Pirates Had All Kinds of Superstitions About Their Earrings
[ranking: 9]
The earring might be the most famous piece of pirate jewelry; they were certainly very practical. The sea buccaneers were quite superstitious about the hoops, though, and there were many myths about the earrings' otherworldly abilities. One tale claimed that they could prevent sea sickness while another suggested that the precious metals could cure bad eyesight.
Many pirates believed that a gold earring could prevent a man from drowning but that myth was disproved a number of times.
Pirate Earrings Served As An Insurance Policy To Finance Their Burials
[ranking: 3]
Pirates spent their lives on the high seas but they didn't want to spend death at the bottom of an ocean (or Davy Jones??s Locker). The infamous piercings that pirates wore in their ears were actually insurance to make sure that they'd be given a proper burial. Whether gold or silver, the precious metal could be melted down and sold to pay for a casket and other funeral necessities even if a pirate's dead body washed ashore.
Some pirates went so far as to engrave the name of their home port on the inside of the earrings so that their bodies could be sent home for a proper burial.
Pirate Earrings Also Served Another Practical Purpose; They Protected Hearing
[ranking: 1]
Pirate ships were outfitted with numerous cannons. Blackbeard??s Queen Anne??s Revenge, had a whopping forty. Those cannons were vital during combat when a pirate ship might need to sink an enemy to prevent capture. Cannonballs were accompanied by a loud blast, though, and were known to deafen.
The crafty sea criminals would hang wads of wax from their earrings to prevent this sound damage. They popped the waxy contraptions into their ears like a makeshift earplug when firing cannons.
Pirates Doubled As Mixologists - They Created A Drink That Prevented Certain Diseases
[ranking: 8]
Credit for the invention of grog goes to sailors in the British Navy, who first started making the drink some time in the 1600s. To avoid drinking slimy water contaminated with algae and microbes, the sailors mixed rum into their water. In 1731, the British Navy gave each sailor half a pint of rum per day; that was equivalent to over five shots of alcohol.
Pirates borrowed the recipe for grog and made it legendary by adding lemon juice (it helped prevent scurvy) and sugar (it tasted good). Their's was a drink that packed a punch.
Pirates Practiced Gay Marriage As Early As The 1600s
[ranking: 2]
Pirates spent long periods of time on ships surrounded by other men so it??s no surprise that some shared intimate relationships. Other pirates formalized same-sex relationships through a practice called matelotage, a French word that may be at the root of the pirate greeting "Ahoy mate."
In pirate society, two men could join into matelotage and share all their plunder, even receiving death benefits if one died before the other. Pirate mates would live together, exchange gold rings, and sometimes even share female prostitutes.
The Jolly Roger Is The Best Known Pirate Flag But It Has Many Variations
[ranking: 13]
The Jolly Roger black flag with a skull and crossbones might be the best known pirate insignia but there are multiple versions of that banner. The first mention of the Jolly Roger came from the 1724 book, A General History of the Pyrates, by Charles Johnson.
Blackbeard??s flag, for example, featured a skeleton toasting the devil while spearing a bleeding heart. Others had red skeletons, hourglasses, or even men standing on skulls.
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