Emanuel Wynn
Encyclopedia
Emanuel Wynn was a French
pirate of the 18th century, and is often considered the first pirate to fly the Jolly Roger
. His design incorporated an hourglass
beneath the bones to represent that time was running out.
British Admiralty
Records, in the Public Records Office in the UK
show, in a report dated 18 July 1700, that HMS
Poole, commanded by Captain John Cranby, engaged Wynn's ship off the Cape Verde
islands. Cranby chased Wynn into a cove at Brava Island
but, assisted by Portuguese
soldiers, Wynn escaped Poole. Most historians agree that Cranby's account is the first mention of a Jolly Roger, which Cranby described as "a sable ensign with cross bones, a death's head, and an hour glass." Wynne is believed to be the first (or some sources contend one of 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 only by timely surrender could they evade death).
Wynne began his piratical career raiding English
merchantmen off the coast of the Province of Carolina
near the end of the 17th century. He later moved to the more profitable waters of the Caribbean
, attacking both English and Spanish
ships.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
pirate of the 18th century, and is often considered the first pirate to fly the Jolly Roger
Jolly Roger
The Jolly Roger is any of various flags flown to identify a ship's crew as pirates. The flag most commonly identified as the Jolly Roger today is the skull and crossbones, a flag consisting of a human skull above two long bones set in an x-mark arrangement on a black field. This design was used by...
. His design incorporated an hourglass
Hourglass
An hourglass measures the passage of a few minutes or an hour of time. It has two connected vertical glass bulbs allowing a regulated trickle of material from the top to the bottom. Once the top bulb is empty, it can be inverted to begin timing again. The name hourglass comes from historically...
beneath the bones to represent that time was running out.
British Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
Records, in the Public Records Office in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
show, in a report dated 18 July 1700, that HMS
Her Majesty's Ship
Her or His Majesty's Ship is the ship prefix used for ships of the navy in some monarchies, either formally or informally.-HMS:* In the British Royal Navy, it refers to the king or queen of the United Kingdom as appropriate at the time...
Poole, commanded by Captain John Cranby, engaged Wynn's ship off the Cape Verde
Cape Verde
The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa...
islands. Cranby chased Wynn into a cove at Brava Island
Brava, Cape Verde
Brava is an island in Cape Verde. It is the smallest inhabited island, but at the same time the greenest, of Cape Verde, in the Sotavento group. First settled in the 1540s, its population grew after Mount Fogo on neighbouring Fogo erupted in 1675...
but, assisted by Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
soldiers, Wynn escaped Poole. Most historians agree that Cranby's account is the first mention of a Jolly Roger, which Cranby described as "a sable ensign with cross bones, a death's head, and an hour glass." Wynne is believed to be the first (or some sources contend one of 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 only by timely surrender could they evade death).
Wynne began his piratical career raiding English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
merchantmen off the coast of the Province of Carolina
Province of Carolina
The Province of Carolina, originally chartered in 1629, was an English and later British colony of North America. Because the original Heath charter was unrealized and was ruled invalid, a new charter was issued to a group of eight English noblemen, the Lords Proprietors, in 1663...
near the end of the 17th century. He later moved to the more profitable waters of the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, attacking both English and Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
ships.
In popular culture
- His flag was featured in the movie Cutthroat IslandCutthroat IslandCutthroat Island is a 1995 action adventure film directed by Renny Harlin. The film stars Geena Davis, Matthew Modine, and Frank Langella. The film received mixed reviews from critics and was a major box office bomb: listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the biggest box office flop of...
as Dawg Brown's pirate flag. - In the animeAnimeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series One PieceOne Pieceis a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since August 4, 1997; the individual chapters are being published in tankōbon volumes by Shueisha, with the first released on December 24, 1997, and the 64th volume released as...
, Don Krieg has a similar flag.