Fisherman's Wedding Flag, Scotland

Last modified: 2013-07-30 by rob raeside
Keywords: scotland | fisherman's wedding flag | wedding | france |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors

Image located at www.scran.ac.uk by James Dignan, 2 November 2005
[Note image shown at www.scran.ac.uk is artificially stretched horizontally. Image copyrighted by Scottish Fisheries Museum.]

• About the flag
• Scottish Fisheries Board ensign - pre-1952
• Detail of the pre-1952 Badge
• Blue ensign of Scottish Fisheries Board 1885-1904
• Detail of the Badge (Admiralty Flag Book, 1915)

See also:

• Scotland

About the flag

The image is labeled "Title: Fisherman's wedding flag". Anyone know anything about this?
James Dignan, 2 November 2005

From http://athens.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-000-198-371-C&scache=3jl2jhlpvh&searchdb=scran:

Wedding flags were used at marriages in fishing communities. The flag would be made by the bride and hoisted from the mast of the groom's fishing boat. After the wedding the youngest member of the crew brought it down. It was said that the state of the flag was an omen for the marriage itself. The flag is made of cotton and has the traditional design of three stripes in red, white and blue. The red stripe was always nearest the mast when the flag was flown.

This flag is in good condition - a good omen perhaps? The flag was last flown for the marriage of John Clark and Edith Birrell in Anstruther, Fife in March 1991. John Clark was a fisherman on the "Antares" KY23. The  original owner of the flag is unknown but they were often kept by brides as wedding souvenirs.

This flag ... is apparently a signal flag for the letter T; the joke being that the T signal flag can mean, "Keep clear of me; I am engaged in pair trawling".
David B. Lawrence, 17 August 2009