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Order of St. John (SMOM) white flag /ensign

Last modified: 2020-06-13 by rob raeside
Keywords: smom |
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image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 9 May 2020

See also:


Flag with centred cross

Order of St. John
White Flag
There are two versions of this flag, one with centred red Maltese cross and one with off-centred red Maltese cross, which means shifted to the hoist.
The former is depicted in the following flag charts:
1) Downman 1685, left, row 8, column 3
2) J.W. Norie & J.S. Hobbs: Illustrations of the maritime Flags of all Nations, London 1848, plate III, image no.38
3) Ruud Siegel: “Die Flagge”, Berlin 1912, Tafel 38 ,row 3, centre (with year given as 1769)
4) Steenbergen: „Vlaggen van alle Natien“, Amsterdam 1862, plate 13, image no.431
Probably based on
5) Denis Diderot and Jean-Baptiste le Rond d’Alembert:, Marine Pavillons, Paris, ed.1769 Plate XIX, image 115
Malta weiß /rot (both to hoist)

The white flag was probably more important then the red one, as it is mentioned more than the the red one.

Diderot and D’Alembert also display the red flag with off-centred white Maltese cross in Plate XIX, image 117 and smaller than the white flag on the same page. Siegel displays it strictly after the white flag in Tafel 38 ,row 3, right. But he displays both with centred cross.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 9 May 2020


Flag with off-centred cross

image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 9 May 2020

This flag is depicted in the following flag charts:
1) Denis Diderot and Jean-Baptiste le Rond d’Alembert:, Marine Pavillons, Paris, ed.1769 Plate XIX, image 115
2) Johann Baptist Homann: „Flaggen aller seefahrenden Potenzen und Nationen in der ganzen Welt“, Nürnberg 1750, row 9, column 7
Cornelis Dankerts:”Nieuwe Tafel van al de Zee vaarende Vlagge des Weerelts”, Amsterdam 1750, row 9, column 7
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 9 May 2020