Pirate Myths (spoilers if you want to see the mythbusters ep)

[thegayhare]

Hi Hi all

as the unofficial keeper of piratical lore I was thrilled when Mythbusters ran there pirate special.

(Spoilers below)
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they tested 4 myths

The Eye Patch
The myth was that this wasn't just to cover a lost eye, it was also a meathod of preserving your night vision when moving from a well lit area to a darker one.  If you cover one eye with the patch  so that it's a;ways in darkness when you move from a well lit cabin to the dark deck at night (swapping the patch as you go)  you'll be able to see much better. 

the thing is this one worked the eye doctor they interviewed said that it normaly takes about 25 minutes for your ye to adjust from bright light to low light but the swapping trick is almost instant .  In the how they actualy ran an obstical course to prove it. 

The Rum laundry
They rested washing your clothes in rum to get out pirate stains ( blood, pitch)  they also tested old fasioned soap, boiled down urin and modern detergent

The rum worked on pitch,the urine worked on blood, and the soap didn't do much (the best was of course detergent)  I myself though this was a bit silly cause if you've got rum for washing , I'm sure you'd rather drink it.  Use the rum once it's passed threw your kidneys for luandry

The knife to sail
It's a staple of pirate movies You stab a knife into a sail and slide down to safty...  Infact it was used in the recent pirates of the carabain  When they tested it they found that if your knife was too sharp it wouldn't slow you down at all, and you'd break both your legs if your lucky.  However trying it with a dulled knife hits a snag.  See a sail isn't a flat piece of canvas they are crossed by seams, that can quadrupal the thickness of the sail,and if you knife is dull enough to slow you down once you hit one of those (and there are usualy 2 or 3) the knife will either be jerked from your hand or  the impact will cause you to slip from the sail, free falling to the deck below.  But if your sharp enough to cut the seams you won't slow down at all.

and the final myth was the Splinter myth
The Idea is that the cannon ball isn't as dangerous as the cloud of wooden debris it causes when it hits a ships hull.  They tried it in miniture with an air cannon and the tests were realy impressive the wooden splinters realy chewed up the test stock.  then they increased the size of the air cannon and used pigs as stand ins for pirates... the wood didn't even break skin.  So they got a real cannon and tried again,  again the spliners didn't do a thing. 

which makes sense to me since Ball shot is made to hole ships not kill crew,  they should have tried grap shot

In the end they asked for fan sugestions for pirate myths,  I myself am going to ask for a grap shot test  if anyone else has a sugestion check out there site here

(which is running highlites of the cannon tests)

Thank you for your time and sorry to be a bother... *runs off to try the eye patch thing*

[Teroniss]

Bah, the Mythbusters have destroyed all my fanboy ideals about Errol Flynn, bastards......

Speaking of pirates, funny flash - http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v480/Teroniss/Pirate.swf

[Paladin Sheppard]

Can't stop laughing....Damn you Teroniss! OMG that thing ROCKS! 

[Zedd]

*thrusts like the ninja*

[Brunhidden]

the mental images wont stop with you will they?

im not really aware of many misconceptions or other unique factoids on pirates. other then the fun little tidbit where during the 'pirate age' most sailors were completely inable to swim while most pirates could swim quite well.

also the term buccaneer did not originally mean pirate, it had to do with people who were marooned and fashoned a weapon from a boat oar which had a funny name which then later morphed into buccaneer and was used to imply the stranded seaman instead of the stupid looking gun.

kiss me, ive got scurvy

[Zina]

I'm going to write in and ask the myth of what Tory looks like naked.
And then throw a leopard at him.
http://files.deviantart.com/Myth1d_2.swf

[Supercheese]

I'm going to write in and ask the myth of what Tory looks like naked.
And then throw a leopard at him.
http://files.deviantart.com/Myth1d_2.swf

Wow, that's actually really accurate, especially the way Adam and Jamie were drawn.

[Aisha deCabre]

Ah, I watched that Mythbusters episode last night...the one at 1 AM, not the one at 9 PM...I missed that one.   

Fascinating stuff...though, I'd like to say thanks for providing the ends to the knife-sailing and cannonball myths...I didn't catch the very end of that.  The eyepatch thing was interesting though.

And I've probably watched that Mythbusters Flash a thousand times by now.  The little Cash Cab reference is just hilarious too.

Grant: "I've calibrated the controls with the utmost efficiency--"
Adam: "--MINE'S BETTER!"  (BOOM!)   

[Stygian]

I've long been irritated about the knife part, so that was a good one to bust. And here, it's become customary to say "I reject your reality, and substitute my own" by now. It's just so good.

[RJ]

I'm going to write in and ask the myth of what Tory looks like naked.
And then throw a leopard at him.
http://files.deviantart.com/Myth1d_2.swf

Ah... seen that before... and I loved it. <3


I think we should ask them to test the myth of which is better- Pirates or ninjas!!