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Little Ship Club (United Kingdom)

image by Clay Moss, 26 September 2007

Flag of Little Ship Club
Variant flags
Burgee

Flag of Little Ship Club

I forwarded a couple of variants to the club and they approved this one. They are asking around, but thus far, no one I have communicated with is familiar with the ensign badge encircled by the gold rope (as shown at World Flag Database). The ensign that I have drawn is evidently a copy of an original ensign currently on display at the club that was flown at Dunkirk during the evacuation.

A brief history of the club can be found at their website at http://www.little-ship-club.co.uk/:

History:
The Little Ship Club was founded as a private members club in 1926 to bring together yachtsmen and women working in the City of London who wanted to meet and exchange ideas during the long winter months. It rapidly became renowned for its classes in navigation and seamanship. In 1937, the club was awarded the right to fly the defaced Blue Ensign for its contribution to training the Royal Naval Volunteer Supplementary Reserve.
Clay Moss, 26 September 2007

Variant flags

image by Clay Moss, 3 October 2007

The uncertainty over the precise appearance of the badge is ironic, as it is one of the few ensigns, possibly the only yacht club special ensign, that is a registered design. After the warrant had been granted, the club applied, on 23 March 1938, to register the design of the flag under the Patent and Design Acts of 1907 and 1932. The application was refused, on 29 September 1938, because the flag as a whole was deemed to be not sufficiently original. However the ensign was registered on appeal, 7 March 1939. In Lloyd's Yachting Register, 1953, the badge is surrounded by a yellow rope circle, but in Stewarts' Yacht Club Burgees, 1957, the badge on the ensign is "as burgee in yellow oak leaf circle".

The club did not fulfil the normal qualifications for a special ensign, but, as noted in its history, was granted one in recognition of its help with the Royal Naval Volunteer Supplementary Reserve. The Supplementary Reservists were normally trained by Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve units, but in the London area volunteers were too numerous for the available RNVR facilities. It is possible that the club had hoped to be granted a plain Blue Ensign, but by 1937 only defaced Blue or Red Ensigns were being granted to yacht clubs. The ensign was granted for ten years in the first instance as it was "undesirable to give the impression that services rendered form the basis of a claim for a Blue Ensign irrespective of normal requirements." National Archives (PRO) ADM 1/22962.

Note it should not have been flown as an ensign at Dunkirk. All yacht club special ensign warrants were suspended on 14 September 1939, shortly after the start of the war.
David Prothero, 26 September 2007

image by Clay Moss, 17 October 2007

Here is another variant of the ensign of the Little Ship Club, UK. Several credible sources over the years have made mention of this version of the LSC's ensign, and David Prothero pointed out several weeks ago that the design was even registered in March, 1939. The roped badge appears in the 1953 edition of Lloyd's Registry of Yachts but is replaced in Lloyd's '57 by the oak leaf wreath badge. I had commented earlier that there is an oak leaf LSC ensign hanging in their clubhouse that reportedly flew (illegally?) at the Dunkirk evacuation. If this is so, then the oak leaf ensign has been used at least as a variant since that time, around 1940. Nevertheless, there is enough documented evidence suggesting that this roped version existed, so here it is. Club officials that I spoke to have not seen or heard of the roped version.
Clay Moss, 17 October 2007

The LSC applied in late 1938 for a special ensign which was rejected because of the ensign's lack of sufficient originality. In March, 1939, the request was granted on appeal. Was the appeal perhaps granted because the roped ring was replaced by the oak leaf wreath, making the ensign more original? That would explain the two designs and why the oak leaf wreath seems to appear on the scene so early.
Clay Moss, 18 October 2007

Burgee

image by Clay Moss, 28 September 2007