12 Bizarre Pirate Traditions That Most People Don’t Know Were Actually Real
7. Pirates with eye patches all had two working eyes: The reason you see so many pirates with eye patches isn’t that losing an eye was common. Most pirates with eye patches wore them so that one eye would be permanently adjusted to the darkness, making it easier to navigate at night.
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8. The Jolly Roger had many variations: By this point, almost everyone knows about the skull and crossbones that make up the Jolly Roger pirate flag, but did you know that when it flew in earnest there were many variations? A popular version featured a skeleton toasting the devil while stabbing a human heart. Pirates were totally metal.
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9. Pirates once captured Julius Caesar: Pirates love a good ransom situation. They even kidnapped Caesar! He was a good a sport about it at the time, entertaining them all by reciting poetry. However, when he was rescued, he had them all crucified.
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10. Pirate earrings also served another purpose: While their earrings made for a great life insurance policy, they also served another critical function. Pirates would store globs of wax in their hoops and stick the stuff in their ears when they fired cannons to preserve their hearing.
Ambroise Louis Garneray / Wikimedia Commons
11. There were lots of gay pirates: Pirates often formed same-sex relationships that were formalized under a term called “matelotage.” That’s actually where the phrase “ahoy matey” comes from! Coupled up pirates were actually known to split their booty.
Howard Pyle / Wikimedia Commons
12. Pirates were superstitious about their earrings: Pirates had a lot of strange beliefs about the power of their earrings. They believed that earrings could cure seasickness, keep them from drowning and that they could even cure bad eyesight!