Bartholomew Roberts Flag, Skull and Cutlass - c.1720 - Pirate Wax Seal Stamp

Bartholomew Roberts Flag, Skull and Cutlass - c.1720 - Historical Wax Seal Stamp

Wax seal stamp featuring the flag associated with Bartholomew Roberts, better known as Black Bart, one of the most successful pirate captains of the Golden Age of Piracy.

Bartholomew Roberts was a Welsh pirate active from 1719 to 1722. In a remarkably short career he captured a large number of vessels and became one of the most prominent figures operating in the Atlantic, with his ships ranging from West Africa to the Caribbean and the American coast. Several of his vessels bore the name Royal Fortune.

Like many pirate emblems, Roberts’ flag is not known from a surviving original textile example. Most pirate flags were never preserved, so the designs associated with them are often reconstructed from contemporary newspaper reports, eyewitness descriptions and later printed pirate histories.

This version is based on the strongest contemporary descriptions of Roberts’ flag. In August 1720, the Boston Gazette described his colours as a black flag bearing a skull and a cutlass. A further eyewitness, William Matthew, described a flag used by Roberts at Trepassey as showing a skull and an arm holding a cutlass. Taken together, these reports provide some of the clearest period evidence for the type of emblem Roberts actually used.

A later and highly influential source is A General History of the Pyrates, published in 1724. This work helped shape many of the famous pirate images known today and includes the more elaborate flag designs commonly attributed to Roberts, including a figure standing beside a skeleton and another design showing him standing on two skulls. These published designs became an important part of later pirate imagery, but the contemporary eyewitness descriptions of a skull and cutlass provide a firmer basis for this reconstruction.

This stamp therefore represents an eyewitness-based interpretation of Roberts’ flag rather than one of the more elaborate designs popularised through later pirate histories.

Roberts’ career ended in 1722 during an encounter with HMS Swallow off Cape Lopez. His departure marked the close of one of the most remarkable pirate careers of the early 18th century.

Design: Bartholomew Roberts flag
Person: Bartholomew Roberts / Black Bart
Date: c.1720
Period: Golden Age of Piracy
Association: Royal Fortune
Source Basis: Eyewitness flag descriptions
Stamp Size: 30 mm
Material: Solid brass
Type: Wax seal stamp / sealing stamp

Each stamp is made of solid brass, supplied with a handle, and presented in a velvet pouch.

Suitable for letters, envelopes, maritime collections, historical displays, nautical-themed stationery, pirate collections and decorative sealing.

“A merry life and a short one shall be my motto.” — Bartholomew Roberts