Flags at Sea

Ships used flags to communicate and identify one another. These five flags are replicas of historic flags and ensigns used during the Barbary War and the War of 1812. USS Constitution flew the 15-star, 15-stripe flag in the War of 1812, and after watching a battle in that war, Francis Scott Key wrote the poem "The Star Spangled Banner" about it; later set to music, it became the national anthem in 1931. British ships carried red, white, or blue naval ensigns according to their assigned squadron, and the British ships Java and Levant flew the red ensign when Constitution met and defeated them in the War of 1812. As flagship of the third Mediterranean squadron, USS Constitution took part in the Barbary War from 1801 to 1805 against Tripoli, whose ships flew the Tripolitan ensign. USS Chesapeake flew the "Free Trade and Sailors Rights" flag in 1813, and its motto became a rallying cry for Americans who demanded the right to free trade at sea and opposed the British practice of impressment, boarding American vessels and forcing certain American sailors to serve in the Royal Navy. "Don't Give Up The Ship" were the dying words of Captain James Lawrence when USS Chesapeake was captured outside Boston Harbor by HMS Shannon; later that year, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry named his new flagship USS Lawrence and signaled the beginning of his most famous victory, the Battle of Lake Erie, by raising this flag.

Cambridge, Massachusetts · United States