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51-558: 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. Use of the term Jolly Roger in reference to pirate flags goes back to at least Charles Johnson 's A General History of

102-431: A "black flag", i.e. the Jolly Roger, and a "red flag", often called a bloody flag . When closing on a target ship, the pirate ship would normally fly a false flag or no colours until they had their prey within firing range. Like other vessels, pirate ships usually stocked a variety of flags for various purposes. When the pirates' intended victim was within range, the black flag would be raised, often simultaneously with

153-470: A Jolly Roger flag typically include (some rarer than others): Pirates sometimes used a national flag symbolize their nationality or their allegiance to a nation. 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. Flag motifs could often not be made out at longer ranges, thus, flag details

204-697: A Jolly Roger. The Australian submarine HMAS  Onslow flew the Jolly Roger in 1980, following her successful participation in the Kangaroo 3 wargame as an opposing submarine : the flag bore the silhouettes of the seven surface ships involved, as during the exercise, Onslow had successfully 'sunk' all seven. During the Vietnam war an urgent airfield was needed at Quảng Trị by the United States forces. U.S. Seabee Battalions 1, 3, 4, 7, 11, 74, 121, and 133 all sent detachments of men and equipment to get

255-465: A White Death's Head and Crossed Bones in the Fly." Wynne is believed to be the first pirate to fly the now familiar form of the jolly roger. His flag, showing the distinctive skull and crossbones motif, was augmented with another common pirate symbol: an hourglass , meant to signify to his prey that their time was running out and only by timely surrender could they evade death. There were no other reports at

306-889: 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. 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

357-410: 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. 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

408-573: A log book held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France . The entry describes pirates using the flag, not on a ship but on land. 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. Before this time, British privateers such as Sir Henry Morgan sailed under English colours. An early use of

459-558: A number of Golden Age pirates. 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. An early reference to "Old Roger" (a humorous of familiar name for the devil, or death) 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

510-412: A pirate. Just possessing or using a Jolly Roger was considered proof that one was a criminal pirate rather than something more legitimate; only a pirate would dare fly the Jolly Roger, as he was already under threat of execution. Before 1700, pirates flew a plain black flag together with the red (“bloody”) flag, the use of emblems first taking the scene in the 18th century. Key elements commonly found on

561-406: A stylised Jolly Roger, featuring a grinning skull adorned with sunglasses and a halo. The cover of Iron Maiden 's album A Matter of Life and Death (2006) includes a version of a Jolly Roger depicting a helmeted Eddie and two assault rifles instead of bones, hanging from a tank. On the cover of Michael Jackson 's album Dangerous (1991), the Jolly Roger can be seen on the left side with

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612-469: A successful patrol by HMS  Osiris , during which she sank the Italian destroyer Palestro , the submarine returned to Alexandria , but was ordered to remain outside the boom net until the motorboat assigned to the leader of the 1st Submarine Flotilla had come alongside. The flotilla leader wanted to recognise the boat's achievement, so had a Jolly Roger made and delivered to Osiris . After this,

663-493: A successful patrol: it would be hoisted as the boat passed the boom net, and remain raised until sunset. Symbols on the flag indicated the history of the submarine, and it was the responsibility of the boat's personnel to keep the flag updated. The Royal Navy Submarine Museum (which, as of 2004, possessed fifteen Jolly Rogers) recognises 20 unique symbols. A bar denotes the torpedoing of a ship: red bars indicated warships, white bars represented merchant vessels, and black bars with

714-477: A warning shot, communicating the pirates' identity to the target ship in order to persuade them to surrender without a fight. Surrendering without a fight meant that they would cooperate with the pirate's demands and allow them to rifle through their cargo, which was sometimes rewarded with some cargo being left alone. To signal "yes", the victim ship would have to take down their own flag, in naval terminology called "striking their flag". Followed by warning shots, if

