Who invented sign of Cross Bones for Pirates?

Answer 1

The Jolly Roger is the name now given to any of various flags flown to identify the user as a pirate. The most famous Jolly Roger today is the Skull and Crossbones, a skull over two long bones set in an X arrangement on a black field. Historically, the flag was flown to induce pirates' victims to surrender readily.

Since the decline of piracy, various military units have used the Jolly Roger, usually in skull-and-crossbones design, as a unit identification insignia or a victory flag. Such use of the Jolly Roger is not intended to identify the users as piratical, but to ascribe to themselves the proverbial ferocity and toughness of pirates.

The piratical use of black flags, with skull and crossbones or other motifs upon them, predates the appearance of the term "Jolly Roger" by at least twenty years. The first known pirate use of the black flag with skull and crossbones is by Emanuel Wynne about 1700. Henry Every is frequently shown in secondary sources using the skull and crossbones on black in 1695 or 1696, but contemporary evidence for this is lacking. A piratical black flag is also attributed to Thomas Tew, who plundered Mughal shipping in 1693, but this design did not feature skull or crossbones, and its authenticity is dubious.

From early Roman times on through the Middle Ages, skulls and long bones were associated with death, long before they became symbols of piracy. Skulls and long bones were displayed in catacombs, monasteries, churches, church crypts and graveyards. They are the bones that resist decay the longest, and remain long after the corpse has gone. They were then carefully laid out respecting the dead. Later, skull and long bones crossed were depicted or sculpted in said places, especially above the entrances to churches and graveyards. They served as a Memento Mori, meaning "remind yourself of your own death." It was a general warning against the sin of vanity, reminding bypassers of their mortality. Thus, it became at once a common symbol of death and decay and a warning against the vagaries of fortune, as well as a first hint of an emerging sense of egalitarianism: in death, we are all equal. Thus, when appearing on pirate flags, the allusion to death would be instantly understood by any observer.

Answer 2

The skull and cross bones was one in a series of flags used by pirates called "Jolly Roger", which seems to be a generic name for any black flag used by a pirate.

The first known pirate use of the black flag with skull and crossbones is by Emanuel Wynne about 1700. Henry Every is frequently shown in secondary sources using the skull and crossbones on black in 1695 or 1696, but contemporary evidence for this is lacking.

Answer 3

Actual skulls and bones were long used to mark the entrances to Spanish cemeteries. The practice, dating back many centuries, led to the symbol eventually becoming associated with the concept of death.

In the 1870s poison manufacturers around the world began using bright cobalt bottles with a variety of raised bumps and designs (to enable easy recognition in the dark) to indicate poison.

There is some really interesting history on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jolly_Roger

Answer 4

it is said that black beard is the one who started the cross bones and skull thing because it symbolized death so after he mysteriously disapeared every single pirate back then thought that they should do it too

Answer 5

Probably Davy Jones...