ZFC3536

U.S. 13 Star Boat Flag - Captain Stephen Decatur.

Sub-collection: Decatur Collection of Military & Naval Service - Spanning 100 years

U.S. 13 Star Boat Flag - Captain Stephen Decatur.
This is an American Civil War era, wool, hand and machine-sewn US Navy Boat Ensign. The name ARP DECATUR is inscribed in period ink on the hoist, referring to Anna Rowell Philbrick Decatur, the wife of Commodore Stephen Decatur. The ensign is well worn and exhibits numerous period repairs along the fly edge where a portion of all of the stripes have been replaced with patching, a widespread technique at the time.

In 1798, after previously disbanding the Continental Navy of the Revolutionary Era, US Congress reestablished a permanent navy for the United States. This force followed the traditions of navies the world over of using a national ensign on warships and smaller versions of this on small boats, gigs and harbor craft.

From 1795 until 1818, the US Flag bore 15 stars and 15 stripes, and the US ensign, a national flag flown at sea, followed suit. However the constant succession of new states on the US flag were making this practice difficult, rendering the practice obsolete as "manifest destiny" persistently ceded new states to the Union. In 1818, the Third Flag Act resolved this issue by restoring the ensign to 13 stripes and adding new stars to the canton upon the admission of new territories to full statehood. This was to officially occur on the next July the fourth following a new states admission to the Union.

The period from 1818 to 1851 was a very dynamic time for the United States. In these 32 years, 12 states were added to Union, changing the ensigns as many times. This required the continuous alteration of outdated ensigns.

The US Navy made its own ensigns, flags and pennants in flag lofts at the various yards under its control, generally employing local seamstresses; often the wives and widows of seamen. They would make flags according to circulars handed down from the Secretary of the Navy as to how the stars should be arranged upon the canton. However, in the absence of a circular, artistic license played a role. Flags on vessels at sea were often just altered by the ship's sail makers or other sailors. The omission of sizes in the circulars only augmented such idiosyncrasies and each Commodore would specify his own sizes. In the early 19th century it was a common, if unofficial, naval practice to make a sailing ships ensign equal to its breadth. However, the sizes of flags for small boats varied according to the preferences of the captain.

The small size of the navy allowed for easy compliance with little thought given to the cost. But after the Mexican-American War in 1848, and the admission of California to statehood in 1851 the navy began to expand into a two-ocean navy. It was in this era and probably as a cost-cutting measure, or because the stars would be larger, and therefore more visible, that the US Navy officially began reducing the number of stars on ensigns on small boats. However, based upon nautical paintings, there is some speculation that this practice was already practiced in some quarters if unofficial.

Presumably, the practice of reducing stars did not occur all at once, but was implemented over time on different vessels and at different yards. In the collections of the US Naval Academy, there is a small boat ensign from Perry's 1853 visit to Japan that bears the full complement of 31 stars, presumably supplied by the flag loft at his embarkation point of Norfolk, Virginia. However, official preparations for the expedition to Japan commenced in 1851. Conversely, there is also a 16 star boat ensign marked NYC (Navy Yard Charleston outside Boston), which is dated 1857.

The surviving records are incomplete but based upon surviving flags, paintings and photographic evidence, we may deduce the following:

∗ From its beginnings, the US Navy used small ensigns on smaller boats & gigs.
∗ They could have either 13 stars or the correct star count.
∗ About the time of the War with Mexico, the Navy began to reduce the number of stars on small boat ensigns.
∗ The first known USN Table of Sizes is dated 1854.
∗ This practice was official by the late 1850s.
∗ Initially the number of stars 20, 16, or 13 stars were arranged either in rows of 5-5-5-5 or 4-4-4-4, or 4-5-4, respectively.
∗ Eventually the number was standardized at 13 stars.
∗ In the 1850s, the US Navy reintroduced the 1770s pattern of rows of 4-5-4 stars.
∗ In the 1860s they reintroduced another Revolutionary War pattern, of 3-2-3-2-3.
∗ The 4-5-4 and the 3-2-3-2-3 pattern flew concurrently during the Civil War.
∗ Probably because of supplies on hand, the 4-5-4 continued into the 1870s
∗ In the mid 1870s, the use of the 4-5-4 was discontinued.
∗ Use of the 3-2-3-2-3 pattern would continue until 1916.

