A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Did pirates really have hooks if they lost a hand?

Best Answers

I know no primary source referring to any historical pirate having a hook. We can be fairly certain that some pirates did lose a hand. read more

Many pirate ships had no surgeons, so amputations were done by the ship's carpenter, who would have often lacked the skill to fix a usable hook on the stump of a man's hand. It's certainly possible that there were some hook-handed pirates, but there's no evidence, and almost certainly there were many more handless pirates than hook-sporting ones. read more

The popular image of the pirate missing a hand is mostly based on the fictional figure of Captain Hook, and to a lesser degree on the British admiral Horatio Nelson, who lost an arm and an eye in battle, but who wasn't a pirate. read more

Most famously attributed to seafaring pirates, peglegs with wooden cores and metal hands shaped into hooks have actually been the prosthetic standard throughout much of history. While Hollywood has exaggerated their use of hooks and peglegs, pirates did sometimes rely on these types of prostheses. read more

Encyclopedia Research

Wikipedia:

Related Facts

Related Types