Thanks to historical and adventure novels filmed in the same vein, films, popular TV shows, video games, etc. most of us have formed a whole set of stable associations associated with pirates and sea robbery: these are boarding battles, and chests full of gold and precious stones, and distant uninhabited islands on which these chests are buried, and barrels of Jamaican being emptied after a successful raid. rum and brandy, and a captain with a dozen pistols in his belt, a black bandage on one eye and a loudly swearing parrot on his shoulder, and, of course, the Jolly Roger - a flag with a grinning white skull and two crossed white bones on a black background …
In these images, fragments of a past reality are bizarrely mixed with fictional fiction, which, due to mass circulation and repeated repetition, has become for the general public a greater reality than historical truth.
Take the Jolly Roger, without which not a single pirate ship allegedly went to sea. Back in 1981, in Czechoslovakia (there was then such a friendly USSR country in Central Europe), a book by science fiction writer and popularizer of science Ludwig Soucek (1926 - 1978) "An Illustrated Corrector of Common Mistakes" was published. The book consisted of about two hundred short articles, and each one refuted some erroneous idea rooted in the mass consciousness - for example, that in spoiled mushrooms, vegetables and fruits we find worms (in fact, these are the larvae of various insects), that an ostrich at the moment danger buries his head in the sand (in fact, he only instinctively lowers his head) that the compass was brought to Europe from China (according to some sources, Pythagoras knew it) … Here is what it says about the subject of interest to us:
“The black pirate flag with a skull and crossbones existed only in the imagination of the authors of adventure novels on maritime and historical themes. Flags of various colors flew over pirate ships with images of animals (even sheep!), Saints (patrons of ships) and various heraldic monsters. The black cloth with crossed bones was attributed to them only in the romantic nineteenth century, when the glory of pirates had long faded away, and the pirate craft ceased to bewitch with the possibility of easy money."
The vessel Happy Delivery, flagged by the pirate George Lauter.
Let us clarify right away that in this case Souchek "went too far". The French writer and popularizer of maritime history Georges Blond in the first book of his six-book work "The Great Hour of the Oceans" gives more accurate information:
“As for such an expressive black flag with the image of a skull and two bones, it was fluttered only on the ships of English pirates at the very end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th, and not at all and not always. First of all, pirates and filibusters tried to deceive the enemy, and therefore raised different flags on their ships or sailed without a flag at all. The pirates who had the "Jolly Roger" raised him only when they came close to the victim in order to evoke a feeling of terror."
We can agree with Blon in everything except the chronological framework … The black flag with the image of a skull really existed, and it has been known since the end not of the 18th, but of the 17th century. Under it sailed, among others, such famous pirates as John Avery and Edward England (both - long before the end of the 18th, not to mention the 19th century). But what both Souchek and Blon are certainly right about is that the flag of the pirate ship, firstly, might not have been black, and secondly, it might not have had an image of a skull on it.
Promotional video:
Flags of Bartholomew Roberts, a Welsh pirate.
Let us recall one of the most high-profile, which left a noticeable mark on the history of pirates' actions, namely, the march across the Isthmus of Panama nearly four hundred filibusters under the command of Captain Sharpe in 1680. The pirates who set out on the campaign belonged to the crews of as many as seven ships and therefore carried seven flags, among which… there was not one black and not one with a skull. So, the vanguard, led by Sharpe himself, marched under a red flag with white and green ribbons. They were followed by subordinates of Richard Soukins with a red flag crossed by yellow stripes. Following Captain Peter Harris led the crews of two ships at once - respectively, under two green, but differently depicted flags. Then two more detachments, that is, the crew, each carried a red flag. The rearguard was made up of Captain Edmond Cook's men under the flag with a yellow stripe and a hand with a sword on a red background.
Flag of the pirate Christopher Moody.
