The work in making this video must have been daunting! Kudos to their team.
I have a question about the Union Jack at the mast head in the video. Was this flown instead of the ensign on some British ships? The red ensign (below) originated in the early 17th century and was flown by the Royal Navy into the 19th century but was there a period or occasion when the ensign was replaced by the Union Jack on ships?
Allan
I have a question about the Union Jack at the mast head in the video. Was this flown instead of the ensign on some British ships? The red ensign (below) originated in the early 17th century and was flown by the Royal Navy into the 19th century but was there a period or occasion when the ensign was replaced by the Union Jack on ships?
Allan
Great video - many thanks fos sharing with us
I know, what I am doing in the next days -> watching different videos of this channel
I know, what I am doing in the next days -> watching different videos of this channel
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Allan - the below article copied from the U.K. Guardian newspaper might help explain.
A battle-scarred veteran is to go on display again in the National Maritime Museum to mark Trafalgar Day.
The union flag flown by HMS Minotaur in the thick of the fighting on 21 October 1805 will be exhibited in the museum in Greenwich, London, after hanging for almost a century in a Kent church.
Negotiations to acquire the flag were only completed a year after the museum’s new Nelson gallery opened in 2013. After extensive conservation work, it finally goes on display to mark the famous victory.
Before the battle Nelson gave orders that on all his ships “a Union Jack is to be suspended from the fore-topgallant stay”, mainly to help identify friend from foe in the thick of the fighting. Although Trafalgar fakes abound, genuine surviving flags from the battle are very rare. The flag from his own ship, Victory, was carried in his funeral procession and then cut to pieces for souvenirs by the sailors who took part – scraps still occasionally turn up at specialist sales. The last complete flag sold at auction, from HMS Spartiate, went for almost £400,000 in 2009, 40 times the estimate.
How HMS Victory nearly never made it to the Battle of Trafalgar
Read more
HMS Minotaur was towards the rear of Nelson’s wing of his fleet on the day. The captain, Charles Mansfield, pledged to his assembled crew that he would stick to any ship he engaged “till either she strikes or sinks – or I sink”. Late in the battle he deliberately placed Minotaur between the damaged Victory and an attacking French ship, and he was later awarded a sword and gold medal, both now also in the Maritime Museum, for his gallantry
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Thank you very much for the information, it gave me some fun looking more into this and here she is
The following caption was with the photo I found below.
The union jack that flew from HMS Minotaur at the 1805 battle went on display at the National Maritime Museum after a century on a church wall
