13 Star U.S. Yacht Club Ensign, Commodore Stephern Decatur Family Collection.
This wool, hand sewn US Yacht ensign is a flag of national character, used since 1849 to identify American pleasure craft in US waters. The U.S. yacht ensign: Longest has it waved!! From 1849 to the present without a single change make is our oldest unchanged flag. It was used by members of the extended Lear-Storer-Decatur families; likely with a burgee of the Williamsburg Yacht Club (ZFC3540).
In 1848, at the urging of the New York Yacht Club, the U.S. Congress recognized the increasing popularity of recreational yachting by authorizing the use of the United States Yacht Club flag for members of that organization. The flag design that was submitted to the Secretary of the Navy consisted of thirteen horizontal red and white stripes and a blue union encompassing thirteen stars surrounding a white fouled anchor. Sailing vessels flying this flag were permitted to bypass customs upon entering a U.S. port.
This ensign was part of a of historical cache of flags handed down through various branches of the Lear-Storer-Decatur family, a collection which included items from Sir William Pepperrell Baronet and John Storer (who were both part of the 1745 expedition to Nova Scotia which captured Fort Louisburg), Colonel Tobias Lear (General Washington's Aide de Camp and personal friend), Benjamin Lincoln Lear (son of Tobias Lear), Commodore Stephen Decatur (nephew of his famous namesake Commodore Stephen Decatur, 1779-1820), Rear Admiral George Washington Storer (nephew of Tobias Lear, 1789-1864), Ichabod Goodwin (Governor of New Hampshire), and Admiral of the Navy, George Dewey.
The amassed collection was "rediscovered" in the mid 20th Century when the extended family as a whole decided to sell a family barn at Kittery Point, Maine. The barn had served as a repository for a vast amount of historical material that had been passed down through the generations. When inventoried, the barn was found to contain a significant archive of papers, memorabilia, photographs, books, and artifacts, which included twenty historic flags. The trove was subsequently divided up amongst the three branches of the family.
The share which had gone to Mrs. Alice Armsden (neé Decatur), contained the flags and was kept intact until her and her spouse's estates were settled in 2009. In these estates were flags from some of America's most illustrious naval families - Decatur, Storer and Dewey. The flag grouping consisted of Boat Flags, Ensigns, Signal Flags, Burgees, Rank Flags, Distinguishing Flags, Service Flags and a Yacht Ensign. Among the US flags and ensigns were the following star counts; 13 stars (4), 16 stars, 26 stars, 34 stars (3), 35 stars, 45 stars (2) and 48 stars.
Dating from the early 18th to the early 20th century, the flags were acquired from the male naval officers of the family and preserved by the women of the families; notably Anna Rowell Philbrick Decatur (1821-1906), the wife of Stephen Decatur and Mable Storer, wife of Rear Admiral Storer, who carefully preserved and conserved these flags, and act for which the flags' posterity is forever indebted.
Provenance: Acquired at auction, 2-Day Winter Antiques & Fine Art Auction, 4-5 February 2010, James D. Julia, Fairfield, ME.
ZFC Significant Flag
Sources:
Madaus, Howard M.- Whitney Smith, The American Flag: Two Centuries of Concord and Conflict, VZ Publications, Santa Cruz, 2006. Pp 144-145.
2-Day Winter Antiques & Fine Art Auction, Artfact, 10 October 2011, from: http://www.artfact.com/auction-catalog/2-day-winter-antiques-fine-art-auction,-day-2-kbmiwmy646
Smith, David, A Million-Dollar Map At Julia's Americana, Antiques and the Arts Online, 10 October 2011, from: http://antiquesandthearts.com/Antiques/AuctionWatch/2010-03-02__14-22-30.html
Yacht Ensign (U.S.), Flags of the World, 5 October 2011, from: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us~yte.html
Yacht Ensign, Ensign of the United States, Wikipedia, 11 October 2011, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensign_of_the_United_States
Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection
