There is much debate over the origin of the Jolly Roger. This black flag flown by pirates came in many variations. A red flag meant that no quarter would be given. This is one possibility as to the origin of the Jolly Roger: jolie rouge, or pretty red, the French term for the red flag. Another possibility was that of a corruption of �Old Roger�, an old term for the devil. Yet another theory is that the name was derived from the term �roger�, which was vulgar English for sexual intercourse. Female prisoners would often be �rogered at the rail� before being thrown overboard.
Whatever its origin, one thing is known for sure about the Jolly Roger. That is that this flag was meant to strike fear into the hearts of victims and encourage a swift surrender. To accomplish this pirate flags used symbols associated with death. The skull and crossbones so commonly featured was used to record deaths in the ship�s log. An hourglass was often shown to represent the fact that time was running out for victims. Blackbeard�s flag features a horned skeleton holding an hourglass and driving a spear through a bleeding heart. �Calico Jack� Racham�s flag has a skull with crossed cutlasses. Bartholomew Roberts, or �Black Bart� used a flag showing him and a skeleton both holding an hourglass.
