Jack (flag)

Commercial or pleasure craft may fly the flag of an administrative division (state, province, land) or municipality at the bow.

Yachts may fly a club burgee or officer's flag or the owner's private signal at the bow.

The OED mentions the theory of its derivation from James I or from a leathern jacket but dismisses both: "neither of these conjectures covers the early use of the word".

In 1667 Samuel Pepys, naval administrator and diarist, recorded the Dutch taking the Royal Charles and a man "struck her flag and jacke" — clearly two different things.

France and some other countries use the same flag or ensign for all purposes, civil or military, and also as their naval jack.

Most countries have chosen a completely different design for their naval jacks, often with some national or maritime symbol, and usually with the same colours as in their flags.

The best known is the Union Jack of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy, composed in 1606 by joining the flags of England and Scotland.

When the Kingdom of Ireland merged with Great Britain in 1801, a red saltire (Saint Patrick's Cross) was added to form the present Union Flag.

[citation needed] From 1777 to 1975, 1977 to September 2002, and June 2019 to the present, the United States Navy has flown a "union jack", consisting of the blue canton with white stars from the US national ensign.