The Royal Yachting Association removed Morse code and 90% of the flags from the Coastal Skipper / Yachtmaster theory syllabus several years ago.
 

Flags

Recently whilst looking though the most recent RYA Day Skipper and Yachtmaster publications I noticed that there are now just two flags remaining that skippers are expected to know. They are as follows:
 
Flag A – which means ‘I have a diver down, keep clear’
Flag H (on its side therefore white over red) – which means ‘I am on pilot duty’
 
There are however several other flags which are used on a regular basis that I feel skippers should know.  They are as follows:
 
Flag B – which  means ‘ I am taking in, or discharging, or carrying dangerous goods’.
Flag H – which means ‘I have a pilot on board’.
Flag Q – which means ‘My vessel is healthy and I request free pratique’ or in practice ‘I have arrived from another country and wish to clear customs’.
Flag R over Flag Y – which means pass carefully at slow speed.
Flag N over Flag C – This indicates that a vessel is in distress and in need of immediate assistance.
 

Morse Code

Any knowledge of Morse code is generally considered to be something of the past and not in the least bit useful anymore.  The only time we tend to hear it is when someone has SOS set as the ringing tone on his or her mobile telephone.
 
There are however two lighthouses in Portugal that use Morse code for their foghorn. One is the foghorn at Bugio Island lighthouse at the entrance to Lisbon which signals ‘B’ every 30 seconds.  The other is the foghorn at Cape St Vincent lighthouse which signals ‘I’ every 30 seconds. There are four Spanish lighthouses between La Coruna & Gibraltar that also use Morse code for their fog signals.
 
It is possibly not generally known that all oilrigs and production platforms continuously flash Morse code ‘U’, which means ‘you are running into danger’.
If I were parked in my car on a cliff top and were to see a boat unwittingly heading towards rocks, I would flash Morse code ‘U’ on my car headlights.  It would be a great pity if the skipper didn’t know the meaning of my signal.