eli5 what was the point of the skull and bones pirate flag? why would you give away that you are a pirate?
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Typically, the pirates wouldn’t fly that flag all of the time – they’d put up a false flag (Spain, England, France, etc.) until they were within firing range, then they’d hoist their pirate flag and fire a warning shot. The goal here was to intimidate – the sailors on the other ship had plenty to be afraid of, especially if the flag belonged to a famous pirate. And they’d know that if they surrendered, gave up their cargo, potentially got pressed into service or had their ship taken over, they might just get out alive. If they resisted, there would be no quarter. In that case, raising the black flag might save the pirates a fight for their prize.
There are also stories of pirate ships flying a red flag – this would mean no quarter given at all – which would be insanely terrifying to see coming towards you in the sea.
EDIT: Whoa, this got some attention. Since I’m getting a lot of the same questions, I’ll answer a few of the most common:
1. *What does “no quarter mean?”* Offering quarter means taking prisoners, impressing them into piracy (which wasn’t all that bad a gig, all things considered) or releasing the enemy after taking their loot. “No quarter” means “we’re here to kill you, no prisoners taken.”
2. *Wouldn’t a red flag be a bad strategic move, that would result in the other ship being more likely to fight back?* Nobody ever claimed pirates were great tacticians, but they were often psychopaths! Other commenters have raised other possibilities in here, from pure intimidation tactics, to “we’ll offer no quarter only *if* you fight, so if your captain’s telling you to fight, you might want to throw him overboard and pick a new captain quick.
3. *How did they know that a flag belonged to a famous pirate?* The skull and crossbones that we all picture is sort of a modern, Hollywood thing. Every pirate had their own, custom flag, or had several throughout their career. [Here’s a listing](https://www.vispronet.com/blog/famous-pirate-flags/) of 10 different flags flown by legit pirates during the Golden Age of Piracy
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