Pirates often stocked a variety of flags and usually flew false flags, only raising the Jolly Roger when they had their prey vessels within firing range.

Jolly Roger

For other uses, see Jolly Roger (disambiguation).

A typical Jolly Roger

A red “Blood Flag”.

Jolly Roger is the traditional English name for the flags flown to identify a pirate ship about to attack, during the early 18th century (the later part of the Golden Age of Piracy).

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 went on to become 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 Genera… Continue Reading (19 minute read)