CSS Albemarle - Naval Jack and Battle Ensign

Naval Jack and Battle Ensign

See also: Flags of the Confederate States of America

The practice of using primary and secondary naval flags after the British tradition was common practice for the Confederacy, linked as she was by both heritage and economy to the British Isles. The fledgling Confederate Navy therefore adopted and used battle ensigns, naval jacks, small boat ensigns, commissioning pennants, designating flags, and signal flags aboard its warships during of the Civil War.

By both tradition and established regulations, both waring navies' jacks were flown forward of their ship's ensigns while in port. Albemarle's likely flew atop a removable jack staff positioned either on her bow or in front of her pilot house on the upper casemate deck; historic and contemporary drawings and paintings show her jack being flown at either station.

Albemarle's naval jack was discovered below decks and preserved when her wreck was raised and refloated following the war. It's designated as "flag number 42" in the special collections catalog of the United States Naval Academy Museum at Annapolis and has been in the museum's collection for many years. The jack's dimensions are 6 feet (1.8 m) x 8 feet, 2 inches (72 inches x 98 inches).

Albemarle's naval jack was a much larger version of her battle ensign's square, 13-star canton, known as the Southern Cross. There were, however, two noticeable differences from the ensign: As with all Confederate jacks, their diagonal saltires were a lighter, medium-blue color instead of the dark blue seen on the battle ensign. Instead of the canton's square proportion, all naval jacks were rectangular in shape, in a proportion of 2:3, required under the regulations issued on 26–28 May 1863 by the Confederate Navy Department. But Albemarle's naval jack is actually much closer to a proportion of 3:4, an example of just how loosely the official naval flag regulations were being followed by the time her jack was manufactured in 1864; this variation was likely due to regional differences in the flag making techniques employed by both the south's Carolinas at this time and to various material shortages common throughout the South during the later years of the war. Following the end of the Civil War and up through today, the rectangular Southern Cross naval jack became the single Confederate flag design most commonly associated with the post-war South, and controversy.

Albemarle's battle ensign was recovered from atop her casemate's flag staff by Sailing Master George F. Ford of the U. S. Navy, at some point after she was sunk at her moorings. It was eventually donated by H. C. Havens of Hartford, CT, to the flag collection of the Museum of the Confederacy, where it resides today; Havens received the flag from William Faxon, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. The ensign's overall dimensions are 8.45 feet (2.58 m) x 16 feet about 101 inches x 192 inches (4,900 mm) and entirely hand-sewn and made of a very loose weave wool bunting.

Albemarle's battle ensign was the Second National Flag of the Confederacy, also known as the Stainless Banner. Specifications for this new flag were established by the Confederate Congress on May 1, 1863, replacing the First National Flag, more commonly known as the Stars and Bars. This new flag's hoist-to-fly proportion (height-to-width) was in a 1:2 ratio, its white expanse being twice as wide as its height. A short time later, however, the Confederate Navy Department revised these regulations, changing the Navy's battle ensign proportions to a 2:3 ratio. Its square canton was the established thirteen-star red, blue, and white Southern Cross, already in-use by the Southern army as the Confederate Battle Flag. This design was originally proposed in 1861 by South Carolina Congressman William Porcher Miles to be used as the original First National Flag, but it was supposedly rejected at first as appearing too much like a pair of crossed pants' suspenders.

For reasons unknown, Albemarle retained her original, longer 1:2 ratio ensign (illustration right) until its capture sometime after Lieutenant Cushing's daring raid. Whatever proportion used, the white expanse of the Stainless Banner proved to have poor visibility at a distance, especially when viewed through the haze sometimes seen around water or in contrast against soft gray southern skies. If the longer ensign's Southern Cross canton became wrapped around Albemarle's flag staff or was lying unfurled, it could appear to be a flag of surrender to Union spotters.