# Fly the Jolly Roger? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 20, 2009, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fly-the-jolly-roger/507022 "2009-08-20T02:20:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fly-the-jolly-roger/507022/21 "2009-08-22T19:18:17Z")
I guess that if you fly the JR under a national flag, it is seen as ornament. If it is on its own, then the issue is not so much that you are flying it, but that you are not under any national flag, which I believe is a serious matter. So what marks you as trouble is not that you have the skull and crossbones but that you are not identified properly. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fly-the-jolly-roger/507022/22 "2009-08-22T21:09:48Z")
I’m thinking of putting one on my kayak, if I ever actually go get it. Maybe waylay some boy scouts in their canoes and steal their candy (and patches). Yarrr! ---
**Author:** ![Henrichek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5daacb/32.png) [@Henrichek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Henrichek)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fly-the-jolly-roger/507022/23 "2009-08-22T22:01:29Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > In theory, if you identify as a pirate, your vessel is liable to capture and seizure. Nobody, though, will take flying the Jollly Roger as a serious identification of piracy. What if you simultaneously infringe on copyright by downloading music through a satellite connection? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MrFloppy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@MrFloppy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrFloppy)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2009, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fly-the-jolly-roger/507022/24 "2009-08-22T23:56:01Z")
In the 80s a bunch of us rented a barge for 7 days and sailed up and down the Thames. We flew the Jolly Roger because…well we were young and stupid. Nobody batted an eyelid. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2009, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fly-the-jolly-roger/507022/25 "2009-08-23T01:33:33Z")
> [@MrFloppy](#): > > In the 80s a bunch of us rented a barge for 7 days and sailed up and down the Thames. We flew the Jolly Roger because…well we were young and stupid. > > Nobody batted an eyelid. Nobody threw balls accross your stem, huh? (Or is that “bow”?) ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2009, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fly-the-jolly-roger/507022/26 "2009-08-23T02:21:46Z")
Not much on TV so I was watching San Francisco vs Oakland (my home-town team) and realized what their emblem is. 😃 [pretty close](http://thumbs2.ebaystatic.com/pict/2204565183768080_1.jpg). You can tell how much of a fan I am. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2009, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fly-the-jolly-roger/507022/27 "2009-08-23T03:35:53Z")
The Pittsburgh Pirates are a little more direct. The old logo: [http://sonsofsamhorn.net/wiki/index.php/Image:Pitt\_Logo.gif](http://sonsofsamhorn.net/wiki/index.php/Image:Pitt_Logo.gif), and the new: [http://www.sportslogos.net/images/logos/54/71/full/1275.gif](http://www.sportslogos.net/images/logos/54/71/full/1275.gif) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fly-the-jolly-roger/507022.md?page=1)