Flags2

The plain red flag seems to have become an almost universal symbol for "no quarter" sometime during the 16th century. It was carried by ships of all nations including pirates, privateers and navy vessels: for example, the list of equipment aboard the Elizabeth Bonaventure, one of Queen Elizabeth's ships which sailed against the Spanish Armada in 1588, includes a "bluddey flagge", along with 5 other flags.

Khier-ed-Din and his brother Aruj, the Barbarossa brothers were among the most famous pirates of their day, and now are the best known of the Barbary corsairs. Kheir-ed-Din rose to become regent of Algiers and an Admiral of the Ottoman navy. His standard, which adorned his tomb for centuries was made either during his lifetime or very shortly afterwards. It is now on display in the Navy Museum of Istanbul.

This flag, very typical of the barbary pirates is shown in an illustration of a Mediterranean galley found in "Historie van Barbaryan" of 1684. The original illustration if in black and white so the colours here are speculative, but we can see that the crescent is lighter than the field.

This flag can be found in a mid-late 17th century print flying from a Barbary pirate ship. The colours are speculative again as the picture is in black and white. However, the field of the flag is lightly shaded and the crescents are considerably darker than the field - this suggests a yellow field.

This flag is one of four flags preserved in the Tunis Museum and believed to be from a Tunisian privateer. This particular flag is believed to be that of a galley commander, a kind of privateer commodore.

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Tunisian Privateers

These three flags are preserved in the Tunis Museum along with the Privateer Commander's flag above.

The knights of the Order of St. John, more commonly called the Knights Hospitaller or later the Knights of Malta, were soldiers and sailors of a military order set up originally to protect pilgrims to the Holy Land. When they were expelled by the Muslims from the Holy Land they took up residence on the island of Rhodes and commenced a sea-war against the Turks. For most of the 16th and 17th century the galleys of the Order operated as privateers against Barbary corsairs.

While Henry Morgan undoubtedly sailed under English colours at times (see Alexander Exquemeling's "Buccaneers of America" for example) it has also been stated in modern sources that he sometimes sailed and fought under his own colours, depicted above, which were based on his family crest. I know of no primary source to support this supposition, and in view of the fact that Morgan's family ties are obscure and slightly doubtful I consider it unlikely.

Bartholomew Sharp led a successful band of English buccaneers across the Isthmus of Panama in 1680. According to the Journal of Basil Ringrose, Sharp's own company marched under "a red flag, with a bunch of white and green ribbons".

The second company of Sharp's expedition was that of Richard Sawkins whose colours were "a red flag, striped with yellow".

The third and fourth companies were led by Peter Harris and "had two green flags".

John Coxon's fifth and sixth companies "had each of them a red flag". The plain red flag, or "Bloody Flag" was of course a universal flag meaning "no quarter" amongst not only privateers but also pirates and navies.

"The seventh was led by Captain Edmund Cook, with red colours striped with yellow, with a hand and sword for his device."

A log book held in the Bibliotheque Nationale du France dating from the late 17th century includes the entry for December 6th 1687 "...And we put down our white flag, and raised a red flag with a Skull head on it and two crossed bones (all in white and in the middle of the flag), and then we marched on." This appears to be the first use of the skull and crossed bones motif by pirates, but I have included it on this page because it was carried by buccaneers ashore, like the flags above, rather than flown from a pirate ship like the flags on page 1. Interestingly, what is believed to be the last jolly roger flown by pirates is described in 1822 as "a red flag, with death's head and cross[bones] under it."

From the 17th century French private men-of-war were required to fly this flag rather than the Royal colours of France. Today the flag of St. Malo, a notorious centre of privateering in the 17th and 18th centuries, is a variant on this flag as a result of the large number of privateers based there.

A Royal proclamation of 1694 decreed that all British private men-of-war, or privateers, bearing a letter of marque should fly a red ensign with Union flag in an oversized canton. This is particularly interesting as the Royal Navy did not change the St George's cross in the canton of their flags to a Union flag officially until 1707, though some sources suggest that it may have been adopted unofficially before then.

A Royal proclamation of 1707 stated that "all such ships as have Commissions of Letters of Mart or Reprizals shall besides the Colours or Ensign hereby Appointed to be Worn by Merchant Ships, Wear a Red Jack with a Union Jack Described in a Canton at the upper Corner thereof next the Staff". In 1707 the Royal Navy also officially adopted the Union Jack in the canton of their ensigns, so a privateer's flag would be indistinguishable from a flag belonging to a ship of the Red Squadron.

A note in the Letter Book of the Comptroller of Poole Customs House for the 9th of September 1758 states " Boats wear a pendant and pretend to be privateers, but we apprehend are smugglers." Disguising a boat as a privateer would be a good ruse for smugglers as it would probably mean less unwelcome attention. Poole and the stretch of coast either side was a notorious area for smuggling in the 18th century.

The Brocklebank shipping line was founded around 1770 and although many of their interests were mercantile a large number of their early ships were privateers. In the pell-mell of privateering which resulted from the American Revolution, which the Brocklebanks were just in time for, it made sense for shipping lines to operate privateers as well as merchantmen.

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John Paul Jones

Although John Paul Jones is considered the founder of the American Navy he was certainly considered a privateer/pirate by his contemporaries.

Many variants of the Grand Union flag existed but one with green and red stripes is known to have been flown by Philadelphia privateers in 1776-1777.

There have been several Lexingtons but the first was commissioned as a privateer in Philadelphia in 1776. Tradition has it that she flew this version of the Grand Union flag

The brig "Reprisal" is reported as having flown a yellow and white striped ensign when cruising of Martinique in 1776

Several secondary sources assert that a black and yellow striped ensign was flown by at least one American privateer but I have yet to find a primary source to support this.

Many American privateers during the War of 1812 flew personal banners in addition to the Stars and Stripes. One of the most noted was the schooner Catch Me If You Can, which was caught by HMS Colibri in July 1812 after only a few months of service.

Around 1814 Commodore Patterson USN wrote to the Secretary of War that the pirates of Barrataria were seen flying "an American flag at the mainmast head and a Carthagenian flag (under which the pirates cruise) at her topping lift". The difficulty is knowing which flag of Cartagena Patterson was referring to, for the political upheavals of the early 19th century meant there were a number of different flags in use by Columbians and Cartagenians at that time. The flag shown was that adopted by the Republic of Cartagena in 1812 so seems the most likely.

Back to Flags Page 1.