- National Boating Associations
Burgee & Flag Etiquette
researched by Carlos Tessi
When mariners started crossing the oceans, flags were an important communications tool between ships when at sea and even ashore. Lives depended on correct interpretation of their meaning, especially on fighting ships. Today, proper use of flags is not just a way to identify vessels and boating organizations, but to give important instructions, make announcements, warn of approaching storms, and mostly to honor and keep alive the naval traditions and seamanship spirit of those sailors that preceded us.
Flags have different shapes and colors depending on their function. A pennant is a flag that is larger at the hoist than at the fly and can be triangular, tapering or swallow-tailed. A burgee is the pennant that identifies a recreational boating organization.
The Manhattan Yacht Club Burgee
Photo: the Manhattan Yacht Club burgee is a blue star in the center of a white field wrapped with a red band. The correct way to fly the burgee is with the star pointing up. Care must be taken when hoisting because it is bad luck for any boat to fly the burgee upside down.
The colors of our burgee originate as a homage to where our Founder began sailing, the Bay Head Yacht Club in New Jersey. Members of that club encouraged Commodore Fortenbaugh to pursue his dream of reintroducing sailing to New York Harbor. To reflect this origin, the MYC burgee was created by wrapping the BHYC burgee with a band of red, making it “Red, White & Blue,” especially appropriate for sailing in front of the Statue of Liberty.
The original Manhattan Yacht Club burgee has been preserved since the Club’s founding in 1987. This burgee sailed around Cape Horn twice with French sailing legend Guy Bernardin who was trying to break the NY to San Francisco sailing record. After its second rounding, the burgee was retired and is brought out once per year to fly over the annual Commissioning Ceremony in spring.
The Club Flagpole
Photo: Clubhouse of the Royal Cork Yacht Club founded in 1720 (picture circa 1900). The flagpole includes a yardarm and gaff and is facing to the sea.
A Yacht Club building (or clubhouse) is traditionally considered to be a vessel and not part of land. It is meant to have a proper flagpole that mimics the mast of a large sailing ship. In addition, many of the masts in early Yacht Clubs were real masts repurposed from a large gaff-rigged sailing vessel.
The difference between a conventional land flagpole and a yacht club flagpole is the yardarm and a gaff pole which mimic the aft mast of a ship. At sea, the gaff was used to raise the mizzen sail and is the aft-most point on the vessel. Since the national flag is meant to be flown from the aft most point of a ship, it was flown either from a pole on the stern or hoisted on the gaff. Some ships also attached their national flag to the leech of their mizzen sail.
Photo: America’s most famous warship is the USS Constitution, nicknamed Old-Ironsides. She has been restored and available to see in Boston. Here Old-Ironsides displays the flag of the United States of America from her gaff and also flies signal flags in her rigging.
The traditions of the nautical flagpole are not commonly known among the public and often generate controversy because no flag is ever meant to flown in a position of greater honor than our national ensign. People see the club burgee flying higher than the national ensign. What they do not know is that in the naval world, the highest point of the mast is not the place of greatest honor. The place of honor is the aft most fly, hence the national ensign is flown from the gaff.
The orientation of a clubhouse flagpole is also important, as it should be positioned as the mast of a ship standing out to sea (gaff pointing inland). A clubhouse flagpole also flies the burgees of the Yacht Club officers, to recognize their rank and their presence at the club or vessel.
Our Club’s first flagpole was established by a group of visionary Members in 2016 at our new clubhouse in Jersey City. A subscription was held which received a significant outpouring of support, more than double what ended up being needed. The surplus of the subscription was subsequently used to outfit the front of the clubhouse with an awning.
Thank you to these Members who made contributions (in order of size and when made): Scott Curtis, John LaGrassa, Jun and Jo Sochi, John & Amy Elliott, Carlos & Silvia Tessi, Glen Burger, Paul A. Bondor, Christopher Gizzi, Bob Savage, Luigi Galbiati, Doug Witter, Alex Howarth, Nina Galbiati, Laura Isabella Galbiati, Linda Keefe, Zaralina & Edouard Ruelle, Allan B Larsen, Mac True, Allison and Michael Verost, Eric and Doreen Leitner, Roger Mader, Jaci Daudt, Simon Jones, Deborah Koch and Bill DeFazio, Lynn Sexton and Mike Duran, Malcolm Forbes, Rohit Pandey, Stuart Longley, Le Gourieres, James Burns, Mete Ozeren, Eivind Karlsen, Dan Crabbe, Matthew Winalski, Andrew Zangle, Lloyd Spencer, Bob Finkelstein, Sonya Mesommonta, Hal Dorfman, Bertrand Saliba, Marc X. LoPresti, Peter Abelman, John Carlson, Steven G Rawlings, Paul Gilman, Patty Bryan, Jim Savitsky, Sergio Pulles, Michael Connolly, Jim Cavanaugh, The Zwang Family, Tracy Aron, Levent Kemal Sadikoglu, Bill Leone, Joan E. Lappin, Erik Thygesen, Orlando Ivey.
