessels, including warships as well as civilian-manned ships belonging to the Military Sealift Command and other U.S. government vessels, enjoy sovereign immune status, that they are exempt from the jurisdiction of any other state. Because complying with a coastal state's regulations purporting to require the display of its flag in its waters or ports could be construed as an admission that the U.S. public vessel is subject to the coastal state's jurisdiction, all U.S. public vessels are forbidden from flying courtesy ensigns.

A ship that is dressed or full-dressed for a foreign festivity or solemnity flies that country's naval ensign at the head of the mainmast. A ship is "dressed" by hoisting the largest available national ensign from the flagstaff at the stern, a union jack of corresponding size at the bow, plus an additional ensign at each masthead. The exact sizes of the ensigns used depends on the length of the ship. The holiday ensign at the stern is normally 8.95 by 17 feet for the largest ships (over 450 feet), with the masthead ensigns one size smaller, or 5 by 9.50 feet. Ships are dressed (or full-dressed) only during the normal hours for displaying the ensign and jack in port, 8:00 a.m. to sunset. Fleet commanders, senior officers present, or other competent authorities may direct the display of dress-ship lights, also known as Mediterranean or friendship lights, as the nighttime equivalent. These are strings of lights running from the jackstaff to the masthead(s) and down to the flagstaff.

To "full-dress" a ship, in addition to the large ensign at the stern, the jack, and an additional ensign at each masthead, a "rainbow" of signal flags and pennants arrayed from stem to stern, strung from the base of the jackstaff over the masts and then down to the base of the flagstaff. Ships that have no masts or an unsual mast configuration do the best they can to approximate the same effect. In the days of sail, a ship full-dressed by hanging every bit of bunting in its flag locker between the bowsprit and the mastheads, and down the shrouds and signal halyards (see the Sea Flags banner at the top of this page). This display usually included foreign ensigns, jacks, and admirals flags--everything the ship had on board. Nowadays, only signal flags are used, and the sequence in which they are displayed is precisely prescribed by directive--in the case of the U.S. Navy by NTP-13(B), Flags, Pennants and Customs. This guarantees a uniform appearance and ensures that no offensive or inappropriate messages are inadvertently (or mischievously) embedded in the display.

When a ship is dressed or full-dressed for a U.S. celebration, the ensigns at the mastheads are the Stars and Stripes. When it is dressed or full-dressed in honor of a foreign celebration, such as when a U.S. warship is present in a foreign port on a major foreign holiday, the foreign country's naval ensign is flown at the head of the mainmast

Edited by - on

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.