October 20 – Capture of Calico Jack!

nPostednOctober 20, 2016

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nOvernthe years, I’ve had the opportunity to talk a bit here and therenabout pirates who sailed and robbed during the “Golden Age ofnPiracy” in the Caribbean Sea. (Yes, that’s right, I’m talking aboutnthe real Pirates of the Caribbean.) I’ve even mentioned “CaliconJack” – John Rackham – in my write up of one of the few famousnfemale pirates, Anne Bonny.

nWell,ntoday is the anniversary of the day in 1720 when Calico Jack, AnnenBonny, and the rest of their crew were captured by pirate hunternJonathan Barnet.

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nRathernthan talking a lot about the beautiful Caribbean Islands among whichnCalico Jack sailed, or expounding on the rarity of his having twonwomen pirates aboard his ship – both of which I’ve talked aboutnbefore (see the links above) – I’d love to get into the JollynRoger, the familiar pirate flag.

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Wencommonly think of the Jolly Roger being the skull and crossbonesnsymbol on a black flag. You might think that this is just some modernnadd-on to the tales of pirates – but this flag really was used by anbunch of pirate captains, including Black Sam Bellamy, EdwardnEngland, and John Taylor. It was even likely to have been flown bynBlackbeard. The skull-and-crossbones symbol were first used on navalnflags way back in the 1600s, and plain black flags were used by manynpirates in the early 1600s to the early 1700s. So we can see how thentradition of the Jolly Roger evolved.

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nOurnanti-hero of the day, Calico Jack, designed his own version of thenJolly Roger. See the difference?

Even more menacing, I think!

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nWhynadvertise that you’re a pirate?

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Obviously,nback in the Golden Age of Piracy, most ships can see one another fromnquite a ways – at least, during the day, and when it’s notnincredibly foggy or stormy! That’s what the crow’s nest way up highnon the main mast is for, right? A constant lookout for land, reefs,nother ships?

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nSonwhy-oh-why would pirates advertise that they were pirates, allowingnothers to at least try to sail away?

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nThenanswer may be obvious enough that you already know it (or have justnfigured it out): most pirate ships carried a variety of flagsnonboard. And they would hoist the “false color” that mostnbenefitted them as they approached a ship and came within shootingndistance of their guns (cannons). n

nThat probably means, if they were approaching a British ship, they’d fly a British flag.

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nButnonce they were close enough to shoot, the pirates would raise thenJolly Roger with a warning shot. Often, the people in the other shipnwould give up without a fight – because they wanted to stay alive!

nAnd THAT’S why pirates would fly a pirate flag – because it would often strike dread in people’s hearts and make them give up their gold and jewels to spare their lives.

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There were a variety of
black and red pirate flags
flown by all the various
Pirates of the Caribbean.

nIf a ship decided to resist, atnleast some pirates would take down the Jolly Roger and put up a red flag. The red flag meantnthat they would “give no quarter.” In other words, they wouldntake no prisoners. In even plainer words, they intended to killneveryone. n

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nSonthe Jolly Roger WAS relatively jolly, since it represented “we arennot necessarily going to kill you!”

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nAlsonon this date: