Jolly Roger

A typical Jolly Roger flag. This 19th-century Barbary Corsairs flag is one of two known authentic Jolly Rogers in the world, currently residing at the Åland Maritime Museum in Finland.^[1] Flag in current condition to the right. Color-corrected version to the left.

Jolly Roger is the traditional English name for the ensign flown to identify a pirate ship preceding or during an attack, during the early 18th century (the latter part of the Golden Age of Piracy). The vast majority of such flags flew the motif of a human skull, or “Death's Head”, often accompanied by other elements, on a black field, sometimes called the “Death's Head flag” or just the “black flag”.

The flag most commonly identified as the Jolly Roger today – the skull and crossbones symbol on a black flag – was used during the 1710s by a number of pirate captains, including Black Sam Bellamy, Edward England, and John Taylor. It became the most commonly used pirate flag during the 1720s, although other designs were also in use.

Name

Use of the term Jolly Roger in reference to pirate flags goes back to at least Charles Johnson's A General History of the Pyrates, published in Britain in 1724 and in fact has no connection to the given name Roger.^[3]

Johnson specifically cites two pirates as having named their flag "Jolly Roger": Bartholomew Roberts in June 1721^[4] and Francis Spriggs in December 1723.^[5]While Spriggs and Roberts used the same name for their flags, their flag designs were very different, suggesting that already "Jolly Roger" was a generic term for black pirate flags rather than a name for any single specific design. Neither Spriggs' nor Roberts' Jolly Roger consisted of a skull and crossbones.^[6]

Richard Hawkins, who was captured by pirates in 1724, reported that the pirates had a black flag bearing the figure of a skeleton stabbing a heart with a spear, which they named "Jolly Roger". This description closely resembles the flags of a number of Golden Age pirates.^[7]

It is sometimes claimed that the term derives from "Joli Rouge" ("Pretty Red") in reference to a red flag used by French privateers. This is sometimes attributed to red blood, symbolizing violent pirates, ready to kill.^[8]

Another early reference to "Old Roger" is found in a news report in the Weekly Journal or British Gazetteer (London, Saturday, 19 October 1723; Issue LVII, p. 2, col. 1):

Parts of the West-Indies. Rhode-Island, July 26. This Day, 26 of the Pirates taken by his Majesty Ship the Greyhound, Captain Solgard, were executed here. Some of them delivered what they had to say in writing, and most of them said something at the Place of Execution, advising all People, young ones especially, to take warning by their unhappy Fate, and to avoid the crimes that brought them to it. Their black Flag, under which they had committed abundance of Pyracies and Murders, was affix'd to one Corner of the Gallows. It had in it the Portraiture of Death, with an Hour-Glass in one Hand, and a Dart in the other, striking into a Heart, and three Drops of Blood delineated as falling from it. This Flag they called Old Roger, and us'd to say, They would live and die under it.^[9]

History

Base pirate flags

Prior to the advent and popularization of the "Jolly Roger" we know today, western pirates flew a simple black flag, initially devoid of design.^[10] The black flag was part of a flag signal combination, together with a plain red flag. After closing in on a target ship, the black flag would be raised, signaling that "quarter"^[a] will be given if the target crew surrendered their cargo/valuables without a fight. Followed by warning shots, if the enemy did not strike their own flag to signal surrender, the red flag (or bloody flag as it is known) was raised, signaling that the target's cargo/valuables will be taken by force and that "no quarter"^[b] will be given if the enemy ship continued to refuse surrender.^[11] The pirate captain Jean Thomas Dulaien would wait for the enemy to fire three or more cannon shots after raising the red flag before giving the order to attack with no quarter given.^[12]

The first recorded uses of the skull-and-crossbones symbol on naval flags date to the 17th century. It possibly originated among the Barbary pirates of the period, which would connect the black colour of the Jolly Roger to the Muslim Black Standard (black flag). But an early reference to Muslim corsairs flying a skull symbol, in the context of a 1625 slave raid on Cornwall, explicitly refers to the symbols being shown on a green flag.^[13]

There are mentions of Francis Drake's flying a black flag as early as 1585, but the historicity of this tradition has been called into question.^[14] Contemporary accounts show Peter Easton using a plain black flag in 1612; a plain black flag was also used by Captain Martel's pirates in 1716,^[15] Charles Vane, and Richard Worley in 1718,^[16] and Howell Davis in 1719.

