Jolly Roger

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).

[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.

[8] An early reference to "Old Roger" (a humorous or 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 the West-Indies.

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.

[10] 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.

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.

[14] 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.

[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.

[16] 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.

Just as variations on the Jolly Roger design existed, red flags sometimes incorporated yellow stripes or images symbolic of death.

[20] 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.

[22] An early claim of the black and red flag-combo was made in the mid-18th century by Richard Hawkins,[23] however, the cited content may simply relate to different pirate captains, their ships, their chosen flag and particular operating practices.

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.

[26] 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.

[66] During the war, British submarines were entitled to fly the Jolly Roger on the day of their return from a successful patrol: it would be hoisted as the boat passed the boom net, and remain raised until sunset.

[70] 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 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.

During World War II, Allied submariners working with Royal Navy fleets adopted the process from their British counterparts.

While these are distinctly different squadrons that have no lineal linkage, they all share 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.

[85] The Jolly Roger is also commonly used by private PMC contractors, in form of patches velcroed on uniforms and tactical jackets.

Barrie also used it as 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).

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 the alteration of a skull over two swords.

The supporters of FC St. Pauli, a sports club from Hamburg, Germany best known for its association football team, adopted a variation of Richard Worley's flag as their own emblem.

[88][89] The South African Football Association soccer team Orlando Pirates also has the classic Jolly Roger as their logo.

The short-lived Pirate Yacht Club, based in Bridlington, Yorkshire, used a red burgee defaced with a black skull and crossbones.

Also in the NFL, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' use a version of Calico Jack's flag, with a carnelian red background instead of black, and an American football positioned over the intersection of two crossed swords.

This particular variation includes an earringed and eyepatch-wearing skull donning a tricorn of purple and gold (the school's colors) emblazoned over two crossbones.

This logo appears on the helmets of the school's football team, and an elaborate pre-game ritual takes place prior to each home contest wherein a flag bearing the university's Jolly Roger logo is raised on a special flagpole located behind the west end zone prior to the opening kickoff.

The Piratbyrån and its online database, The Pirate Bay also use either the skull and crossbones symbol, or derivatives of it, such as the logo of Home Taping Is Killing Music.