51.) The object of the order evidently was that they should conceal their character from the pirates, and at this time therefore the 'jack' carried at the end of the bowsprit and the pennant must have been the sign of a navy ship.

Boteler however, who wrote his _Sea Dialogues_ about 1625, does not mention the jack in his remarks about flags (pp.

327-334).

The etymology is uncertain.

The new _Oxford Dictionary_ inclines to the simple explanation that 'jack' was used in this case in its common diminutive sense, and that 'jack-flag' was merely a small flag.
[5] _I.e._ his cruisers.
[6] In the Report of the Historical MSS.