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Civil Ensign 1927-1948 (British Mandate of Palestine)

Red Ensign

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by Željko Heimer
Flag adopted 1927, abolished 15th May 1948

Description
Abolition of the Civil Ensign 1948

See also:

Description

In 1927 it was found that there was no legal procedure by which a merchant ship owned by an inhabitant of Palestine could be registered. Palestinians were not British subjects, and only ships owned by a British subject could be placed on the British Register. The Palestine Shipping Register was established, and an Admiralty Warrant of 27th October 1927 authorised, "the Red Ensign of HM Fleet defaced on the fly thereof by the word PALESTINE in a white circular field, to be used on board vessels belonging to the inhabitants of Palestine".

In 1944 the only flag that represented the area that roughly corresponds to modern Israel was the defaced Red Ensign. It was for use only at sea, and was internationally recognised as the ensign of a ship registered in Palestine. I think that Haifa was the only port ever used for registry. Introduced in 1927, revoked in 1948, at which time there were six vessels on the register. Three were in the Mediterranean, two tramping in the West Indies and one on an extended voyage in South America. It was used legally until 15th May 1948, and illegally after that.

David Prothero, 26 June 1997, 16 August 2000, 7 March 2001 and 4 March 2002

Abolition of the Civil Ensign 1948

When the British withdrew from Palestine on 15th May 1948 the Departmental Flags and the flag of the High Commissioner were cancelled, but the Palestine Red Ensign posed some problems.

On 16th February 1948 the High Commissioner had written to the Colonial Office that the warrant for the Palestine Red Ensign could be revoked from the end of the Mandate or, if the Admiralty agreed, from the date on which a successor state was set up, if that was requested by the United Nations Organisation. The Admiralty did not favour the latter proposal since Palestinian ships, would be under a British Ensign, and thus able to claim the protection of the Royal Navy, even if they were being used in quasi-military operations, or carrying arms or immigrants into Palestine.

On 29th April 1948, Circular 1829 informed Consuls that after 15th May 1948 ships registered at ports in Palestine should