After riding Pirates of the Carribean twice today, an important question has entered my mind. Did pirates really ever wear stripes? And why? Please reply if you have any reliable sources for this, as I am going as a pirate for Halloween and I want to make sure I’m not lying to the world if I wear stripes.
Pirates wore cast-offs. The higher up in prestige you were, the flashier the cast-offs.
Back in those days, prison uniforms were often of cheap striped material. Join the dots.
It is reasonable to assume I am talking sense, even though this is a complete WAG[sup]TM[/sup].
In actuality, most of our images of Pirates seem to be stemmed from Robert Louis Stevenson pictorial representations, and are not a reliable reflection of reality.
I can’t say whether the prison duds theory is valid, but FWIW: the naval uniforms of common sailors were striped back then as well. Since many pirate crews were formed from mutineers, that’s another source for striped tunics.
For the truly authentic pirate look, v g, you’re going to have to lose a leg, an eye and a hand and most of your teeth, buy yourself a foul-mouthed parrot and practice your best “Ah, me hearties, I’ll keel-haul any man 'oo lays hand on yon fair laydee afore me” accent :).