Signal

A means of communication between vessels at sea or between a vessel and the shore. The international code of signals for the use of all nations assigns arbitrary meanings to different arrangements of flags or displays of lights. Where a steamer did not hear the signal but should have heard it, she is as culpable as if she had heard and disregarded it; The City of New York, 49 Fed. 956, 1 C. C. A. 483, 1 U. S. App. 72. Where a collision results through the failure of one of two colliding steamers to conform to her own signals, she is responsible for the collision; The Nutmeg State, 67 Fed. 556, 14 C. C. A. 525, 35 U. S.