Where Did The Jolly Roger Flag Come From?
The Jolly Roger is the flag most popularly attributed to the notorious 18th century pirate Calico Jack Rackham who is allegedly suspected to have been romantically involved with history s most famous female pirate, Anne Bonny. They allegedly had 2 children together. The flag was also known as Captain Death amongst pirates.
Historically, the flag was flown aboard the ships to frighten the pirates’ intended victims into surrendering without a battle, since the message it conveyed was that these attackers were ruthless outlaws who did not regard themselves bound by the usual rules of maritime law and therefore might have no qualms about slaughtering those they defeated.
If you do a quick search in the Oxford English Dictionary, it reveals that as early as 1724, the term Old Roger was what the British called the Devil and going further back, as early as 1540, a roger was a beggar or vagabond. Roger is also a derivative of rogue. So it s possible it might be that it was just slang for the sea-faring vagrants or a jolly roger.
The most common version of the Jolly Roger is the skull and crossbones symbol, usually with the bones placed crossing under the skull, but sometimes it can be with the skull super-imposed on top of the crossbones.
Pirates who did not belong to any particular nation would often make up their own personal flag so as they could spread their own infamy. Many pirates had custom flags that were quite different from the standard skull and cross bones on a background of black.
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