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Between 1856 and 1986 the hulls of obsolete wooden warships at permanent moorings in harbours and rivers around Britain, were used as training ships. They were originally established to provide further education and nautical training to boys who had left school, but were not old enough to enlist in the Royal Navy, or obtain employment in the Merchant Navy. Some charged a fee, some were subsidised by ship-owners, some were run by charitable societies for the benefit of paupers and orphans, and some were organised by local authorities as reformatories for juvenile delinquents. Many of them, and some similar establishments on shore, had distinctive ensigns. They included:
David Prothero, 25 August 2003
See also:
![[Training Ship Arethusa Ensign]](../images/g/gb~tsaa.gif)
by
Martin Grieve, 20 October 2003
Blue Ensign of Training Ship Arethusa.
Lord Shaftesbury (7th Earl) founded the National Refuge for Homeless and
Destitute Children known as Shaftesbury Homes, and in 1866 persuaded the
Admiralty to lend him a frigate, Chichester, so that some destitute children
might be trained for employment at sea. Chichester was moored at Greenhithe on
the south bank of the lower Thames. Additional accommodation was needed, and in
1874 another frigate, Arethusa, was acquired and moored astern of Chichester.
The Admiralty are said to have issued a warrant in 1877 for both ships to fly a
Blue Ensign though it is not clear whether it was for a plain or a defaced
ensign, and if defaced, what badge was used. Arethusa was said, in 1927, to have
flown a plain Blue Ensign and Union Jack as jack since 1874. The Captain
Superintendent claimed that King's Regulations entitled him to do so as he was a
retired naval officer in the Reserve, and his staff included reservists in
excess of the minimum qualification. This was not correct as a warrant was
required even if the qualifications for a Blue Ensign were met. Demand for
merchant seamen fell as steam ships replaced sailing ships, and Chichester was
returned to the Admiralty in 1889.
An Admiralty warrant dated 31 December 1927 was issued for Arethusa to fly a
Blue Ensign with TS ARETHUSA in white. As with Worcester, the style and position
of the letters was not recorded, so the appearance of the ensign is supposition.
By 1933 Arethusa had deteriorated beyond repair and was replaced by the
ex-German nitrate carrier Peking, which was converted and moored on the River
Medway at Upnor in Kent. The ship was renamed Arethusa and a new warrant issued
on 18 July 1933 for the same ensign to be flown on the replacement ship. In 1940
the ship was requisitioned by the Admiralty and reverted to her old name Peking.
After the war the ship was returned to the Shaftesbury Society and reverted to
the name Arethusa. The school was closed in 1974 and the ship bought by an
American consortium that converted her into a museum ship. She is, I understand
still afloat at the South Street Seaport Museum, New York, with her original
name Peking.
David Prothero, 20 October 2003
![[Training Ship Arethusa Ensign]](../images/g/gb~tsaa2.gif)
by
Martin Grieve, 11 March 2004
![[Training Ship Arethusa Ensign]](../images/g/gb)tsaa2.gif)
by
Martin Grieve, 11 March 2004
Henryk Matysiak, the Honorary Treasurer of the Arethusa Old Boys' Association
has provided a picture of the badge. By 1956 a Blue Ensign with a badge had
replaced the Blue Ensign authorised in 1927. It was the ship's ensign until
1974, and is still used at formal ceremonies of the Old Boys' Association, "and
sadly at funerals of shipmates that have passed away".
David Prothero, 11 March 2004
I trained on the ship 1955-57 and it was certainly in use when I joined
and I assumed it had been in use for some time then - I certainly don't remember
any photos or reference to the earlier ensign with the name written on. We also
flew a blue 'pilot jack' at the jackstaff i.e. union flag with a blue surround
in the same proportions as the pilot jack. I have been unable to locate any
reference to this flag being official and have never seen it flown elsewhere.
John McFadyen, 6 September 2012
Perhaps this flag was introduced when the school re-opened after the war. The
jack was probably unofficial. A blue-bordered Union Jack was the Jack of H.M.
