The most recognizable symbol today of pirates is the skull and crossbones emblem, usually referred to as the "Jolly Roger." The term "Jolly Roger" came into common use in the early 1700s. Pirates would hoist their version of the Jolly Roger as a way to announce to other ships that surrender was expected. Most merchant ships, upon seeing the Jolly Roger, did just that. The skull-and-bones was an old symbol of death, and not peculiar to piracy. It was used as a cap-badge by several European armies as early as the sixteenth century.
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