Dipping
Dipping is an act of greeting by briefly raising and lowering a flag in shipping on board a ship . This is to say hello to the crew of a passing ship.
When dipping, the respective national flag (home flag ) is brought down to a third to half and - after the greeting has been returned by the greeted ship - is raised again. The person greeted can also dispense with answering the greeting. In small boats where the flag is only attached to a pole at the stern, the pole is briefly pulled out of the anchorage and held horizontally with the flag or tilted downwards. Then the rod is reattached.
The greeting is common in both military and civil shipping. Dipping is particularly widespread in international shipping and is considered part of traditional seafaring culture . Basically, smaller ships greet larger and civil vehicles military first. If you meet a whole convoy of ships or convoy , only the leader is greeted, the remaining ships are also considered to be greeted.
To recognize: The dipped trade flag below the gaff
The dipped flag and the shipping company flag on the top of the main mast
See also
literature
- John W. Norie: Flags of All Seafaring Nations . 2nd ed., Ed. Maritim, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89225-153-3 . (Text in German and English; English original title: Three hundred and six illustrations of the maritime flags of all nations )