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was a sign of surrender. Indeed, when shot or shrapnel felled a ship's flag (such as by severing the halyard that held it up), her opponent would cease firing and inquire whether she was capitulating.
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with nails would prevent it from being removed easily, and effectively prevented the surrender. It became an expression of defiance and willingness to force oneself to fight up to the bitter end.
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nailing the colours. This is an element of the later propaganda surrounding the event, and did not happen historically.
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that expresses a defiant refusal to surrender, and willingness to fight to the last man.
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The practice became a powerful and recurrent propaganda tool during the
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192:. It was also wrongly claimed that the
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154:only until the beginning of the fight.
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44:adding citations to reliable sources
143:) is a practice dating back to the
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254:Aristide Aubert Dupetit-Thouars
137:nailing the colours to the mast
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234:Farragut lashed to the rigging
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270:Nail your colours to the mast
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170:French Revolutionary Wars
161:In contrast, fixing the
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206:. In the Royal Navy,
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55:"Nailing the colours"
230:Battle of Mobile Bay
220:Striking the colours
156:Striking the colours
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272:, The Phrase Finder
225:With flying colours
190:Battle of Trafalgar
185:San Juan Nepomuceno
133:Nailing the colours
180:Battle of the Nile
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195:Vengeur du Peuple
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232:, section "
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