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A black cone hoisted point up or point down at a harbour.
Also known as: North cone, Black cone at a harbour, Storm cone
A visual gale warning flown at coastal stations. Point up meant a gale from the north, point down from the south, which was the entire message and was legible from a boat with no radio.
A black canvas cone hoisted at a coastal signal station to warn of an expected gale, point upward for a gale from a northerly quarter and point downward for a southerly one.
United Kingdom · Contexts: Navigation
Introduced by FitzRoy in 1861 as part of the first storm warning service, and among the earliest systematic uses of a forecast to prevent loss of life at sea.
from 1861
Discontinued in Britain in 1984, radio having made it redundant. A cone still displayed is a preserved fitting rather than a live warning.
No longer an operational signal in the UK.
discontinued 1984
A solid black cone about a metre across the base, hoisted on a mast with its point either upward or downward.