Flags and funnels

Funnel colours have become brighter and more varied since 1945

The livery of shipping lines

The red and white of the Turkish national flag are boldly represented on the funnels of the Kalkavan Group. Image Faraways/Shutterstock

Flags and funnel colours on merchant ships have long been employed to identify the shipowner or charterer concerned. Before public education became compulsory, few people could read or write, so flags often used colours or symbols to indicate ownership. The tradition now continues with the use of funnel colours, writes Robert Fildes.

IN THE DAYS OF SAIL, a shipping company’s houseflag was an important way of recognising its vessels, particularly when companies owned several ships and operated regular advertised services on particular routes. A fluttering houseflag, however, is not the easiest item to identify at any distance, and so flags came to be replaced by funnel colours. Rare hybrid examples – a fluttering flag painted on a funnel – can still be found today. Once steam-powered vessels came into use, most firms used basic colours – black, yellow (also called buff, which can cover any shade from cream to brown), or yellow with a black top. Black was a popular and practical choice, as it hid traces of smoke and soot. Diesel engines, widely used after 1914, emitted less smoke and soot, so from that date black funnels became less prevalent. A minority of shipowners worldwide still use these basic colours, but they are poor identifiers of ownership. Australian firms that used plain black included J Fenwick (tugs) and Ritch & Smith (tugs). Plain yellow was favoured by H C Sleigh (cargo and passenger–cargo vessels), while yellow with a black top was adopted by the Adelaide SS Co (cargo and passenger–cargo vessels and ferries). Foreign-owned companies visiting Australian ports that used at least one of these three funnel colours included the China Navigation Co (Swire group), P&O, Orient Line, Bank Line and Norddeutscher Lloyd. A major change in funnel colours occurred when a few shipowners, mostly from Germany, realised that painting the houseflag on the funnel would make it much easier to identify their firm. This was a turning point. Many other shipowners adopted this idea, first in Germany, then in Europe generally, then worldwide. As a result, the importance of an actual houseflag hoisted on a halliard began to decline. Flags present problems; they can be torn, faded, soiled or (worst of all) wrapped around the halliard by the wind, making them impossible to decipher. Nowadays only a minority of ships worldwide actually fly a houseflag. This brings us squarely to the topic of funnel markings today and the impact of chartering.

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Flags present problems; they can be torn, faded, soiled or wrapped around the halliard by the wind

01 China Navigation Co (Swire Group) originally used a plain black funnel colour, but later adopted the idea of having the houseflag on the funnel. This photo shows how the funnel flag is much clearer than the actual flag being flown at top left. 02 Whitaker Tankers (UK) funnel with ‘fluttering’ houseflag, 2009 03 This ship has Hapag-Lloyd (Germany) funnel colours while operating on charter from the owners, Norddeutsche Reederei Schuldt (also of Germany). At the time, it also carried the Hapag-Lloyd hull colours and naming style. 04 In recent years, following its acquisition by the Carnival Group of the USA, P&O has adopted a blue funnel with logo for its Europeanbased vessels, which visit Australia regularly. Image StudioPortoSabbia/ Shutterstock

05 Disney USA runs passenger cruise ships that sport a Mickey Mouse silhouette on their funnels.

06 Some Moby cruise ships sport Looney Tunes characters on their funnels. Pictured in the port of Genoa, Italy. Image Riccardo Arata/ Shutterstock

07 The Greek shipping line Ventouris uses the blue and white of the Greek national flag on its ships. 08 The funnels of Royal Australian Navy ships carry a red kangaroo. 09 Sydney Ferries employs an unusual style on vessels on its Manly route, which bear the ferry’s name on their funnels. All images by Robert Fildes unless otherwise stated

Ships can be chartered (hired) for a single voyage between specified ports (a voyage charter) or for periods of time (a time charter) ranging up to 10 or more years. Chartered vessels may have the funnel colours, ship name and/or hull colours changed to suit the charterer. With this in mind, some (mostly German) shipowners painted their houseflag on the superstructure to indicate the actual owning company. Some companies change their funnel colours over time. The P&O passenger ships in the 1800s used plain black funnels, then changed to yellow in the 1900s. In recent years, following its acquisition by the Carnival Group of the USA, P&O has adopted a blue funnel with a gold logo for its European-based vessels (which visit Australia regularly) and a different livery for the cruise vessels operating around Australia and in the Pacific generally. Funnel colours have become brighter and more varied since 1945. Disney USA runs passenger cruise ships that bear a silhouette of Mickey Mouse on their funnels. Moby Lines, an Italian-based firm founded in 1959, operates ferries in the Mediterranean. Some of its vessels carry the normal Moby symbol, while others venture into cartoon land, with both funnels and hulls painted with Looney Tunes characters. Shipowners in some overseas countries feature their national flag colours on the funnel. Among these is the Kalkavan Group of Turkey, which is noteworthy in two respects: it features the red and white national flag colours without any letter or logo, and it arranges the colours vertically, which is very unusual. Greek shipowners are prominent in international shipping circles, and many use the blue and white of the Greek flag as the basis of their funnel colours.

Worldwide, most navies use shades of grey for funnel colours, sometimes with a black top. Three exceptions are Australia, Canada and New Zealand, all of which now have an identity symbol on the grey funnel. Australia uses a red kangaroo, Canada a red maple leaf and New Zealand a black kiwi. In Sydney, the government-owned Sydney Ferries uses the extremely unusual practice of putting the vessel name on the funnel of its current Manly ferries. Since these large ferries are approaching the end of their lives, it is unlikely that this funnel name style will be repeated. This style is very rare indeed. I have only ever seen it once elsewhere, employed by a towage firm in Stockholm, Sweden.

References

J L Loughran, A Survey of Mercantile Houseflags and Funnels 1979. Waine Research, Albrighton, UK. Brown’s Flags & Funnels 1995. Brown, Son & Ferguson, Glasgow, UK. Lloyd’s Register of Ships (annual): various years R Fildes, Ships Worldwide: What Ship is That? 2007. Ships Worldwide, Sydney, Australia. L A Sawyer and W H Mitchell, Tankers 1967. Macdonald & Co, London, UK.

Robert Fildes is a museum Member and holds a degree in transport economics from the University of Hull, Yorkshire, UK. He has written several books on shipping, including The Ships that Serve Australia and New Zealand (2 volumes; 2 editions) and was the editor of the quarterly magazine Australia’s Sea Heritage from 2001 to 2004. He is currently co-editor of the illustrated e-book Aus-Ships, which lists some 6,000 Australian merchant and military vessels, both past and present.