Need alternative to Pirate flag

[CaptJPMcGuire]

White Flag "Circle with a Triangle" in it. Lots of cruisers will understand --many won't --but should.

[SSgtPitt]

“The Eye See’s What the Mind Believes”
Enjoy your time out here, it doesn’t last forever.
Fair winds and smooth seas.

[seadago]

Originally Posted by SV__Grace

I may be getting cranky as I age but it seems to me that a good percentage of recreational boaters where I currently cruise, mostly the locals, fly a pirate flag on their boat.

Pirates were outlaws, thieves, robbers, killers and slave traders. These same people (most of them anyway) would not dream of flying a Nazi flag on their boat , so why is it so cool and popular to fly a pirate flag that represents really BAD people?

I’d love to fly a flag that represents the values and lifestyle of being a cruiser- freedom, world travel, appreciation and care for our planet, and respect and friendship with the people and cultures we encounter, etc.

We’re the GOOD guys, right?

I know we have burgees and such, but they have no meaning unless you’re in that club. I’d love to find a replacement for the boaters flying pirate flags that would be cool and make a positive statement.

Any idea what flag we might fly that represents cruisers and our values?

Equally cranky here. I don't have an ideological position on the topic, but it is worth pointing out that many, if not most, of those pirates were licenced for piracy by legitimate governments of the times; English, French, Spanish, Dutch. It was a legal contract between the individual and the Crown, as due process as they came then. Historically, there were very few freelance buccaneers. At least on the Caribbean, where the Jolly Rogers was supposed to have ben originated, and that is the "pirate flag" today. It speaks to me of crime, certainly, but also of an era when some rules of honour were still observed, even among thieves. I don't know for sure, but doubt very much today's pirates in the golf of Aden and the Indian Ocean adhere to such courtesies. At any rate, everytime I see one today, I put mine up too!!

[skenn_ie]

Originally Posted by OldManMirage

I feel like it. And I don't get loud or drunk. My wife says I'm sensitive enough for a guy. My friends don't consider me a lout. My children even liste1ey had been parked under our bow for 6 months and we has shared some light hearted banter.n to me.

Ditto. I flew the Skull and Crossbones partly because the (ex RN) vessel had never had a civil registration, and my daughter, then 17, was/is a very good-natured non-conformist picked it up at a boot sale.

An leaving Pembroke Dock, a police RIB chased us down and shouted to us "we have heard reports of pirates in the area, could you let us know if you see any" then "bon voyage". They had parked under our bow for the summer and shared some light-hearted good-will banter.
Between the UK and Ireland, nobody pays much attention to private-vessel registration. Mainland Europe is a lot different.

[David Ess]

What about the flag of those who USED to actually deal with pirates....by hanging them from the yard arm, the White Ensign of the Royal Navy?

[gsuescum]

I hate seeing those pirate flags. I think people are trying to signal they’re a partier or tough guy.

Last summer the local police boat came by our marina in CT (far from any border/ smuggling areas). They were are tactically/military dressed and flying a pirate flag. Wtf?

[argonauta1]

In 2005, I sent the following e-mail to several Yachting magazines including the Pacific Northwest located ones with which you will be familiar. As a then
just returned circumnavigator, we had done our share of piracy avoidance in places like Venezuela and the Gulf of Aden. Upon retuning with the boat to Canada, I had been disappointed to find that my Cruising Organization was using a Piracy theme for an annual gathering at Bedwell Harbor BC.

While considering my remarks somewhat over the top, our cruising association has not used a piracy theme since. Below is my 2005 e-mail to yachting media

Hello guys, sorry for seeming somewhat exercised about Piracy Themes but we as circumnavigators who have successfully run the gauntlet of 'Pirate Ally" in the Gulf of Aden and have sailed pirate infested waters off the north
coast of South America and in South East Asia feel we must comment.

Many boating magazines have carried alarming stories involving murder and
kidnappings endemic in several parts of the world including the North
Western Indian Ocean. Many of these same magazines carry stories and
advertisements using the Pirate Theme as a positive focal point.

I would like to pose an open question to all Sailing magazines and Sailing
organizations: why do we still see the Pirate Theme used in many gatherings
and events for boaters?? In light of the current piracy epidemic, we feel
piracy themes, flying the Jolly Roger as a joke and so on should be anathema
to the Boating Community. PIRATES AREN'T FUNNY!!!

