THE CARRON CO.

The original flag was white with a red border. Reed 1891 shows it under Carron Steamship Co., although the red flag bearing the company seal seems to have replaced it about the mid-1850s. The late appearance therefore remains unexplained.

Lloyds 1882 shows blue ESTO PERPETUA lettering and lines of black ground.

LJC 1885 shows the arms alone on a white oval, without lettering.

Griffin 1895 has a rounded background and some colour in the phoenix. Rosanoski’s descriptions differ between ESTD PERPETUA above CARRON and ESTO PERPETUA above CARRON CO. He explicitly acknowledges that his CO in the base of the annulet, reproduced in the FOTW image, was a mistake.

Reed 1901 and Lloyds 1904 add COY at the base. The upper red feature looks like a crown but is probably a flaming phoenix; Lloyds 1904 shows the bird rising from red, possibly flames. There is also red ground below.

The later seal shows a phoenix rising above crossed carronades and a pile of cannonballs, with ESTD PERPETUA above and FOUNDED over 1759 below. A dotted inner orle is surrounded by CARRON COMPANY and, in smaller letters, INCORPORATED BY ROYAL CHARTER 1773; a double black orle forms the outer oval. Loughran’s rendering is more ornate than Lloyds 1912, whose lettering is clearer. Talbot-Booth and Book of Flags use an oval with flat sides. The FOTW flag originally drawn from Brown 1926 was replaced in 2008.