Any sailors out there? How can this thing be? The Ship Grand Turk is full sails and moving forward. That means that the wind is coming from its stern. However, the flags are pointing into the wind. I assume this is some artistic license. Shouldn't the flags be blowing in the direction of the bow? By the way, I read that the Ship Grand Turk was one of the first ships to fly the "Stars and Stripes."
I may be answering my own question, and maybe someone can confirm or correct me. I am envisioning the ship is being driven by a wind from its port side and to its front. I would just like to see it in action. Sailing ships have always been kind of magical to me. The men who sailed the seas before power engines were amazing adventurers.
Let's see... How many knots will the ship have to be going forward to overcome the effects of the tail wind and make the flag furl? Nah, forget it. It will take too many brain cells for me. Happy 4th.
imagine standing on the deck. wind pushing the vessel. now take a small flag out your pocket. the wind pushing the boat, stern to bow boats clipping along a few knots. you hold the flag up, it flaps toward the stern. that's how I'm seeing it.
Thanks, @gorgo2 , seeing is believing. I would love to be on that boat/ship. I don't know when it goes from being a boat to a ship. Maybe you can enlighten me.
My understanding (take it for what little it's worth) is that it basically comes down to size. Ships typically are deep draft for deep water, and so are much larger, or are otherwise designed for ocean sailing (think yachts). Boats generally can't safely go where ships can. How a vessel is driven has little to do with it; a boat can be manually propelled or sail or motor driven, whereas a ship is always self-propelled (sails, engines) due to their size. Feel free to fact check me on any of that, I could be wrong. I do know one thing new squids are hammered for is calling a ship a boat.
Having been a merchant mariner in a previous life, our rule of thumb was about size: a boat can be carried on a ship. If not, it's a ship.
Thanks, @gorgo2, @Rufus T. I ran across this and you may all get a kick out of it. http://www.nnapprentice.com/alumni/letter/Apprentice_SHIPS_VS_BOATS.pdf