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PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION.

More than a quarter of a century has elapsed since the building of the Royal Albert, the Ark Royal and the Carrack, whjch formed the main examples of the model ship­wright's craft in the first edition of this book. During that time many hundreds of such models have been successfully built by amateurs in all parts of the world.

The acid test of time has proved the practicability of the constructional methods fully detailed in this book, conse­quently no material revision has been called for in this edition.

Amongst the numerous letters received by the Author is one from Mr. F. Turner of New Zealand who states that he had photostat copies made of the drawings of Royal Albert to a reduced scale, the resulting prints thus became "full size" drawings for a small model, measuring say 18 ins. overall. Incidentally Mr. F. Turner states that the Rev. Davis made a fine model of Royal Albert which now is housed prominently in a showcase in  the  Museum in  Auckland,  New  Zealand.

Several readers have sought information on the subject of the flag worn by the various types of ship described in this book, and it is hoped that the following brief notes may be of interest.

In the early days a flag was flown mostly to display the sign or armorial bearing of the dignitary entitled to it; such flags were generally square in shape and known as a Banner.

The banner was a personal ensign and generally indicated that he who bore it was the leader of a military force.

Ultimately the banner developed into the "Royal Standard" of to-day.

For centuries the national ensign was the Red cross of St. George, and this flag was flown  to indicate nationality.

Furthermore from Tudor days—or earlier—a long tapering flag called a streamer—or in later days a pennant—was hoisted from the "top" or flown above the forecastle. Hence for mediaeval ship models the flag flown would be the Banner of the leader, the Red Cross of St. George and the pennant. Additionally a number of secondary flags—often referred to as standards and bearing the motto or badges of the owners were displayed.

Up to Stuart times the Lord High Admiral or person in command of a fleet was entitled to fly the Royal Standard as deputy for the Sovereign, and the Lord Howard so flew it on the Ark Royal when he defeated the Spanish Armada.

From this very brief and incomplete review it will be appreci­ated that the correct flags to be shown on any ship model is a matter calling for careful investigation, and more particu­larly so with models of ships of the middle ages.

On models of later period the correct depiction of the national flag of the British Empire the Union Jack must be carefully observed

In the time of James 1st, the national flag—flown from the Main Top was the Red Cross of St. George fimbriated with white and imposed on the white cross of St. Andrew on a pale blue ground.

English ships also flew the Red Cross of St. George on the Fore Top, Scottish ships wore the white Cross of St. Andrew on the Fore Top.

At the death of Charles 1st, the union with Scotland was dissolved and English ships flew only the Red Cross of St. George.

In the time of Cromwell the union flag was restored with the Irish harp imposed upon its centre; Charles 2nd, removed the harp and the original union flag was restored and remained so until 1801 when the Cross of St. Patrick was incorporated, and the Union Jack as we know it to-day came into being it is flown on the Jackstaff of every British Warship.

Also on warships from Tudor times until 1860 or thereabouts, a plain red, white or blue flag would be flown to indi­cate that the vessel came under the command either of the Admiral in supreme command (red) and usually in the centre of a fleet; or the vice admiral (white) the second in command and usually in the van; or the rear admiral (blue)—usually in the rear of the fleet.

Later—somewhere about 1652 these flags had the left hand upper corner or canton of white with the St. George Cross in red and these flags were called ensigns.

About 1707 these cantons exhibited the Red Cross of St. George with the White Cross of Scotland, and from 1801 the Union flag as we know it to-day occupied the canton.

From as early as 1707 mercantile ships wore the Red Ensign, from 1865 the Royal Navy abandoned the red and blue ensigns and retained the white ensign as essentially and solely the flag of the Royal Navy: the Blue Ensign was allocated to vessels in public service and the Royal Naval Reserve; and the red ensign to the mercantile navy.

The whole subject is of absorbing interest and readers are referred to standard works on the subject for further details, as limitations of space in this book preclude more than this brief introduction to an item on ship models which, although small, tell a great deal of the contemporary history of British ships.

EDWARD W. HOBBS

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