Icon 094. Skull & Crossbones
Avast me hearties!
- Pirate
The skull & crossbones symbol has historically been used for a number of purposes, most often relating to death and danger. But it is most famously connected to pirates and their flag, the Jolly Roger:
The origin of the pirate flag has been lost. It is thought that pirates originally used a red flag, which was also common in naval warfare, to signal that no quarter would be given. This red flag was called Joli Rouge (pretty red) by the French, and may have been corrupted into English as Jolly Roger.
...they used the black flag of quarantine and disease as the base, with the universal symbol for death, the skull and bones, and modified it to suit their individual tastes. The skull and bones was also used in captains' logbooks to indicate the death of a sailor.
- Wikipedia