engleski

Maritime Flags – Convention, Identity, Vanity

Since the ancient times the life on seas required specific means of communication among ships and from the ship to shore. The visual communication proved to be most practical and furthest reaching, and among several such systems developed, the use of flags proved to be most spread and popular. Even with the emergence of the modern telecommunications, the popularity of flags and their use on ships has not diminished, and for a reason. They remain a tool of social communication, a language easily understood overt the barriers of a spoken tongue or modern gadgets. They are used to convey several types of information that may be classified as signals of convention, symbols of identity and display of vanity. Signals of convention are established through international agreements, national laws and regulations and traditional customs. The use of flags on ship to denote national affiliation is the most well known, preceding the use of national flags on land, however, there are numbers of other layers of identity that are signalled with flags. Finally the seamen want to show even more about themselves to others observing their ship on sea or in harbour, from purely ornamental flags to the display of boasting of one kind or another. The paper presents various kinds of flags used on ships, presenting a wealth of social communication among seamen, often stunning to the landsmen.

flag; vexillology; maritime flag; ensign; pennant; indentity

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