Indian Marine (re-named Royal Indian Marine in 1892) from 1884 until 1928. In
1936 it was the Jack of the Bengal Pilot Service.
David Prothero, 7
September 2012
![[Training Ship Conway Ensign]](../images/g/gb~tscy.gif)
by
Martin Grieve, 20 October 2003
Blue Ensign of Training Ship Conway, the school ship of the Liverpool
Mercantile Marine Association.
1859. The school was established on a small frigate, the Conway, moored in the
Mersey at Rock Ferry, Birkenhead.
1861. Replaced by larger frigate Winchester which was renamed Conway, while the
original Conway was renamed Winchester and use as an RNR drill ship at Aberdeen.
By 1875 the second Conway was too small and was replaced by the Nile built in
1839 as a 92 gun Ship of the Line. She was renamed Conway, while the second
Conway, which had been Winchester, was renamed Mount Edgecombe and went to the
Devonport and Cornwall Industrial Training Ship Committee at Plymouth.
4 May 1896. Admiralty Warrant for defaced Blue Ensign; design not known.
1903. Request for plain Blue Ensign refused.
31 December 1927. Admiralty Warrant for Blue Ensign defaced with yellow castle.
1940. To avoid damage from bombing the ship was moved to a new mooring off Plas
Newydd in the Menai Strait which separates Anglesey from North Wales.
1953. School was moved ashore to Anglesey after the ship ran aground and broke
her back while being towed to Liverpool for a refit.
1974. School closed and ensign laid-up in Liverpool Cathedral.
David Prothero, 30 October 2003
![[Training Ship Conway Ensign]](../images/g/gb~tscy2.gif)
by
Graham Bartram, 1 November 2003
This illustration is of a Ministry of Defence drawing of the ensign (based on
a drawing supplied by the Conway Club), which is still in use as the authorized
ensign of the Conway Club Cruising Association.
David Prothero, 1 November 2003
The "colours" of HMS Conway were laid up in Liverpool Cathedral on 11 July
1974. This appears to have been a special flag and not an ensign. No details of
the design of the flag are visible in a Liverpool Post photograph of the
ceremony, except that it was fringed. These colours were stolen soon afterwards,
and replaced by a replica in 1976. This caused some controversy. Mr. D.G.
Fletcher Rogers of the Conway Club, was quoted in the Liverpool Echo of 15
October 1976 as saying, "The stolen colours were consecrated; they had been
borne by the cadets and were consequently a part of the ship's life. Anything
else is just a copy. It is a matter for the Cathedral what they wish to hang
there, but we consider the replica to be just bunting." The cathedral treasurer
was reported as saying that the flag, although not the one presented at the
special service, was an exact replica, correct in every detail, and was
displayed with the full authority of the governors of the Conway.
Mr. Rogers had the "ship's last colours" which had been given to him by Lawrence
Holt, a director of the Blue Funnel Line. Holt was also chairman of HMS Conway's
management committee, and had rescued the ensign that was flying when the ship
went aground in 1953. Three days later the paper ran an item about Mr. John
Southwood, a former Conway cadet, who had approached the Ministry of Defence to
see if boat-owning old boys could fly the Conway flag to perpetuate its memory.
Permission was given providing that a proper yacht club was formed, and
registered with the Royal Yachting Association. The club ensign was first flown
later in October 1976 when the yacht Fresh Wind sailed from its moorings in the
River Conway, and went via the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal, to be
laid up for the winter in Northwich.
The ensign featured in the Liverpool Echo again on 6 April 1977 when an article
announced that the Conway Ensign would be seen on Merseyside, after an absence
of 34 years, now that the Conway Club Cruising Association was using the Royal
Mersey Yacht Club facilities at Tranmere.
Details and photograph from a book of newspaper cuttings in the Flag Institute
Library. It was compiled in the 1970s by Robert C'Ailceta of Bebington,
Cheshire.
