Private signals are custom designed flag

Flag

A flag is a piece of fabric with a distinctive design that is usually rectangular and used as a symbol, as a signaling device, or decoration. The term flag is also used to refer to the graphic design employed by a flag, or to its depiction in another medium.The first flags were used to assist...

s used to symbolize and identify the owner of a boat

Boat

A boat is a watercraft of any size designed to float or plane, to provide passage across water. Usually this water will be inland or in protected coastal areas. However, boats such as the whaleboat were designed to be operated from a ship in an offshore environment. In naval terms, a boat is a...

. Generally a
swallowtail

Swallowtail (flag)

In flag terminology, a swallowtail is either# a V-shaped cut in a flag that causes the flag to end in two points at the fly; or# any flag which has this V-shaped cut....

 shape but also rectangular or sometimes triangular. Private signal tradition is drawn from heraldry

Heraldry

Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...

 but typically does not incorporate intricate designs from a family crest.

Etiquette

A private signal may be hoisted while underway and at anchor, day or night, but not while racing. Power boats fly the owners' private signal at the top of the main-mast head or from a short staff on the bow called a bow staff. On a Sailboat

Sailboat

A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails. The term covers a variety of boats, larger than small vessels such as sailboards and smaller than sailing ships, but distinctions in the size are not strictly defined and what constitutes a sailing ship, sailboat, or a...

 the private signal is flown using a pig stick

Pig stick

A pig stick is a staff that carries a flag or pennant, usually the burgee of the boat owner's yacht club, above a mast of a sailboat. It's connected to a halyard so when it's raised the top of the mast, the "pig stick" extends above the mast, allowing the flag to be seen flying above the boat's...

 hoisted to the top of the main-mast or mizzen-mast.

History

From as far back as 4000 BC, Egyptian captains of the Nile would identify themselves to passing ships by placing a clay figurine atop their ships’ aftermost cabin.

The Romans used private signals quite often. At sea off Marseilles in 49 BC, the famous roman Brutus hoisted his private signal during a battle against the Massilians of Pompeii. Primary documents say the Massilians recognized his “flamboyant” signal, so his ship narrowly escaped being rammed simultaneously by two triremes.

In the Middle Ages private signals were used extensively at sea. The Bayeux Tapestry of 1150 AD shows “Mora,” the ship of William, Duke of Normandy, as it flew a white banner, bordered in blue and bearing a golden cross. Other knights in the tapestry boast their own private signals.

See also

• House Flag
• Gallery of maritime flags