ADMIRAL: Let me hear somewhat from you about the Ceremonial Custom and use of carrying out of Flags.”
‘‘Captain: Flags, my Lord, to speak properly, are only those which are carried in the Tops of Ships, and they serve as Badges, and that as well for the distinction of Nations, as Officers and Commanders: And so the Admiral of a Fleet or Squadron hath his Flag at the Main-top, the Vice-Admiral at the Fore-Top, and the Rere-Admiral in the missen-top, with the Crosses or Colours of their Nation and Countrymen. And thus far it is usual and common even with Fleets of Merchant Men, agreeing amongst themselves for the Admiral Ships in this kind. But in a Fleet Royal, consisting mainly of Men-of-War; whensoever either the Prince is there in Person, or his High Admiral in his room, there is carried out in the Maintop of the Admiral Ship, where he himself is, instead of one of these ordinary Flags, the Standart Royal, which is the Arms of the Kingdom.”
This dialogue was recorded by Commander N. Boteler, formerly in one of “His Majesties Royal Ships,” in 1685 and was published in London in 1688. Over two hundred years later the regulations of the United States Navy provided: “The President’s flag shall be displayed at the main.”
The regulations of the Navy of 1865 prescribed that the American ensign displayed at the main should denote the presence of the President on board a naval vessel, but a year later regulations required that the union jack, with white stars equal to the number of states of the Union, should fly at the mainmast while the Chief Executive was aboard. Then again, this later regulation was canceled, and the national ensign at the main was again the president’s flag, and was used as such until 1882, when a distinctive flag was designed for the President and that design was approved by President Arthur.
The flag of 1882 consisted of the coat-of arms of the United States on a blue field with thirteen stars formed in a bow over the eagle. This flag was used for nineteen years by the various presidents. In 1898, the Army designed a president’s standard for the Army, but President Roosevelt in 1901 decided that the Navy’s flag, being the older, should be the official flag of the President.
When President Wilson made the fiftieth review of the Grand Army of the Republic in 1915, two presidents’ flags (Army and Navy) were displayed on the platform of the reviewing stand. This caused considerable comment in the press and in the services, and, as a result, the suggestion was made that the President should have one flag made distinctive, for the Navy flag was almost identical with the infantry colors. As commander in chief of the Army and Navy, the President was given four stars— one in each corner of the flag, similarly arranged as the flag of an admiral or general, and President Wilson directed that his seal—the personal seal of the President of the United States—be used instead of the coat-of-arms of the United States. Today two President’s flags stand guard over the tomb of President Wilson in the National Cathedral, Washington, D.C. One is the flag designed by the Navy and the other, the flag designed at his direction.
When President-elect Hoover boarded the battleship Maryland for his visit to Central and South America, he was accorded honors that are provided by Navy Regulations for an ex-president, as no provisions are made in the regulations for honors to be given a president-elect. A precedent for this may be found in the visit of Chief Justice Taft, who as President-elect, went to Panama on the U.S.S. North Carolina in January, 1909, with a party of engineers to inspect the Panama Canal. Mr. Taft was given a salute of twenty-one guns on boarding and leaving the North Carolina, both at Charleston, S.C., and at Colon, C.Z.
The honors for a former President are the same as those prescribed for the President of the United States except that the rail is not manned, and the ruffles and flourishes are followed by a march instead of the “Star Spangled Banner.” No flag was displayed in honor of Mr. Hoover as he boarded the Maryland and during the salute, but, upon embarking upon the Utah for his return voyage to the United States, the national ensign was displayed at the main during the salute. .
The barge used by Mr. Hoover from ship to shore carried in its bow the union jack.
Presidential honors have been accorded presidents-elect of foreign republics during their visits to naval ships and stations. When General Plutarco Calles, President-elect of Mexico, in November, 1924, and General Gerardo Machado, President-elect of Cuba, in April, 1925, visited the Washington Navy Yard, the band and the guard were paraded on the dock near the Sylph, a salute of twenty-one guns was fired from the saluting battery, and the national ensign of the distinguished guest was broken on board the Sylph as he embarked. The officers were in full dress and the crew in dress blue. A second salute was given when the national ensign of the guest’s country was hauled down upon his disembarkation from the Sylph.
While no regulations specify the use of a distinctive flag for a Vice President of the United States, a specially designed flag has been used, at least twice, to show his presence on board a naval vessel as the representative of the President of the United States.
A clipping from the New York Times of March 16, 1915, follows:
Washington, D.C., March 15.—The Vice President of the United States is to have a flag. Whenever he visits an American warship his flag will flutter from the masthead. The flag will be a snow-white square of bunting, on the field of which will be a bluebird representing the eagle in the coat-of-arms of the United States. The President’s flag consists of the coat-of-arms of the nation on a blue field.
