By: Elise W’nstorm & Dueien D’mont
It seems everyone has the idea that pirates wore eye-patches, pierced their ears, and spoke distinctively pirate-y. A little common sense would say that there’s no way EVERY pirate was like that, but where did these stereotypes come from, and is there any truth to any of them? Turns out there is! To start, a lot of what makes the popular vision of a pirate comes from Robert Luis Stevenson’s 1883 novel Treasure Island, the first of many pirate-themed novels. Short films and movies (and movie franchises) continued to portray pirates much as they were described in these Victorian-era adventure novels, and so the pirate remained as he was. And now for the truth behind some of these popular stereotypes, starting with eyepatches: There is the popular theory that pirates would wear eyepatches shortly before attacking another ship. This was to allow one eye to adjust to the darkness, while the other eye remained adjusted to the daylight, so if the attacking pirate went below deck he could still see using the eye covered by
the patch. This technique has been used by military personnel, most notably aircraft pilots, and usually in the context of manning controls at night while passing over brightly lit cities. That being said, there is no historical record describing, let alone recommending, this use for eyepatches from the Golden Age of Piracy. Earrings are another fashion statement every pirate seems to sporting, even today. Though it may seem a bit strange today for men especially to be wearing earrings, for much of history earrings and piercings were worn as talismans to ward off evil or attract good luck. Sailors, and probably even more so pirates, have always been a superstitious lot: for example, a gold earring was believed to protect its wearer from drowning. Gold and silver were also believed to having healing and curing abilities, and earrings made of them were believed cure or prevent diseases. Many sailors at the time wore earrings as well; young sailors were given an earring to celebrate their first
