The earliest pirate flags of that era actually bore no designs, but were flags of solid red or black. The origin of the red flag can be traced back to the English privateers of the late 1600s, who were required to fly red flags to distinguish their vessels from those of the Royal Navy. Many of these privateers later turned to piracy, and continued to use the red flag.
Other pirates chose to fly a black flag. Black, of course, has long been associated with death, and black flags were often flown at the time by ships containing plague victims, as a warning to stay away. By flying a black flag, a pirate was saying that his ship, too, was a "death ship".
The red flag, when used by pirates, came to mean "no quarter given", meaning that no mercy would be shown, and no life would be spared, while a black flag usually meant that those who surrendered without a fight would be allowed to live.
BenOMeara on July 12nd, 2019 at 04:00 UTC »
Similar to the tactic (possibly based off idk I'm not a historian) of Genghis Khan, before conquering a city he would put up a white tent to say if they surrendered now they would be absorbed into the empire, noone would be killed and he would just take a tax and move on. The next day he would put up a red tent to say all adult males would be killed. The third day a black tent to say the city would be burned to the ground and every living thing killed or enslaved.
Straightup32 on July 12nd, 2019 at 03:06 UTC »
So, in what situation would it be beneficial to run a red flag? I mean, that almost guarantees that the opposing party will just fight to the last breathe.
SYLOH on July 12nd, 2019 at 01:55 UTC »
Also it differentiates the pirates from navy/privateers. For pirates it's just business, you hand them the loot, nobody has to die. For navy it's politics, they'll shoot you because the king says so.