Piracy was a profession that made people think twice before going out to sea, although not today. We can’t think that pirates attacking the ships of people who sail and trade in the seas are very good.
Of course, not everything we see in movies is a lie. When it comes to pirate movies, you must have seen pirates who covered one of their eyes with a piece of black leather. Most people think that this eye patch is something used because they injured their eyes. However, these eye patches were also used by real pirates and their purpose was very different. Today we’re going to explain to you why pirates wear an eye patch on one eye.
Why did pirates wear an eye patch on one eye?
Injury was not usually the reason why pirates wore eye patches. In fact, they wore these eye patches for a reason that was much more logical and compatible with science. The interior of the pirate ships was always dark, whether it was day or night. On the ship; that is, the pirates, who did their business in a sunny environment, could not see anything when they went to the storage or cabin section of the ship, as their eyes were not used to the darkness.
At this point, the pirates would take off the eye patch that kept their eyes in the dark at all times, and with their dark-adapted eyes, they would do their business without any problems. Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Dr. Jim Sheedy said that the eye adapts quickly to light, but photopigments must be renewed to adapt to darkness and it will take some time to adapt to complete darkness.
Saying that the reason for the pirates to wear an eye patch was not an injury in a sword fight, Dr. Sheedy stated that pirates had to constantly move between the pitch black of below deck and the bright sunlight above, and pirates, who were aware of this, wore an eye patch to keep one eye accustomed to the constant darkness. In other words, one eye is accustomed to constant sunlight, while the other eye is accustomed to darkness.
How long does it take for an eye to adapt to the dark?
When the human eye enters a dark environment, it starts to see better after a while. Because our eyes adapt to the dark. When you go to bed in the evening, you can see that this happens much faster, because you have already moved from a dim environment to a dark environment. However, entering the darkness from a very strong light source such as sunlight also increases the adaptation process of the eye. In such a case, it will take about 25 minutes for your eyes to fully adjust to the darkness.
25 minutes is a very serious time for people like pirates who can fight at any moment and plunder the ships they attack. For this reason, eye patches were indispensable in the world of pirates.
Today we explained to you why pirates wear eye patches. If you want more content like this, don’t forget to share it with us in the comments section.
Source: 1, 2, 3
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