Jolly Roger
The Jolly Roger was the ensign flown by a pirate ship preceding or during an attack, during the early 18th century. 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 todaythe skull and crossbones symbol on a black flagwas used during the 1710s by a number of pirate captains, including Samuel Bellamy, Edward England, and John Taylor. It became the most commonly used pirate flag during the 1720s, although other designs were also in use.
Etymology
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.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 a generic term for black pirate flags rather than a name for any single specific design. Neither Spriggs's nor Roberts's 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 a number of Golden Age pirates.
An early reference to "Old Roger" is found in a news report in the Weekly Journal or British Gazetteer :
“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.”
It is sometimes claimed that the term derives from "Joli Rouge" in reference to a red flag used by French privateers. This is sometimes attributed to red blood, symbolizing violent pirates, ready to kill. Another origin includes a phonetic version of the name of a supposed Indian pirate called "Ali Rajah." Historians discount both of these origins for lack of any period reference or mention. "Roger" as a term also applied to both a scoundrel or rogue, as well as for a police officer; it also was a slang term for penis. In addition "Johnny Roger" was a nickname for Woodes Rogers, the former privateer who became Governor of New Providence charged with ending piracy in the region.
History
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. 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 English privateer Francis Drake flying a black flag as early as 1585, but 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 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.
File:Bonnet.gif|thumb|left|upright|1725 woodcut of Stede Bonnet with a Jolly Roger in Charles Johnson's A General History of the Pyrates
During the 17th and 18th centuries, British privateers were required to fly a specific flag, the 1606 Union Jack with a white crest in the middle, to distinguish them from Royal Navy vessels. Before this time, British privateers, such as Sir Henry Morgan, sailed under the Red Ensign.
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. 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 Red Ensign. 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 claims that most pirates active between 1716 and 1726 were part of one of two large interconnected groups sharing many similarities in organization. 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.
Use in practice
Pirates did not fly the Jolly Roger at all times. The flag 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.Black and red flag
During the latter half of the Golden Age of Piracy, the Jolly Roger was part of a flag signal combination, comprising a "black flag", i.e. the Jolly Roger, and a "red flag", often called a bloody flag.- The "black flag" signaled that "quarter" would be given if the target surrendered their cargo/valuables, meaning that all enemies will be guaranteed mercy after surrender or capture.
- The "red flag" signaled that "no quarter" would be given and the target's cargo/valuables taken by force, meaning that no mercy will be shown and no life will be spared in an attack.
When the pirates' intended victim was within range, the black flag would be raised, often simultaneously with 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 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 the red flag before giving the order to attack with no quarter given.
The bloody flag was an already-established naval flag and was not unique to piracy. An early claim of the black and red flag combination 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 black and red flag tactic was not universal, such as the case of Charles Vane: " took down his St. George's Flag, and hoisted a black Flag with a Death's Head in it, which is their Signal to intimate, that they will neither give or take Quarter."
Function in practice
In view of these models, it 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 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 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 they were already under threat of execution.