Most historians agree that Cranby's journal is the first witness account of a black Jolly Roger used aboard ship, 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." Wynne is believed to be the first pirate to fly the now familiar form of the jolly roger. 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. 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) but within 15 years the skull and crossbones design and its many variants would become the standard flag of
Golden Age pirates. ==See also==