"All aboard, vessel is about to proceed to sea." The Blue Peter symbol flag can be found on the back of our business cards and defines our vision of always being ready "To proceed to sea" for our clients. The Blue Peter is also being used as the theme for the yearly Blue Peter Racing Days for small flat-bottomed sailing vessels that Saltwater Engineering sponsors.

History: Blue Peter - International Call Sign Flag

Introduced into Royal Navy in the 1750's, as a blue flag with six white balls. Soon after 1756 the white balls were replaced by a white square. "By Rodney's time (ca. 1780) this flag at the mainmast head had become the signal to recall everyone to his ship." Perrin, "British Flags". 1803. "She has had Blue Peter's flag flying at the fore as a signal for sailing." First entry in Oxford English Dictionary. 1862. "The Blue Peter at the foremast head was flying as a summons to the hands on shore to come aboard."

The first public commercial code (there were earlier private semi-commercial codes, as used for instance by the East India Company) was the "Code of Signals for the Merchant Service". This was produced in 1817 by Captain Fredrick Marryat, R.N. as the result of problems experienced by ships of the Royal Navy trying to communicate with merchant ships in convoy. It was a numeric code for British ships only, based upon the "Signal Book for Ships of War", which had been introduced for all ships in the Royal Navy in 1799. It was modified with words more appropriate for commercial use.

Ships of other countries began using it, and in 1854, when the 12th edition was published, it was re-titled, "The Universal Code of Signals".

In 1855 the British "Board of Trade" decided that maritime signals needed to be regulated, and authorised the publication in 1857, of the "Commercial Code of Signals". This was an alphabetical code and a considerable improvement on Marryat's code.

It was re-named the "International Code" in about 1870, and revised in 1901, 1934 and 1969.

It may have been derived from a plain blue flag that was commonly used in the early 1700's, by the Dutch, Danish and Swedish navies, as a signal that a ship was preparing to sail. It is unlikely to have been used by the Royal Navy, as a plain blue flag was a command flag flown by an admiral of the blue squadron. In the 19th century when the "blue flag with a white square in the centre" had been widely adopted as a signal of departure, it was commonly known as "Blue Peter" in north European languages.

_{Source: www.crwflags.com}