At Sea: On the defunct language of nautical flags (2016) | Hacker News Reader

At Sea: On the defunct language of nautical flags (2016)

theparisreview.org

11 pointsallthings5 comments

I remember a passage in one of the Aubrey/Maturin books, in which the ballroom at an onshore function is decorated with the following signal flags: https://tmg110.tripod.com/SigFl/sig-1.gif , presumably intended to encourage the navy men in attendance to "engage the [female party guests] more closely".

If I read it correctly those are Xray, Tango. Which means:

    XT Weather expected is bad.

Source: https://www.seasources.net/PDF/PUB102.pdf

You're looking at a 1969 international signal code; the books are set in 1800-1815, and that particular signal hoist (famously used by Nelson at Trafalgar) was in a Royal Navy code from 1799: https://tmg110.tripod.com/british21.htm

> Code Poems, which opens with Romeo and Juliet told entirely through signal-flag phrases

Reminds me of The Semaphore Version of Wuthering Heights: https://youtu.be/kqiUGjghlzU?si=eBunlyjJa2S4XgoI

I am very tempted to use the "I am on fire" flags in a non-nautical context.

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