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101 Camping Out Ideas & Activities
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THE SEMAPHORE
In the days when ships had no radios, signaling from ship to ship or from ship to shore and back was done with flags. I do not mean the pennants which were run up and down the ensign halyard in a quick succession of different combinations according to the key which the specially designated sailor read out of a thick code book. No, I mean signaling by semaphore.
In this case the signaler on the upper deck held a flag in each hand. Standing in a position as visible as possible to the receiver of the message, he sent the signals, using certain positions of the flags to denote certain letters. The illustration shows the letter that corresponds to each position. In spite of the fact that this is an old-fashioned signaling method, it is still used today by the English coast guard service.
Signaling with the semaphore system demands a very exact position on the part of the signaler—otherwise the receiver will confuse the letters. On British warships, where the cadets still practice semaphore signaling in case the radio should fail, it is worked at almost like gymnastics.
v w X Y Z Position at rest
Getting attention or end of word
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