David Prothero, 26 November 2003
See also:
![[Training Ship Cornwall Ensign]](../images/g/gb~tscl.gif)
by
Martin Grieve, 16 September 2003
In 1859 The School Ship Society established a reformatory in the redundant ship-of-the-line HMS Cornwall moored at Purfleet on the lower Thames. She retained the name TS Cornwall until 1868 when she was transferred to a Nautical School at South Shields near the mouth of the Tyne and renamed TS Wellesley. At the same time the School at Purfleet obtained a ship built in Bombay by the East India Company. She had been HMS Wellesley but was renamed TS Cornwall. This ship was moved further down the Thames to Gravesend in 1928, where she was sunk in 1940. One of the few ships-of-the-line to be attacked by aircraft. She was raised in 1948, and some of her timbers used in the re-building of the Law Courts in London.
It is probable that a plain Blue Ensign was flown until 1927, when an Admiralty
warrant was issued on 31 December for a Blue Ensign defaced with a letter C in
white. In 1932 Admiral Commanding Reserves suggested that the ensign should be
red, since boys from the ship were not eligible to enlist in the Royal Navy, and
found employment ashore, or in the Merchant Navy.
David Prothero, 16 September 2003
![[Training Ship Exmouth Ensign]](../images/g/gb~tseh.gif)
by
Martin Grieve, 6 September 2003
In 1875 the Metropolitan Asylums Board set up a Poor Law Training School in the
2nd rate ship of the line Exmouth, moored in the lower Thames off Grays in
Essex. She replaced Goliath, another training ship that had been destroyed by
fire. By the turn of the century she was unfit for further service and replaced
by a new ship built of steel but similar in appearance to a ship of the line.
The first ensign of which I have found any record was granted by Admiralty
Warrant on 6 January 1928. It was for a Blue Ensign defaced with the shield of
the Metropolitan Asylums Board, blazoned, argent on a cross gules the rod of
Aesculapius or, a bordure engrailed sable. A note added that it represented 'the
red cross of medicine and ambulance work, and the golden staff of the heathen
founder of the art of healing.'
The image shown here is derived solely from the description. Martin and I had
originally decided that the shield would have been given a white outline, rather
than a white circle, to separate the shield from the field of the ensign, but I
then found
http://www.pavitt4.fsnet.co.uk/training_ship_exmouth.htm and although the
design of the badge is not distinguishable, it is obviously on a white circle,
which would not seem necessary for the London County Council badge (below).
David Prothero, 6 September 2003
![[Training Ship Exmouth Ensign]](../images/g/gb~tseh2.gif)
by
Martin Grieve, 6 September 2003
The Local Government Act of 1929, transferred the functions of the Board to the
London County Council and an new Admiralty Warrant was issued.
"By the Commissioners for Executing the Office of Lord High Admiral of the
United Kingdom.
Whereas we deem it expedient that the Training Ship Exmouth of which the Length
is 300 feet, the Breadth 53 feet, the Tonnage 4,300, shall be authorised to wear
the Blue Ensign of His Majesty's Fleet with the distinctive Marks of the said
ship in the Fly thereof, to wit, barry wavy of six azure and argent on a chief
of the last the cross of St George charged with leopard of England. The shield
is ensigned with a mural crown.
We do therefore by virtue of the Power and Authority vested in us hereby Warrant
and Authorise the Blue Ensign of His Majesty's Fleet with distinguishing Marks
aforesaid to be worn by the said Training Ship Exmouth. This our warrant shall
be recoverable at our discretion at all times, and shall determine and cease to
have effect when the Ship named and described herein shall cease to be employed
by the London County Council in the training of boys.
Given under our Hands and the Seal of the Office of Admiralty this Fifteenth day
of April in the year of Our Lord One Thousand Nine Hundred and Thirty."
The image is based on a sketch that I made of an illustration in National
Archive (PRO) ADM 1/8744/122. It had an unusual mural crown with turrets. The
image is not quite right but close.
In September 1939 the school was moved on shore and the ensign lapsed. The ship
was bought by the Admiralty, but she will turn up again later as the TS
Worcester with a different ensign.
David Prothero, 6 September 2003
The ensign was resurrected after the war when the London Nautical School applied
to the Admiralty for permission to fly it on shore at Woolverstone, Essex.
