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Mauritius Coast Guard

Last modified: 2024-09-14 by ian macdonald
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Coast Guard Ensign

Mauritius Coast Guard ensign image by Zoltan Horvath, 28 August 2024

Mauritius has an unusual naval ensign of several unequal red, white and blue stripes. In the middle white panel is set a red anchor with a green cable and a five-pointed white star outlined in yellow on top. The anchor has two bars on the lower right side. If you cover the extensions on the bottom of the anchor, a key will appear. This is a reference to the motto found on Mauritius’ coat of arms: "Stella Clavisque Maris Indici" or "The star and the key of the Indian Ocean". Both the key and the star are also found in the coat of arms. Mauritius introduced the naval ensign in April 1974. It has the unusual proportions of 26:57. Source: “New Flags”, The Flag Bulletin [tfb] 123 (1987).
Jan Oskar Engene, 19 August 1996

This particular flag is called the "Coast Guard Ensign" by the Album [pay00], the "War Flag" by BR20 (Flags of All Nations) [ gra00] and as being for «vessels and units of the maritime section of the Mauritius police force» by the Flag Institute. Interestingly enough the construction details in the Album [pay00] add up to a ratio of 19:42 and not the 26:57 quoted, however, since the difference is less than 0.02% of flag width it can hardly be considered critical.
Christopher Southworth, 08 April 2004

The Album 2000 [pay00] says:

Coast Guard Ensign. ---/-S- 26:57
Vertically divided in three fields, the first and last both include vertical stripes of red-white-red-white-blue at hoist, i.e. blue-white-red-white-red at fly, and the middle, white stripe contains a red anchor combined with a key, cable with green rope and topped with yellow five-pointed star. The ratio of stripes is 4+2+2+2+4+14+4+2+2+2+4. The colours used are those of the national flag.
Željko Heimer, 13 June 2002

The National Coast Guard Act of 1988 of Mauritius is available online as a PDF file. It prescribes the CG ensgin, however, it does not describe or depict it.
Željko Heimer, 06 March 2010

National Coast Guard Act 1988 refers to coast guard ensign, but there is no any description or illustration:
https://mauritiuslii.org/akn/mu/act/1988/42/eng@2017-06-30

Images of ensign:
https://shipshub.com
https://shipshub.com
https://shipshub.com
https://pmo.govmu.org
Zoltan Horvath, 10 July 2024

Usage classification

Shouldn’t the Coast Guard ensign be ---/--W instead of ---/-S-?
António Martins, 08 April 2004

I suppose it depends on the legal status of the Mauritian coast guard. If it’s a military force (i.e., members subject to military discipline, like the US Coast Guard), then I’d say it should be ---/--W. But if it’s legally a civilian-manned force (even if in uniform, like Iceland’s, the UK’s, or Canada’s), then ---/-S- would seem correct.
Joe McMillan, 09 April 2004

I think that I have asked Armand (the author of the Album 2000 [pay00]) about the same question back then, and he answered that the Goast Guard of Mauritius is not a military organization but a special state service, therefore it does not really get to have ---/--W even if that is probably a closest thing to it. The state-owned ships of other services (whatever they may be) would use the blue ensgn. I believe that the situation repeats in several other nations included in Album that do not really have a navy.
Željko Heimer, 08 April 2004


Aircraft Markings

Mauritius Coast Guard operated three planes and use the national flag as fin flash. The book [cos98] shows the fin flash in square form, but a photo on line shows a regular flag.
Dov Gutterman, 20 June 2004

Mauritius Coast guard aviation roundel & fin flash 1974-

Police Chief  Police Chief images by Nozomi Kariyasu, 9 July 2024

Mauritius Coast guard aviation roundel & fin flash variant 1974-

Police Chief  Police Chief images by Nozomi Kariyasu, 9 July 2024


Racing stripe

stripe image by Zoltan Horvath, 28 August 2024

Source: https://shipshub.com