This is the first time that there has been prescribed for the Vice President a distinctive flag to be displayed on naval vessels while he is on board. The President, secretaries, and assistant secretaries of the Departments of War and the Navy have distinctive flags. The admirals, vice admirals, and rear admirals have distinctive flags.
It remains for Secretary Daniels to provide the Vice President with a flag. His action grows out of the fact that Mr. Marshall is going to San Francisco to represent President Wilson at the exposition; he is to be received on board the cruiser Colorado, the flagship of Admiral Howard, commander in chief of the Atlantic Fleet. Hence the new flag will be a permanent institution of honor to the Vice President.
An extract from the log of the Colorado, March 22, 1915, shows:
Meridian to 4:00 p.m.
1:00 Full dress ship . . . 3:15 Vice President came aboard, lowered the flag of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy and hoisted Vice President’s flag at the main and fired a salute of nineteen guns ....
R. M. Griswold, Lieutenant, U. S. N.
The second occasion was during the visit of the King of Belgium to Washington. On account of the illness of President Wilson, Vice President Marshall was the host on board the Mayflower when the royal party made a pilgrimage to Mount Vernon. A flag was designed for the Vice President in the Navy Department and was flown with the national ensign of the King of the Belgians on the presidential yacht.
The log of the Mayflower, October 29, 1919, reads:
Meridian to 4:00 p.m.
12:25, yard battery rendered salute to Vice President; 12:35, Vice President came aboard; was rendered usual honors and his flag hoisted at main truck. 12:44, Secretary of the Navy came aboard, and was rendered usual honors. 1:24, yard saluting battery rendered a salute of twenty- one guns to King of the Belgians. 1:27, King of the Belgians came aboard and was rendered national honors, and the Belgian national ensign was hoisted at main truck, and vice president’s flag shifted to fore truck. Secretary of State, Secretary of War, and many other official guests came aboard. 1:32, got under way for Mount Vernon, in accordance with verbal orders of the Secretary of the Navy. Standing down the Potomac on various courses, pilot at the conn. 2:38, Mount Vernon abeam, starboard side, distant 600 yards. Rendered usual honors. 2:44, anchored with starboard anchor in five fathoms water .... 3:18, King and Queen of Belgians, Vice President, Secretary of the Navy, and other officials left ship to attend the ceremonies. Rendered all necessary honors; hauled down Belgian ensign and Vice President’s flag. 4:30, party returned; rendered honors, and hoisted Belgian ensign at main and Vice President’s flag at fore.
D. B. Caldwell, Lieutenant ( J.G.), U. S. N.
In 1920, President Wilson signed an executive order establishing an official flag for the Secretary of State.
EXECUTIVE ORDER
Whereas it frequently devolves upon the Secretary of State in virtue of the statutory authority conferred upon him to perform public acts of foreign intercourse under direction of the President:
And whereas, it is proper that in the performance of such ceremonial acts as the representative of the President, it is appropriate his representative function be designated by an appropriate flag, to be displayed when occasion may require:
Therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States, do hereby direct and prescribe than an Official Flag, indicative of the office of Secretary of State, be prepared as follows:
The ground or field of such flag to be dark blue with the arms of the Department of State in white charged upon the center, and with a gold star on each side of the arms.
And I further direct that on the approaching ceremonial visit of the Secretary of State to certain States of South America, the above prescribed flag shall be displayed on the national vessel which conveys him, so long as he shall be on board the ship, and upon the launch which may convey him to the shore when his communication .therewith becomes necessary in the discharge of the public mission with which he may be charged.
Woodrow Wilson
The White House
28 November 1920.
Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby, in December, 1920, and Secretary of State Charles E. Hughes in August, 1922, used this flag on their visits to South America. A more recent use was the occasion of the visit of Secretary of State Kellogg to the Irish Free State. After the signing of the peace pact in Paris, Mr. Cosgrave, President of the Council of Ministers, Irish Free State, and Secretary Kellogg took passage on the light cruiser Detroit from Havre to Dublin. The log of the Detroit states:
August 29, 1928.
11:00, Secretary of State, Mr. Frank B. Kellogg, came on board for passage to Kingstown, Ireland. Was received with appropriate honors and Secretary of State’s flag was broken at the fore.
Upon arrival at Kingstown, on August 30, 1928, the Detroit hoisted the flag of the Irish Free State and fired a national salute of twenty-one guns. The salute was returned by a battery on shore flying the United States ensign. As President Cosgrave left the ship, he was escorted to the gangway by Secretary Kellogg and Vice Admiral Guy Burrage, U.S. Navy, Commander of the United States Naval Forces in Europe. Mr. Cosgrave embarked while the band played and a personal salute of nineteen guns was fired as his national flag was flying. When Secretary Kellogg embarked in the same launch, a personal salute of nineteen guns was given the American flag at the fore. When the salute was completed, his personal flag as Secretary of State was hauled down from the Detroit.
