The design of the flag consisted of a horned skeleton raising an hourglass "toasting the Devil" in its right hand.[1] In the skeleton's left hand, it held a spear pointing towards a red heart which had three drops of red blood below it, supposedly to signal that no quarter would be given.
This design and variations of it were very popular among pirate crews of the early 1700s, and it is possible that this design gave birth to the term “Jolly Rodger flag”.
The military unit that used Blackbeard's flag was the Seal Team Six, also known as the Naval Special Warfare Development Group. They adopted Blackbeard's flag as their own, in honor of his reputation for intimidation and fearlessness.
