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The Jolly Roger, the traditional English name for the skull and cross bone flag, has been the well-known symbol of pirates since the 17th century and has become a popular symbol in the modern age for rebels, rogues and renegades.
This flag was flown by a number of Pirate captains including “Black Sam” Bellamy, Edward England, and John Tailor, becoming the preferred flag during the 1720’s and being used throughout the 18th century to identify a pirate ship about to attack.
During the golden age of piracy the flag was raised as pirates approached the ship, usually accompanied by a warning shot which indicated both their identity as pirates as well as their willingness to accept surrender. If the intended victims resisted then the Jolly Roger was lowered and a plain red flag or the “Bloody Red” was raised, indicating no quarter would be given.
In the modern age the British submariners still hoist the Jolly Roger after a successful mission. This practice can be traced back to WWI when the First Sea Lord of the British Royal Navy, Admiral Sir Arthur Wilson, who stated in 1900 that submarines were "underhanded, unfair, and damned un-English", and that he intended to convince the British Admiralty to have the crews of enemy submarines captured during wartime hanged as pirates. So when in September 1914, after the British submarine HMS E9 successfully torpedoed the German cruiser SMS Hela, its commanding officer Max Horton, remembering the words of Sir Arthur Wilson, instructed his submariners to manufacture a Jolly Roger, which was flown from the submarine as she entered port.
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