18th Century Pirate’s Jolly Roger in Portsmouth, England

The National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth displays a genuine Jolly Roger, captured from pirates off the North African coast in 1790 by Admiral Richard Curry. Surviving pirate flags are almost unheard of anywhere in the world, since they were cheap, disposable items never meant to outlast the voyage, let alone two and a half centuries. Only two or three historically authentic, preserved pirate flags are widely known to exist in the world today, including this example in Portsmouth.