Last modified: 2018-12-15 by rob raeside
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Is this flag deliberately based on the arms
of Amsterdam, or is this a coincidence?
James Dignan, 16 Oct 2003
Noordzee. It certainly appears that the flag was based on the Arms of
Amsterdam. The company operated from 1916 until the mid 1960s and pre WW2
the central black panel bore 3 white "X"s like the Arms with the red panels
each bearing 2 white letters one above the other i.e. in more usual terms,
treating the field as red, there are white letters in the corners. However
they either changed these frequently, or more likely, sightings were unreliable.
Brown 1926 shows 'SMMN' in the corners, changing in 1929 to 'SLMN' and
then settling on 'SVMN' in 1934 and 1943. Talbot-Booth 1942 and 1944 agrees
with Brown 1926 having 'SMMN' but the correct version is probably confirmed
by the Dutch publication Wij Varen Weer of 1946 which shows 'SVMN'
with a possible interpretation being that the letters stand for Stoom Vaart
Maatschappij Noordzee. I would be more confident of this but for the fact
that the funnels showed the flag as a band and some of the sources show
different letters on this to those that they show for the flag and this
includes Wij Varen Weer as their funnel image has the letters as 'SMVN'.
Neale Rosanoski, 9 Nov 2003
Red with in the center a vertical black stripe with three white X's
in a vertical row; on red white capitals SVMN.
Jarig Bakker, 10 Nov 2003
Stoomvaart Maatschappij Noordzee, Amsterdam - red flag, black vertical
stripe, charged with three saltires in vertical row; in
all quarters white "SMMN" - another variation.
Source: Brown's Flags and Funnels of British and Foreign Steamship
Companies, compiled by F.J.N. Wedge, Glasgow, 1926 [wed26].
Jarig Bakker, 17 Jan 2005