Eye patches and Earrings

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

crossing of the equator or if they sailed around Cape Horn, the most southern tip of South America.

Whether worn for sentiment or superstition, death at sea was an all too common occurrence for sailors and pirates of the day. Earrings played an important role here, too. An earring made of gold or silver would often cover the cost of burial for a body that had washed ashore, or help cover costs of sending a body back to the victim’s family. Another rumored uses for earrings was to dangle wax from them, to be used as earplugs when firing the cannons. Yet another reason for the piercing could be acupuncture. Many people then and now believe that puncturing the ear in a specific spot, the “eye spot” could help improve vision. Though we can’t prove that this is why pirates pierced their ears, this practice has been used from before pirates ever roamed the seven seas, all the way up to today.

Far from being just accessories, these pieces of head adornment were used for many beneficial purposes. Whether used for holistic healing, superstitious beliefs, or just a fad of the times, the use of eyepatches and earrings has been pivotal in modern depictions of pirates. As to the question of if any of it really works, let’s just say the mind can do some amazing things if you believe it.

Lunting: (LUNT-ing) noun: 1.The activity of walking about whist smoking a pipe.

Used in a Sentence: "If it were not for lunting I am afraid I would get little to no exercise at all!"