Pirate Edward Low, Red Skeleton Flag 3 X 5 ft. Standard

This is a flag that was flown by Edward “Ned” Low (also Lowe or Loe). He is an example of a man who had lead a life of crime before he picked up this trade as a ruthless pirate. Born in England around 1690, he moved to Boston as a teenager, and tried his hand as a ship rigger. Tiring of this work, Low signed on board a small vessel and headed to the bay of Honduras to cut log-wood. This was risky business, as the Spanish owned and controlled this land, and would attack trespassing Englishmen . One day during this voyage Low became enraged and fired a musket at the captain. He missed, but killed another sailor. Low was marooned and the captain took the opportunity to rid himself of a dozen or so other malcontents. The marooned men soon captured a small boat and became pirates. Over the next couple of years, Low became one of the most successful and feared pirates in the world. He captured and plundered over 100 vessels, from the Carribean to from the western coast of Africa, and down to Brazil and north to the southeastern United States. His flag, which was well-known and feared, consisted of a red skeleton on a black background. Low fit the very image of a bloodthirsty, cruel, and clever pirate who terrorizing ships during the last days of the so-called “Golden Age of Piracy.” The last documented sightings of him were in July 1723, sailing a ship with this flag in the vicinity of the Azores, the Canaries, and Guinea in Africa, but soon afterwards, he disappeared and was never heard from again. One story is that his men tired of his cruelty, and set him adrift on a boat, whereupon he was captured by the French. According to the National Maritime Museum in London, Low was never captured and spent the rest of his life in Brazil. However Low met his end, only Black Bart had a more successful pirate career in the same time and area.