Pirate Flag “Black Bart” Bartholomew Roberts Flag (2nd) ABH AMH Jolly Roger 3 X 5 ft. Standard

Bartholomew Roberts Flag Pirate Black Bart Second Flag — 3×5 ft | ABH AMH Jolly Roger

A Flag Built as a Personal Threat

Most pirate flags were designed to frighten strangers. Black Bart’s second flag was designed to threaten specific people by name.

When the colonial governments of Barbados and Martinique dispatched hunting parties to bring Roberts down, he responded the way he always responded to challenges — with total, calculated escalation. He commissioned a new flag: a figure of himself standing atop two skulls, each labeled with an abbreviation that left no ambiguity. ABH — A Barbadian’s Head. AMH — A Martiniquian’s Head.

He wasn’t flying a warning. He was flying a wanted poster for his enemies, written in their own blood.

The Most Successful Pirate Who Ever Lived

Bartholomew Roberts wasn’t supposed to become a pirate at all. Born in Pembrokeshire, Wales around 1682, he worked as a legitimate sailor for years — rising through the ranks until he was serving as third mate aboard a slave trading vessel, the Princess, when pirates captured it off the coast of West Africa in 1719.

The pirates were led by Howell Davis, who recognized Roberts’ navigational skill and recruited him. Within weeks, Davis was dead — killed in an ambush at the Portuguese island of Príncipe. The crew voted Roberts captain. He accepted, reportedly noting that since he had stumbled into a pirate’s life, he would make the most of it.

What followed was the most extraordinary career in the history of maritime piracy. Over the next three years, Roberts captured an estimated 400+ vessels — more than Blackbeard, Calico Jack, Edward Low, and Francis Spriggs combined. His operational range was staggering: the Caribbean, the coast of North America up to Newfoundland, the African coast, and the waters between. He commanded at times a fleet of four ships and hundreds of men.

His Brazil operation stands as a masterwork of nerve and deception. Coming upon a Portuguese treasure fleet anchored in a bay, Roberts simply sailed in as though he belonged there. He quietly took one ship, interrogated its captain to identify which vessel carried the most valuable cargo, then attacked that ship directly before the convoy’s two massive warships could react. He was gone — with the prize — before anyone organized a proper response.

What ABH and AMH Actually Meant

The abbreviations on Roberts’ second flag were not symbolic in the abstract sense. They were a direct personal declaration of war against the governing powers of two specific colonies.

After Roberts’ crew had clashed with vessels out of Barbados and Martinique — both colonies actively sending ships to hunt him — Roberts made clear that he considered this personal. The skulls beneath his feet weren’t generic death imagery. They represented the heads of Barbadian and Martiniquian men specifically.

It was pirate flag design operating at its most targeted: not a general warning to all shipping, but a message delivered directly to two specific audiences. We know who you are. We know where your ships come from. You are not hunting us — we are hunting you.

This flag also reveals something about Roberts’ character that separated him from most of his contemporaries. Where other captains used flags primarily as tools of psychological terror against prey, Roberts used his second flag as a statement of personal vendetta — a running public record of his grievances.

The End of the Golden Age

Roberts’ death on February 10, 1722 off Cape Lopez on the West African coast marks the moment most historians identify as the effective end of the Golden Age of Piracy.

The British warship HMS Swallow, under Captain Chaloner Ogle, found Roberts’ fleet at anchor — many of his crew incapacitated after a night of drinking from a recently taken prize. Roberts, who famously abstained from alcohol himself, was on deck when grapeshot from the Swallow’s opening broadside struck him in the throat. He died instantly.

His crew, following his standing orders, weighted his body and threw it overboard before surrendering — denying the Royal Navy the satisfaction of displaying it. Over 50 of his surviving crew were tried at Cape Coast Castle and hanged. The sheer scale of the prosecution effectively dismantled the last major pirate network operating in the Atlantic.

No captain of comparable reach emerged to replace him.

Flag Details & Construction

Quality Tier: Standard Quality

• Size: 3 feet x 5 feet
• Material: Super-weave polyester — 100% synthetic, waterproof
• Print: Through-printed design visible on both sides
• Edges: Double-stitched throughout
• Header: Reinforced brass grommets for easy pole attachment
• Lightweight construction flies well in light breeze

Recommended Uses

• Outdoor fair-weather pole display
• Pirate-themed events and Renaissance fairs
• Man cave, game room, and nautical-themed décor
• Historical reenactments and theatrical productions
• Indoor wall display
• Gift for Golden Age of Piracy enthusiasts and maritime history buffs

Frequently Asked Questions

What do ABH and AMH stand for? ABH stands for A Barbadian’s Head and AMH for A Martiniquian’s Head. Roberts had the flag made as a direct response to ships from Barbados and Martinique being sent to hunt him down. The skulls beneath his feet in the design represented those specific enemies, not a generic death symbol.

Why is Roberts considered the most successful pirate of the Golden Age? By sheer number of vessels captured — estimated at over 400 — Roberts surpassed every other documented Golden Age pirate captain. His operational range spanned multiple ocean basins and his career lasted three highly active years before his death in 1722.

Did Roberts really not drink? By most historical accounts, yes — Roberts was notably abstemious in an era defined by heavy drinking. He enforced curfews, reportedly held religious services, and ran his ships with more discipline than most pirate captains. His crew’s vulnerability on the morning of the HMS Swallow attack was partly attributed to drinking from a captured prize the night before — something Roberts himself would not have done.

How many flags did Bartholomew Roberts fly? Roberts is documented as having flown at least four distinct personal flags across his career, each with specific imagery and meaning. The ABH/AMH flag is his second and among the most historically significant for what it reveals about his personality and his feuds with specific colonial authorities.

Did Roberts’ death really end the Golden Age of Piracy? Historians broadly treat 1722 as the close of the Golden Age. Roberts was the last major operating pirate of real scale. The combination of intensified naval patrols, the 1718 Act of Grace pardons, and the systematic elimination of pirate networks — culminating in Roberts’ defeat and the mass trial of his crew — left no successor capable of operating at comparable scale.

Is this suitable for outdoor display? Yes — lightweight super-weave polyester performs well in fair-weather outdoor conditions and flies easily in light breeze. F

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