You'll Poke Your Eye Out!

Next time you tell your mom that you want to be a pirate and she retorts with that age-old comeback, "But, you'll poke your eye out!" You can tell her that is just not so.

With all of the eye patches worn by pirates, many assume that during the daily grind of plundering and looting, eyes were easily plucked out, much like grapes being plucked from a vine. It is logical that with all those swords flinging about, someone is bound to get hurt. But if you think about allllll those eye patches... there must be another explanation.

I was recently informed that the eye patch was merely a device used to quickly adjust from dark to light. The pirates, who often went above and below deck, used eye patches to have one eye adjusted for the top deck (bright sunlight) and the other eye already adjusted for the darkness when suddenly going below deck. With virtually no light sources below deck, sailors would have to rely heavily upon their eyes to adjust, which could require several minutes. In the critical moments of modifying the rigging, navigating, and especially during bloody, gory, ferocious battles, those minutes were too precious. A simple switch of the patch from one eye to the other saved time and was more convenient than being temporarily blinded when going between decks.


That reminds me of a hilarious joke about a red-shirted pirate captain.



Yo Ho Matey! Argh!