[Peter Ansoff]

The new "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie gives a prominent (and dastardly) role to the British East India Company. The flag of the EIC is visible in several scenes: a green flag, showing three gold swords with their blade tips touching in the center, and the letters "E", "I", and "Co." between the sword hilts.

This, of course, is a made-up flag that has nothing to do with the real flag of the EIC. The latter was very similar to the so-called "Grand Union" flag used at the beginning of the American Revolution: red and white stripes, with the British union crosses in the canton. (Unlike the US case, the number of stripes on the EIC flag varied and had no special significance.)

I suspect that the producers of the movie didn't use the real EIC flag because they didn't want the "bad guys" to fly a flag that was similar to the US flag. Instead, they made up a different, imaginary one.

Best regards,

Peter Ansoff