The Explorers Club flag represents a history of courage and accomplishment and has been carried on hundreds of expeditions since 1918. Any member of the Club approved to carry the flag is required upon return to issue, in hardcopy, an official Flag Report, fulfilling a fundamental part of the Club's mission: To engage in scientific exploration and share the results.
Today, there are 202 numbered flags. While a select few have been retired for preservation, and others have been lost to the ravages of Nature and the Postal Service, the rest are carried and returned, in rotation, as they have been over the last hundred years on ever-new voyages of exploration.