As you can see, on the flags with which Sharpe's army set out on the campaign, red predominated. The special “love” of “gentlemen of fortune” for him is understandable - after all, for centuries he has been associated with blood and fire, which means - with war and rebellion. I must say that more than two centuries later, when the "golden era" of filibusters has long sunk into oblivion, international maritime law associated the red color of the ship's flag with piracy. Any ship that went to sea under a red flag was automatically outlawed, i.e. could and even should, like a pirate, be destroyed by the first warship that met him. Therefore, the sailors of the Black Sea battleship Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky, who rebelled in 1905, did not decide to replace the Andreevsky flag with a red one at once and not with such unanimity, as shown in the film by S. Eisenstein and described in V. Kataev and children's books of Soviet times (both to Odessa and towards the Black Sea squadron, the battleship was still under the "tsarist" flag). From this also stems from the statement made by the Prime Minister of Great Britain Lord Chamberlain that, they say, all Soviet ships should be destroyed, since they sail under the red "pirate" flag (remember the slogans popular in the USSR in the early 1920s: "The Lord in the face ! "And posters with fig and caption" Our answer to Chamberlain "?). The lord was wrong, if only because then red was declared the color of its state flag, which was already acquiring the status of a subject of international law by the Soviet Union. When the great powers finally recognized the USSR, the article on the "pirate" red color of the ship's flag was quietly canceled. But before that …and towards the Black Sea squadron, the battleship was still under the "royal" flag). From this also stems from the statement made by the Prime Minister of Great Britain Lord Chamberlain that, they say, all Soviet ships should be destroyed, since they sail under the red "pirate" flag (remember the slogans popular in the USSR in the early 1920s: "The Lord in the face ! "And posters with fig and caption" Our answer to Chamberlain "?). The lord was wrong, if only because then red was declared the color of its state flag, which was already acquiring the status of a subject of international law by the Soviet Union. When the great powers finally recognized the USSR, the article on the "pirate" red color of the ship's flag was quietly canceled. But before that …and towards the Black Sea squadron, the battleship was still under the "royal" flag). From this also stems from the statement made by the Prime Minister of Great Britain Lord Chamberlain that, they say, all Soviet ships should be destroyed, since they sail under the red "pirate" flag (remember the slogans popular in the USSR in the early 1920s: "The Lord in the face ! "And posters with fig and caption" Our answer to Chamberlain "?). The lord was wrong, if only because then red was declared the color of its state flag, which was already acquiring the status of a subject of international law by the Soviet Union. When the great powers finally recognized the USSR, the article on the "pirate" red color of the ship's flag was quietly canceled. But before that …From this also stems from the statement made by the Prime Minister of Great Britain Lord Chamberlain that, they say, all Soviet ships should be destroyed, since they sail under the red "pirate" flag (remember the slogans popular in the USSR in the early 1920s: "The Lord in the face ! "And posters with fig and caption" Our answer to Chamberlain "?). The lord was wrong, if only because then red was declared the color of its state flag, which was already acquiring the status of a subject of international law by the Soviet Union. When the great powers finally recognized the USSR, the article on the "pirate" red color of the ship's flag was quietly canceled. But before that …From this also stems from the statement made by the Prime Minister of Great Britain Lord Chamberlain that, they say, all Soviet ships should be destroyed, since they sail under the red "pirate" flag (remember the slogans popular in the USSR in the early 1920s: "The Lord in the face ! "And posters with fig and caption" Our answer to Chamberlain "?). The lord was wrong, if only because then red was declared the color of its state flag, which was already acquiring the status of a subject of international law by the Soviet Union. When the great powers finally recognized the USSR, the article on the "pirate" red color of the ship's flag was quietly canceled. But before that …"And posters with fig and caption" Our response to Chamberlain "?). The lord was wrong, if only because then red was declared the color of its state flag, which was already acquiring the status of a subject of international law by the Soviet Union. When the great powers finally recognized the USSR, the article on the "pirate" red color of the ship's flag was quietly canceled. But before that …"And posters with fig and caption" Our response to Chamberlain "?). The lord was wrong, if only because then red was declared the color of its state flag, which was already acquiring the status of a subject of international law by the Soviet Union. When the great powers finally recognized the USSR, the article on the "pirate" red color of the ship's flag was quietly canceled. But before that …
However, we are distracted. So, the Jolly Roger flag is not an invention of writers, but a historical reality. But why was it called that? Flag specialist K. Ivanov explained this as follows:
“Among the sailors of all countries, this flag is known as Jolly Roger (Jolly Roger) -" Jolly Roger. " This rude joke hinted at a wide - "funny" - a grin of the skull."
The author just gave here the most, perhaps, the most common explanation, which, since it is based on an obvious fact, satisfied many. But, if we proceed from this interpretation, one detail remains unclear - the name of this "cheerfully grinning" skull. Why was he "christened" Roger, and not, say, Jim or Norman?
