This flag is believed to have been flown by Ned Lowe and his consorts, Charles Harris of the 8-gun sloop the Ranger and Francis Spriggs, Lowe’s ex-quartermaster, of the schooner the Delight. Charles Harris was captured by Peter Solgard of HMS Greyhound in June 1723. Spriggs fate is uncertain, but some believe he was marooned together with Ned Lowe. “Black Ensign with a white Skeleton in the middle of it, with a Dart in One Hand striking a bleeding Heart, and in the other an Hourglass.” – Captain Johnson, A General History of the Pyrates.
Wales, 1707: 
Much admired by some, Samuel Bellamy was sometimes referred to as the Robin Hood of the sea, although there is no evidence of him giving to the poor as did the mythic hero of Sherwood Forest. Bellamy is viewed as one of the most successful pirates of his time, although his pirating career lasted little over a year. He is said to have treated captives well in comparison to many of his contemporaries, but was not averse to forcing men to serve in his crew, especially carpenters. He was apparently called Black Sam because he didn’t want to wear a wig, preferring his long black hair to flow free.…
Investigates the fascination pirates hold over popular imagination, taking the fable of ocean-going Robin Hoodsailing under the “banner of King Death” and contrasting it with the muderous reality of robbery, torture and death, and the freedom of a short, violent life on the high seas. Using previously undiscovered material from British Admiralty records, the book charts 250 years of piracy, from Cornwall to the Caribbean, from the 16th century to the hanging of the last pirate captain in Boston in 1835.