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The clipper ship era

Note 13 — Chapter XIX · LAST YEARS OF THE AMERICAN CLIPPER SHIP ERA—SUMMARY OF CALIFORNIA PASSAGES

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The following are some of these house flags: The crimson field and black ball, of Charles H. Marshall; the red, white, and blue swallowtail, of Grinnell, Minturn & Co.; the yellow, red, and yellow horizontal bars with white “L” in centre, of A. A. Low & Brother; the thirteen blue and twelve white squares, of N. L. & G. Griswold; the crimson field and yellow beehive, of Sutton & Co.; the crimson field, white border, and white “D” in centre, of George Daniels; the red, white, and red vertical stripes with red “B” in centre, of Vernon H. Brown; the blue and white half-diamonds, of Russell & Co.; the crimson field and white diamond, of Augustine Heard & Co.; the white above blue and red ball in the centre, of Sampson & Tappan; the white above yellow and red star in centre, of Glidden & Williams; the narrow blue and white horizontal stripes with red ball in the centre, of Napier, Johnson & Co.; the white field and blue cross, of George B. Upton; the crimson swallowtail and blue cross, of Charles R. Green; the white swallowtail, red cross with white diamond in the centre, of R. W. Cameron; the crimson swallowtail, blue cross, and white ball in the centre, of Wells & Emanuel; the blue above white, white ball in blue and red ball in white, of D. & A. Kingsland; the white field and red cross in the centre of D. G. & W. B. Bacon; the white swallowtail and black S. & B., of Snow & Burgess; the white field and black horse, of William F. Weld & Co. The flag of Howland & Aspinwall had a blue square in the upper corner of the luff and lower corner of the fly; the rest of the flag was white with narrow blue lines in the lower corner of the luff and upper corner of the fly, which formed squares, and also formed a white cross extending the full hoist and length of the flag. David Ogden’s flag was a white field and red cross; Crocker & Warren’s, blue above yellow with a yellow “C” in the blue and blue “W” in the yellow. Then there was the red swallowtail with white cross and black star in the centre, of Samuel Thompson & Nephew; the blue field, white diamond, and black star, of Williams & Guion; the crimson field and black “X” of John Griswold. These were the private signals of most of the leading New York and Boston ship-owners, which, half a century ago, enlivened the water front of New York, though there were some others which have now faded from memory.

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