Last modified: 2024-05-04 by rob raeside
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![[Flag of the Bahamas]](../images/b/bs.gif)
(1:2) 
image by Brian Ellis, 11 December 2016
Official Name: Commonwealth of The Bahamas
Flag adopted: 10 July 1973
Coat of arms adopted: 7 December 1971
Designer: Hervis Bain
See also:
Concerning Album 2000 [pay00] -
National Flag. CSW/--- 1:2 - The construction details that are
shown around the edges of the image are quite suspicious, unless
I have made a mistake counting on fingers myself. The horizontals
stripes are of equal width, there is no doubt about that, but
vertical division is given as 2+4, i.e. the triangle height is
supposed to be 1/3 of the length. Judging from all the pictures I
have seen that is entirely wrong - the triangle seems to be of
equal sides (i.e. the height is sqrt(3)/2).
Željko Heimer, 7 February 2001
I agree. It is a mistake.
Armand du Payrat, 16 February 2001
Bahamas flag colour shades from Album 2000 are:
Pantone --- CMYK
B 312c --- 100-0-15-0
Y 115c --- 0-10-80-0
Santiago Dotor, 26 February 2001
Smith (1975) [smi75b]
reported: "The golden sands of the 700 Bahamian islands are
reflected in the centre of the flag, while the aquamarine stripes
bring to mind the various shades of ocean waters around those
islands. The black triangle indicates the unity of the
Bahamian people in their determination to develop the resources
of both land and sea."
This seems a bit "embroidered" to me, and given the
fact that the flag was fairly new in 1975 when the book was
published (and probably brand new when he actually wrote it), I
wonder whether Bahamians still see these aspirations in their
flag?
Rob Raeside, 12 March 2001
In Album 2000 - Corr. Nr 1 [pay01]
- Page BA 1.1 (National flag) - New specifications: ~2.6:~3.4
instead of 2:4 along the horizontal axis.
Ivan Sache, 8 October 2001
Cheryl C. Strachan wrote in her revised edition (2010) of "Flying the Pride"
on page 18: "In 2006, the government of The Bahamas established that the
official pantone matching colours (PMS) of the National Flag shall be 3145 Blue,
123 Yellow and Standard black."
Jos Poels, 1 April 2017
In the absence of any official statistics, I have looked at
all the available official images I could find, and must agree
that the flag should have an equilateral triangle.
This, I calculate, would give 10-10-10 at the hoist, and 13-17
across the top thus confirming the revised figures shown in the
Album.
Christopher Southworth, 29 April 2009
![[Flag of the Bahamas]](../images/b/bs-v.gif)
![[Flag of the Bahamas]](../images/b/bs~mer-v.gif)
![[Flag of the Bahamas]](../images/b/bs~nav-v.gif)
![[Flag of the Bahamas]](../images/b/bs~ste-v.gif)
images by Brian Ellis, 11 December 2016
[Click on images for full sizes]
I was working on some Bahamian flag graphics I made in Illustrator and wanted
to see what Pantone Matching System (PMS) colors might be officially used. I
found several sources listing PMS 312 (aquamarine) and PMS 115 (gold) but none
from the Bahamian government until I happened upon a form "Permission for Use of
National Symbols" on the Bahamian government website (https://forms.bahamas.gov.bs/dp_form.asp?fid=430)
listing "The colour code required for the National Flag" as PMS 3145
(aquamarine), PMS 123 (gold) and PMS Standard Black. These are all quite a bit
deeper than 99% of the Bahamian flag images out there.
I then found a
book "Flying the Pride" (preview on Google Books:
https://books.google.com/books?id=FBCwN6zfExwC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false)
which outlines details of the protocol, construction and colors specs of the
Bahamas' various flags and how they're to be used. This book states the colors
PMS 3145, PMS 123 and PMS Standard Black were officially adopted by the Bahamian
government back in 2006, 10 years ago! It also gives the red in the civil and
naval ensigns as PMS 186 and the blue in the state (or "non-combatant") ensign
as PMS 280. The crosses of the various ensigns appear to measure out at 1/8 of
the hoist, narrower than most British-inspired ensigns. The national flag is
also detailed as having the black triangle measuring out at 40% of the overall
length of the flag instead of being equilateral (on a flag measuring 40 units
long by 20 unit wide, the triangle extends 16 units into the flag instead of
17.331 as an equilateral triangle would).
