Piratemania 7 - Jolly Roger

To travel far and wide from cache to cache, spreading the word about PIRATEMANIA - the nautical event like no other!

Arr yee goin' ta PIRATEMANIA 2016?

Be seein' ya thar ar else thar'll be a keelhaulin'!

A PIRATEMANIA 7 dog tag attached to a pirates flag.



Get thee up North, it's a cracking weekend!

The Jolly Roger is a stereotypical symbol of pirates from the age of sail. It was often depicted as a human skull above crossed human bones, most likely tibia upon a black background although there were other variations as well, some with swords instead of bones. They were often run up the mast just before a pirate ship was about to attack to scare the victims into surrendering without a fight. The flags meaning was that no quarter would be given or taken and if a fight ensued it was to the death. Piracy was a hanging offence so no pirate crew would ever ask for quarter, to be taken alive was to face the gallows. The term Jolly Roger has a couple of possible sources. The most likely one would be from the red naval flag which was flown in battle to signify “no quarter”. This flag was called the joli rouge in French (meaning pretty red) which was likely to have been corrupted to Jolly Roger in English. Another possibility was that it was derived from “Old Roger” which was a term for the devil. It is possible that pirates began using the red flag before designing their own versions. The black base which is now commonly depicted was to signify quarantine and sickness and the skull and crossed bones depicts death and were used together to terrify the crew of the ship they were attacking.