Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 September 1905 — HOW SHIPS SIGNAL EACH OTHER AT SEA [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOW SHIPS SIGNAL EACH OTHER AT SEA

The language of a ship Is a language of signs. But notwithstanding this circumstance, all possible questions may be asked and answered, and every Item of information given in the fullest degree by its medium, even though the conversing crafts be miles asunder. The alphabet of this silent tongue is usually flags of various shapes and colors. But should the distance between the ships, or between the ship and a signaling station, be too great for colors to be distinguished, or should the wind be blowing between the two so that the flags are end on, one of two other methods must be adopted. The first is to represent each letter by combinations of three shapes ■—a cone, a bail and a drum. The second is to make use of a semaphore having three -firms, the positions of which with regard to one side or the other of the post, and whether they are horizontal, upturned or downturned, Indicate the letter desired. As the ships which speak to each other are frequently of different nationalities, it is necessary that the signal should be international or common to all; and this is so. And another desirable thing is also provided. It may occur to you that if a message, even one of brief length, were to be spelt out letter by letter, the operation would be exceedingly tiresome, and consume time that perhaps could be ill afforded. To remove these

objections, a code has been made out dealing with all matters marine, by means of which a host of flags (from two to four In number) indicate whole sentences. For example, the flags Q, D and S ask the question “How does the land lie?” F, O, “Are you in danger?” And bo on. In the illustration of the flags here given of this international code of signals, the various colors are indicated thus: Yellow by dots, red by vertical and blue by horizontal lines. You will therefore have no difllßuhy in picturing the true appearance of each. It is only since Jan. 1, 1902, that the code as here illustrated has been in exclusive use. The former code possessed no flags to represent the vowels; X, Y and Z have been added; and an alteration has been made in the design and colors of a couple of the other flags, F and L. You will notice that one of the flags —a pennant, or flag running to a point, having two white vertical stripes on a red ground—ls termed the code signal and answering pennant. When in use as the first, it indicates that the international code is being employed. When used as the second—as the answering flag—its significance is equivalent to “I notice you are wishful to communicate with me.” When a ship desires to speak to another, she opens the ball by hoisting

TJI QDB FTS TJI —Pilot his baen sent you. Q DS—How doe i the land lie? FTS—Must take in more ballast. her ensign with the code flag beneath It The ship spoken to Immediately responds to the signal by hoisting the answering pennant at the “dip”—that Is, two-tiiirds of the way up to, say, the masthead or peak. The first then makes the desired signal, which may consist of two, three or four flags; but never more than four. Should the second ship comprehend the signal, she makes known the fact by hoisting the answering pennant “close up," in which position it is retained till the signaling craft has hauled down her flags. It is then lowered to the “dip" again In readiness for the continuation of the message. Should the signal be not distinguishable, or appear not to be applicable to the situation, the ship spoken to must Intimate the fact by hoisting the proper flags for the purpose, keeping the answering pennant nt the “dip” until the signal is thoroughly comprehended, when it is hoisted "close up.” Two-flag signals, from A B to Y Z are urgent and of Importance, and take up ten pages of the code book,

“Want a pilot,” P T; “Machinery out of order,” B J, are examples of the nature of these hoists. Three-flag signals occupy the greater part of the Code Book. The bearings of the compass run from ABC to A S T. Then there are the names of the various coins of all ebuntries, for example, A U Y —a rupee, followed by the weights and measures, A Y I —a ton, decimals and fractions, B 0 X—- . 09, and auxiliary phrases—l. e., containing the auxiliary verbs, such as B H W, “They must not be.” The general vocabulary is indicated by the flags C X A to Z N P. “Pilot has been sent to you,” T J I, and “Must take in more ballast,” F T S, may be given as illustrations. The degrees of latitude and longitude, divisions of time, height of the barometer and thermometer, are signaled by a hoist comprising two flags under the code pennant; while figures from cipher to five millions are denoted by two flags over the code pennant. Geographical signals are shown by four-flag hoists, such as: A U Y T Callao; A E H V—London. The code flag ovsf one flag has various significances. For example, when it is over L, the hoist denotes that cholera, plague, or yellow fever is on board. Over I, “Have not a clean bill of health.” Over E indicates that the flags which follow do not allude

to the code, but must be taken as representing the letters of the alphabet each stands for. This is the alphabetical signal, and is employed when a name or address is about to be spelled out letter by letter: The code flag over F and over G indicate, in one case the end of a word or dot between Initials, and in the other that the alphabetical signals are terminated. Numerical signal—i. e„ that the fol-

lowing flags are to be taken as representing the figures assigned to each of them in a table found in the book—is made known by hoisting the code pennant over M. Over N indicates the decimal point, and over O the end of the numeral signal. If the name or the number contain more than four letters or four figures, it must be given in more than one hoist; for four is the maximum number of flags of which a hoist must consist. And if a letter or figure be duplicated, or contained more than once In any name or number, such letter or figure “must, on its second occurrence, begin or be in a second hoist, and on its third occurrence, it must begin or be in a third hoist.” The illustration of the distant and semaphore signals is almost self-ex-planatory. It will bo noticed that each letter of the alphabet is Indicated, in the distant by a hoist of three shapes—a cone, a ball, and a drum; and, in the semaphore, by the inclination and position (with reference to the post) of three arms. The cone with the point upward is termed number 1, and corresponds with the semaphore arm pointing upward. The ball is number 2, and is equivalent to the horizontal arm of the other. The down-pointing cone corresponds with the down-pointing arm of the semaphore, and is numbered

3. All these positions of the arm are on the side of the post opposite to the indicator. Number 4is represented by a drum or by a horizontal arm on the same side as the indicator. Owing to the fact that these distant and semaphore signals take more time than the flag system, requiring always two or more hoists, thirty-seyej|, special urgent signals needing one hoist only have been provided in the Code Book; such as: “32. Short of provisions. Starving.” “24. » Want water immediately.” “312. Is war decJared?” The “Stop” signal indicates the end of the Sentence. ' — l —’ ——

INTERNATIONAL CODE OF SIGNALS.

Special Distant Signal—Is War Declared.

SEMAPHORE AND DISTANT SIGNALS.