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Updated: May 27, 2025
The present method of communication is by the use of flags representing numerals which are displayed in the rigging; by the use of the Ardois system of lights for night work; by the Myer code of wigwag signals, and by the use of the heliograph.
The perfection of wireless telegraphy has caused the Ardois and other signal systems depending upon sight or sound to be discarded in all but exceptional cases. The wig-wag and similar systems will probably never be entirely displaced by even such superior systems as wireless telegraphy.
Where no mountain ranges intervene and a bright sun is available, heliographic messages may be read at a distance of one hundred and fifty miles. While the British navy used flashing lights for night signals, the United States and most other navies adopted a system of fixed colored lights. The system in use in the United States Navy is known as the Ardois system.
In the American navy the present methods of communication are by the use of flags representing numerals, by the Meyer code of wigwag signals, and by a system of colored electric bulbs suspended in the rigging. The latter system is called after its inventor, Ardois. In the daytime, when ships are within easy distance, wigwagging is commonly used.
There are eighteen flags and a code pennant, corresponding to the consonants of the alphabet, omitting x and z. The code pennant is also used with these signals. If a message is to be sent at night, the Ardois system of night signals, with which all our vessels carrying an electric plant are fitted, is employed.
Of course the Ardois light signal is something very modern. Santiago is the most easterly city on the southern coast of Cuba, second only to Havana in its strategic and political importance, and is the capital of the eastern department, as well as its most flourishing seaport. The harbour, now become famous as a theatre of action where American heroism was displayed, is thus described by Mr.
Naval signalmen, generally apprentices, become very expert, and the rapidity with which they can wigwag sentences is really remarkable. The Ardois system of night signalling consists of electric lights attached to the rigging. There are four groups of double lamps, the two lamps in each group showing red and white respectively.
Marine and Military Signals Code Flags Wig-wag Semaphore Telegraphs Heliographs Ardois Signals Submarine Signals. In naval affairs some kind of an effective signal system is imperative. Even in the ordinary evolutions of a fleet the commander needs some better way of communicating with the ship captains than despatching a messenger in a small boat.
In this system the messages are sent by four lights, usually electric, which are suspended from a mast or yard-arm. The lights are manipulated by a keyboard situated at a convenient point on the deck. A red lamp is flashed to indicate a dot in the Morse code, while a white lamp indicates a dash. The Ardois system is also used by the Army.
At night searchlights are often used by waving the beam from the right to the left, thus forming an electric wigwag, or by flash like the heliograph. On small ships not fitted up with the Ardois system, the Very night signal is used. This consists of a pistol made for the purpose, which discharges lights similar to those found in the ordinary Roman candles.
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