Best Regards, Hugh & Heather Bacon

ARGONAUTA I. Canoe Cove Marina, Sidney BC Canada

https://currents.bluewatercruising.o...cumnavigation/

https://www.sailworldcruising.com/ne...nama-to-Canada

[valleyweather]

A few points for the OP...

Worry about yourself and not others choice of flags.

Maybe look deeper into who the "pirates" really were.

The real pirates are your government, I do not care where you are from. You are all cattle and to be exploited; taxes, permits, no-travel, lock downs, basically like little kids begging your overlords for your inherent rights...

The guys back in the day, the "pirates", may have been hiding their gold and gems under water in the sea, from the SAME robbing actual pirates, the powdered wig fruitcakes of "royalty" in france, england, spain. Why else would they hide these and make maps to them ("treasures")? Was it a game? I dont think so. These guys probably just wanted to be free, much like many of us who sail, so we are not under the same encumbrances of land, and the 2-legged sharks/ pirates that exist there.

My $.02, and I care not what anyone thinks of it.

[Bay Breeze]

The cruisers forum burgee or latitudes and attitudes or fins up might be options. The US flag as a standard for US boats.

[OS2Dude]

Pirates are no more the epidemy of evil some see them as than they are the cartoon stereotype they are often shown as. Evil was done by crews of warships on enemy towns and crews just as often. Pirates actually were one of the first societies that had equal rights and elected officials. (Even captains were elected by their crews.) The brutality of naval and merchant ships often drove men to seek the relative freedom piracy could offer. This is why many fly a pirate flag, not (at least originally) as a party attitude but freedom against oppression.

Remember, it was only a document that separated Privateers (Government sectioned mercenaries) from Pirates. Privateers often became pirates when the wars they received their Letters of Marque for ended.

We fly a hybrid, A white dog face with crossed bones in its mouth on a black field. We like Dogs!

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by CaptJPMcGuire

White Flag "Circle with a Triangle" in it. Lots of cruisers will understand --many won't --but should.

Harry Potter's Deathly Hallows symbol?

[Cobia Chaser]

Originally Posted by SV__Grace

I may be getting cranky as I age but it seems to me that a good percentage of recreational boaters where I currently cruise, mostly the locals, fly a pirate flag on their boat.

Pirates were outlaws, thieves, robbers, killers and slave traders. These same people (most of them anyway) would not dream of flying a Nazi flag on their boat , so why is it so cool and popular to fly a pirate flag that represents really BAD people?

I’d love to fly a flag that represents the values and lifestyle of being a cruiser- freedom, world travel, appreciation and care for our planet, and respect and friendship with the people and cultures we encounter, etc.

We’re the GOOD guys, right?

I know we have burgees and such, but they have no meaning unless you’re in that club. I’d love to find a replacement for the boaters flying pirate flags that would be cool and make a positive statement.

Any idea what flag we might fly that represents cruisers and our values?

"I may be getting cranky" most valid point you've made. What's wrong with folks going out on the boat and having a good time flying a pirate flag? Lighten up

[dbraymer]

You might consider this flag as a replacement for the fun loving symbol of disrespect for all but violence.

[ben2go]

Originally Posted by SV__Grace

I may be getting cranky as I age but it seems to me that a good percentage of recreational boaters where I currently cruise, mostly the locals, fly a pirate flag on their boat.

Pirates were outlaws, thieves, robbers, killers and slave traders. These same people (most of them anyway) would not dream of flying a Nazi flag on their boat , so why is it so cool and popular to fly a pirate flag that represents really BAD people?

I’d love to fly a flag that represents the values and lifestyle of being a cruiser- freedom, world travel, appreciation and care for our planet, and respect and friendship with the people and cultures we encounter, etc.

We’re the GOOD guys, right?

I know we have burgees and such, but they have no meaning unless you’re in that club. I’d love to find a replacement for the boaters flying pirate flags that would be cool and make a positive statement.

Any idea what flag we might fly that represents cruisers and our values?

A lot of modern humans romanticize a time when humans had real freedoms and not laws that give us the illusion of freedom.

[lestersails]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

I’m not sure why anyone except loud drunken insensitive louts on boats would fly the skull and crossbones.

So if you are one of those , feel free to fly it, not that you’d listen to anyone else anyway

Yeah, mostly this. It is one of a piece with gigantic, loud pickup trucks, 'live free or die' slogans, strutting around with weapons, speed boats with five outboards, I could go on. Mostly guys with fragile egos and threatened self esteem desperately trying to convince mostly themselves that they are real 'men'.
I find it all rather pathetic, but they need to do more than that to genuinely offend me.