Post by millring on Mar 14, 2007 13:40:58 GMT -5
A) Did they wear they eye patch in the daytime too?
They especially wore it in the daytime. The idea was that one eye's pupil (the patched one) would always be ready to see in the dark while the other would simply adjust to whatever were the conditions on deck.
If you understood the principle you'd be asking why they wore them at night too, not why they wore them in the daytime too. And maybe they did (wear them at night). Maybe they wore them on their foreheads. Maybe they wore them on the backs of their heads and walked backwards just to freak people out. Or maybe they took them off at night and had a nifty little eyepatch compartment near their bunks or on their person. Maybe the compartment was heavily jeweled and decorated to show their pirate status. "Arg, matey, I see you have but one jewel on your patch compartment. How sad for you." Maybe they actually had their patches saturated with nicotene to help them quit smoking -- so they wore them night and day.
They did an interesting demo. Apparently it takes your eyes many minutes (I believe they said 20 minutes) before they will totally adjust to darkness. They had the film producers try their hand at navigating a maze in the dark after coming in from the light. They couldn't navigate the maze at all -- it took them a very long time before their eyes adjusted enough to even try to make their way through the maze.
Next they had the producers walk around in the bright outside, this time with a patch over one eye. This time when they entered the dark, they moved the patch off of the covered eye and over to the uncovered eye. They could immediately walk right through the maze.
Maybe the British Navy did. Maybe the British navy didn't need men who went below and above as often. Maybe the British navy chose style over function. Maybe the British navy was too busy eating limes and playing "Battleship!" to bother with eye patches.
Or maybe nobody in the British navy has a hook.