Maritime flags had long been used to communicate from vessel to vessel at sea and were used for centuries before the first sighting of the infamous 'Jolly Roger' emblem in the early 1700s, or “Golden Age of Pirates”. Typically pirate vessel wouldn't fly “colors” (flags) at all times, they would wait until they were in attacking range of another ship and hoist their flag as an ominous warning of what was to come. Pirate captains took this form of communication to show off their own personal brand of piracy, with many of the symbols shown having a deeper meaning. Below we shed some insight on some of the historical pirate styles we carry.

Not too much is know about Emanuel Wynne, but he was considered the first pirate to fly a Jolly Roger flag. Though the skull and crossbones design was use