Some Infamous Flags!

The first uses of the skull and crossbones symbol on naval flags dates to 17th century. It is possible among the Barbary pirates of the peroid, which would connect the black color of the Jolly Roger to the Musiln black flag.

17th and 18th century colonial governors usually required privateers to fly a specific version of the British flag, the 1606 Union Jack with a white crest in the middle, also distinguishing them from naval vessels. Before this time British privateers sailed under English colors. An early use of a black flag with skull, crossbones, and an hourglass is attributed to pirate Captain Emanuel Wynne in 1700, according to a wide variety of secondary sources.

At the end of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1714, many sailors turned to piracy. They still used red and black flags, but now they decorated them with their own design, using symbols of death like skulls, hour glasses, and pierced hearts to distinguish themselves from the government- sponsored privateers. The ultimate goal was to quickly intimadate merchant ships captains into surrender.

Skull and crossbones design became standardized at about the same time as the term Jolly Roger was adopted as its name. By 1730, the diversity of the symbols in prior use had been mostly replaced by the standard design.