Flags on Your Vessel
Members may fly our Club’s burgee on their vessels from two locations while underway and at anchor. The more common is from a halyard under the lowermost starboard spreader. The more traditional is from a pig stick from the aft-most mast. Flying a pig stick indicates the yacht is in excellent trim because having the gear and skills to fly a pig stick denote a significant amount of knowledge and experience. The burgee should not be flown while racing. Powerboats which do not have mast may fly the burgee off a short staff at the bow.
Our USCG-certified vessels which are not considered recreational, including the Honorable William Wall, Arabella and Admiral’s Launch, are all required by law to fly the national flag and not the yacht ensign.
The ceremony of hoisting the flags at 8.00 am and dousing at sunset is call “making colors”. When shorthanded, the national ensign should be hoisted first, followed by the club burgee and the officers flags if they are present at the club (on deck). All officers’ flags are hoisted on the same starboard halyard, highest rank on top. Colors are hoisted smartly but lowered ceremoniously. Many yacht clubs salute the lowering of the colors with a cannon shot. Flags such as Race Committee flags, Gale warning flags, and special purpose flags can also be flown at a yacht club flagpole.
Exchange of Burgees
It is a nautical tradition to exchange burgees when visiting other yacht clubs or entering into reciprocity agreements. Members traveling to other clubs may purchase burgees in advance from our office. When exchanging burgees with another club, please record the exchange with a picture which can be included in our newsletter. In these cases, it is important that any picture displays the Manhattan Yacht Club burgee positioned in the right way, with the blue star pointing up as it flies on our flag pole!
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The Wanderer — the Slave Ship Flying a Yacht Club Burgee
In her only voyage as a slaver, she flew the New York Yacht Club burgee at her peak. That turned out to be a critical detail. The burgee and the complete implausibility of a luxury yacht whose owner wore the uniform of the New York Yacht Club, operating as a slave ship, allowed the ship to slip past the American and British anti-slavery patrol on the African coast.
Within a year of the delivery of the Wanderer , Colonel Johnson sold the yacht to William C. Corrie of Charleston, South Carolina. Charles Lamar was Corrie’s partner in the transaction but chose to stay in the background. Previously, Lamar had attempted to smuggle in slaves in two other ships, but had failed. Lamar was known as a “Fire Eater,” a radical secessionist and a supporter of reestablishing the slave trade. The importing of slaves into the United States was made illegal in 1807. Lamar and his associates would challenge the law directly with the yacht Wanderer .
Corrie was well connected with Southern politicians in Washington as well as with the New York business community. He was accepted as a gentleman of wealth and position and was granted membership into the New York Yacht Club.
Corrie had a lot of work to do to convert the Wanderer into a slaver. When he purchased substantial provisions and had large water tanks installed in Port Jefferson, New York, the yacht was temporarily seized by the harbormaster. No one was quite sure what Corrie was up to, but whatever it was, seemed suspicious. The New York Times headline describing the arrest was: “ Mystery of the Yacht Wanderer — She is seized at Port Jefferson, L.I. — Brought to New York and Overhauled — Curious Outfit — Is it a Pleasure-Trip? A Slave Hunt, or a Filibustering Expedition?” That Corrie had hired Captain Egbert Farnham, a well-known filibuster, as supercargo, only added to the suspicions. Filibusters in the 19th century were soldiers of fortune.
After protests and assurances, Wanderer was released. Corrie and his crew sailed Wanderer to Charleston to complete more of the conversion work. Eyebrows were raised, but the Wanderer sailed for Africa, arriving at the mouth of the Congo River, in present-day Angola, on September 16, 1858. Pine loaded in South Carolina was used to construct the slave decks in the hold.
