When we think of pirates, we sometimes think of a black flag adorned with a skull and crossbones, flying high above their ship. This is close to reality, but there were many other different types of pirate flags.<\/p>\n

During the 17th century, for instance, pirates sailed under a plain red flag (the \u2018bloody flag\u2019), and by the turn of the 18th century, some ships also began to sail under a plain black flag. These soon came to take on two different meanings: red meant that pirates would give no quarter (mercy), while black meant that pirates would give quarter.<\/p>\n

On the podcast: Dr Rebecca Simon responds to your questions on the 17th-century golden age of piracy. Plus, how accurate are pop culture portrayals of pirates?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div> <hr\/>By the 1710s the red flag had pretty much gone out of fashion and was almost entirely replaced by the black flag, which became known as the Jolly Roger. This itself sported many different designs, one of the most common versions depicting a bloody heart alongside a devil holding a trident.<\/p>\nHowever, the first iteration of the skull and crossbones flag put into widespread use was designed by the pirate Captain \u2018Calico Jack\u2019 Rackham, who created an image of a skull above a pair of crossed cutlasses. This became the most popular emblem, and by the mid-18th century the skull and crossbones flag was used exclusively.<\/p>\nThe symbol, simply meaning \u2018death\u2019, can also be found on headstones, and in later maritime logbooks next to the names of deceased crew members.<\/p>\n<section class=\""highlight\"><div class=\""highlight__content\" editor-content=\"\"> This content is part of our series of pirate myths \u2013 read the rest in the series:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul><li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/stuart\/peg-leg-pirates-real-eyepatches"\">Did any real pirates wear eyepatches or have peg legs?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/stuart\/walk-plank-real-punishment"\">Was walking the plank a real pirate punishment?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/stuart\/x-marks-spot-did-pirates-bury-treasure"\">X marks the spot: did pirates bury their treasure?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/victorian\/what-is-the-origin-and-meaning-of-the-pirate-expression-shiver-me-timbers\/"\">What is the origin and meaning of the pirate expression \u2018shiver me timbers\u2019?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/stuart\/english-pirates-accent-west-country-blackbeard\/"\">Did most English pirates really talk with a West Country accent?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul> <\/p><\/div> <\/section>This content first appeared in the December 2021 issue of BBC History Revealed<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Dr Rebecca Simon Published: Monday, 17 January 2022 at 12:00 am When we think of pirates, we sometimes think of a black flag adorned with a skull and crossbones, flying high above their ship. This is close to reality, but there were many other different types of pirate flags. During the 17th century, for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":8817,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/01\/did-all-pirates-fly-the-jolly-roger.jpg",620,413,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/01\/did-all-pirates-fly-the-jolly-roger-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/01\/did-all-pirates-fly-the-jolly-roger-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/01\/did-all-pirates-fly-the-jolly-roger.jpg",620,413,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/01\/did-all-pirates-fly-the-jolly-roger.jpg",620,413,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/01\/did-all-pirates-fly-the-jolly-roger.jpg",620,413,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/01\/did-all-pirates-fly-the-jolly-roger.jpg",620,413,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Dr Rebecca Simon Published: Monday, 17 January 2022 at 12:00 am When we think of pirates, we sometimes think of a black flag adorned with a skull and crossbones, flying high above their ship. This is close to reality, but there were many other different types of pirate flags. During the 17th century, for…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/8816"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}