Flag of the United States John Trumbull. Despite the 1777 resolution, the early years of American independence featured many different flags. Most were individually crafted rather than mass-produced. While there are many examples of 13-star arrangements, some of those flags included blue stripes as well as red and white. Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, in a letter dated October 3, 1778, to Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies, described the American flag as consisting of "13 stripes, alternately red, white, and blue, a small square in the upper angle, next the flag staff, is a blue field, with 13 white stars, denoting a new Constellation."
Flag of the Austral Islands symbolizes the archipelago. The red stripes are a reminder that the archipelago is part of French Polynesia, and blue symbolizes the sea. The colors are prescribed as red Pantone 185c and blue Pantone 286c. On 4 December 1985 the Territorial Government decreed that the flags of the archipelagos and islands of French Polynesia may be flown next to the French Polynesian Territorial and French National flags. The former flag of the Austral Islands has a white vertical stripe placed along the hoist, covering 1/3 of the flag length and containing the writing ARCHIPEL / DES / ILES / AUSTRALES ("Archipelago