Talk:HMS Pegasus (1897)

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Striking the Colors
As of today - 18 May 2008 - the following passage exists on the HMS Pegasus (1897) page: “the Captain, Commander Ingles, struck the colours to avoid further bloodshed.�?

Consider to read on:

(1) “On the afterdeck some sailor began waving a white flag, but when Gunnery Officer Apel called it to Captain Looff’s attention he knew it was but the work of some single sailor, that British captains did not raise white flags no matter what their fate, and he gave the orders to continue firing.�? Edwin Palmer Hoyt, The Germans who never lost. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. 1968, p. 65 ISBN 0090964004

(2) “At one point an officer shouted to Looff that Pegasus had surrendered, and pointed to a white flag in the inferno. Looff ignored it, assuming correctly that some British sailor had panicked and that Ingles would never strike his colors.�? Charles Miller, Battle for the Bundu, The First World War in German East Africa. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1974, p. 50 ISBN 0025848301

Perhaps someone with knowledge of Royal Navy protocol could look into all this.

Gamahler (talk) 18:53, 18 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Added full biblio citation to above.--Gamahler (talk) 18:00, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

Both Hoyt and Miller were using references based on hearsay and not fact. Commander John Ingles did order the striking of the colours and this is verified by a letter from him dated three days after the event in an Admiralty file in the National Archives, Kew, London... — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kuzama (talk • contribs) 09:40, 16 December 2012 (UTC)