765-414: A white "U" stood for U-boats . A dagger indicated a ' cloak and dagger ' operation: typically the delivery or recovery of shore parties from enemy territory. Stars (sometimes surrounding crossed cannon ) stood for occasions where the deck gun was fired. Minelaying operations were shown by the silhouette of a sea mine: a number inside the mine indicated how many such missions. A lighthouse or torch symbolised

816-457: Is also commonly used by private PMC contractors, in form of patches velcroed on uniforms and tactical jackets. The Jolly Roger flag became a cliché of pirate fiction in the 19th century. The " Golden Age of Piracy " ended by the mid-18th century, and piracy was widely suppressed by the 1800s, although the problem of Barbary pirates persisted until the French conquest of Algeria in 1830. By

867-555: Is not restricted to them. During World War II, Allied submariners working with Royal Navy fleets adopted the process from their British counterparts. While operating in the Mediterranean, the Polish submarines ORP Sokół and ORP Dzik were presented with Jolly Rogers by General Władysław Sikorski , and continued to update them during the war. At least one British surface ship recorded their U-boat kills through silhouettes on

918-526: 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 . There are mentions of Francis Drake 's flying a black flag as early as 1585, but

969-483: The Late Middle Ages as a symbol of death and especially as a memento mori on tombstones. In modern contexts, it is generally used as a hazard symbol , usually in regard to poisonous substances, such as deadly chemicals. It is also associated with piracy and software piracy , due to its historical use in some Jolly Roger flags. The skull and bones are often used in military insignia, such as

1020-560: The Victorian era , the pirate threat had receded enough for it to become a topos of boyish adventure fiction, notably influenced by Robert Louis Stevenson 's adventure novel Treasure Island (1883). Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera The Pirates of Penzance (which debuted on 31 December 1879) introduced pirates as comedic characters, and since the later 20th century, pirates sporting the Jolly Roger flag were often depicted as cartoonish or silly characters. J.M. Barrie also used it as

1071-621: The coats of arms of regiments . Since the mid-18th century, skull and crossbones insignia has been officially used in European armies as symbols of superiority. One of the first regiments was the Frederick the Great 's Hussars in 1741, also known as the " Totenkopfhusaren ". From this tradition, the skull became an important emblem in the German army. Identical insignia has been used in

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1122-427: 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. Pirates did not fly the Jolly Roger at all times. The flag

1173-665: The 17th century who is often considered the first pirate to fly the Jolly Roger . British Admiralty Records, in the Public Records Office in the UK show, in a report dated 18 July 1700, that HMS Poole , a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate commanded by Captain John Cranby, engaged Wynn's ship off the Cape Verde islands. Cranby chased Wynn into a cove at Brava Island where Wynn was able to hold out. Cranby enlisted

1224-493: The 1850s. Previously a variety of motifs had been used, including the Danish "+ + +" and drawings of skeletons . In the 1870s poison manufacturers around the world began using bright cobalt bottles with a variety of raised bumps and designs (to enable easy recognition in the dark) to indicate poison, but by the 1880s the skull and cross bones had become ubiquitous, and the brightly coloured bottles lost their association. In

1275-676: The Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano during the Falklands War . Several submarines returning from missions where Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired fly Jolly Rogers with tomahawk axes depicted, with crossed tomahawks indicating an unspecified number of firings, or individual axes for each successful launch. The Jolly Roger has been adopted as the logo of the Royal Navy Submarine Service . The practice, while commonly associated with British submarines,

1326-553: The British Admiralty to have the crews of enemy submarines captured during wartime hanged as pirates. In September 1914, the British submarine HMS  E9 successfully torpedoed the German cruiser SMS Hela . Remembering Wilson's statements, commanding officer Max Horton instructed his submariners to manufacture a Jolly Roger, which was flown from the submarine as she entered port. Each successful patrol saw Horton's submarine fly an additional Jolly Roger until there

