Editing Distress signal (section)

=== Inverted flags ===
For hundreds of years inverted [[national flag]]s were commonly used as distress signals.<ref>For example, 36 [[United States Code|U.S. Code]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20140324220425/http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-1996-title36/html/USCODE-1996-title36-chap10-sec176.htm §176](a) provides: "The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property."</ref> However, for some countries' flags it is difficult (e.g., [[Spain]], [[South Korea]], [[United Kingdom]]) or impossible (e.g., [[Japan]], [[Thailand]], and [[Israel]]) to determine whether they are inverted. Other countries have flags that are inverses of each other; for example, the [[Poland|Polish]] flag is white on the top half and red on the bottom, while [[Indonesia]]'s and [[Monaco]]'s flags are the opposite—i.e., top half red, the bottom half white. A ship flying no flags may also be understood to be in distress.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/transcripts/slave-ship-mutiny-program-transcript/755/ "Slave Ship Mutiny Program Transcript"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101115013507/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/transcripts/slave-ship-mutiny-program-transcript/755/ |date=15 November 2010 }}. Educational Broadcasting Corporation. 2010. Retrieved 2012-02-15.</ref> For one country, the [[Philippines]], an inverted flag is a symbol of war rather than distress.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-philippines-flag/u-s-apologizes-for-flying-philippine-flag-upside-down-idUSTRE68Q4EE20100927 | title=U.S. Apologizes for flying Philippine flag upside down | newspaper=Reuters | date=27 September 2010 }}</ref>

If any flag is available, distress may be indicated by tying a knot in it and then flying it upside-down, making it into a ''[[wiktionary:wheft|wheft]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.allstates-flag.com/fotw/flags/xf-flip.html |title=Flying flags upside down |publisher=Allstates-flag.com |access-date=2009-07-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091213230400/http://www.allstates-flag.com/fotw/flags/xf-flip.html |archive-date=2009-12-13 }}</ref>

{{Gallery
 |title=Examples of inverted flags as distress signals
 |align=center
 |File: The Loss of the Romney Man of War.jpg|{{HMS|Romney|1762|6}} aground off the island [[Texel]] in 1804. In Richard Corbould's print, ''Romney''{{'}}s [[blue ensign]] at the stern is shown inverted, as a sign of distress
 |File: HMS Pique in a gale during her return to England RMG BHC2257.jpg|{{HMS|Pique|1834|6}} in a gale, flying the [[white ensign]] upside down
}}