Jolly Roger LbNA #69349

One of the favorite Halloween costumes is that of a pirate, usually using the “skull and crossbones” symbol known as the Jolly Roger. Use of the term Jolly Roger in reference to pirate flags goes back to at least Charles Johnson's A General History of the Pyrates, published in Britain in 1724. Johnson specifically cites two pirates as having named their flag "Jolly Roger": Bartholomew Roberts in June, 1721 and Francis Spriggs in December 1723. While Spriggs and Roberts used the same name for their flags, their flag designs were quite different, suggesting that already "Jolly Roger" was a generic term for black pirate flags rather than a name for any single specific design. Neither Spriggs' nor Roberts' Jolly Roger consisted of a skull and crossbones. Richard Hawkins, who was captured by pirates in 1724, reported that the pirates had a black flag bearing the figure of a skeleton stabbing a heart with a spear, which they named "Jolly Roger". The origin of the name is unclear. Jolly Roger had been a generic term for a jovial, carefree man since at least the 17th century and the existing term seems to have been applied to the skeleton or grinning skull in these flags by the early 18th century. In 1703, a pirate named John Quelch was reported to have been flying the "Old Roger" off Brazil, "Old Roger" being a nickname for the devil. There is also reference to the privateers of 1694 using a red flag known as "Red Jack". The French privateers would be operating under what they called the "Jolie Rouge" which translates as jolly red.
Directions: This box can be found at Brazos Bend State Park near Needville, Texas. Enter the park, stop at the HQ building, pay your fee and get a trail map. Go to the Day Use Picnic Area on Elm Lake. Drive to the far end and park. Walk to the information board at the trailhead for the Horseshoe Lake Loop.
To the Box: Take the trail toward the Horseshoe Lakes and keep right on the trail around New Horseshoe Lake. You will pass 3 benches. From the third bench, count about 275 steps along the trail. At this point you should be walking under a huge limb of an enormous oak tree on the left about 10 steps off the trail. You can’t miss it. The box may be found at the back of that magnificent tree.


Hike length: 1 mile