Permission was granted in a letter dated 3 November 1947. [National Archives
(PRO) ADM 1/20882]
David Prothero, 18 October 2003
![[Training Ship Foudroyant Ensign]](../images/g/gb~tsft.gif)
by
Clay Moss, 21 January 2007
At the ICV 2001 in York, England, when we visited the Foudroyant, their staff
gave us an old 4.5x9 foot Foudroyant ensign. By fact of possession, I became the
"keeper" of said ensign on behalf of the Flag Institute and have it safely
stowed away here in Mississippi. The emblem in the fly of my drawing is a
faithful copy of the emblem on the ensign in my possession. The ring, lightning
bolt, and outline on the letter "F" are colored yellow gold.
Clay Moss, 28 December 2006
The F is not quite centered. It is off centered a bit toward the fly although
not as much as I have made it in my gif. With that said, the whole lightening
bolt F emblem isn't perfectly centered on the actual ensign. I wasn't sure if
that was intentional or if the flag builder was having an off day. I took the
liberty of assuming that the components ought to be collectively centered.
Clay Moss, 29 December 2006
Foudroyant, launched in 1793, was purchased from the Admiralty for use as a
training ship, but wrecked in 1897. Trincomalee, a frigate built in Bombay, was
bought to replace her, and renamed Foudroyant. She was moored, first in
Falmouth, and then Milford Haven, before going to Portsmouth, where she was used
in association with TS Implacable. Implacable was scrapped in 1949, but
Foudroyant continued as a training ship until 1986. She was moved to Hartlepool
for restoration and renamed Trincomalee in 1992. Foudroyant means Thunderer, so
the badge is quite appropriate.
David Prothero, 25 August 2003
The reason a British training ship has a French name is because the Foudroyant
described here was launched in 1793 as Nelson's flagship at the Battle of the
Nile (1798), but she was actually the second of that name with the first being a
two-decker of 80 guns captured from the French in 1758. The original Foudroyant
was 180 feet 5 inches on the gun deck x 50 feet 3 inches in the beam, she was
added under her own name and for all her active life was considered the finest
two-decker in the service.
Christopher Southworth, 28 December 2006
![[Training Ship Indefatigable Ensign]](../images/g/gb~tsie.gif)
by
Martin Grieve, 22 September 2003
TS Indefatigable was established by John Clint in 1865 to provide a home and
nauticaltraining for destitute and orphan boys from Liverpool. Financial
assistance was provided by James Bibby, owner of the Bibby Line shipping
company. The ship, built in 1848, wasone of the last wooden frigates of the
Royal Navy. She was moored at Rock Ferry on the Birkenhead side of the Mersey,
in the same area as two other training ships, Akbar and Conway. Another training
ship, Clarence, was later moored nearby at New Ferry.
The old frigate was scrapped in 1914 and replaced by the masted cruiser Phaeton,
renamed Indefatigable. She had been one of the last Royal Navy ships fitted with
sails and engines. The school moved ashore in 1940, found a permanent site at
Plas Llanfair, Anglesey, in 1944, and remained there until the school closed in
1995.
An Admiralty Warrant for a Blue Ensign defaced with a Liver
bird was issued 31 December 1927. The only information about the
appearance of the badge was the description, 'a Liver Bird, with an ivy leaf in
its beak, standing on a red and white torse'. Martin's image is derived from the
badge of the Royal Mersey Yacht Club's
Blue Ensign which is a Liver Bird surmounted by a royal crown.
David Prothero, 22 September 2003
![[Training Ship Mars Ensign]](../images/g/gb~tsms.gif)
by
Martin Grieve, July 2008
Originally an 80 gun second rate, Mars became a training ship in 1869, and was
closed down in 1929. She was moored at Woodhaven, on the south side of the Firth
of Tay, opposite Dundee. It was an industrial ship and run, at least in its
later years, by Messrs Mackay Irons & Company. An Admiralty warrant was issued
in 1927, but the ensign was probably in use before this.
I have not seen an illustration of the ensign and Martin made the image from a
description, 'Blue Ensign with yellow Scottish lion'.
