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Ottoman Empire: Flags depicted in various sources, XIXth century

"Turkish Navy" in a Dutch flag book
Flags on a Dutch chart
"Ottoman merchant ensign"
Flags in Colton's chart (1862)
Naval ensign and merchant flags in Steenbergen's chart (1862)
Man of war and merchant flags in Webster's (1884)
Ottoman Empire flag on Allen & Ginter cigarette cards (c.1885)

See also:

Ottoman Empire

"Turkish Navy" in a Dutch flag book (XIXth century)

Flag of the Turkish Navy - Image by António Martins, 3 September 2001

The flag is almost square (5:6 or 6:7), divided vertically red and white. On the red half is a very thin crescent pointing to the fly and a fairly dense eight-pointed star, both white.

António Martins, 3 September 2001

The flag is shown as #340 "Turkey Navy" on plate 10, together with #339 "Turkey flag of war", which is made of two white crescents (a thicker crescent at hoist and a thinner one at fly) placed on the same red-white vertically divided flag.

Nozomi Kariyasu, 3 September 2001

"Ottoman merchant ensign" (XIXth century)

Alleged Ottoman merchant ensign - Image by Miles Li, 9 April 2004

Many encyclopaedias from the XIXth century showed two flags purportedly from the Ottoman Empire. One was the current Turkish national flag, but usually with an eight-pointed star, as the naval ensign; the other, a green flag with a red disc at the centre bearing a white crescent (no star), was the "merchant ensign". There is, however, no evidence that the green flag ever actually existed, for we know that by the late XIXth century the naval ensign (red flag) was also used as merchant ensign.

Miles Li, 9 April 2004

Naval ensign and merchant flags in Steenbergen's flag chart (1862)

Ottoman flags shown in Steenbergen's flag chart, left, "Naval ensign"; right, "Merchant" - Images by Ivan Sache, 22 July 2006

Steenbergen's flag chart Vlaggen van alle Natiën [stb62] shows a red flag with a white crescent and star, the star being six-pointed, as "Turkey, Naval ensign", and a red flag with a red canton with a white border and charged with a white six-pointed star as "Turkey, Merchant".

Nozomi Karyasu, 22 July 2006

Man of war and merchant flags in Webster's (1884)

Ottoman flags shown in Webster's, left, "Man of war"; right, "Merchant" - Images by Željko Heimer, 23 July 2006

Lombard Antiquarian Map & Prints show on their website three flag plates quoted as "1884, Webster". Webster's dictionary is a common title given to English language dictionaries in the United States, deriving its name from the American lexicographer Noah Webster. In 1884, a revision of Webster's Unabridged (originally published in 1864 as An American Dictionary of the English Language, Royal Quarto Edition, Unabridged) was published, including place names; the plates on sale at Lombard's probably come from that Webster's.
On the plate entitled "Flag of Various Nations", a red flag with a white crescent and star, the star being eight-pointed, is captioned "Turkey, Man of war", while a red flag with a red canton with a white border and charged with a white eight-pointed star is captioned "Turkey, Merchant".

Ivan Sache, 22 July 2006

Ottoman Empire flag on Allen & Ginter cigarette cards (c. 1885)

Ottoman flag shown on a cigarette card - Image by António Martins, 18 September 2006

The Allen & Ginter's series of cigarette cards N9, Flags of all Nations [u9s8Xa] (seemingly not released before 1885 and perhaps even 1889) shows for "Turkey" (Ottoman Empire) a red flag with a white (rather banana-like) crescent pointing to the fly and with an eight pointed star between its horns. This may be an incorrect depiction of the seven-pointed star flag "for ocean-going vessels".

António Martins, 18 September 2006