Flag of Hawaii in command of the H.M.S. Discovery. During the Visit Vancouver met with Kamehameha I and presented him with a Red Ensign. At this time Ireland was not part of a united kingdom which meant the union jack did not contain Saint Patrick's Cross. This version of the Red Ensign, as well as the current version which added the cross in 1801, was the unofficial flag of the Kingdom of Hawaii until 1816. An adviser to Kamehameha noted that the Union Flag could draw Hawaii into international conflict, as his kingdom could be seen as an ally of the United Kingdom,
Union Jack of a new flag derived from the coat-of-arm of the Burkes, Earls of Ulster, and quite similar to England's St George's Cross. Ultimately, when the British home secretary was asked on 7 December 1922 (the day after the Irish Free State was established) whether the Garter King of Arms was to issue any regulations with reference to the Union Jack, the response was no and the flag has never been changed. A Dáil question in 1961 mooted raising the removal of the cross of St Patrick with the British government; Frank Aiken, the Irish minister for external affairs, declined to