13 STAR U.S. NAVY NATIONAL FLAG FOR THE BRIG "RIVAL".

SOLD TO BENEFIT THE ACQUISITION FUND OF THE FINE ARTS MUSEUMS OF SAN FRANCISCO. LOTS 3 TO 12.
13 STAR U.S. NAVY NATIONAL FLAG FOR THE BRIG "RIVAL".
United States: In Naval Use 1851-63.
A large mainmast-sized woolen US Navy flag. 155 x 345 cm. The 13 linen stars hand sewn in 4/5/4 horizontal pattern, the linen luff with sewn eyes at head and foot and other small holes, and a manuscript inscription in ink, "Brig Rival", and a 19th century metal accession tag "3154.L". The flag partly blown out at the fly, stained and discolored, numerous small holes and tears, possibly by shrapnel fire.
Provenance: "Lent by Mrs A Kull"; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

A fine, rare and damaged 13-star boat flag, of large size, flown on the Brig Rival. The US Navy in the early 1850s adopted the simple 13 star flag fror use on their smalle boats, and then in 1863 introduced a size scale for these 13 star boat flags with numbers from 1 upwards. This flag has no number and clearly dates from before that time. The Zaricor collection has a flag of similar form (4/5/4 star configuration), but of smaller size, that was used in the attempted amphibious landings of small row boats at Fort Fisher, near Wilmington, North Carolina, in Decemeber 25-27th, 1864.

Curiously of the Brig Rival we can find out very little; she may well have been a vessel captured from the British in the war of 1812, but this flag indicates she saw action at sea in the early part of the Civil War.