Nailing the colours (also nailing the colours to the mast or nailing the flag) is a practice dating back to the

Age of Sail The Age of Sail is a period that lasted at the latest from the mid-16th (or mid- 15th) to the mid- 19th centuries, in which the dominance of sailing ships in global trade and warfare culminated, particularly marked by the introduction of naval ...

that expresses a defiant refusal to surrender, and willingness to fight to the last man. During the Age of Sail, ships would legally fight only while flying their national flag. Flying another flag was considered to be a legitimate

ruse de guerre The French , sometimes literally translated as ruse of war, is a non-uniform term; generally what is understood by "ruse of war" can be separated into two groups. The first classifies the phrase purely as an act of military deception against one' ...

only until the beginning of the fight.

Striking the colours Striking the colors—meaning lowering the flag (the "colors") that signifies a ship's or garrison's allegiance—is a universally recognized indication of surrender, particularly for ships at sea. For a ship, surrender is dated from the time the ...

was a sign of surrender. Indeed, when shot or shrapnel felled a ship's flag (such as by severing the halyard that held it up), her opponent would cease firing and inquire whether she was capitulating. In contrast, fixing the

battle ensign A battle ensign is the name given to a large war ensign (flag) hoisted on a warship's mast just before going into battle. In what could become a very confusing situation with thick clouds of gunsmoke the ensign gave additional identificatio ...

with nails would prevent it from being removed easily, and effectively prevented the surrender. It became an expression of defiance and willingness to force oneself to fight up to the bitter end. The practice became a powerful and recurrent propaganda tool during the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Ki ...

. It actually happened on the ''Tonnant'' at the

Battle of the Nile The Battle of the Nile (also known as the Battle of Aboukir Bay; french: Bataille d'Aboukir) was a major naval battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the Navy of the French Republic at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast off the ...

Aristide Aubert Dupetit-Thouars
archivesdefrance.culture.gouv.fr and on the ''San Juan Nepomuceno'' at the

Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...

. It was also wrongly claimed that the ''Vengeur du Peuple'' had done so during the

Glorious First of June The Glorious First of June (1 June 1794), also known as the Fourth Battle of Ushant, (known in France as the or ) was the first and largest fleet action of the naval conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the First French Republic ...

, when she had in fact struck. In the Royal Navy, Jack Crawford became famous for the deed.

References

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External links

Nail your colours to the mast
The Phrase Finder Flag practices Naval warfare

See also

References

External links