For the next several weeks, Corrie traveled up the Congo River and along the coast to meet with local brokers and tribal leaders to arrange for the purchase of captive Africans. How did he avoid the 29 British and American ships of the anti-slavery patrol cruising the coast looking for slavers? Corrie didn’t. He invited them over for dinner. As reported in the New York Times of December 17, 1858 :
The British frigate Medusa was on the coast at the time to the visit of the Wanderer, and numerous were the friendly visits, and gratifying were the convivialities that passed between the officers of the two nations. The Wanderer’s people were entertained and feted by the Britishers, and the Britishers in their turn were entertained and feted by those on board the American yacht. So entire was the confidence felt in the latter, and so assured were the gallant John Bulls that their Yankee friends were bent on only a pleasure and information-seeking trip, that the idea of examining the Wanderer, to see if she could possibly be fitted for a slaver, was laughed at when proposed by Captain Farnham as “a very good joke.”
There were Spanish and American slave ships operating on the coast of Africa which were pursued by the anti-slavery patrol. The slavers generally sold their slaves in Brazil, where the slave trade was still legal. Slavery would not be abolished in Brazil until 1888.
The Wanderer made a final trip up the Congo to load slaves. Corrie is believed to have paid for the slaves , at a rate of $50 per head, with rum, gunpowder, cutlasses, and muskets rather than with paper or gold. By mid-October, the Wanderer was ready to begin its return voyage to the United States. The US Navy sloop of war USS Vincennes , one of the anti-slave patrol, waited offshore for the Wanderer to return from the Congo River, intending to inspect the ship, but was unable to catch the much faster yacht as it set to sea.
The Wanderer arrived at Jekyll Island, Georgia on November 28, 1858, still flying the yacht club burgee and discharged 409 Africans. 79 had died during the trip. Lamar and Corrie had the slaves shipped to markets in Savannah and Augusta, Georgia; South Carolina and Florida.
News of the Wanderer’s voyage was met with outrage in the North and jubilation in the South. An article in the New York Evening Post titled, The Slave Trade Reopened , from December 15, 1858, describes celebrations in Washington, D.C. on the news of the Wanderer unloading the slaves:
The friends of Captain Corrie, of the yacht Wanderer, were quite gleeful at Brown’s Hotel last night over the telegraphic dispatch announcing his success in landing a cargo of slaves from Africa on the Savannah River. With their champagne they drank to the success to all future enterprises.
In January 1859, the yacht Wanderer was seized as a slave trader. Under a 1820 law, those engaging in the slave trade were considered to be pirates. Lamar, Corrie, and their fellow conspirators were tried in federal court in Savannah on three separate counts of piracy in May 1860. They were found not guilty.
A notice appeared in the February 8, 1859 New York Times :
The New York Yacht Club, at their usual meeting, held on Thursday last, passed two resolutions, erasing the name of the yacht Wanderer from their list and expelling her alleged owner, Mr. Wim. C. Corrie, from the Club….”
The article goes on to note , “In this case, an act of paltry bad faith was aggravated not only by the specially illegal and infamous character of the traffic undertaken, but also by the use of the flag and the uniform of the Club on the coast of Africa; where the officers of the Wanderer, while engaged in evading the laws of their own country, deliberately figured as New York gentlemen, and offered the hospitalities of their yacht, under the burgee of the Club, to British and American naval officers, whose duty it would have been, if their true character had been known, to arrest them as criminals and send them home for trial. …. The thing is worse than illegal — worse than inhuman — worse even than dishonest. It is deplorably sneaking.. .”
Corrie and Lamar appear to have done well financially with the Wanderer. After deducting the cost of the yacht, the voyage expenses and the cost of purchasing the Africans, they probably netted around $200,000 based on a market price of $700 per slave. Not bad, considering that the Corrie paid Colonel Johnson $22,000 to purchase the yacht.
Charles Lamar, “Fire Eater” to the end, was shot and killed in what is considered to be the last battle of the Civil War, while attempting to lead a charge against Union troops four days after Appomattox.
The Wanderer was stolen in 1860 for an unsuccessful venture as a pirate. She was taken into the US Navy in 1861 and served as a gunboat, a tender, and a hospital ship during the Civil War. After the war, she as sold into the commercial service where she operated until lost off Cape Maisí, Cuba, in 1871.
The Wanderer — the Slave Ship Flying a Yacht Club Burgee — 5 Comments
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Excellent notes highlighting this sordid American affair and the major players in it! I live only a few miles from the plantations where many were put to work. They also were also used as workers in the stoneware factories in the Old Edgefield District of South Carolina where they crafted crude face jugs of clay. These jugs were used in the practice of powerful rituals akin to voodoo.
