Jack sb.³

[Origin somewhat obscure; but most prob. a specific application of JACK sb.¹ (sense 33 b), said of and applied to things of smaller than the normal size; as if short for ‘jack-flag,’ i.e., small flag (so called in contradistinction to the ensign): cf. the various uses of jack for jack-bowl, jack-brick, jack-fish, etc.; also the naval use in jack = jack-cross-trees.

  Other conjectures have been offered, e.g., that the name is the F. Jacques, James, and that the jack was so called from King James I., who introduced the original union flag; or, that the word is prob. identical with JACK sb.², the leathern surcoat having been (it is suggested) sometimes emblazoned with the cross of St. George. But app. neither of these conjectures covers the early use of the word.]

  A ship’s flag of smaller size than the ensign, used at sea as a signal, or as a mark of distinction; spec. the small flag which is flown from the jack-staff at the bow of a vessel (formerly at the sprit-sail topmast head), and by which the nationality of a ship is indicated, as in British jack, Dutch jack, French jack.

  In British use the jack has been since the 17th c. (except under the Commonwealth) a small sized ‘Union Flag’ of the period (UNION JACK), which has also been, since 1707, inserted in the upper canton of the ensign; hence, the name ‘union jack’ is often improperly applied to the union flag itself, when this is not carried or used as a jack. Every maritime nation has a jack of its own; this is usually, either as in Great Britain, the German Empire, Sweden, and the United States, the same as the canton of the ensign, or, as in France and the Netherlands, identical with the ensign, only smaller. (Prof. J. K. Laughton.)

1633.  Sailing Instruct. (MS. Sloane 2682, lf. 51). You are alsoe for this present service to keepe in yo^r Jack at yo^r Boultspritt end and yo^r pendant and yo^r Ordinance.

1653.  Sail. Instr. (MS. Sloane 3282, lf. 75 b). If y^e cheife of y^e squadron come by y^e Lee and make a waft w^th his Jack that then every shipp of his squadron beare und^r his sterne and speake w^th him.

1654.  Sail. Instr., in G. Penn, Mem. Sir W. Penn (1833), II. 59. Ibid. (1665), 599.

1667.  Pepys, Diary, 22 June. That the Dutch did take her [the Royal Charles] with a boat of nine men … and presently a man went up and struck her flag and jacke.

1673.  Lond. Gaz., No. 758/4. A Ship carrying the Hambrough Colours, who upon our Commanding him on Board with a Gun, immediately put up a Holland Ensign, and a Flushing Jack.

1673.  Sir L. Jenkins, Lett. to Earl of Arlington, in Wynne, Life, I. 91. All vessels whatsoever being in the King’s service and wearing his colours, flag or Jack may have the same right done to them.

1678.  Marvell, Growth Popery, Wks. 1875, IV. 275. A sorry yacht, but bearing the English jack, in August 1671.

1688.  Sir J. Knatchbull, Diary, in N. & Q., 3rd Ser. VI. 2/2. He knew her to be a Custome-house boat by her Jack or pendant.

1694.  Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), III. 343. This day was published their majesties proclamation … prohibiting other than the kings ships to wear their majesties Jack, called the Union Jack.

1702.  Royal Proclam., 18 Dec., in Lond. Gaz., No. 3871/1. All such Ships as have Commissions of Letters of Mart or Reprisals, shall, besides the Colours which may be worn by Merchants Ships, wear a Red Jack, with the Union Jack, described in a Canton of the upper Corner thereof next the Staff.

1707.  Lond. Gaz., No. 4298/2. He entered into the Bay under French Jack and Pendent.

1712.  E. Cooke, Voy. S. Sea, 119. The Signal is to shew a white Jack at the Main Top-mast Head.

1769.  Falconer, Dict. Marine (1776), Jack, a sort of flag colour or colours displayed from a mast erected on the outer end of a ship’s bowsprit. In the British navy the jack is … a small union flag … but in merchant-ships this union is bordered with a red field.

1789.  G. Keate, Pelew Isl., 255. At day-light, an English jack was hoisted at the masthead.

1794.  Nelson, 30 July, in Nicolas, Disp. (1845), I. 463. I had established a signal with L’Amiable, a Dutch Jack inverted, when I wanted a boat.

1805.  Log, ‘Polyphemus,’ 21 Oct. Ibid. (1846), VII. 156, note. A Spanish two-decker … hauled in her colours … and waved an English Jack from her traffle.

1855.  M. Bridges, Pop. Mod. Hist., 322. The British Jack obtained a complete triumph.

1890.  Cent. Dict., s.v., In the United States naval service the jack is a blue flag with a white five-pointed star for each State in the Union. It is hoisted on a jack-staff at the bowsprit-cap when in port, and is also used as a signal for a pilot when shown at the fore.

1894.  C. N. Robinson, Brit. Fleet, 89. The ‘Jack’ and the ensign still continue to be carried on staves at the extremities of the vessel.