British Admiralty Records, in the Public Records Office in the UK show, in a report dated 18 July 1700, that HMS Poole, a 32-gun fifth-ratefrigate[1] commanded by Captain John Cranby, engaged Wynn's ship off the Cape Verde islands. Cranby chased Wynn into a cove at Brava IslandШаблон:Efn where Wynn was able to hold out. Cranby enlisted the assistance of Portuguese soldiers, but thanks to their delay in attacking, Wynn slipped out of the harbor and escaped.[2]
Wynn's Jolly Roger Flag
Most historians agree that Cranby's journal is the first witness account of a black Jolly Roger used aboard ship,[3] which Cranby described as "a sable ensign with cross bones, a death's head, and an hour glass" (the quotation is from Earle, Pirate Wars, p. 154) or "A Sable Flag with a White Death's Head and Crossed Bones in the Fly."[4] Wynne is believed to be the first pirate to fly the now familiar form of the jolly roger.[5] His flag, showing the distinctive skull and crossbones motif, was augmented with another common pirate symbol: an hourglass, meant to signify to his prey that their time was running out and only by timely surrender could they evade death.[6] There were no other reports at the time of pirates using similar flags aboard ship (though red and other versions had been used by buccaneers during campaigns while ashore)[7] but within 15 years the skull and crossbones design and its many variants would become the standard flag of Golden Age pirates.[8]
See also
Bartholomew Roberts, who was known to have flown not just one but several different Jolly Roger flags.