From the 1870s until 1916 we may observe the following pattern:
* 1870s-1885 - stars in canton do not consistently "point" the same direction.
* 1882-1890 headings marking the size of the flag are more prevalent, e.g. US Ensign", "U.S.E. No. 8" (a date); brass grommets supplant hand-whipped button holes or plain grommets.
* 1890-1900 - stars now point in common directions: rows of 3 "up," and rows of 2, "down." Headings are marked with size, location of navy yard where the flag was made and the date of manufacture.
* 1900-1916 - stars now all point "up," dates no longer indicated on brass grommets, and stars are sewn to the canton with zigzag machine stitching.
* Since 1916 the small boat flags of the US Navy have displayed the full complement of 48, 49 or 50 stars

This flag was formerly part of the Decatur-Armsden Collection; a family collection that included artifacts and flags from the Lear-Storer-Decatur family which encompassed a number of important historical figures from the 19th, 18th and 17th Centuries. This cache of historical goods descended from various branches of the Lear-Storer-Decatur family and included items from Sir William Pepperrell Baronet and John Storer (both members of the 1745 expedition to Nova Scotia capture Ft. Louisburg), Colonel Tobias Lear (General Washington's Aide de Camp and personal friend), Benjamin Lincoln Lear (son of Tobias Lear), Commodore Stephen Decatur (nephew of his illustrious namesake Commodore Stephen Decatur, 1779-1820), Rear Admiral George Washington Storer (nephew of Tobias Lear, 1789-1864), Ichabod Goodwin ( Governor of New Hampshire), and Admiral of the Navy, George Dewey.

The Decatur-Armsden find was a veritable treasure trove of artifacts, discovered in the mid 20th Century when the family as a whole decided to sell a barn at Kittery Point, Maine, an important place, spiritually, of the extended family. The barn had served as a repository for a vast amount of historical material that has been passed down through the generations. When inventoried, the barn was found to contain a significant archive of papers, memorabilia, photographs, books, artifacts and twenty historic flags. The historic trove was divided up amongst the three branches of the family.

That portion of the artifacts, which had gone to Alice Decatur Armsden, contained the flags and was maintained in its entirety until she and her husband settled their estate. In this estate were flags from some of America's most famous naval families: Decatur, Storer and Dewey. The flag find consisted of boat flags, ensigns, signal flags, burgees, rank flags, distinguishing flags, service flags and a yacht ensign. Among the US flags and ensigns were those with the following star counts: 13 stars (4), 16 stars, 26 stars, 34 stars (3), 35 stars, 45 stars (2) and 48 stars.
Dating from the early 18th to the early 20th century, the flags were acquired from naval officers of the family and preserved by the women of the families; notably Anna Rowell Philbrick Decatur (1821-1906), the wife of Stephen Decatur and Mable Storer, wife of Rear Admiral Storer, who carefully preserved these flags, an act for which posterity is forever indebted.

ZFC Significant Flag

Sources:



US Navy "Boat" Flag, Dave Martucci's Flag Pages, May 29, 2012, From: http://www.vexman.net/smalboat.htm

13 Star US Navy Small Craft - Boat Flag, Land and Sea Collection Nautical, Marine Antiques & Marine Art, Dive Helmets, Ship Models, Sextants, May 29, 2012, From: http://landandseacollection.com/id585.html

Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection



Hoist & Fly

Width of Hoist 51.5
Length of Fly 97

Union/Canton

Width of Union/Canton 27
Length of Union/Canton 42.5

Stars

Comments on Star Measurements 3-2-3-2-3 horizontal rows
Size of Stars 3.75

Stripes

Width of 1st Stripe 3.875
Width of 3rd Stripe 3.875
Width of 8th Stripe 4
Width of Last Stripe 4
Size of Hoist 1.25

Frame

Is it framed? no

Stars

Number of Stars 13
How are the stars embeded? Sewn
Are there stars on obverse? yes
Are there stars on reverse? yes

Stripes

Number of Stripes 13
Color of Top Stripe Red
Color of Bottom Stripe Red
Has a Blood Stripe? no
Comments on Stripes worn repaired

Crest/Emblem

Description of Crest/Emblem USN Boat Flag

Nationality

Nation Represented United States

Fabric

Fabric Wool

Stitching

Stitching Combination
Comments on Stitching Hand & Machine stitching.

Weave

Type of Weave Plain

Attachment

Comments on Method of Attachmen two brass .75'
Method of Attachment Grommets

Applica

Applique Sides Single Faced = Mirror Image Reverse

PDF Files
The Decatur Genealogy 1746-2993

Documentation

Documents
Cover

Cover

Catalog Page

Catalog Page

Catalog Images

Catalog Images

Letter of Authenticity

Letter of Authenticity


Condition

Condition Fair
Damage Used, heavily repaired.
Trending to good.
Displayable yes

Date

Date 1862-1876