Pirate Flag Branding Tool

The key to its success was clarity of meaning, which is an essential element in every effective branding project, and any other form of communication design. Just as Nike’s “swoosh” logo makes us think of speed, the sight of a skull and crossbones on a ship’s flag signaled one thing to 18th-century sailors like those on the Poole or the merchant vessels they were protecting: terror.

You may be wondering why swashbuckling outlaws like 18th-century pirates, most of whom lived in fear of capture, should have chosen to identify their ships with such distinctive motifs. The answer lies in the economics of piracy…

“What pirates wanted was profit, and to make it in the least costly way without wasting time and ammunition attacking a ship and taking lots of casualties,” said Tom Wareham, curator of maritime history at the Museum of London Docklands. “If they terrorized a ship on approach, they could board it, get what they wanted with minimum trouble and walk off with the proceeds.”

Pirates had used flags as part of their terror tactics for centuries, but in different styles. William Kidd, alias “Captain Kidd” a late-17th-century Scottish pirate who is the subject of an exhibition opening May 20 at the Museum of London Docklands, often confused his prey by flying a French flag until his ship was ready to attack. He then raised a plain red flag as a declaration of his bloodcurdling intentions. Henry Avery, an English pirate who preyed on ships in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans in the 1690s, favored a pseudo-aristocratic flag featuring four gold chevrons on a red background.

By the turn of the 18th century, the piracy trade was flourishing and ambitious pirates were becoming increasingly sophisticated in the way they operated.

After decades of warfare, Europe had entered a peaceful era of colonial trade, providing rich pickings at sea. There was also a plethora of new pirates. Many of the sailors who had fought for their countries during wartime were left destitute in peacetime, and working seamen were so badly treated that mutinies were commonplace. Ruthless merchants often hired sailors in Europe to go to, say, the Caribbean only to abandon them there after recruiting a cheaper crew for the return voyage. Finally, New York was emerging as a thriving black market for the spoils of piracy.

With so much at stake, it was more important than ever for pirates to execute their raids efficiently. The most successful crews, like those of the British pirates Edward (Blackbeard) Teach and Bartholomew (Black Bart) Roberts were run in accordance with strict rules, known as the “Pirate’s Code.” Adopting the same, easily identifiable style of flag as other pirates made strategic sense. It is not clear how the skull and crossbones came to be chosen or why the flag was named the “Jolly Roger,” but the news would have spread swiftly in a peripatetic trade like piracy and those symbols were smart choices. Having signified death in many cultures for centuries, a skull and crossbones would have been instantly recognizable even in the lawless, turbulent, largely illiterate world of the sea.

The Jolly Roger also was versatile enough to be adapted when necessary, like today’s “hybrid brand identities,” such as Google’s constantly changing corporate logo. A black flag signified that the pirates would “give quarter” or spare the lives of those who surrendered, and a red one signaled “no quarter.”

Some pirates customized the skull and crossbones, generally to suggest that they were especially scary. Wynn’s hourglass declared that time was running out for his victims. Other pirates added macabre motifs such as skeletons, daggers or spears. One of Black Bart’s flags sported two skulls, each representing an enemy against whom he was plotting vengeance. Ruthlessly though pirates exploited their grisly brand identity, public perceptions of it softened as they became popular. The public devoured reports of pirate attacks, escapes, trials and executions.

By the mid-1700s, the skull and crossbones was deemed respectable enough to be chosen as a British regimental emblem. A century later, it inspired the name of the elite Skull and Bones society at Yale University, and was adopted as an official symbol to identify poisonous substances in the United States.