In the British Navy of the present day the St. George Jack has become, and is ordered to be, the distinctive flag of an Admiral. According to the mast upon which it is raised his rank is indicated, and the ship on which it is carried is termed the "Flag Ship." These flags are displayed as follows:
ADMIRAL St. George at main. VICE-ADMIRAL St. George at fore. REAR-ADMIRAL St. George at mizzen.
Thus has the English Jack been once more restored, and being the signal of command in the British Navy, it is a continuing memorial of the prowess of the seamen of England, whose ships so early won the sea command for the united empire.
The history of the Jacks as single flags having been traced through these periods, we may revert to the changes brought about by their being made part of a larger flag, and note how the exalted position at the stern of the ships was transferred to a new flag, a National Ensign, in the upper corner of which the English Jack was placed alone, when this flag was first created.
Under James I. and Charles I., as also under the previous sovereigns of England, the flag flown at the stern of the men-of-war had been the Royal Standard of the Sovereign, of which an example is given in the drawing of the _Sovereign of the Seas_ (17).
The Royal Standard bearing upon it then, as it does now, the armorial bearings or "arms" of the Sovereign, was the banner of the King, and, as then placed at the stern of the ships, signified his direct management and control of the royal fleet.
Before the close of the reign of Charles I. the money control of the Royal Navy had been jealously assumed by Parliament, and the ships had been enrolled as "the Parliament ships." With the advent of the Commonwealth the ships of the navy were no longer the ships of the King, but became the ships of the State.
It was to take the place of the King's Standard at the stern that the Commonwealth Parliament created a flag, called the Commonwealth Ensign (Pl. IV., fig. 1), to be carried on their men-of-war. This was a red flag, having in the fly a yellow Irish harp, and in the upper corner next the staff the St. George cross upon a white ground. Ireland had early been overrun by the Commonwealth armies, so her emblem was included in the flag, but Scotland had warmly espoused the cause of the Stuarts, and was, therefore, not recognized.