Raven: A Journal of Vexillology

Volume 2, 1995

Henry W. Moeller
Pages 33-40

The Use of Flags on Coastal Whaling Stations

The signal flags used from the 1600s in America’s coastal whale fishery echoed those employed by the English, Dutch, and Basques on the other side of the Atlantic. Using signal towers on land helped alert communities to the presence of whales. This paper traces their use into the 1900s.