Pirate Facts

Pirates and sailors believed that piercing their ears with precious metals like gold and silver would improve their eyesight. This superstition persisted for centuries despite having no medical basis.

There's no evidence that pirates made people walk the plank.

Ching Shih, once a prostitute, became one of the most powerful pirates to have ever sailed. She commanded one of the most formidable pirate fleets in all of China during the early 1800s, with hundreds of ships under her command.

Britney Spears’ music is used by the British Navy to scare off Somali pirates.

When pirate Jean Lafitte saw the governor advertising a $500 reward for his capture, Lafitte offered $5,000 for the capture of the governor.

In 1987, a Chicago TV station had its broadcast interrupted by a pirate signal that shows a man in a Max Headroom mask mumbling and being spanked with a fly swatter. Despite investigations by the FCC and FBI, this became the only known incident in which a hacker interrupted a major TV broadcast without getting caught.