Flag of John Reckham, nicknamed * Calico Jack *.
Attempts to explain the origin of this name gave rise to several hypotheses, the most convincing of which associated "Roger" with seemingly consonant English words: rogue [roug] - "roug" ("rogue", "villain") and rover ['rouvə] - "rouve "(" Vagrant "," robber "and, by the way, a synonym for the word" pirate "). Well, these words, of course, were well known to the "gentlemen of fortune", even familiar to them. A peculiar boldness prompted in different historical epochs members of marginal groups who challenged the authorities and order to accept as self-names and proudly wear initially contemptuous nicknames that were given to them by "law-abiding" inhabitants or obliging hangers-on of those in power. So, for example, the initially derogatory names of "zhaki", "gueuze", "sansculotte" have become widespread and widespread."Nihilists" … This feature of self-identification of the marginalized could theoretically manifest itself among pirates. It is not clear only why, in this case, they had to remake this or that word into a proper name? Why not name the flag, for example, just Jolly Rover? In addition, in English there are several synonymous adjectives with the meaning of "merry": merry, gay (1), cheerful, joyful, happy … Why is jolly firmly "stuck" to "Roger", and not some other?happy … Why is jolly firmly "stuck" to "Roger", and not some other?happy … Why is jolly firmly "stuck" to "Roger", and not some other?
The hypothesis of the East Indian origin of this phrase looks quite exotic (2): it was allegedly brought into the Caribbean by the British who visited India, and there it sounded like Ali Raja and was the title of the "lord of the sea" - the leader of a big gang sea robbers. The intensive penetration of the British into India began in the 1750s - 1760s, and the black flag with a bared skull, as we remember, was in use long before that. In any case, the likelihood that pirates, who hunted far from Hindustan, widely used the title of their Indian “colleague” not even for its intended purpose (if “Ali Raja” was not called the flag, but some respected and successful filibuster, commander large squadron, this version would look even more or less convincing), seems insignificant, to neglect the small. With the same success, one could look for the roots of the ill-fated combination of words, for example, in the language of the Iroquois Indians, and if we consider that the English from the 16th century often sailed to Russia - and it is not a sin to look at our language …
Flag of Edward Teach - Blackbeard.
Interpretations like the last one in their deliberate complexity resemble attempts to put pants over your head. Indeed, there has long been a very simple explanation for the etymology of the expression Jolly Roger.
As we have already found out, initially the most popular color of pirate flags was red. On the other hand, among the filibusters who "mastered" in the 16th century in the islands and the Caribbean coast, at first, not the British, but the French prevailed. They came up with a name for their flags that is well understood by any of their compatriots - Joyeux Rouge, i.e. "Jolly reds". As the British penetrated the Caribbean, the ethnic composition of the pirates changed, and over time it was the natives of the "foggy Albion" that began to make up the majority of the "gentlemen of fortune". The British brought with them another flag, for which, as often happens, they borrowed the name already rooted in the filibuster community. But since the French "jolly red" was incomprehensible to them, and their own flag, if we are talking about the one used by Avery and England, was of a different color,they have changed this phrase in the English manner, i.e. replaced with a consonant, but familiar to the ear of the Englishman Jolly Roger. And since there is a name, its interpretation will appear: they say, Roger is a skull, and he is cheerful because he grins!
Filibusters hike. Engraving by Pablo Tiillac.
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(1) - Not the “gay” you might be thinking about. The modern and all too widely known meaning of this word appeared relatively recently - in the last century. It was invented by advocates of "rights of sex minorities" and "gender", as they call it, "equality", and is derived from the meaning of the abbreviation GAY - "good as you" ("as good as you").
(2) - The neo-Freudian version of the masculine-erotic meaning of the expression “Jolly Roger”, derived from the obscene meaning of the word roger (phallus) in the lexicon of criminal communities, I generally refuse to take seriously. Ordinary people, such as pirates, who are not “ennobled” by advanced medical or humanitarian education (especially in its modern Western version), usually lack necrophilic deviations, and symbols of death and decay (such as bones and skull) are already at the subconscious level distinctly opposed to the symbols of life and its reproduction (like the same "manhood"). Therefore, even if some pirate captain who became a pirate captain from an aristocratic family, a kind of predecessor of the Marquis de Sade, had the idea to combine the eparchy of Eros and Thanatos in the name of the flag,this idea would not have found mass support.
