I've heard several people tell me its because they are injured, but I think its to keep their eyes accustomed to the dark, so that when they go below deck(remember no electric lights) they can see again.
2006-07-13 12:56:43 · 21 answers · asked by Tommy B 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
Actually, it wasn't only pirates who wore eye-patches. Before modern navigational equipment, the main tool that was used for charting courses was the sextant. In order to use the sextant properly, you had to be able to line it up with a reference point in the sky. At night, sailors would use the moon or a star, but during the day, they had to use the sun. This means they were looking almost directly at the sun (reflected in two mirrors) with one eye. This eventually caused damage to that eye necessitating the eye-patch.
2006-07-13 13:03:05 · answer #1 · answered by mathsmart 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's because they injured an eye. When you go into a darkened room, your eye's will adjust to the darkness, you don't need to train them with an eyepatch. Plus, they did have things like candles and lanterns back then. If they needed to see in the dark, they could just use one of those light sources.
2006-07-13 13:01:55 · answer #2 · answered by ccmonty 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Eyepatches have just become a sort of cliche when referring to pirates.
Many pirates have sustained injuries to their eyes, or had them poked out, (often by the sword of their opponent) so they wear eyepatches to cover it up. There wouldnt be much practical use to getting one eye accustomed to the dark, because it would be done at the cost of cutting their field of vision in half.
2006-07-13 13:02:55 · answer #3 · answered by Steven B 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Eye patches are to protect the area after the eye has been seriously injured or removed. There were some famous pirates who lost their eye and wore eye patches and now when we think of pirates we always throw in an eye patch, a wooden leg and a parrot.
2006-07-13 13:00:51 · answer #4 · answered by Dagfinn 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Their eyes would have adjusted to the light fast enough that they wouldn't have had to keep a patch on. Remember, there was a lot of violence back then, and not too many glass eyes. And not all pirates wore them, just the ones who needed them. It's like asking why they all had parrots and wooden legs. A lot of it is just what modern culture has shown them as.
2006-07-14 02:22:38 · answer #5 · answered by cross-stitch kelly 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They don't always. The eyepatch is just a stereotype created by tales such as blackbeard and peter pan. The truth is pirates wear normal clothes except that they were out at sea for months maybe years at a time with little change of clothing so its really rank and worn out.
2006-07-13 13:01:05 · answer #6 · answered by The One Truth 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It was so everyone else knew they were pirates. It was easier than cutting a leg off and getting a wooden leg, or paying the drycleaning bills with a parrot on the shoulder (the other official pirate identification methods)
2006-07-13 14:27:23 · answer #7 · answered by iansand 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Anybody could wear an eyepatch. You are talking of "one eyed" pirates. These guys were fierce warriors, because they either lost and eye or a leg. They were they ceo's of their time.
2006-07-13 13:04:59 · answer #8 · answered by ricardocoav 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i assumed it became into via fact they have been given into too many eye-depriving skirmishes with different pirates. Or in Vyse from Skies of Arcadia's case, so as that he ought to make certain farther via zooming in. besides, thank you for the top. God bless.
2016-10-07 21:42:44 · answer #9 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well Mate, To protect their eyes from a sneezing parrot, of course.
2006-07-13 15:44:52 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