Bizarre Pirate Traditions You Didn't Know About

let's verse presents bizarre pirate traditions most people don't know about number one the Jolly Roger flag the best-known pirate flag is the Jolly Roger the skull and crossbones but you might not know is that there are many versions of this flag the first time that it was ever mentioned was from a book that was written by Charles Johnson in 1724 called a general history of the Pirates Blackbeard's flag was a bit different than the original this flag had a skeleton toasting the devil while it was spearing a bleeding heart other flags featured men standing on skulls hourglasses beside the skulls and even red skeletons number two all pirates weren't men he didn't have to be a man to be a pirate there were a few women who took to the sea to become rich two of the most famous female pirates were Mary Reed and Anne Bonny in 1720 the two women sailed on the pirate ship revenge Mary dressed like a man to hide her identity and Anne was the first mate when their ship was captured the two women went to jail when they were arrested they blamed the ship's captain Calico Jack the women were angry at calico Jack and when they were in jail and said sorry to see you there but if you fought like a man you would not have been hanged like a dog number 3 Blackbeard had a secret to maintain his facial hair Blackbeard is famous for being one of the most terrifying pirates in the world part of the reason he was feared so much was the appearance of his beard he captained the Queen Anne's Revenge before he captured that ship and any other ones he found a way to make himself feared by all he would weave hemp into his long dark beard and in a hair under his captain's hat when he would go light the hemp on fire it would cause smoke to come out from his face making people fear for their lives he also wore a crimson coat and he carried two swords two knives and two guns at all times he looked evil and rude to everyone he met number four pirates were the first mixologists grog was invented in the sixteen hundreds by the sailors in the British Navy they wanted to keep their water from getting slimy and contaminated with microbes and algae so they would mix rum with the water by 1731 the idea had caught on and each sailor was given half a pint of ROM each day which was the equivalent of about five shots the Pirates borrowed the recipe for grog however they made a few changes they added lemon juice to prevent scurvy and they added sugar to make it taste better this quickly became the go-to drink for pirates number five pirates didn't wear eye patches because they were missing an eye thanks to sword battles there were some pirates with missing eyes however many pirates wore eye patches for another reason pirates spent a great deal of their time on the bright deck and then would go into a dark cabin below and this happened very often when they were raiding ships or protecting their own by keeping one eye covered it was always adjusted to the dark when they had to rush into a dark cabin they would simply remove the patch from the covered eye and they would instantly be able to see number six pirates wore earrings to finance their burials this is one of the most bizarre pirate traditions that most people don't know about it's because you would not expect a pirate to care where they were buried when they died but they did pirates knew that they could die at sea however they didn't want to be buried at the bottom of the ocean to ensure that they would have a proper burial they would wear expensive earrings when a pirate would dye their earrings would be melted down and sold to pay for their casket and other burial costs even if a pirate was found washed up on the sea other pirates made sure that they got a proper burial there were some pirates who wanted to be buried at their own port so they had to have the name of the port engraved on the inside of their earrings so that their bodies could be sent home after they died number 7 the blood-red pirate flag was the most feared when people on ships saw the Jolly Roger flag it created a sense of dread when they saw the red flag however it was even more terrifying if a ship flew a flag that was read it warned everyone on the ship that they were going to be shown no mercy and killed immediately this flag was called bloody red when pirates on a ship saw this flag they would often jump ship to save themselves even if it meant drowning in the ocean number eight most pirates didn't bury treasure most people believed that pirates would bury their treasures on a tropical island to keep it safe the only pirate who did this was William KITT he buried his treasure off the coast of Long Island however his plan backfired when one of his allies dug up the treasure and used it to convict Kidd a piracy most pirates did not bury their treasure because it usually wasn't treasure by which typically stole weapons food alcohol lumber and animal hides since these goods were worthless in the ground the Pirates often use them or sold them number nine Pirates practiced gay marriage gay marriage goes back as far as 1600 on pirate ships because pirates spent so much time on ships together they often became intimate when same-sex relationships were formalized the pirates called it mate lithic when two pirates entered into mate lytic they would share all of their Goods and treasure if one pirate died the other pirate would receive death benefits the two would live together exchange gold rings and share the occasional female prostitute number 10 julius caesar was captured by pirates pirates are known for taking hostages when they take over a vessel one group of pirates managed to capture Julius Caesar back in 75 BCE they plan to ask for a ransom of twenty talents and julius caesar said that he was worth at least fifty while he was their hostage caesar would recite poetry to the pirates after his ransom was paid he had the Pirates crucified as their punishment number eleven the pirate's earrings protected their hearing those pirate ships had numerous cannons on board in fact Blackbeard's ship Queen Anne's Revenge had 40 cannons the cannons were very important during combat if they needed to sink a ship to avoid capture when the play routes would shoot their cannons there was a loud blast that could cause deafness to keep that from happening pirates would often hang wax from their earrings before the cannon was fired they would take the wax from the earrings and put it in their ears to muffle the sound number 12 they were superstitious surrounding a pirate's earrings while the earrings that pirates war were practical there were also several superstitions surrounding the earrings many pirates believed that the earrings could prevent seasickness others believed that they could cure poor eyesight many pirates wore gold hoops because these earrings were said to prevent drowning however this theory was debunked over and over again subscribe for more you

Channel: Facts Verse

Views: 7,767,941

Rating: 4.6556401 out of 5

Keywords: Bizarre Pirate Traditions You Didn't Know About, history, facts, torture devices, education, brutal, medieval, pain, punishment, painful, torture methods, middle ages, execution, torture, medieval torture, impalement, saw torture

Id: EpMKSqWTzs8

Length: 7min 46sec (466 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 08 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/Funkington]

This was awesome, definitely learned something which was unexpected ;]

[u/jackrayd]

All pirates weren’t men? Id’ve thought at least a few of them were...

[u/TheQueefer]

Worth the watch! I hope we can raise the black and the red in game!

[u/Hollywoodbnd86]

Once reaching pirate legend creating your own flag would be awesome.