A skull and crossbones flag waving in the breeze on a ship is a sure sign that piracy is afoot. This image, made famous in movies and used by real pirates in the 18th century to identify their ship, is known as the Jolly Roger and has become synonymous with evil pirates. It might seem that pirates were so ruthless that they needed to warn other ships of their threats, but according to our expert, Professor Magne Frostad, pirates weren’t above a bit of self-promotion either.Check this out :ultimateflags.com
The pirates who used Jolly Roger flags were trying to convey their ferocity, and the skull and crossbones design could be seen as a warning that if a ship didn’t surrender, death was inevitable. These images could be found on black flags or -more commonly – on red ones.
Some pirates riffed on the Jolly Roger theme, with different images or symbols. One rumored to be that of Blackbeard featured a horned skeleton holding an hourglass in one hand and a spear piercing a heart (drops of blood) in the other. It isn’t clear, however, if this was the flag of Blackbeard since this image has only been linked to him much later.
Other pirates used more traditional designs. Jack Rackham, for example, was a notorious pirate who had female crew members such as Anne Bonny and Mary Read on his ships and sailed in the Caribbean at the beginning of the eighteenth century. His pirate articles included a design of three skulls above-crossed swords and an hourglass on a black background.
