It's a ship with flags - I know that much

[t mo]

hi all
regarding the flag situation be careful what you look at as the signal flags have changed and been added to since the picure was done you need to find a site that has the flags for the nelson era late 1700,s early 1800,s I,ve tried my self over the last 2 days to find a list of them but haven,t found a complete set , I did wonder if the picture flags spelled out nelsons message before Trafalgar ,
England expects that everyman will do his duty but looking at Wikipedia and other sites it,s no where close in fact it looks like just a jumble of flags there,s at least 2 union flags an admiral of the white flag the top of the main mast has a royal standard on it  , none the less a very nice picture .
regards
trevor

ps stg
you asked earlier about the black and white sides of the ship when the ships gun ports were closed she would have a solid stripes of white but when the ports were open it shows a chequered effect this made it easier in the heat of battle to distinguish the English ships from the enemy , the admiralty allowed some leeway on colours used , nelson had his ships painted yellow and black but later on a more standard colouring was the black and white stripe .
pps
johns just beaten me too it but I agree with him re flags

[John915]

Good evening,

It occurred to me whilst doing this that signals sent between ships were always hoisted in vertical strings. It was also done in a set order, main mast, foremast, mizzen mast, peak, starboard of main, port of main, stbd of fore, port of fore, stbd of mizzen and port of mizzen.

The starboard and port strings would hang from the ends of the yards. Nelsons message was sent using Pophams code. Sets of numbers up to 250 ? each meant a word or phrase (253 was ENGLAND). Duty had to be spelled out and hung from stbd of fore 4-D, port of fore 21-U, stbd of mizzen 19T and port of mizzen 24Y.

John915

[t mo]

quite right john915 I,m no expert but using the normal port and stb lines would be a bit elaborate for the pic this looks more like a fore and aft string of flags seen more at a review .
regards
trevor

[SmallTownGirl]

Thanks for all the input, peeps, especially trying to decipher the flags.

Am way out of my depth with this, so have contacted Chatham Dockyard to see if they can help further.

I'll let you know if I solve the puzzle.

Thanks again
STG

[John915]

Good evening,

I think you are correct Trevor, I'm sure that even in the present day ships are dressed fore and aft in port for special occasions. Whether or not what is shown actually means anything I don't know, probably like the picture, a load of gobbledegook.

Just for the record, using a flag set from 1913, the flags shown are as follows starting from the bow; 

Preparative, F, UNION JACK, U, E OR PENDANT 1, X, 2, N?, 3, 4 (upside down) PENDANT 4, UNION JACK, D?, H?, *, V, *, 4 not fully visible, 9, PENDANT 8, A OR 6, INTERROGATIVE, 5, Y, PENDANT 4, *.

The numbers are square and the pendant numbers are the long pointed flags. The asterisks are flags that don't appear to be on any list. Iv'e used the 1913 set because that's the only complete set I can find or make sense of. The 2 larger UJs near the bow are actually on shore.

If there are any ex navy signallers out there, perhaps they could give us their professional opinion.

John915