5 Fascinating Reasons Why Pirates Wore Earrings

Pirates & ear jewelry have a legendary history.

History is laden with several myths — especially when it comes to pirates. Several books, tv shows, and other films portray these pirates’ stereotypical images because there is a reason for it.

Interestingly, one never fails to notice gold hoop earrings, eye patch, and tattoos, which goes beyond fashion statements.

One can not be conclusive about the hypotheses as there are many reasons why pirates are fond of their entire attire. But below detailed are a few of the reasons:

1. Pirates wished for a proper funeral

Many historians have hypothesized that pirates wished for a proper burial. They had a wishful idea — if they die, a person finding them will be using the jewelry for affording the burial.

Interestingly, historians back this claim by showing the engraved name of the pirate’s hometown on the found artifacts, which signaled the pirate hoped their bodies to be sent to the hometown.

2. Earrings Symbolized Victory

Another hypothesis outlined in Live Science labelled earrings as a symbol of commemorating sailing achievements: be it navigating across the treacherous water or crossing the equator for the first time. The silver-hoop earrings were given to new sailors to celebrate such victories.

3. Owing to crazy superstitions

Old wives ’ tales suggest a superstition, where hoop earring was thought to cure seasickness in addition to offering mystical protection.

Another superstition existed where earrings were thought to improve bad eyesight. In addition to this, wearing the jewelry was capable of curing bad eyesight because precious metals were considered to own magical healing powers.

If we talk about the practical benefits, earrings are also used to aid pirates’ ears, protecting against any hearing loss during cannon fire.

4. Wearing earrings as a revolt

Pirates were not gentlemen but rebels— thus, one of the traditions suggested wearing earrings as a protest.

In piracy’s golden age, laws were issued that banned wearing jewelry for men, significantly lower class. Thus pirates did hell with the law of revolt.

Doug Lennox states in You Know Big Book of Answers

“Pirates, especially those who fired the ships’ cannons during close combat with the enemy, dangled wads of wax from their earrings to use as earplugs.”

5. The real reason aligning with pirates attitude

The reason which sits well with history and also with pirates’ intrinsic nature revolves around finances.

To protect their assets from theft, pirates wore the earrings as jewelry, making it much harder for people to steal compared to the purse. Many would not be aware, but pirate’s jewelry was mainly composed of coins. By drilling holes into them, the pirates made them wearable accessories.

A pirate historian Gail Selinger stated,

“They’d wear it on their wrist or around their neck so that no one could steal their purse. Archaeologists found quite a few of those [pieces of money jewelry],”

The mystery behind the eye patches?

Interestingly, pirates wore eye patches for a reason. Several pieces of evidence suggest they did it to protect their eyes. They intentionally kept one of the eyes constantly without the reach of light, dark-adapted, so transitioning to below the decks could become smoother.

Without protecting their eye, the pirates could have possibly exposed themselves to the loss of depth perception. For a fact, low light adjustment time is poor for eye health.

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