To Lower or Strike the FLAG, in the marine, is to pull it down upon the cap, or to take it in, out of the respect, or submission, due from all ships or fleets inferior to those any way justly their superiors. To lower or strike the flag in an engagement is a sign of yielding.
The way of leading a ship in triumph is to tie the flags to the shrouds, or the gallery, in the hind part of the ship and let them hang down towards the water, and to tow the vessels by the stern. Livy relates, that this was the way the Romans used those of Carthage.