The foul anchor on a field of blue has been the distinguishing flag of the Secretary of the Navy for many years. It was authoritatively established as the insignia for the head of the Navy by the regulations of 1865, but more than a century before, the lord high admiral of England had issued regulations designating the foul anchor as the symbol of his office.
The anchor of the British Admiralty differs from the one used by the United States Navy in design and position. In the British flag, the shank of the anchor is in a horizontal position while the American Navy uses the foul anchor in a vertical position on its flags.
Commander C. N. Robinson, Royal Navy, in The British Fleet, states that up to the late Tudor or early Stuart period:
The Admiralty badge was a crescent moon, horizontal with a golden star between the horns, but about that time the crescent was replaced by the anchor which was also used as a seal with a motto round it according to the fancy of the Lord High Admiral. When the Earl of Northumberland was in office, the anchor had a cable festooned about it in a wonderful manner. The Duke of York put this anchor into the Admiralty flag. About 1720 the foul anchor which had before been the badge of the victualling officer was taken for the Admiralty and it was put into the seal, badge and flag. In 1815, the clean anchor was restored to the flag, but the foul anchor remains the badge at Whitehall.
Navy regulations of 1865 provided:
For the Secretary of the Navy, a blue rectangular flag with a white foul anchor, placed vertically in the center, with four white stars in each corner of the flag surrounding the anchor; this flag to be hoisted at the main royal masthead whenever the Secretary of the Navy embarked on board a vessel of the Navy, while he remained on board, and to be carried at the bow of any boat or tender in which he embarked. The flag of the Secretary to be saluted with fifteen guns.
With the changes in naval regulations, the union jack, hoisted at the main, was the distinguishing flag for the Secretary of the Navy in 1870. The flag with the foul anchor was restored on July 4, 1876, and has been in use continuously since then. The flag for the Assistant Secretary was authorized July 13, 1892, by B. F. Tracy, Secretary of the Navy.
The Secretary of War’s flag is flown at his direction, at Army posts, when reviewing troops, and when he is on board ship. This flag was designed in 1897 and its origin is described by Secretary of War Lamont, who said when he signed the general order for its use:
When I entered upon my duties as Secretary of War four years ago, one of the papers I found awaiting action on my desk was a recommendation from General Schofield, then at the head of the Army, in favor of a special flag for the Secretary of War. I thought that to begin my official work by ordering a flag for myself was not exactly a graceful thing to do, so I allowed the matter to drop until the end of my term.
Then 1 realized that my successor would find himself in the same predicament in which I had been four years before, so I made one of my last official acts the approval of the order for the flag. But in the beginning it was General Schofield’s idea.
When his successor, Secretary of War Alger, visited Sandy Hook, this flag was flown for the first time from the steamer General Meigs on July 2, 1897.
Today, the Secretary of War has prescribed for his use by Army regulations a flag, colors, a boat flag, and an automobile flag. These flags have a scarlet field with a white five-pointed star in the four corners. In the center of the flag is the coat-of-arms of the United States. The flags for the Assistant Secretary are reversed in color, with a white field and scarlet stars with the coat-of-arms of the United States in the center.
No record can be found of the origin of the Secretary of the Treasury’s flag and, while it has been flown for a number of years, search of the files of the Treasury and of the Coast Guard has failed to throw any light on its authorization. Certain of the early files of the Treasury Department were burned and it is believed that if any order did exist, it was destroyed with the files. The design of the Secretary of the Treasury’s flag has been revised in accordance with the following letter from Secretary Mellon:
12 September 1928.
I hereby prescribe that the distinguishing flag now used by the Secretary of the Treasury shall consist of the Seal of the Treasury Department on crossed anchors of white on a blue field, encircled by thirteen white stars, and that the distinguishing flag now used by an assistant secretary of the treasury shall consist of the same design as the Secretary’s flag, with the seal, crossed anchors and stars of blue on a white field.
A. W. Mellon
The regulations of the Coast Guard provide that when the Secretary of the Treasury takes passage on Coast Guard vessels, his flag shall be broken out at the main and kept flying as long as he is on board.
The flag of the Secretary of Commerce was designed in 1915 and is described in a department circular:
The flag of the Secretary of Commerce will be a full-rigged ship, in blue, over a lighthouse in blue, in a white shield on a blue field, and have a five-pointed white star in each corner of the flag.
Regulations of the department require that “Whenever an official of the department having a flag is on board of a vessel belonging to the Department of Commerce his flag shall be displayed at the main.”
The flag of the Secretary of Labor was designed about the time of the organization of that department, March 4, 1913. It is flown at the direction of the Secretary. When Secretary James J. Davis went to South America in 1924 on an official visit, this flag was flown on the SS. Southern Cross while he was a passenger.
The flag consists of the seal of the Department of Labor on a blue field with four white stars.