pilot flag

noun

, Nautical.

the flag symbolizing the letter G in the International Code of Signals, flown by itself to request a pilot from a pilot service: a flag of three yellow and three blue vertical stripes.
the flag symbolizing the letter H in the International Code of Signals, flown by itself to indicate that a pilot is on board: a flag with one white and one red vertical stripe.

Some five hundred yards beyond the barrier, a small Danish steamer flying a pilot-flag, came steaming towards us.

That was fortunate, for in the next few moments she ran up, not the Irish pilot flag, but the British naval ensign.

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