Christopher Moody

He is best known not for his own actions but for a popular Jolly Roger flag mis-attributed to him as well as for later authors confusing him with unrelated pirate William Moody.

Davis sailed to the western coast of Africa where he cooperated with fellow pirates Jeremiah Cocklyn and Olivier Levasseur.

[3] Witnesses at their trial described Moody as “behaving in a vile outrageous Manner, putting them in bodily Fears, sometimes for the Ship, and sometimes for themselves” and arguing with other forced crewmates.

[4] Period accounts such as the memorial by merchant William Snelgrave (who had been captured by Davis and Cocklyn) mention only the last name “Moody.”[2] Later depositions from pirates put on trial make clear that the pirate captain active off the Carolinas aboard his ship Rising Sun was William Moody, later overthrown by Cocklyn.

[8] An artist's conception of the flag appears in Bradlee's "Piracy in the West Indies and its Suppression" (1923) but is dated to 1746, years after Moody died.