Brian Ellis, 11 December 2016
The protocol manual for the
London 2012 Olympics
(Flags and Anthems Manual
London 2012 [loc12]) provides recommendations
for national flag designs. Each
NOC
was sent an image of the flag, including the
PMS shades, for their approval by LOCOG. Once this was obtained, LOCOG produced
a 60 x 90 cm version of the flag for further approval. So, while these specs may
not be the official, government, version of each flag, they are certainly what
the NOC
believed the flag to be.
For Bahamas: PMS 312 blue, 115 yellow and black. The vertical version is simply
the flag turned through 90 degrees clockwise.
Ian Sumner, 10 October 2012
For the London 2012 Olympics, they have it as Pantones 312 for blue and 115
for yellow/gold. However, the Beijing 2008 manual has it as the correct
government shades of 3145 and 123, respectively.
Zachary Harden, 12
December 2016
Other sources:
The Flag Manual - Beijing 2008 gives the official colors,
PMS 3145 (aquamarine), PMS 123 (gold), and Black.
The Album des Pavillons
2000 [pay00] (Corr. No. 5.) gives colors in
Pantone and CMYK colors, PMS colors are PMS 312C (blue) and PMS 115C (yellow),
CMYK colors are 100-0-15-0 (blue) and 0-10-80-0 (yellow). (Red color is also
given for other maritime flags – PMS 186C and CMYK 0-90-80-5.)
Flags and
Anthems Manual London 2012 [loc12] gives the
same colors as Album des Pavillons 2000 [pay00]
(Corr. No. 5.): PMS 312 (blue), PMS 115 (yellow) and PMS Black.
The Album
des Pavillons 2023 already specifies the colors of the flags in three color
systems.
Blue: Pantone 280c, CMYK 100-90-34-22, RGB 1-33-105,
Blue:
Pantone 3145c, CMYK 84-33-34-15, RGB 0-119-139,
Red: Pantone 186c, CMYK
14-100-79-4, RGB 200-16-46,
Yellow: Pantone 123 c, CMYK 0-24-86-0, RGB
255-199-44.
These are the official colors.
Vexilla Mundi gives official colors in
Pantone system: PMS 3145, PMS 123 and PMS Black.
Wikipedia refers to FOTW-ws page and give color values in four
systems:
Aquamarine: Pantone 3145, RGB: 0-169-206, Hex: #00778B and CMYK:
30-0-24-100
Yellow: Pantone 123, RGB: 255-199-44, Hex: #FFC72C and CMYK:
0-16-89-0
Black: Pantone: None, RGB: 0-0-0, Hex: #000000 and CMYK:
0-0-0-100.
Zoltan Horvath 16 April 2024
Bahamas is divided to 21 districts. There are no known flags
of those districts. The districts are:
- Acklins and Crooked Islands
- Bimini
- Cat Island
- Exuma
- Fresh Creek
- Freeport
- Governor's Harbour
- Green Turtle Cay
- Harbour Island
- High Rock
- Inagua
- Kemps Bay
- Long Island
- Mayaguana
- Marsh Harbour
- Nichollstown and Berry Islands
- New Providence
- Ragged Island
- Rock Sound
- Sandy Point
- San Salvador and Rum Cay
List based on Administrative
divisions of the World.
Dov Gutterman, 25 October 2004
The photo at
http://www.flickr.com/
and accompanying caption would suggest that at least one beach in the Bahamas
uses a safety flag system with four flags:
Yellow: Exercise caution
Yellow/Red diagonal: Strong surf; exercise extreme caution (in contrast to the
use of such flags in AU/NZ/GB)
Red: Hazardous surf; no swimming
White with swimmer and red crossed circle: Beach closed, no access.
The extent of the swimming area is marked by buoys, not flags.
Jonathan Dixon, 18 September 2010
