The “Meteor Flag of Old England”: The British Red Ensign’s Chesapeake Bay Legacy
When you sail the waters of the Chesapeake Bay today, you’re navigating the same historic waters where the crimson banner of Great Britain once dominated the maritime landscape for over a century. In 1707, Queen Anne proclaimed a new flag for England and her colonies following the Acts of Union that merged England and Scotland into Great Britain. This flag—the British Red Ensign, also known as the Colonial Red Ensign or the “Meteor Flag”—would become the defining symbol of colonial maritime power in America, flying over these very waters from the earliest settlements through the final days of British rule.
A Flag Born of Union
The British Red Ensign came into existence in 1707 as a direct result of the Acts of Union. The design was elegant in its simplicity: a bold red field representing power and authority, with the newly created Union flag—combining St. George’s red cross with St. Andrew’s white saltire on a blue field—proudly displayed in the upper left corner. This would be the first truly “national” flag to fly over the English colonies in North America.
The Poetic Nickname: Why “Meteor”?
The nickname “Meteor Flag” has an intriguing literary origin, coming from the Scottish poet Thomas Campbell’s stirring lines about England’s naval power. The term seems to evoke the flag’s brilliant red color—like a celestial body blazing across the sky. What’s certain is that the name captured the imagination of people on both sides of the Atlantic, even as Americans eventually fought under different colors.
From Jamestown to London Town: A Flag Spans Generations
Before the Red Ensign flew over the Chesapeake, English maritime flags marked the very beginning of permanent English settlement in America. When Captain John Smith and the first Jamestown settlers arrived in 1607, they came under English maritime colors. Smith, who would become legendary for saving the colony through his leadership and his explorations of the Chesapeake Bay, sailed these same waters you can explore today. He was the first Englishman to map the Chesapeake, creating charts that guided generations of sailors.
By the time the Red Ensign was officially adopted in 1707, colonial ports throughout the Chesapeake were thriving. In our own backyard, Historic London Town in present-day Edgewater was established in 1683 as a major tobacco port on the South River. Throughout the 1700s, the Red Ensign flew constantly over London Town’s busy wharves as ships loaded Virginia and Maryland tobacco for export to England. The flag would have been a daily sight for the merchants, sailors, and enslaved workers who made London Town one of the Chesapeake’s most important commercial centers.
Just four miles away, Annapolis grew into the colonial capital of Maryland, its harbor filled with vessels flying the Red Ensign. These ships carried not just tobacco but the ideas, people, and commerce that would eventually fuel revolutionary sentiment.
The Flag of Colonial Commerce
Throughout the 1700s, the British Red Ensign was the ubiquitous sight on Chesapeake Bay waters. Every tobacco ship departing from Annapolis or London Town, every merchant vessel trading between the colonies and the mother country, and every naval ship patrolling these waters flew this crimson banner. The Chesapeake Bay was a critical hub of colonial maritime activity, and the Red Ensign was its universal symbol.
Seeds of Revolution
As tensions grew between the colonies and Parliament in the 1760s and 1770s, colonists began to modify the Red Ensign as acts of protest. Various versions appeared throughout the colonies expressing discontent with British policies while still acknowledging connection to the crown. When the Continental Congress met and eventually drafted the Declaration of Independence in 1776, they were rejecting not just British rule but also the flag that had flown over American waters for nearly seventy years.
In 1776, when General George Washington raised a modified version of the Red Ensign—with white stripes added to the red field—he was making a subtle political statement: the colonies sought reform, not yet full independence. This Continental Colors or Grand Union Flag represented the last moment before the complete break with Britain.
Yorktown: The End of an Era
The Red Ensign’s most significant moment in Chesapeake Bay history came on October 19, 1781, when Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown under its folds, effectively ending the American Revolution. Just weeks earlier, the crucial naval Battle of the Chesapeake Bay had sealed Cornwallis’s fate. The British fleet fighting under the Red Ensign was turned back by the French, leaving Cornwallis trapped at Yorktown with no hope of naval rescue.
When you sail past Yorktown today, you’re literally tracing the routes of those historic fleets—understanding why the bay’s geography made the British position impossible and how naval power decided the birth of a nation.
From Revolution to Liberation: D-Day’s British Fleet
The Red Ensign’s story didn’t end with American independence. The flag continued as Britain’s merchant marine ensign, and it would play a role in another momentous event that changed world history. On June 6, 1944—D-Day—British merchant ships flying the Red Ensign were part of the largest amphibious invasion in history. Over 150,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, in Operation Overlord, which marked the beginning of the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi occupation. The invasion ultimately led to the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of World War II in Europe. British vessels flying variations of the Red Ensign that had once symbolized colonial authority now helped deliver freedom to an occupied continent.
The Flag’s Enduring Legacy
Today, the Red Ensign remains the civil ensign of the United Kingdom’s merchant marine. While the modern version includes St. Patrick’s Cross (added when Ireland joined the Union in 1801), British merchant vessels still fly variations of the same basic design that dominated Chesapeake waters in the 1700s. The flag continues to symbolize British maritime heritage and the age of sail.
For American history enthusiasts, the Red Ensign represents a fascinating paradox: it was both the flag of colonial authority and the template for early American flags. The Stars and Stripes itself can trace its design heritage directly back to this British maritime banner—red and white stripes, a union in the canton—a visual reminder that even in revolution, we carried forward elements of what came before.
Experience Living History on the Chesapeake
When you charter a yacht to explore the Chesapeake Bay’s colonial and Revolutionary War sites, you’re not just reading about history—you’re experiencing it from the same perspective as the historical actors themselves. You’ll sail past London Town’s historic site where the Red Ensign flew over busy tobacco wharves. You’ll understand why Annapolis developed as a major colonial capital and port. You’ll see why the Battle of the Chesapeake Bay was so decisive for American independence. You’ll grasp the strategic importance of the York River that made Yorktown such a trap for Cornwallis.
From Captain John Smith’s first explorations in 1607 through the Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary War, and beyond, the Chesapeake Bay has been witness to some of the most significant events in American history. The British Red Ensign may no longer fly over these waters, but its legacy is written in every cove, harbor, and battlefield along the bay.
Join us to explore where the “Meteor Flag of Old England” once dominated these historic waters, and discover how its story became intertwined with the birth of American independence and the enduring connection between maritime heritage and national identity.
Book Your Historic Chesapeake Charter
Discover these sites and more on a certified Maryland Department of Tourism and National Park Service educational charter. Experience history where it actually happened—on the water, sailing the same routes as Captain John Smith, colonial tobacco merchants, and Revolutionary War fleets