n or fewer flags 1. The volume of available messages in even a small subset allows a carefully constructed code book to contain all but the most obscure messages. An extended history In 1738, Mahé de la Bourdonnais proposed to use ten colored flags to indicate the numbers from zero to nine. With three sets of such flags, all separately colored, 1,000 code combinations could be made. Ignace Chappe wrote in 1824 that he considered it a regrettable mistake that the system of de la Bourdonnais had never been adopted by the French Navy. In 1763, Sebastian Francisco de Bigot, the founder of the Marine Academy in Brest, published a new code book "Tactique Navale ou Traite des Evolutions et des Signaux". The book, for the first time ever, specified a true protocol for the use of coded flags. De Bigot's book had three parts. The first, and largest, part listed 336 distinct flag signals for signaling predefined events or commands from ship to ship. It introduced some important protocol rules, such as the definition of a "preparatory signal flag" for synchronization, the requirement that a receiver acknowledge all signals received by repeating them, and the use of "repeater vessels" to allow for broadcasting signals to an entire fleet. The second part of the book, Table de Manieres, contained an alphabetical index of all signals listed in the first part. Each signal was given a number, allowing for a quick cross-referencing of related signals. The third part of the book gave standard maneuvering diagrams for ships.