Pirate Flags

Be they a pirate galleon or a friendly ship, over the years all water vessels have flown a flag from their mast so they could be recognised from a distance.

Friendly ships would normally fly their home country’s flag so that other sailors knew where they were from.

Less friendly sailors (pirates), however, would also fly flags from friendly countries in the hope that the crew on other ships would mistake them as nice people - thereby making their attack easier,

In fact, most pirate ships would carry with them all kinds of flags from all kinds of places. That way they could hoist the one of the nation most liked by the people they were trying to con or rob. Hoisting these flags was known as flying ‘false colours.’

At other times, though, when chasing a ship they wanted to catch and were hoping to terrify it in to stopping (basically, when the pirate ship wanted to scare sailors rather than appear friendly) they would fly a plain white flag.

However, if the ship refused to stop, pirates would often take down their white flag and run up the red one. This was to send a message that said, ‘We’re going to catch you, and when we do we’ll board your ship and get you all.’

Pirate flags varied, but they were all designed to send the same message - we're pirates! Red flags were to make sailors think of blood, while black ones were simply to tell everyone that the people flying the flag were not nice people.

These flags have been around for centuries. Although more recently (around 1700), the Jolly Roger (the skull and crossbones on a black background) was designed by Emmanuel Wynne - it then became the most popular with pirates everywhere. But, just like the white and red flags, it was flown simply to announce, 'this ship is crewed by pirates, so watch out!'

Be they a pirate galleon or friendly ship, over the years all water vessels have flown a flag from their mast so they could be recognised from a distance.

Friendly ships would normally fly their home country’s flag so other sailors knew where they were from.

Less friendly sailors (pirates), however, in order to confuse or make an attack easier, would also fly these flags (the ones from friendly countries) in the hope that the crew on other ships would mistake them as nice people.

At other times, though, when chasing a ship they wanted to catch and were hoping to terrify its crew in to stopping (basically, when the pirate ship wanted to scare sailors rather than appear friendly) they would fly a plain white flag.

However, if the ship refused to stop, they would take down their white flag and run up the red one. This was to send a message that said, ‘We’re going to catch you, and when we do we’ll board your ship and get you all.’

Pirate flags varied, but they were all designed to send the same message - we're pirates! Red flags were also to make sailors think of blood, while black ones were simply to tell everyone that the people flying the flag were not nice people.

These flags have been around for centuries. Although more recently (around 1700), the Jolly Roger (the skull and crossbones on a black background) was designed by Emmanuel Wynne - it then became the most popular with pirates every where. But, just like the white and red flags, it was flown simply to announce the ship was crewed by pirates and to scare other sailors.

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