Most vessels carried a couple sets of colors anyway... This particular flag suspose to have a strong historical provenance. Wasnt totally unusual that officers came and went from a given duty station and may have acquired one of those previously used. However according to some of my vexiology pards.. they are aware of at least 14 different flags out there that are "claimed" to be associated with the Alabama.

Another side issue that Ive noted some evidence of... is apparent habit of giving flags away as momentos for service or friendly assistance... Ive noticed a couple flags that came out of Nova-Scotia.. all reportedly acquired as "gifts" from southern ships that had visited... Equally interesting is that many of these flags are discovered to have been originally made in France or Ireland (Liverpool).. where many of these ships also frequented...

Frederick