Pirates+&+Eyepatches

Pirates are sea-dwelling criminals who traveled together by ship, looking to rob other ships and often kill their passengers. Pirates were included in both folk lore and real life from the middle ages, right up to the 19th century. Pirates are often illustrated as having long beards, a rough exterior, and often an eye patch. But, why an eyepatch? []



An eyepatch is a plastic or cloth piece worn over one eye and attached to an elastic. It is worn around the head to be kept in place over the eye. They are commonly worn to cover up an injured or missing eye. However they are also used on children who have a lazy eye. Before surgery was available, eye patches were very commen; they were even made a fashion trend in 1972.

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So do all pirates have a lazy eye? media type="youtube" key="rELfxn_eOfQ" height="315" width="560" align="left"

Pirates wore eyepatches because thye sunlight over the ocean was extremely bright. If they kept an eyepatch over one eye, it would be accustomed to darkness, making it easy to flip up their eyepatch and not have to wait for their eyes to adjust. It could take minutes for their eyes to adjust, critical time if a pirate was in battle or adjusting riggings on the ship. Their is no historical records of this actually being true, but it is the most plausible solution today. media type="youtube" key="Z-hMnPREi1w" height="315" width="420" align="right" Pilots also used to wear eye patches for similar reasons as pirates. They would fly over bright cities at night and have an eyepatch on so that one eye was adjusted to the darkness in the cockpit. []

Your pupils dilate in darkness, which means they get bigger. They do this to absorb more light, enhancing your ability to see in dim lighting. While the eye under the eyepatch is enclosed in darkness, your pupil is dilated, ready to absorb any available light. So when the eye patch is flipped up, it is ready to recieve light waves. They eye not under the eye patch, has a small pupil because there is much available sunlight. When the pirate goes in to the dark cabin of the ship, this pupil is too msall to absorb very much light.