I can hold my head up again.
Goede morghen, as they say here…I’m pleased to report a major improvement on board Lady Christina.
This flag tell anyone looking that Lady Christina is a British-registered vessel and as such, it’s protected by British Law, wherever it is. Whether that has as much oomph as it used to do is another matter…but for the purposes of this voyage, Lady Christina is a tiny piece of Britain, being moved around The NL. The flag has to be flown, at the stern (back to you land-lubbers) of the vessel and is colloquially known as the Red Duster. If you spor tomething which looks like a Red Duster but is blue, then the Skipper has served in the Royal or Merchant Navy, or the Naval Reserve.
I’m sorry to say, that until recently, Lady Christina’s Red Duster was nothing to be proud of. The colur had faded, the fabric was shredded and it looked more like a saggy pair of underpants being utlised as…a duster. Disgracefully etting the side down and I told the Skipper, in no uncertain terms, that if it wasn’t sorted out, PDQ, he’d be hauled up before the Admirality Board,or even keel-hauled (but we’re not usually as vindictive as that these days.) Anyway, it worked and the Red Duster flies proudly at the stern, in the past, just after Brexit, triggering questions from passing boats of, ‘Hoi Englishman, how’s it going?’