Jolly Roger is the traditional English name for the flags flown to identify a pirate ship. The flag most commonly identified as Jolly Roger today is the skull and crossbones symbol on a black flag. This was used during the 1710s by a number of pirate captains including Black Sam Bellany, Edward England and John Taylor. Use of the term Jolly Roger in reference to pirate flags goes back to at least Charles Johnson's A General History of the Pirates, published in Britain in 1724.

Johnson specifically cites two pirates as having their flags ''Jolly Roger''; Bartholomew Roberts in June 1721 and Francis Spriggs in December 1723. While Spriggs (and Roberts) used the same name for their flags, their designs were very different. The Spriggs (or Roberts) Jolly Roger consisted of no skull and crossbones. Richard Hawkins, who was captured by pirates in 1724, reported that they had a black flag bearing the figure of a skeleton stabbing a heart with a spear, which they named ''Jolly Roger''. This description closely resembles the infamous flag of Edward Teach/Thatch, otherwise known Blackbeard.

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