SIGNALLING 



SIGNATURES 



445 



night a steamer shall show a white elevated light 

 visible round twenty points of the compass, a star- 

 board green light, and a port red light each visible 

 ten pouits. A steamer towing doubles the white 

 masthead light. A sailing-vessel is to show only 

 the red and green side-lights. Trawlers and net 

 and line fishers have special lights. A pilot-vessel 

 shows a white fixed light aim a flash-light. All 

 vessels at anchor show a white light. Vessels being 

 overtaken show a white stern light. 



Vessels broken down show (vertically) three 

 black balls in the day and three red lights at night. 

 A telegraph ship shows three shapes red, white, 

 red in the day (the reds glolie shaped, and the 

 white diamond-shaped ), and three lights also red, 

 white, red at night In fog, mist, and falling 

 snow, both day and night, all vessels at anchor 

 ring a bell ; steamers going make long blasts on 

 the steam-whistle ; sailing-vessels going make one, 

 two, or three long blasts on a fog-horn ; and fisher- 

 men not at anchor sound the fog-horn and bell 

 Alternately ; all at intervals not exceeding two 

 minutes. A steamer turning its head to starboard, 

 to port, or going full speed astern may indicate the 

 same to a vessel in sight by making one, two, or 

 three short blasts respectively on the steam-whistle. 

 These are practically international signals. 



A vessel wanting a pilot shows the flags PT, or 

 the Jack ( or other national colour ) at the fore ; or 

 *t night bums a blue light, or flashes a white light 

 at short or frequent intervals for about a minute at 

 a time. 



The use of signal* to indicate to the mariner or 

 others the approach of storms has now become com- 

 mon in maritime countries. In Great Britain the 

 probable approach of a gale from points from SE. 

 round by south to NW. is indicated by a cone in the 

 daytime, point down, and at night by three red 

 lights in a triangle, point down ; and the probable 

 approach of a gale from NW. round by north to 

 SK. is indicateu by the cone or triangle of lights 

 being hoisted point up. In France a drum in addi- 

 tion to the cones is hoisted when necessary to in- 

 dicate greater force of wind. Besides these a flag, 

 a short pennant (cornet), and a pennant of any 

 colour mean respectively doubtful weather 

 barometer tending to fall, bad weather, and appear- 

 ance of better weather in the open sea. In Ger- 

 many a ball indicates caution ; a cone point down, 

 storm from SVV. ; cone point up, storm from 

 N\V. ; two cones points down, storm from SK. ; 

 two cones points up, storm from NE. One square 

 flag hoisted in addition indicates that the wind will 

 prolalily change to the right hand, and two such 

 lilies that it will probably change to the left hand. 

 In the Netherlands the Aeroklinoscope (invented 

 by Buys-Ballot, q.v. ) is used. It is simply a beam, 

 half red, half white, with a ball suspended from the 

 white arm, the whole being capable of rotation in 

 both a horizontal and vertical plane. The arm is 

 pointed horizontally in the direction of the two 

 stations having the greatest difference of height of 

 barometer readings, and the end of the beam 

 pointing towards the place of the highest barometer 

 reading is then tippecl /> in proportion to the differ- 

 ence of the barometer readings at the two stations 

 in question. 



In the United States a square red flag with a 

 black centre indicates a violent storm ; a yellow 

 flag with a white centre, a light storm ; a red 

 pennant indicates that the storm trough is ap- 

 proaching the station, and a white pennant that 

 the storm trough has passed the station. Further, 

 if the red or white pennant is hoisted above the 

 square flag, the station is probably on the north 

 side of the centre of the storm ; and if the red or 

 white pennant is hoisted below the square flag, the 

 station is probably on the south aide of the centre 



of the storm. A yellow pennant means ' call at 

 the station for special weather information." At 

 night a red light indicates easterly winds, and a 

 white light above a red light westerly winds. This 

 harmonises with the red flag (easterly) and the 

 white flag (westerly) in the day-signals. The 

 United States weather bureau has also recently 

 arranged to hoist the following ' forecast ' signals 

 viz. white flag for fair weather ; blue flag for rain 

 or snow ; blue and white flag for local rains ; tri- 

 angular black flag above these for higher tempera- 

 ture, and below for lower temperature ; and white 

 flag with black square in the centre for cold waves 

 or frosts. 



Many local signals of different kinds are in use : 

 e.g. at Mauritius a white flag with horizontal 

 blue stripes below a ball means ' prepare for bad 

 weather, and a red flag below a ball means ' take 

 lower yards and topmasts down.' In Mexico a red 

 flag means ' a norther may be expected. ' Some 

 other countries have adopted the simple signals 

 used in Britain ; but it is to be regretted that a 

 uniform system of storm-warning signals is not 

 universally adopted. 



The system of visual signalling adopted in the 

 British army is a combination of short or long 

 flashes by lamps at night, and the alternate appear- 

 ance or obscuration of any given object by day 

 (revolving shutters or discs, semaphores, collapsible 

 cones, flags, or even jets of steam ), and if visible 

 symbols are not available, short and long sounds on 

 a fog-horn, bugle, or steam-whistle may be used. 



By any of these means the dot and dash of the 

 Morse alphabet, as used in telegraphy, can be 

 expressed ; but the regular method is to use flags 



Fig. 4. 



or mirrors (see HELIOGRAPHY) if the sun is shining 



by day, and lamps at night. Every regiment and 



battalion trains a number of its officers and men 



each year in signalling, which has been found to 



be of the greatest use on active service, especially 



in savage countries. 



Not only messages but 



drawings have been sent 



by signal using paper 



covered with numbered 



squares e.g. the posi- 



tion of the Afghans on 



the Peiwar Khota 



(1878) was in this way 



signalled back by the 



advanced parties. Fig. 



4 shows the manner of 



working the flag : from 



n to 6 and back to a is 



a dot, from a to c and 



back to a is a dash. 



The code and numbers 



laid down in the army and navy signal-book are 



sometimes used instead of spelling the words by 



the Morse alphabet. This prevents unauthorised 



persons reading the signals. For Lloyd's Signal 



Stations, see LLOYD'S. 



Signature. See BOOK, Vol. II. p. 300. For 

 signing, sealing, and delivering, see DEED. 



Signatures, THE DOCTRINE OF, an inveterate 

 belief in early medicine that plants and minerals 

 bore certain symbolical marks which indicated the 

 diseases for which nature had intended them as 

 special remedies. These figures, of course, were 

 not the result of chance, but the evidence of Provi- 

 dence, being really the characters and figures of 

 those stars by whom they are principally governed 

 and endowed with particular virtues. And the 

 doctrine brings us into the wider region of magic in 

 its fundamental confusion between an object and 

 its image, the word and its idea. Many names 

 witness to a belief in this theory, as mandrake, 



