USE OF NEUTRAL FLAGS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15900, 24 April 1915, Page 2 (Supplement)

USE OF NEUTRAL FLAGS.

A TRICK OF WAR. SEA STORIES OF THE UNION JACK. ArcoiiDiNO to Von Tirpitz and Co., who have for months past been chewing the cud of repose on the peaceful besom of the Kiel Canal, it is quite proper for Gorman cruisers and mine-layers to fly a neutral flag in making raids on British merchant ships, but it is altogether improper for British ships to adopt the same tactics. Hence the recent frothing at the mouth of the German geniuses, on British ships flying Dutch and American flags when in neutral waters.

As ft matter of fact the using of neutral flairs is one of the most common tricks of war; but, although a hostile ship may steam tip to another hostile ship while living the colours of a friendly nation, she must not fire a shot until she has shown her true colours, as sudi a proceeding is contrary to the rules of war. Thus, when the notorious Emden in the course of her meteoric career steamed up to the Ruffian cmiser with the Japanese flag at her peak, and was so able to take the latter by surprise the British newspapers said it was a perfectly legitimate proceeding.

False Colours. » Una of the smartest tricks in the way of false colours was that performed by Lord Cochrane in 1800, when commanding the Speedy. He approached a ship which turned out to be a Spanish warship ten times larger than his own vessel, and discovered his mistake when too late to retreat. He promptly hoisted Danish colours, however, but the Spaniard, who was looking for the Speedy, was too wary. He sent a boat to board Cochrane's ship, and the first glance around the vessel would bava revealed all. As the boat neared lite Speedy, however, Cochrane hoisted the fearful yellow, or plague Hag. The iKiat, therefore, stopped at a safe distance, and in reply to questions, a Dane on board the Speedy replied that they had sailed from Algiers, where the pestilence was raging. This satisfied the unsuspecting Spaniard; and with courteous good wishes he sailed away! A little later Cochrane, who had been in the meantime captured by a much 'larger French warship, was, while a prisoner, the witness of a very aggravating incident during a sea fight near Gibraltar. One of the English ships, the Hannibal, w;is run ashore by accident, and she was boarded, and captured by the French, who, not having one of their own Hags with them, hoisted the Union Jack upside down. This was seen from Gibraltar, and the English commander there naturally took it to be a,, signal of distress, not knowing that the ship had been captured by the French. So he despatched boat after-boat full of dockyard workmen to the Hannibal, and as boat, after boat armed' their occupants were taken prisoners by- the delighted' French!

Yardarm to Yardarm. A -trick in the old days, -when ships used to fight yard-arm to yard-arm, was 10-sieze the enemy's,flag, thus making the enemy's crew, think that their officers had ordered a surrender. The famous Admiral Hobson, who ran away to be a sailor when' he was a boy, distinguished himself in such a feat soon after being taken on board a warship."He was on board the admirals (ship, which, .on -the French . squadron » being met, engaged a largesized enemy. During the conflict, young flobson ..clambered along the rigging of his own ship .into ..the rigging. of .the enemy's ship, the two vesselsMieing locked together, seized the French flag, and carried it back to his own vessel. On seeing the - capture, * the ' British „ tars shouted "Victory!' 1 The French crew, not seeing their own colours t *flying, fell into confusion, thinking ,i their ship had surrendered, and during this state of "funk," th« British, boarded and „ captured the French (Vessel. -. 'Needless ; to . say, youngHobson was -.the..hero, of the day. In the battle of the " Glorious First cf June, 1794," -the i British -ship, Marlborough/ had the whole of her colours shot away by the enemy, and this resulted'in . several ... English i ships firing into her by mistake,[< under - 4 the -impression : that (.she was French. The British, sailors on.board were angry to think that the admiral would imagine,, from, seeing ~ flag, that toe Marlborough.had surrendered,, t and one man, named Appleyard, loudly exclaimed: "The English colours shall never be dous'd where I am!" . Then casting his eyes round the deck, perceived the dead r body ■. of a-marine. 'He instantly stripped off the dead man's red coat, stuck it on a boarding pike, and raised it in the air, .swearing, .as an old (Chronicler says, '" that the Englishmen .would, not desert their colours, and. ; that : when all the red coats had gone they would .hoist.,blue jackets!"

Honour ol The Flag. The honour of the British .flag is dear to. an English sailor. During an,attack on ; some Turkish shore batteries 1840, which had to be abandoned owing to.. the enemy's works being found ,too., strong, it was discovered, when retreating, that an English flag had been left behind. It coald '_ still be seen flying on .the wall on -which it had been planted. An officer and seaman. Lieutenant Grenfell and Boatswain Macdonald, of H;M.S. Cyclops, volunteered to fetch it, and• they did, so ,under a heavy fire from,the enemy.* When they returned to- the ships, the' rigging of each, was manned in their honour, and three thundering rounds of cheering were given. One of the most .stirring incidents in connection with the Union Jack took place in 1770, when Admiral the ' Earl. of St. Viccent, then almost unknown as Captain ,Jervis, t was. in command of the frigate Alarm in the Mediterranean. i One day, while, the frigate's boat .was, at the ; mole, or jetty, at Genoa, two Turkish slaves sud- ' denly jumped into her. stern sheets, ,and enfolding themselves the British colours flying there, exclaimed: "We are free!" The Genoese officer on duty ordered ..tl em to be forcibly removed, and in the struggle the poor slaves tore off a portion of the flag When Captain Jervis heard of this, Jie fairly boiled over. He sent an ultimatum" to the Genoese authorities demanding that the two slaves be brought on board, with the part of the flag torn off, that the officer of the guard be punished, and fiat an.apology beiwade on the quarter-deck of the Alarm, under His Britannic . Majesty's colours, for the outrage offered to the British nation. All this was actually done, yet the only thanks Jervis got from the ..British Admiralty was a public censure! N When the British and French are once more allies, it is worth while recalling a pleasant incident which occurred during the battle of Navarino. 1827. When H.M.S Talbot was unequal'v engaged with several Turkish ships, the French frigate Armide gallantly bore up to her assistance. The French captain dexterously took his ship through the inner Turkish line, without interrupting the fire of the British warship, and then poured such a heavy broadside into one of the Turkish frigates that the latter at onto struck her flag On taking possession of her prize, Captain Hugon, of the Armide, hoisted on it the Union Jack along with the French flag, to intimate that he had only completed what the British had begun—an acknowledgment which gained him the thanks of every British sailor. Later in the battle, the Armide was likewise relieved from a dangerous situation by a British ship, H.M.S. Rose. Talking about the use of the American flag, by the way, the present occasion is not the first on which it has been flown on British ships. When the battleship Formidable was launched at Portsmouth in 1898, the platform which Lady HicksBeach performed the ceremony was decorated with both the Union Jack and the Stars and Stripes— United States then being at war with Spain. Her .ladyship wished Success to the Formidable, and all who sail in her." Alas! the Formidable was recently sunk by a German torpedo, | and many were. drowned. And as many American .merchant ships flew the .Union. Jack-during the war, to deceive any ; Spanish cruisers that might be about America -can hardly raise any strong ol ■ anions British* ships, using S S'stan ..and.Stripes when,necessary. ' * '