During this period, pirates took up a level of creative license.īlack and red flags identified pirates, but the images on flags varied from pirate to pirate. What is clear is that the variation in flags increased after the War of the Spanish Succession in 1714 and the onslaught of the Golden Age of Piracy between the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The somewhat recent documentation in the 19th and 20th centuries wavers with various theories making accuracy as mythical as buried treasure.
DEVIL DAGGERS SKULL FULL
What we know of pirate flags comes from merchant logbooks, European naval vessels, and newspaper articles of the era, so there is little direct documentation from pirates themselves to give the world the full explanation of their flags.
Again, a lot of assumptions are made among historians, but many of them think that French privateers called the flag Jolly Roger (Jolly Rouge, rouge meaning red) because the name symbolized the fate of their red coat British opposition, (the French and English were fierce enemies at this time). The term Jolly Roger doesn’t seem to come until later. Just like any group of people, there was a complex system and an array of flags that were deeper than the ocean floor with meaning. The meanings of pirate flags were wide and varied. What’s even more different is that there wasn’t just one pirate flag. Yet hundreds of years ago, the image meant serious business that cost people money and their lives. For us living in the modern era, the image of the black flag with skulls and bones is recognized as the classic pirate emblem, it’s almost a cartoon or caricature of itself. Upon merchant ships or passing sea vessels seeing this flag, the meaning was immediately recognizable - pirates. In the clear salt-scented sea air, a black flag whips back and forth, and the hollow, eyeless image of a skull seems animated as if the skull itself is actually gazing out to the oncoming ships.
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