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Why is he Lamar remembered as a Fire Eater?
According to research by William B. Minuse, (1908-2002), a historian and expert on Suffolk County maritime history whose research has provided much of the information we have on the shipbuilding era, “the 114 foot-long yacht (Wanderer), after being fitted out in Port Jefferson with numerous large water tanks, went to the African slave coast and took aboard some 600 Negroes and sailed for the states. On the evening of November 28, 1858, she landed 465 Negroes on Jekyll Island, Georgia. She was soon seized by the authorities and sold at auction. In 1861, after three years in other illegal trades, she was seized by the Federal Government and used as a gunboat in the ‘War Between the States.’ She was credited with capturing four prizes: two schooner and two sloops. After the war she was sold to private owners who ran her as a coaster transporting commerce along the U.S. east coast. She went aground on Cape Maisi, east out of Cuba, on January 21, 1871 and was a total loss.” http://tinyurl.com/jdqgkda
Auction August 4, 2024 The Marine Auction
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New York Yacht Club Burgee, circa 1930s
- Dept Decorative Arts , Maritime Arts
- Size 20 in. x 31 in.
- Ref # 3-4849
- EST $ $200-$300
20 in. x 31 in.
This item is included in the upcoming August 4, 2024 auction. Click here for an overview of this auction.
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Yacht Club Burgees
On the following pages are the yacht club burgees historically enrolled with the Register.
It is generally accepted that any new burgee or change to an enrolled burgee will not be accepted by the Register if it too closely resembles another enrolled burgee.
Kindly contact us in the event of changes.
D - L
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'); // End --> and include your web address, or an image of the burgee. Registering your burgee in the International Burgee Registry is FREE.
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COMMENTS
New York Yacht Club Multihull Regatta Queen's Cup 2017 J Class World Championship 2017 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup Melges 20 Worlds Employment Web Content Search. Search Search HTML Generator. Home About the Club. About the Club On July 30, 1844, John Cox Stevens (1785-1857) and eight of his friends met aboard Stevens' yacht ...
The seniority of a club burgee is determined by the date of establishment of the club. The NYYC is most senior (oldest) yacht club in the United States, thus its burgee is to be to the left of other U.S. clubs and junior foreign club burgees, when facing the crossed display or graphic. Foreign clubs, senior to the NYYC
Yacht Club Burgees Each yacht club has a club burgee, normally a triangular pennant, that is displayed at its clubhouse and on members' boats according to club rules. ... New York YC (1844)* Mobile YC (1847)* Pass Christian YC (1849) Southern YC (1849)* Springfield Y&CC (1850)* Carolina YC (NC) (1853) Buffalo YC (1860)* Neenah-Nodaway YC (1861 ...
The New York Yacht Club (NYYC) is a private social club and yacht club based in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1844 by nine prominent sportsmen. ... In 1845, the club's burgee was designed. The waters off Newport have been a key sailing venue for the NYYC since the beginning of its history.
Location: Kilmarnock, VA. Boat: Nordhavn 46, 46'. Posts: 313. Yacht Club Burgee Identification. OK, all you eagle eyes out there. A friend gave me a plate with a yacht club burgee on it. Said the burgee was from a famous "New York Yacht Club." I don't think it is the obvious, the New York Yacht Club, although the colors are the same.
New York Yacht Club: (Burgee) - blue, a red cross with in the centre a white five-pointed star. Source: Norie and Hobbs (1987) Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 12 November 2001. The burgee isn't pictured. In the American Yacht List 1874 it's pictured as the pennant. On the web site of the NYYC ( www.nyyc.com) it says about the adoption of the ...
The original Manhattan Yacht Club burgee has been preserved since the Club's founding in 1987. This burgee sailed around Cape Horn twice with French sailing legend Guy Bernardin who was trying to break the NY to San Francisco sailing record. After its second rounding, the burgee was retired and is brought out once per year to fly over the ...
Racing sailboats has long been a lifeblood of the New York Yacht Club. The Club, founded on July 30, 1844, held informal speed trials during its first week of existence and hosted its first fleet race just nine days after it was founded. In 1851, a black-hulled schooner crossed the Atlantic and arrived in Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, the ...
