By Kristina Wright
Picture a pirate, and you may think of the costumes you’ve seen in films and on Halloween: a tricorn hat, a parrot on the shoulder, a peg leg or a hook hand, and of course, that iconic black eye patch. The one-eyed pirate is such a familiar image that it’s easy to assume it must be rooted in fact — but is it?
Pop culture has played a powerful role in shaping our idea of pirates, but there’s little evidence that these seafarers commonly wore eye patches. So where does this image come from? And were eye patches really a defining part of pirate life?
Sections covered in the full article on History Facts:
Covering Battle Injuries
Protecting Night Vision
What the Historical Record Actually Shows
Pirates in Literature
An Archetype Is Born
https://historyfacts.com/world-history/article/did-pirates-really-wear-eye-patches/
