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  U.S. NAVY HOMEWARD-BOUND OR COMMISSIONING PENNANT WITH 10 STARS, PROBABLY MADE ABOARD SHIP, PROBABLY PRE-CIVIL WAR, CA 1835-1860

Available: Sold
Frame Size (H x L): 28" x 71"
Flag Size (H x L): 2.5" x 275" (unfurled)
Description....:
U.S. NAVY HOMEWARD-BOUND OR COMMISSIONING PENNANT WITH 10 STARS, PROBABLY MADE ABOARD SHIP, PROBABLY PRE-CIVIL WAR, CA 1835-1860:

Commissioning pennants are the distinguishing mark of a commissioned U.S. Navy ship. These have a narrow blue canton, followed by one red over one white stripe. A ship becomes commissioned when this pennant is hoisted. Flown during both times of peace and war, the only time the pennant is not flown is if a flag officer or civilian official is aboard and replaces it with his/her own flag.

Homeward Bound Pennants (a.k.a., Coming Home Pennants) were not part of navy regulations, but were a matter of tradition. These are limited to ships that had been outside the United States for at least 270 consecutive days. Flown in place of the normal commission pennant, they were hoisted from the time the ship got under way to a U.S. port and remained at mast until sunset on the day of arrival.

Early on, commissioning pennants had a number of stars equal to that on the national flag and could reach as long as 100 feet on the fly. As more and more states joined the Union, however, it became impractical to use the full complement of stars, especially on smaller examples. During the mid-late 19th century, many substituted 13 stars for the full count, to reflect the original colonies and to mirror the star count used by the navy on most of the Stars & Stripes flags that it flew on small craft. "U.S. Navy small boat ensigns," as they are called, most often had 13 stars.

The difficulty in distinguishing a commission pennant from a homeward bound pennant is that they look the same, with a narrow blue canton on which there are white stars, followed by two long stripes, red over white. Only the number of stars differed. Homeward bound pennants received one star for the ship's first 9 months continuously outside U.S. waters, then another star for each additional 6 months. The length of the pennant was to be one foot for each member of the crew who has been on duty outside the United States for nine months or more, but was not supposed to exceed the length of the ship itself.

Once the ship arrived home, a homeward bound pennant was traditionally divided among the crew, with the captain getting the blue segment and stars and the crew dividing the red and white striped portion equally. Coming home pennants are rare and this may explain why.

Most of what is seen during the 19th century through the 19-teens are commissioning pennants with the tell-tale 13 stars that identify their function. [Those after this time were reduced to 7 stars and their scale is much smaller.] While a ship could theoretically be out of the U.S. for exactly the number of months to arrive at a count of 13 stars, the probability that any given example with 13 stars is a coming home pennant is understandably slim. Every navy ship had a commissioning pennant, but few had homeward bound pennants and most of these were cut up and souvenired by the crew.

A further factor allowing proper distinction may exist in a pennant's construction. Commissioning pennants would normally be brought aboard ship before it set out, made by the Navy's own professional flag-makers or else commercially produced to an officer's specifications. The coming home pennant, on the other hand, was traditionally sewn aboard ship and can thus may exhibit the crude attributes thereof. Likely it would be constructed from ship's stores, either from new fabric intended for repairs or from the remnants of a flag that was damaged during its course of use.

This particular pennant, with just 10 stars, shows signs that it may have been made in relative haste and with limited materials, possibly on rough seas. The maker could sew well enough to mend sails and signals at sea, but was unlikely to have made flags for a living. The edges of the stars were not turned under when they were appliquéd, which wouldn't have been practical for long-term use at sea, where there were no barriers from the wind and fabrics frayed at an accelerated rate.

On the surface it seems as though the textile may have been constructed from whatever was available; perhaps using parts of flags that had been retired from use. It is also narrower than usual. Commissioning pennants of this general length would have normally been three times as broad or greater at the hoist, tapering gradually to the fly end.

On the other hand, the brown linen hoist binding on this example is inscribed with the number "30" and the abbreviation "ft," flanking each side of a whip-stitched grommet. It doesn't seem likely that a homeward-bound pennant would have been marked along the hoist with a size. It may therefore be that this was, in fact, simply a crude commissioning pennant, and that this was the state in which it survives after having been constructed or repaired at an early date, perhaps at sea, to the best of the crew's ability with available resources. It also appears that the hoist was shortened. An abnormal amount of blue wool is folded under at the hoist end, where there is also some stitching for the purposes of reinforcement and repair. So there may have been more stars.

Whatever the case may be, this particular example was probably made sometime between the 1830's and the 1850's, which places it among the earliest that I have encountered. The early linen sleeve, the inscription, and the thick braided rope, carefully stitched for reinforcement, as well as the hand-made toggle, crudely carved and with great oxidation, all suggest an early date of manufacture. The thin format is also suggestive of an earlier period, where there was less conformity. The pennant is entirely hand-sewn. The stars are made of cotton and are double-appliquéd (applied to both sides). The canton and stripes of the pennant are made of multiple lengths of wool bunting and display frugality with respect to the conservation of fabric. The wool is not of a type that I would expect pre-1830's and, so it probably post-dates that year.

This is an interesting example due to the early date, the star count, and the crude but endearing nature of the pennant's construction. Because such flags can be displayed so beautifully when thoughtfully presented, they can be a dynamic addition to a collection of American flags or Americana in general.

Commissioning pennants could be as long as 100 feet in early America, while homeward bound pennants could conceivably have been of equally great length. Sometime around 1910, the function of commissioning pennants leaned away from identification and more toward ceremony and custom. By WWI (U.S. involvement 1917-18) all such signals bore 7 stars and the largest measured just two-and-a-half inches by six feet. The smallest were just 4 feet on the fly. Because longer examples appear to have been regularly discarded, they are a rarity.

Mounting: The pennant has been hand-stitched to 100% hemp fabric. The mount was then placed in a hand-gilded and distressed Italian molding with a wide ogee profile and a hand-gilded and distressed inner lip. A shadowbox was created to accommodate the rope and toggle. The glazing is U.V. protective acrylic.

Condition: Using the inscription of "30 ft" as a baseline, the pennant has lost approximately 9 feet in length. There is minor to moderate fabric breakdown and there have been numerous repairs. There is moderate fading of the red wool bunting and there is moderate oxidation and soiling. Many of my clients prefer early flags to show their age and history of use.
Collector Level: Advanced Collectors and the Person with Everything
Flag Type: Sewn flag
Star Count: Other
Earliest Date of Origin: 1835
Latest Date of Origin: 1860
State/Affiliation:
War Association: 1777-1860 Pre-Civil War
Price: SOLD
 

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