Burgee History. According to Merriam-Webster, a burgee (pronounced bur-jee) is (1) a swallow-tailed flag used especially by ships for signals or identification (2) the usually triangular identifying flag of a yacht club. The word burgee likely comes from the French word bourgeois, which means shipowner. Back in the days before VHF radio and ...
The International Burgee Registry publishes yacht club burgees as a free service to the yacht clubs to help protect their copyright to their burgee. By displaying their burgee here, they reduce the possibility of other organizations adopting their design. Along these lines, we recommend yacht clubs display the following image on their web sites.
The burgee and the complete implausibility of a luxury yacht whose owner wore the uniform of the New York Yacht Club, operating as a slave ship, allowed the ship to slip past the American and British anti-slavery patrol on the African coast. ... 1858, still flying the yacht club burgee and discharged 409 Africans. 79 had died during the trip ...
New York Yacht Club Multihull Regatta Queen's Cup 2017 J Class World Championship 2017 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup Melges 20 Worlds Employment Web Content Search. Search Search About New York Yacht Club. About New York Yacht Club On July 30, 1844, John Cox Stevens (1785-1857) and eight of his friends met aboard Stevens' yacht ...
ABOUT THE NEW YORK YACHT CLUB 1844. Sep 13, 2019. The Isle of Wight in the Solent has long been the epicenter of yachting in England. In 1851, a schooner painted black arrived there looking to win races. This was the yacht America, owned by John Cox Stevens, the first commodore of the NYYC and other club members.
New York Yacht Club Burgee, circa 1930s. 20 in. x 31 in. This item is included in the upcoming August 4, 2024 auction. Click here for an overview of this auction. Rafael Osona Auctions. Auctions & Showroom 21 Washington St, Nantucket, MA 02554. Mailing Address PO Box 2607, Nantucket, MA 02584 ...
Yacht Club Burgees Beginning with M from Around the World--Burgee Group N. International Burgee Registry Burgee Group Na-Ne. Page 1 of 2: Burgee ... New York Athletic Yacht Club, Founded 1892: New York Power Squadron, NY, US: New York Sailing Center & Yacht Club, NY, US: New York Yacht Club, RI, US
Burgee of the Adelaide University Sailing Club. Burgee of the New York Yacht Club. Burgee of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron. Burgee of KNS, The Royal Norwegian Yacht Club, (1884−1904). Burgee of KNS, The Royal Norwegian Yacht Club, adopted in 1906. Burgee of International 5O5 Class Association. A burgee is a distinguishing flag, regardless ...
Yacht Club Burgees. On the following pages are the yacht club burgees historically enrolled with the Register. It is generally accepted that any new burgee or change to an enrolled burgee will not be accepted by the Register if it too closely resembles another enrolled burgee. Kindly contact us in the event of changes. A - C. D - L.
NYYC Linen Burgee flag 19" x 12" Zeidel's Port Washington, NY 1980s. Skip to Content Open Menu Close Menu. Home About Press Shop Login Account. 0. 0. Open Menu Close Menu. Home ... New York Yacht Club Burgee $300.00 NYYC Linen Burgee flag.
While older sailing vessels fly the burgee from the main masthead. Power boats fly their Burgee off a short staff on the bow. Yachtees love "Opening Day" when they get to parade their yachts and fly their Burgees. To Register Your Burgee -- send an email to [email protected] and include your web address, or an image of the burgee.
A summer cruise among New York Yacht Club members has been an annual event ever since, with the exceptions of 1861, 1898, and the war years of 1917-1920 and 1941-1945. In 1998, the club celebrated the 100th anniversary of its first cruise to Maine. Gimcrack was the first flagship of John Cox Stevens, first commodore of the NYYC.
Burgee of the New York Yacht Club.svg. Size of this PNG preview of this SVG file: 500 × 300 pixels. Other resolutions: 320 × 192 pixels | 640 × 384 pixels | 1,024 × 614 pixels | 1,280 × 768 pixels | 2,560 × 1,536 pixels. Original file (SVG file, nominally 500 × 300 pixels, file size: 725 bytes)
The New York Yacht Club has several house rules that all members, guests and visitors observe. These policies have been developed by the House ... Restrictions on display of the Club burgee and insignia n Members only: Uniform insignia and pins, ties or scarves with an unadorned Club burgee or
Burgee. $42.00. Sold Out. Official SYC club burgee for boats, flagpoles or walls. 12" x 18". Add To Cart. Southold Yacht Club 165 North Parish Drive, Southold, NY 11971 [email protected].