Where did the Jolly Roger come from?
The flag known as the Jolly Roger is immediately identifiable. Found on bottles of dangerous chemicals, the meaning is always clear: Danger or death is coming your way. So when did a skull and crossbones become an international symbol for death?
The answer, of course, is pirates. To this day, a pirate ship is incomplete without the good ol’ Jolly Roger flying high atop the mast of a dark wooden sailing ship. The sight of such a ship, even outside of Hollywood’s washing of Caribbean history, would bring dread to any merchant crew.
This flag, flown by Edward Low, is pointed to as the first known instance of a skeleton used as the emblem on an attacking pirate’s vessel. “Wait,” you might argue, “that doesn’t look anything like a skull and crossbones.”
And you’d be right. The evolution of the Jolly Roger was one that took place over a short period of time attributed to multiple pirates of the era. Once it became identifiable, more and more pirates adopted it as their flag of choice, ensuring that merchant ships knew who they were and what they were after. Edward Low eventually replaced his flag with this one, sometimes incorrectly attributed to Blackbeard:
Still not very Jolly Roger-looking, is it? Regardless, in 1721, a pirate by the name of Walter Kennedy first flew this flag:
Now we’re talking. That’s certainly starting to come towards what we think of when we imagine a Jolly Roger, isn’t it? Possibly even before that, Calico Jack Rackham was flying this flag:
We’re almost there. That Jolly Roger is still seen on kids’ party hats to this day, but it’s not quite the iconic symbol we’ve all seen. After all, when was the last time you saw a skull and crossed swords on a bottle of bleach? Let’s get straight to it, then:
Our final Jolly Roger, the iconic one we all think of immediately when we think of danger and death, was flown by none other than Blackbeard himself, Edward Teach. Other pirates may have flown it before him, namely “Black Sam” Bellamy and Edward England, but the real surprise here is the most iconic pirate of all time flew the most iconic Jolly Roger of all time.
Who would’ve thought?
When you’re trying to stop a pirate, you send in the Navy. Navy Crow is celebrating our intertwined histories with the Jolly Roger bottle opener! Based on our best-selling Jolly Roger coin design, now you can open any bottle of grog, so long as it’s bottled like beer for whatever reason. Check it out here.