An early record of the skull-and-crossbones design being used on a (red) flag by pirates is found in a 6 December 1687 entry in a log book held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The entry describes pirates using the flag, not on a ship but on land.^[17]

1725 woodcut of Stede Bonnet with a Jolly Roger in Charles Johnson's *A General History of the Pyrates*

17th and 18th century colonial governors usually required privateers to fly a specific version of the British flag, the 1606 Union Jack with a white crest in the middle, also distinguishing them from naval vessels.^[18] Before this time, British privateers such as Sir Henry Morgan sailed under English colours.^[7]An early use of a black flag with skull, crossbones, and hourglass is attributed to pirate captain Emanuel Wynn in 1700, according to a wide variety of secondary sources.^[19] Reportedly, these secondary sources are based on the account of Captain John Cranby of HMS Poole and are verified at the London Public Record Office.

With the end of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1714, many privateers turned to piracy. They still used red and black flags, but now they decorated them with their own designs. Edward England, for example, flew three different flags: from his mainmast the black flag depicted above; from his foremast a red version of the same; and from his ensign staff the English national flag. Just as variations on the Jolly Roger design existed, red flags sometimes incorporated yellow stripes or images symbolic of death.^[20] Coloured pennants and ribbons could also be used alongside flags.

Marcus Rediker (1987) claims that most pirates active between 1716 and 1726 were part of one of two large interconnected groups sharing many similarities in organisation. He states that this accounts for the "comparatively rapid adoption of the piratical black flag among a group of men operating across thousands of miles of ocean", suggesting that the skull-and-crossbone design became standardized at about the same time as the term Jolly Roger was adopted as its name. By 1730, the diversity of symbols in prior use had been mostly replaced by the standard design.^[21]

Design

Key elements commonly found on a Jolly Roger flag typically include (some rarer than others):

Skull and crossbones – The skull, historically called "death's head" (compare with ‹See Tfd›German: totenkopf),^[23] represents death and danger, emphasizing the pirates' ruthless and deadly reputation. The crossbones are often positioned behind or beneath the skull and create an "X" shape. They symbolize crossed swords or bones, signifying violence and conflict.
Human skeleton – the period depiction of the personification of death, sometimes carrying out symbolic gestures of suffering and death, such as stabbing a heart with a spear, wielding weapons and even signal instruments.^[23]
Hourglass – symbolizing that the life of the attacked is running out.^[23]
Bundle of arrows – an older regal or state symbol alluding to the proverb that arrows can be easily broken one by one but are unbreakable if tied together, however, in the case of the Jolly Roger, more likely to symbolize implements of death.^[23]
Sword or sword arm – symbolizing implements of death.^[23]
Pistol – symbolizing implements of death.^[23]
Cannon – symbolizing implements of death.^[23]
Powder horn or signal horn – symbolizing implements of death.^[23]

Jolly Roger variations possibly existed as a type of personal calling card to be associated with a certain pirate crew's reputation and thus make enemies surrender more easily, however, this is not mentioned by period sources.^[23] Flag motifs could often not be made out at longer ranges, thus, flag details was more likely an internal mark of identity for the crew. Historically, most pirates reused the same designs as their peers, possibly to partake in the reputation of others, eventually leading to designs such as the skull and crossbones becoming the norm.^[23]

Historical designs

The gallery below shows artists' interpretations of what pirate flags might have looked like, based on simple descriptions from the time.^[24]

Emanuel Wynn's flag.^[25]
A pirate flag used by Edward Low.^[26]
Another flag used by Edward Low.
A flag often attributed to Blackbeard. Similar to flags reportedly flown by Edward Low, Charles Harris and Francis Spriggs.
Although referred to as the "John Quelch" flag, it is in fact closer to the description of pirate flag of John Phillips.
The flag of England used by John Quelch.
A flag often associated with John Phillips.
Bartholomew Roberts' first flag shows him and Death holding an hourglass.^[27]
Roberts' new flag showed him holding a flaming sword and standing on two skulls, representing "a Barbadian's head" (ABH) and "a Martinican's head" (AMH) - two islands against whom he held a grudge.^[27]
One of Roberts' several flags described in Johnson's General History, depicting a skeleton holding an hour glass and two bones standing next to a dart stabbing a bleeding heart.
One of Roberts' several flags described in the Boston Gazette, depicting a skull and a sword.
One of Roberts' several flags described in Johnson's General History, depicting an image of Roberts holding a flaming sword and intimidating Death.