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Bahamas (The)

by mark sensen 15-NOV-1995

The colonial badge
The Naval flags

See also:

CIA World factbook 1995 for information about Bahamas

The colonial badge

from National Geographics

A large and two small ships within a garter surmounted by a crown constitute the principal device of the badge of the Bahamas. On the garter are words which tell us that the pirates have been expelled and that business has been resumed.

This badge is the basis of the coat of arms the country adopted on independence. They replaced the old Latin motto with a much more anodyne (IMNSHO) one in English.

Roy Stilling 19-FEB-1996

The Naval flags

Yesterday I saw in a TV reportage the attached flag, which is a red one with a white cross and in the canton the Bahamas flag.
I guess it is the naval flag of Bahamas. Does anyone confirm ?

Giuseppe Botasini 29-APR-1996

According to W.Smith's book, this flag is Bahamas civil ensign (a pandan of the British Red Ensign). Inverted version of it (i.e. white, with red (St.George's) cross with Bahamas national flag in canton) is the naval flag (i.e. used by the navy - gif attached). In the book there is no mention of any flag that would be a pandan of the blue ensign.
Is there any such flag?

Zeljko Heimer 29-APR-1996

According to FLAGS THROUGH THE AGES AND ACROSS THE WORLD, Smith, 1975, the Bahamas has three "cross" flags, each with the National flag in the canton:

Red field, white cross, Civil Ensign ("merchant flag")
White Field, red cross, Naval Ensign and War Flag
White Field, blue cross, State Ensign (like UK's "blue ensigns")

The one Mr. Bottasini observed was the merchant flag, not the naval flag. (Do the Bahamas really have a navy?)

Nick Artimovich 29-APR-1996

It's the Bahamian merchant flag (i.e. Red Ensign). Like many Commonwealth countries, the Bahamas use a White Ensign, complete with red cross, (but bearing the national flag in the canton of course) as their naval flag. They must have been taken by the design, as they added white crosses to their Red and Blue Ensigns, the only Commonwealth country, AFAIK, to have done so. It's not difficult to find the Bahamian merchant flag here in the UK, as it is used as a flag of convenience by many British shipping companies. When I visited the Netherlands a couple of years ago, the ostensibly "British" ferry I took from Harwich was flying the Bahamian Red Ensign (happily the Dutch ferry I took back was flying its proper national colours, and was a far better service...)

Roy Stilling 29-APR-1996

Bahamas (The)

The colonial badge

The Naval flags

The Civil Ensign

The Naval Ensign

The State Ensign