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Maritime Services Board of New South Wales (Australia)

by Clay Moss, 15 June 2005

Description of the flag

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Description

[The flag is a British blue ensign defaced with the badge of the Maritime Services Board of NSW. The badge features a gold ship in the middle of a southern cross made up of four gold five-pointed stars, all on a red disc with a blue and gold border. Below the disc is a ribbon with the words "THE MARITIME SERVICES BOARD OF N.S.W".]

Detail of the badge

by Clay Moss, 15 June 2005

Here is the badge and ensign for the Maritime Services Board of New South Wales. The MSB was founded on 1 February, 1936. I could find no record of when the ensign was officiated.

When my Vexillography class sent out letters requesting flags, we were sent an 18x36 MSB NSW sample.

The defacement is an exact copy of the badge on our flag with two exceptions. On the flag, the black holding lines around the stars were very thick, making the stars more black than gold. There was also a super wide and yet uneven holding line around the circle, and around the ribbon. These bled together making the space between the ribbon and circle entirely black. I took the liberty of assuming that the Maritime Services Board never intended this outcome for their badge. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if there should be no holding lines save for the ship, (maybe the ribbon?), and thus the stars should be entirely gold. Can anyone help out?

Our ensign was manufactured by Corrective Service Industries, and as a general rule, their quality isn't that good. It's also noteworthy to mention that "technically" our ensign is double sided. CSI manufactured the defacements for this flag by printing the badge on very heavy canvas patch type material. Then they ironed a badge onto either side of the flag, no stitching involved! No lining up either.
Clay Moss, 15 June 2005