
A manuscript Georgian Naval signals handbook 8x5ins(20x13cm)
Sold for £1,500 inc. premium
Looking for a similar item?
Our Marine Pictures & Works of Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAsk about this lot


Client Services (UK)
Shipping (UK)
A manuscript Georgian Naval signals handbook
Footnotes
Although Naval signalling has an ancient history, systematic codes of signals did not gain popularity until the 18th century. The earliest signal book in the National collection at Greenwich is dated 1711 and it is recorded that Admiral Rodney employed signal codes in 1782. The first Admiralty standardised code dates from 1799, following Lord Howe's numerical code of 1790. This code book, almost certainly an officer's personal copy, bears as one signal the Royal Standard of 1714-1800, which would place it as one of the codes deployed in the second half of the eighteenth century.
Personal code books were frowned on officially, because of the risks of capture by the enemy.