Pirate Earrings--who wore the earrings?

[Timotheos]

Playmobil makes a lot of pirates with earrings.

What pirates actually wore earrings?  I mean, what started the caricature?

Were earrings a fashion in 18th Europe?
Did some pirate gangs adopt these as a way of identifying their gang?
Or, were crew from certain regions (like the caribbean, think of Queequeg from Moby Dick) prone to wearing earrings as a part of native custom?

Mainly, I am curious why rugged and scroungy men bothered to get their ears pierced and fuss about wearing an earring.  "OMG, Pirate Pete, that is so you."  "Why thank you, Naughty Ned.  But, I'm afraid Captain Chrissy absolutey abhors it.  Why doesn't he like me?"

[Richard]

Hello, Tim ...

Have you read the book that Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean)  has been talking about?
Please see attachment

All the best,
Richard

[playmofire]

Pirates may have been tough and rough, but they were also often very dress conscious, dressing with satins and laces and feathered hats - they were, if you like, naval dandies and prided themselves on it. In addition, it appears to have been a superstition of sailors that having pierced ears improved their eye sight.  There was also the belief amongst landsmen that were the dead body of a sailor washed up, then the finder could have any earring worn by the dead man in return for a Christian burial.

Remember, too, that it was fashionable in Elizabethan times for the male nobility to have their ears pierced and quite a few of these were well-known and successful privateers (i.e. licensed pirates in effect) and so the fashion probably continued into the 17th and 18th centuries.

[Martin Milner]

Mainly, I am curious why rugged and scroungy men bothered to get their ears pierced and fuss about wearing an earring.  "OMG, Pirate Pete, that is so you."  "Why thank you, Naughty Ned.  But, I'm afraid Captain Chrissy absolutey abhors it.  Why doesn't he like me?"

I think Playmofire had a good point there - it would be the dandified pirates that had the earrings, the rugged scroungy ones probably weren't doing so well financially and didn't have them.

I also thought immediately of the belief that an earring would pay for a pirate's burial.

[playmofire]

I think Playmofire had a good point there - it would be the dandified pirates that had the earrings, the rugged scroungy ones probably weren't doing so well financially and didn't have them.

I also thought immediately of the belief that an earring would pay for a pirate's burial.

I think the rugged scroungy ones would still have had them when they could - earrings were common amongst all sailors, not just pirates both from the burial point of view and the improving eyesight superstition.

[cachalote]

 
it was good to know about the "dead" link.
in modern times, i know that the sailors that have crossed cape horn (in the southern tip of south america) can start to wear an earring in their left ear.
unfortunately, i am yet to achive this status, but i have met many who do wear them.
 

[Timotheos]

Thanks for all the responses.  I completely didn't know the detail about the earrings being a trade for a burial, or that it had become fashionable with the nobility by that time (my historical reading so far hasn't gone beyond the death of Queen Elizabeth I).

Do you think that Playmobil overplays the ragged-ness of its pirates (most of whom are barefoot or one-legged)?  I guess the rank and file crew would have been relatively poor?  On the other hand, I'm reading about Captain Hawkwood's mercenary companies (1360s) and those guys worried about their image enough to keep their armor sparkling--it was part of the intimidation effect.

Finally, do you recommend any books on the subject?
Heh, I'm going to check out Richard's book recommendation...  I'm ex-military, and after seven weeks of basic training a lot of those guys were acting like they would have turned pirate if the meeker guys in the company would have [self-edited for Sylvia's sake].

I suspect that any isolated, same gender community sooner or later "turns on itself."

[cachalote]

"A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates" by Charles Johnson
- written by someone who clearly was on deck doing that time.
 
- "Life Among the Pirates: The Romance and the Reality" by David Cordingly (Paperback - 16 May 1996)
a modern approach
 
 

[Timotheos]

Thanks, Cachalote.

[cachalote]

 you are very welcome tim.
i have read both of them.
the first one, for many years attributed to daniel defoe (robinson crusoe's author) is a fantastic book clearly written by an insider. it is sometimes a bit long and repetitive in descriptions but it is an "original".
david cordingly's book is also great. it describes how life would be like amongs pirates and he seems to clearly understand his business.