The release of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is approaching, and Ubisoft presented a podcast with Dr. Rebecca Simon, with whom they discussed popular pirate myths.
For example, there is a belief that pirates only used the black "Jolly Roger" flag with a skull and crossbones. Pirates indeed always sailed under a flag — partly due to maritime law, which required "ships to identify themselves, and everyone had to sail under a flag."
In the 17th century, not only black but also red flags were used. Pirate flags were not always decorated, but "sometimes they depicted a skull and crossbones, most often on a red flag."
A red flag among pirates meant "no quarter: if we attack — there will be no mercy, none," while a black flag, on the contrary, indicated that "mercy is possible: there will be negotiations — we are ready to show mercy, we don't necessarily have to kill."
Over time, the red flag fell out of use as pirates became less brutal. It was more profitable for them to quickly attack a ship and just as quickly leave with the loot. For this reason, the black version of the flag became much more common.
They didn't always depict a skull and crossbones — many showed "portraits" of the ship's captain, sometimes "with symbols like a bleeding heart or a dagger piercing a heart" — this allowed specific pirates to identify themselves.
Also common is the image of a pirate with a wooden leg and an eye patch. The researcher said that she "doesn't know of specific pirates who suffered such injuries," but noted that pirates received compensation in case of serious injuries, according to the pirate code, for example, about 600-800 pounds for a leg or 400 for an arm:
However, there are no explicit mentions of eye patches or wooden leg prostheses in the sources — I, at least, have not encountered such descriptions in the documents I worked with. Perhaps if a person suffered such an injury, they no longer remained a pirate and "retired." Or perhaps it simply wasn't considered noteworthy, although this is somewhat surprising, as external features were important when searching for pirates.
This image of a pirate became popular thanks to Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island":
There are several theories as to why this happened. One is that the writer had a relative with an eye patch or a wooden leg, and he was inspired by this image. Another is that perhaps his trip to the USA after the Civil War had an influence: at that time there were many veterans with severe mutilations — without arms, without legs, with prostheses or eye patches. Such injuries were common because during the war, in case of serious injuries, limbs were often amputated to avoid infection. It is quite possible that he was inspired by this [...]
You can add Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced to your wishlist on Steam via this link. The release is scheduled for July 9 on PC, as well as PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles.