From: "Brie Finegold" <brie-AT-ucsd.edu> Subject: Re: Re:Person's Unknowna & Jolly Roger Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2000 17:24:56 -0800 <<Incidentally, "Jolly Roger" was not especially the name of an old pirate. "Old Roger" was an old name for the Devil and probably that was one reason the skull and cross-bone flag was given his name (others suggest it was a corruption of 'jolie rouge', referring to the red rather than the black flag).>> the jolly roger was intended to strike fear into the hearts of potential victims. when a pirate ship raised their jolly roger, it was an offer of quarter and a warning of what might happen if the other ship turned down the offer. if the crew didn't respond quickly enough, the pirates would raise their red flag, which meant no quarter given. most pirate captains had their own version of the jolly roger...the one that most of us think of is captain emanuel wynne's. i have pictures of calico jack's, walter kennedy's, thomas tew's, edward england's, henry avery's, bartholomew roberts' (two versions), blackbeard's, stede bonnet's, and christopher condent's if anyone would like them scanned. a lot of the designs also incorporate an image of an hourglass to symbolize that the trapped crew had little time to make a decision, and some included hearts and pictures of the devil. xoxo brie
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