1377-699: The Caribbean , the Black Pearl flies a flag of skull over two crossed swords. In Black Sails , the Jolly Roger is shown at the very end as Jack Rackham 's new flag. Adam and the Ants ' album Kings of the Wild Frontier (1980) includes the song, "Jolly Roger". Kenny Chesney 's single " Pirate Flag " is on his fourteenth studio album Life on a Rock (2013). The cover of indie rock band Half Man Half Biscuit 's 2005 album Achtung Bono shows

1428-426: The Jolly Roger and other pirate related themes in their music. Their third album is named Under Jolly Roger . Another "pirate" metal band Alestorm also uses Jolly Roger and other pirate related themes in their music. Skull and crossbones (symbol) A skull and crossbones is a symbol consisting of a human skull and two long bones crossed together under or behind the skull. The design originated in

1479-790: The Prussian army after the First World War by Freikorps and in Nazi Germany by the Wehrmacht and the SS . The idea of elitism symbolized by the skull and crossbones has influenced sub- and pop culture and has become part of the fashion industry. The skull and crossbones has long been a standard symbol for poison . In 1829, New York State required the labeling of all containers of poisonous substances. The skull and crossbones symbol appears to have been used for that purpose since

1530-619: The Pyrates , published in Britain in 1724 and in fact has no connection to the given name Roger . Johnson specifically cites two pirates as having named their flag "Jolly Roger": Bartholomew Roberts in June 1721 and Francis Spriggs in December 1723. While Spriggs and Roberts used the same name for their flags, their flag designs were very different, suggesting that already "Jolly Roger" was

1581-535: The United States, due to concerns that the skull-and-crossbones symbol's association with pirates might encourage children to play with toxic materials, the Mr. Yuk symbol was created to denote poison. However, in 2001, the American Association of Poison Control Center voted to continue to require the skull and crossbones symbol. Emanuel Wynn Emanuel Wynn ( fl. 1700) was a French pirate of

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1632-757: 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,

1683-478: The alteration of a skull over two swords. The re-issued version of the Megadeth album, Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good! (1985), shows a stylized Vic Rattlehead skull on top of crossed swords and crossed bones. This was based on Mustaine's original drawing for the cover which the band did not have enough money to produce at the time. The "pirate" German metal band Running Wild often references

1734-415: The assistance of Portuguese soldiers, but thanks to their delay in attacking, Wynn slipped out of the harbor and escaped. Most historians agree that Cranby's journal is the first witness account of a black Jolly Roger used aboard ship, which Cranby described as "a sable ensign with cross bones, a death's head, and an hour glass" (the quotation is from Earle, Pirate Wars, p. 154) or "A Sable Flag with

1785-588: 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. 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

1836-408: The boat's use as a navigational marker for an invasion force; the latter more particularly associated with Operation Torch . Rescue of personnel from downed aircraft or sunken ships was marked by a lifebuoy . Unique symbols are used to denote one-off incidents: for example, the Jolly Roger of HMS  Proteus included a can-opener, referencing an incident where an Italian destroyer attempted to ram

1887-422: The commanders of submarine flotillas began to hand out the flags to successful submarines. Although some sources claim that all British submarines used the flag, the practice was not taken up by those submarine commanders who saw it as boastful and potentially inaccurate, as sinkings could not always be confirmed. During the war, British submarines were entitled to fly the Jolly Roger on the day of their return from

1938-525: The enemy did not strike their own flag to signal surrender, the pirates would raise the red flag, which would signal that the cargo would be taken by force and that "no quarter would be given" to prisoners. If the pirates had several ships, the raising of the bloody flag could also act as the signal "to attack" for the rest of the ships. The pirate captain Jean Thomas Dulaien would wait for the enemy to fire three or more cannon shots after raising

1989-467: The historicity of this tradition has been called into question. 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, Charles Vane , and Richard Worley in 1718, 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

2040-847: The job done. Construction of the airfield necessitated the removal of 11,000 graves. Those detachments dubbed themselves the Ghost Battalion and chose the Jolly Roger for the Battalion's colors. The Kuperjanov Infantry Battalion , part of the Estonian Land Forces , uses the Jolly Roger as its insignia. Three distinct U.S. Naval Aviation squadrons have used the name and insignia of the Jolly Roger: VF-17/VF-5B/VF-61, VF-84, and VF-103, since redesignated as VFA-103 . While these are distinctly different squadrons that have no lineal linkage, they all share

2091-403: The merchant ships they attacked, merchant ships may have been more willing to attempt resisting these "legitimate" attackers than their piratical counterparts. To achieve their goal of taking prizes without a costly fight, it was therefore important for pirates to distinguish themselves from these other ships also taking prizes on the seas. Flying a Jolly Roger was a reliable way of proving oneself

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2142-601: The name of Captain Hook 's pirate ship in Peter and Wendy (1904 play and 1911 novel); it was thus used in most adaptations of the character, including ABC 's television series Once Upon a Time (2011–2018). Additionally, the Jolly Roger is depicted in Eiichiro Oda 's manga One Piece , in which the pirate crews in the series have different designs that reflects the appearance of the captain ( Straw Hat Pirates for example,

2193-424: The protagonist crew, having the classic skull with cross bones wearing a straw hat like the main character, Monkey D. Luffy ) or a personal theme of the crew (Black Cat Pirates for example, one of the antagonist crews, having the head of a black cat with cross bones). In the film The Island (1980), the Jolly Roger is a skull with a red dot and crossbones with an hourglass on the bottom. In Disney's Pirates of

2244-427: The red flag before giving the order to attack with no quarter given. An early claim of the black and red flag-combo was made in the mid-18th century by Richard Hawkins, however, the cited content may simply relate to different pirate captains, their ships, their chosen flag and particular operating practices. The bloody flag was already an established naval flag and was not unique to piracy. In view of these models, it

2295-571: The same Jolly Roger name, the skull and crossbones insignia and traditions. At least twice in 2017, the USS Jimmy Carter , an American attack submarine modified to support special forces operations, returned to its home port flying a Jolly Roger. The flag was traditionally an indicative of a successful mission. The three American destroyers named USS Kidd have all flown the Jolly Roger; they were named for US Navy Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd , not for William Kidd . The Jolly Roger

2346-423: The submarine, but ended up worse off because of damage to the destroyer's hull by the submarine's hydroplanes , while HMS  United added a stork and baby when the boat's commander became a father while on patrol. Flying the Jolly Roger continued in the late 20th century and on into the 21st. HMS  Conqueror raised the flag decorated with the silhouette of a cruiser to recognise her successful attack on

2397-550: 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 . The first recorded uses of the skull-and-crossbones symbol on naval flags date to the 17th century. It possibly originated among

2448-482: Was important for a prey ship to know that its assailant was a pirate, and not a privateer or government vessel, as the latter two generally had to abide by a rule that if a crew resisted, but then surrendered, it could not be executed: An angry pirate therefore posed a greater danger to merchant ships than an angry Spanish coast guard or privateer vessel. Because of this, although, like pirate ships, Spanish coast guard vessels and privateers were almost always stronger than

2499-432: Was intended as communication of the pirates' identity, which gave target ships an opportunity to decide to surrender without a fight. For example, in June 1720, when Bartholomew Roberts sailed into the harbour at Trepassey , Newfoundland with black flags flying, the crews of all 22 vessels in the harbour abandoned their ships in panic. It is claimed that the Jolly Roger was part of a flag signal combination, comprising

2550-646: 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. Following the introduction of submarines in several navies circa 1900, Admiral Sir Arthur Wilson , the First Sea Lord of the British Royal Navy , stated that submarines were "underhanded, unfair, and damned un-English", and that he would convince

2601-613: Was no more room for flags, at which point Horton had a large Jolly Roger manufactured, onto which symbols indicating E9 ' s achievements were sewn. A small number of other submarines adopted the practice: HMS  E12 flew a red flag with the skull and crossbones on return from a foray into the Dardanelles in June 1915, and the first known photograph of the practice was taken in July 1916 aboard HMS  H5 . The practice restarted during World War II . In October 1940, following

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