After we got through talking to Captain Sean we watched as the crew
'dressed the ship'. They were taking the ship to a parade and
reception nearby. Traditionally, sailors decorate the ship by flying
all their signal flags at once to make it very colorful.
In the old days sailors couldn't talk to each other by telephones or
radios. You know why? There WEREN'T any telephones or radios. No one
had invented them yet. So sailors used signal flags. Each flag stood
for a single letter. They could spell out words by raising flags!
Then they got tired of using so many flags and invented a system of
standard message abbreviations to cover many situations. Like if they
just raised a single yellow flag that meant the ship's crew is
healthy. That was because the yellow flag stood for the letter 'Q'
which is the first letter of the word 'quarenteen'. When a ship enters
a new country they fly the Q flag to ask the new country's inspectors
to come ok them for entry. Nowadays sailors just use the flags for
show or to honor their traditions.
Well, kids, see if you can get the teacher to show you all the signal
flags on
http://www.anbg.gov.au/flags/signal-meaning.html
And maybe you can draw them, too!
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