History of the ball and square distress flag?

Question

Where did the design of the ball and square distress flag come from? I am guessing it resembles the exclamation point from "help!" or "SOS!" ?

Answer 1

There is not a big 'history' of maritime distress signals. Because a vessel in distress can be an ocean liner with satellite communications, radios, whistles, flags etc. and it can also be a surf board with nothing of all this.

So the first rule is: you have to work with what you have (the surfer still has arms and he can shout and whistle).

The second rule is: a distress signal shall be distinct; it should be something that you would usually never do - thus drawing the attention of others.

What you have on most vessels is a flag. Even if not, almost every piece of clothing, torn sail or else can be hoisted or hold up to catch attention, even from a raft. There are many reasons to display more than one flag, so to distinguish you have to put something else to the flag. You might not have a ball, but there are many things to display that look like a ball from the distance: a chest, a bucket, a bundle of sail or clothes, a fender - you name it. It may be the unusual display on one hand and the good variety of producing the signal that made the ball-and-flag an universal and recognized marine distress signal.

Apart from that, ball and flag have been part of different signalling systems before they were recognized as marine distress signal (see for example the following link to 'The Nelson Almanack, 1868, chapter j Code of Signals :

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin...

I would assume that The SOLAS convention created after the Titanic tragedy is one of the first international conventions to recognize the flag-and-ball display.

Answer 2

Any ship worthy of the name would carry signal flags and anchor balls, and both can be attached to and run up a halyard. But there is absolutely no other case in which you would run a flag and a ball up the same halyard, so a sailor seeing this would immediately register that something was seriously wrong, just like the old-time use of the ensign flown upside down.