17 May is the birthday of the Welsh pirate Bartholomew Roberts, known in Welsh as “Barti Ddu” (“Black Bart”). He terrorized the Caribbean and West African Coast from 1719 until his death in 1722. He is considered the most successful pirate of the “Golden Age of Piracy” (ca. 1650 - 1730).
Barti Ddu used five different flags that we know of:
The first shows him holding an hourglass with death.
The second shows him standing on two skulls with the letters “ABH” (“A Barbadian’s Head”) and “AMH” (“A Martiniquian’s Head”) below them.
The third shows death holding an hourglass in one hand and crossbones in the other with a spear and a heart on the fly side.
The fourth is Barti Ddu’s version of the Jolly Roger, but with a sword instead of crossbones.
The fifth shows him facing death with a sword.
As an interesting side note, Bartholomew Roberts was the inspiration for the “Dread Pirate Roberts” from the film “The Princess Bride”.
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