Magister Jens Smed

Since the early years of ICES research vessels have been flying a special flag or pennant when they participate in expeditions organized by ICES. The flag ornamented ICES publications and it floated over the entrance to ICES Headquarters until the mid-eighties when the ICES logo was developed. So a few words about the history of the original version of the flag are appropriate as the runup to the first of the Centenary Years begins.

At the second meeting of the ICES Bureau, held in Hamburg on 15 December 1902, the participants, viz. Dr Walther Herwig (President), Professor Otto Pettersson (Vice-President), Dr P. P. C. Hoek (General Secretary), and Captain C. F. Drechsel (Honorary Treasurer), agreed to propose to the Council that the research steamers should fly a special flag on cruises carried out in the interest of the exploration of the sea. Three designs for such a flag were presented at the meeting. It would be left to the Council to choose one of them.

The matter was considered at the second Council Meeting (Copenhagen, February 1903). According to Hugh Robert Mill¹ one of the designs was proposed by the General Secretary. Hoek, who was Dutch, and whose name is pronounced somewhat like the English word "hook", said in German that as a symbol of fisheries nothing could be better than "ein Haken" (English: gaff) and exhibited his design with this motif. To this proposal, however, one of the German Delegates quickly responded: "Zu viel Hoek" (roughly translated: That's one hook too many). According to Mill, the General Secretary, who had so carefully avoided using the word "hook", gracefully accepted defeat.

The meeting then resolved² "that a special burgee should be worn by the vessels taking part in the international investigations, and that Prof. Pettersson's design be submitted for approval to the various governments concerned".

Thus the flag dates back to the first year of ICES, and its designer is Otto Pettersson, the man who took the initiative in the founding of the organization.

The eight stars in the flag, viz. the seven stars of the Plough/Big Dipper and the Pole-Star/North Star are said to symbolize the eight founding Member Countries of ICES: Denmark, Finland, Germany, Great Britain (with Ireland), The Netherlands, Norway, Russia, and Sweden.

References

¹Hugh Robert Mill: "An Autobiography", pp. 56_57.

²Rapports et Procès-Verbaux des Réunions du Conseil Permanent International pour l'Exploration de la Mer, 1 (B): 44.