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Chuck Gould

wrote:
hey folks -
As they say in the radio business - first time caller, long time
listener....
this is more of a light topic - but I was recently in one of the many
local marine store in my neighborhood for the first time - (there are
quite a few in Seattle).
We happened upon the section of the store that sells flags for your
boat, some serious, some not so... commodore flags, diver flags, and
even jolly roger flags.
My friend and I joked about getting one for my small 18' foot runabout
boat - but we were warned that flying such a flag regardless of size of
boat would garner unwanted attention from coast guard, police, and
fellow boaters. We heeded the warning, but thought it was odd to hear
such a thing in todays times.

Has anyone heard of such a scenario when people flew a jolly roger flag?

The Jolly Roger is now considered a "private signal", not a pirate
signal.
Flying one from just about any boat won't get you into any trouble at
all with any sort of law enforcement suspecting you of being a pirate,
but it will tend to label you as a sort of boater who doesn't take the
activity seriously and *that* might, possibly, get you a closer look by
harbor patrol or the USCG. Experiened boaters will give you a wide
berth, not because they think you're a pirate but because if you're
going to do something as lubberly as fly skull and crossbones who know
what other goofball move you have in store.

And in fact, the skull and crossbones version of the "pirate flag" may
never have flown on any pirate ship before Errol Flynn started shooting
movies in Hollywood. The private signals of some of the more infamous
sea raiders (Blackbeard, etc) have been recorded by historians and they
have two things in common: Each is fairly unique to the ship or captain
that flew it, and none is exactly the skull and crossbones that we call
the Jolly Roger.
Darts, hourglasses, Satan, skeletons, etc were popular motifs. The dart
and the hourglass was intended to communicate, "time is running out,
surrender your ship and live or we will take it by force and you are
likely to die".

The term Jolly Roger is itself a corruption of the French term for
"Colorful or beautiful red banner". The last thing you wanted to see if
approached by a ship of seagoing thieves was the red banner hoisted
aloft; it meant that once battle was engaged there would be no quarter
given and that no prisoners would be taken; a fight to the death of one
side or the other.

Unless you want to look the serious fool, my opinion would be to pass
on the skull and crossbones.

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