The Royal Harwich Yacht Club
has a similar
ensign, 'Blue Ensign with yellow lion rampant'.
David Prothero, 27 August 2003
Excerpts from the Mars minute book-
October 1877 Letter read from the Lords
of the Admiralty dated 14th September, authorizing the blue ensign to be hoisted
by the Mars, and stating that a warrant for so being issued on their Lordships
being informed as to the distinguishing mark this Committee has resolved to
adopt. The Committee considered this matter, and resolved to adopt the Royal
Arms of Scotland as the distinguishing mark of this Institution.
January 3rd 1878 Cumberland has adopted the Lion Rampant so Mars to insert a thistle in each corner, 'Lion Rampant and Thistles.'
7th February 1878 Letter from Admiral Phillimore stating that the Lords of the
Admiralty had approved of the 'Lion Rampant and Thistles,' distinguishing device
to be borne on the Blue Ensign to be flown on board the Mars.
Gordon
Douglas, 7 July 2008
See also:
Training Ship Mercury (not to be confused with HMS Mercury, the former Royal Navy Signal School) was
established as a
nautical school by the banker Charles Hoare in 1885. The first ship, the barque Illovo,
was moored at Binstead, Isle of Wight, but moved in 1892 to the River Hamble,
between
Portsmouth and Southampton. In 1916 Illovo was replaced by the former Royal
Naval Reserve
drill ship HMS President, built originally in 1878 as the sloop HMS Gannet, and
of course
renamed Mercury. The school closed in 1968, and the ship is now at Chatham
Historic
Dockyard very slowly being restored to the appearance she had in 1886.
For many years the ship flew a plain Blue Ensign, but on 31 December 1927 the
Admiralty
granted a warrant for a Blue Ensign defaced with the 'talaria of Mercury'. [NL
3309/27]
Talaria were the winged sandals of Mercury, the messenger of the gods, but the
precise
design used for the badge is uncertain. A question on the subject will be
included in the
next Mercury Old Boys Association Magazine due out in the Spring.
David Prothero, 10 December 2003
There is a reference to the defaced Blue Ensign of TS Mercury in two
documents in the National Archives at Kew; ADM 1/8713/161 and HO 144/22962.
Neither has a drawing and the description is just 'Talaria of Mercury (winged
sandals)'.
The badge of a special ensign was described very briefly in
the warrant, but as far as I know the Admiralty did not keep an illustrated
record of the designs.
David Prothero, 15 April 2010
Following recent investigations with the Admiralty it seems that the proposed
ensign defacement proposed in 1927 was never implemented. However as the
establishment from about 1918 was always under the command of an RNR or ex Navy
officer on the reserve the blue ensign was always flown.
'Snowy' White,
Master Mariner, 30 April 2013
T S Mercury Old Boys' Association
![[Training Ship Northampton Ensign]](../images/g/gb~tsnn.gif)
by
Martin Grieve, 22 September 2003
In December 1912 the 735 ton torpedo-gunboat HMS Sharpshooter was leased from
the Admiralty by the Marquess of Northampton and renamed TS Northampton. She was
moored at Temple Pier on the Thames Embankment in London and used as a night
school, giving technical instruction to boys of 15 to 17 who were in only casual
employment.
An Admiralty letter of 27 March 1914 stated, "Northampton Training Ship
permitted to wear, for a period of five years, the Blue Ensign of His Majesty's
Fleet, with badge of said ship in fly; namely an anchor with an axe and a hammer
crossed in the ring thereof, and the letters N and A on either side
respectively, the whole surmounted by a coronet."
There is no reference to the colour of the badge, and only a black and white
drawing. I have assumed that it was yellow, though it could have been white.
A minute noted, "To be supplied with plain Blue Ensign and ship to arrange
addition of badge. As regards supply by contract, it would hardly appear, in
view of the small probable requirement, that this is a case for inclusion in
Admiralty Contract, which would involve inserting in Flag Book." [National
Archives (PRO) ADM 1/8369/48]
In 1919 the ship was transferred to the Sea Scouts, but
retained the name Northampton
David Prothero, 5 October 2003
To Part 2